Superintendent’s contract finalized
Interim Superintendent Joe Connelly will remain at the helm of Harvard’s schools until June, 2013. The contract, made public at the School Committee’s March 26 meeting, is written in two six-month segments. Under its terms, Connelly will be paid a total of $110,000 in salary plus $5,000 in travel expenses for the year.
Connelly explained that, technically, he will be working 77 percent of a full-time position. He and the School Committee have devised a flexible schedule, he said, so that he will take most of his non-working days during school vacations. In addition, the district can call on him for an extra two to 10 working days if needed.
Committee member SusanMary Redinger summed up the general reaction of the group, saying, “We’re thrilled to have you back for another year.”
Health class to pilot new units at eighth grade
Bromfield Principal Jim O’Shea, joined by health and physical education teachers Sue Silver and Dave Boisvert, told the School Committee that several units from the Get Real program will be piloted with eighth-graders this year as an addition to the health curriculum. O’Shea noted that the program covers topics that are specified in the state health curriculum frameworks but which Harvard’s health program has not included.
O’Shea emphasized that each unit begins with an opportunity for parents to be involved.
“It gives parents the primary role that they need to have in their child’s sexuality education,” he said.
Chairman Keith Cheveralls said that the School Committee need not vote on the program because the committee relies on the judgment of the professional staff and the superintendent for additions to existing curriculum programs.
