Scituate Schools See Activity with Hatherly Project
New Middle School Schedule Shows Promise
SCITUATE - September 29 - Tree removal has begun at the Hatherly School, marking a visible milestone in the district’s long-awaited school renovation project, Interim Superintendent Dr. Raab announced Monday at the September 29 school committee meeting. A formal groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for October 6, even as the district navigates a bid protest that could potentially delay the project’s timeline.
The Full Story
The renovation project at the Hatherly School moved from planning to reality this week, with students watching from classroom windows as crews began felling trees on the construction site. “Students were yelling timber at the window. It was a lot of fun,” Dr. Raab reported during his superintendent’s update. “But it really speaks to the fact that we’ve started—after all the discussions and all of the things we’ve talked about, we’ve begun the project.”
However, the project faces a potential hurdle. The district is currently managing a bid protest involving three electrical sub-contractors, all protesting each other’s bids. A hearing with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office was scheduled for September 30. “The AG has made it clear that the town did not make any mistakes in its bid documents or anything like that,” Dr. Raab said. The primary concern is timeline: the project is scheduled for substantial completion in March 2027, with limited wiggle room extending only to April or May.
The October 6 groundbreaking ceremony will feature a combined fifth-grade chorus from both Hatherly and Cushing schools performing “Viva La Vida.” Two fifth-grade students have been selected to participate in the ceremonial shovel-turning, and School Committee Chair Nicole Brandolini will deliver welcoming remarks.
In educational programming news, Gates Middle School Principal Ryan Beattie presented an encouraging update on the school’s redesigned schedule, now in its first month of implementation. The new schedule, developed over two years through extensive staff and community input, addresses three key goals: improving academic outcomes, providing flexible intervention and enrichment opportunities, and ensuring equitable access to support for band and chorus students.
“Students still get access to their specials, but they are on a rotating basis,” Principal Beattie explained. The most significant change involves band and chorus, which are now incorporated into the regular school day as elective classes rather than extracurricular activities. “Many of our students who ended up leaving the music ensembles was because they needed to prioritize academics. So this provides both,” Beatty said.
The new schedule features shorter core subject blocks—45 minutes instead of 63—but classes now meet five days a week instead of four. “In all of the research we’ve done, consistency is good for kids at this age level,” Beattie noted. The schedule also includes a dedicated “WIN block” (What I Need) three times weekly for 20 minutes, providing targeted support or enrichment based on data-driven student needs, and a “flex block” where students control their own time for homework, collaboration, or seeking extra help.
Beattie emphasized that formal feedback collection has been intentionally delayed. “We recognize that if we strengthen our tier one instructional approaches, meaning what happens in a classroom, less kids are going to need support and intervention,” she said. The school plans to survey students, staff, and families after the first round of WIN blocks concludes. “Ultimately the proof will be in the data of if our kids are growing, then this is working,” Beattie stated.
Early indicators suggest the schedule may be achieving its equity goals for music participation. “We have 82 sixth graders in our band right now, and that’s more than we’ve had in a long time,” Beattie reported. “And seventh and eighth, we did not lose any this year, as much as we had in the past.”
The committee approved several field trips, including DECA competition travel to Quincy for January 8-9, Model UN conferences in Montreal (November 12-16) and Washington, D.C. (March 16-22). Student representative Luke praised these experiential learning opportunities: “It’s great to be able to have what we learn in the classroom and then apply it outside of school,” he said, noting that participants work hard to stay current with missed coursework.
Dr. Raab also announced that Scituate High School has been recognized by Special Olympics of Massachusetts as a Unified Champion School, acknowledging the district’s commitment to meaningful social inclusion through sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole-school integration. “If you went to the basketball games last year, we probably had 500 kids,” Dr. Raab said, highlighting the community-wide participation that earned the designation.
In his district-wide learning walks, Dr. Raab reported observing the “bridge cycle” in action at elementary schools. This approach uses spring testing data to immediately place students in appropriate WIN blocks when school begins in September, rather than waiting for fall benchmark testing. “By doing this cycle, or bridge cycle, it’s really helping catch the kids up and get them ready for the first round of benchmark testing,” he explained. The downside, he acknowledged, is that growth rates might appear lower because students are starting at higher levels—but that’s an acceptable trade-off for stronger initial performance.
Dr. Raab was particularly impressed by the differentiated instruction he observed, with ST Math technology allowing students working on the same standard to approach it in four or five different ways within one classroom. “That differentiation was exciting to me,” he said. “And what it shows me is that people have done an awful lot of training, and we’re seeing this.”
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch provided an update on the district’s investment in evaluator training. All 31 district evaluators—including principals, assistant principals, department chairs, and central office administrators—are participating in a seven-session course with Research for Better Teaching titled “Analyzing Teaching for Student Results.” The training represents a shift from traditional teacher observation focused on the instructor to a model that examines evidence of student learning. The district has also invited representatives from the Scituate Teachers Association to participate in the training, “just being transparent that we take teacher evaluation and feedback very seriously,” Lynch said.
The Policy Subcommittee reported progress on its systematic review of all district policies, having assigned committee members sections to read before meetings. The first assignment covered policies AA through ACGB, primarily addressing legal requirements and non-discrimination policies. The review process has already identified several issues: outdated language (such as “handicap” instead of “disability”), missing “last updated” dates on many policies, and the need to revert a recently updated non-discrimination policy back to its 2022 version following a court ruling.
Perhaps most significantly for daily operations, the committee conducted a first reading of revisions to policy KCD (Public Gifts to Schools). The current policy allows the superintendent to accept gifts on behalf of the committee, but state law now requires the school committee to review and accept all grants and gifts before expenditure. “I think this was changed actually in Massachusetts general law at some point,” committee member Maria Fenwick explained. “I actually think it has to do with the rise of crowdfunding platforms.”
The policy change will affect common practices, including teacher classroom supply requests, PTO donations, and athletic booster contributions. Dr. Raab assured the committee he has a tracking system from a previous district that can streamline the approval process, noting, “Most people want to celebrate what they’re doing. It’s just a matter of asking.” A consent agenda format could allow the committee to review and approve multiple items efficiently at each meeting.
The committee also agreed to resume the practice of liaising with individual school councils. Committee members will serve as non-voting participants at school council meetings—preferably not at schools where they have enrolled children—to facilitate communication between building-level and district-level governance. “I think it would just be sort of a do-what-you-can” approach, Fenwick said, acknowledging the scheduling challenges of attending meetings often held during work hours.
Dr. Raab announced plans to form a task force to update the district’s Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, which is required by law to be reviewed every two years. The last update was in 2023. The proposed task force would include two school committee members, two parents (one elementary and one secondary), two principals, the assistant superintendent, superintendent, up to four teachers, two counselors, two paraprofessionals, and school resource officers. Dr. Raab hopes to engage an outside consultant, possibly from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State, to facilitate the process, which he expects to complete by late winter.
In student achievement news, several Scituate High School students have been recognized in the National Merit Scholarship Program for high scores on the qualifying test: William Kaplan, Cole Levens, Madeline Poppish, and Wesley Roberts. The high school’s select choir has been invited to sing the national anthem at the annual convention of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police in Hyannis.
Athletic participation remains strong, with 55% of high school students involved in fall sports. The football team is undefeated, girls field hockey stands at 7-3 with one tie, and the golf team holds a 12-1 record. The high school continues implementing its MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) initiative, using WIN and sailor blocks to support at-risk students identified through data analysis.
Why It Matters
The visible start of construction at Hatherly School represents years of planning and community investment in modernizing educational facilities. For parents of elementary students, the new building promises updated learning spaces and improved infrastructure, though the bid protest serves as a reminder that large construction projects face unpredictable challenges even after breaking ground. Meanwhile, the early success of Gates Middle School’s schedule redesign demonstrates how thoughtful restructuring of the school day can address longstanding equity issues—in this case, allowing students to participate in music programs without sacrificing academic support. The district’s systematic approach to policy review and compliance, while not glamorous, ensures that Scituate schools operate within legal requirements and maintain transparent oversight of resources, donations, and educational programming. For families, these administrative systems provide accountability and consistency across all district schools.
Meeting Minutes
Key Motions & Votes
Motion: Approve DECA competition interstate field trip to Quincy, Massachusetts, January 8-9, 2026. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 0:32:59)
Motion: Approve out-of-state field trip to McGill University Conference in Montreal, Canada, November 12-16, 2025. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 0:49:02)
Motion: Approve out-of-state field trip to Washington Area Model United Nations Conference in Washington, D.C., March 16-22, 2026. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 0:49:34)
Motion: Approve surplus of old wrestling mats. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 1:07:43)
Motion: Approve minutes from September 8 and September 16, 2025. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 1:40:17)
Motion: Adjourn meeting at 7:41 p.m. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous 5-0. (Timestamp: 1:41:01)
Public Comment
No members of the public offered comments during the designated public comment period at the beginning of the meeting.
What’s Next
The Hatherly School groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Monday, October 6, 2025. The school committee will hold a second reading and vote on the revised Public Gifts to Schools policy at the October 6 meeting. The committee will receive comprehensive MCAS results and accountability data at the October 20 meeting. Dr. Raab will coordinate with PTO organizations to establish a tracking system for gifts and donations. The Policy Subcommittee will continue its systematic review of district policies, with the next assignment covering policies AD through AE (mission statement through goals sections). Individual student MCAS reports will be uploaded to the Aspen portal for family access within two weeks. The bullying prevention task force will be formed pending identification of a consultant facilitator.