SCITUATE — Oct. 19, 2026 — Superintendent Tom Raab’s draft goals drew requests from Scituate School Committee members for measurable outcomes and closer scrutiny of the district’s social-emotional learning assessment at a first reading, ahead of a vote planned for Nov. 2. The committee also approved a History Bowl national championship trip to Washington, D.C., and reviewed its own draft goals.
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The goals, linked from the agenda as Appendix A, were listed for discussion only.
The draft commits to five power standards drawn from the standards superintendents must follow: evaluation, data-informed decision-making, fiscal systems, communication and continuous learning. It then sets four goals aligned with the district improvement plan.
A professional practice goal commits the superintendent to support administrators in consistently implementing four foundational instructional strategies, the focus the district settled on last year. Two student learning goals mirror the improvement plan’s STAR benchmark work in English language arts and math. Raab said one of those goals mistakenly limits the STAR target to grades 2 through 5 and will be amended to grades 2 through 10 to match the district-wide work.
The fourth goal covers the district’s new SEA (Support, Engagement, and Advocacy) department, which places health and wellness, PE and health, and counseling under one central-office department. It also covers the district’s holistic assessment, known as the HSA, which the district will keep this year while deciding whether to continue using it.
Before the goals were walked through, Maria Fenwick said that, by her understanding, once the superintendent selects indicators, those are the only ones the committee evaluates that year, and urged anyone who wants others included to say so now.
I guess the first question is for your SMART goal, I was surprised that it felt like there was no outcome, like measurable outcome.
— Carey Borkoski, School Committee 30:11
Raab said principals could help collect the objectives work and evaluations they are doing with staff.
Carey Borkoski also questioned the HSA, saying that, by her understanding, a measure behind a building principal’s goal comes from one or two student questions, and asked whether social-emotional learning is being implemented consistently before outcomes are measured.
Raab said that part of the goal could be rewritten. Erika McMahon also asked for a concise year-to-year summary of what the assessment shows and what the district does in response.
The committee then held a first reading of its own draft goals for 2026-27. They call for growing the audience for the committee’s town updates, office hours and webpage, measured by readership, viewership and participation; timing academic progress reports to when data is available and tracking how spending supports academic progress; and cutting meetings to an average of two hours. That goal would ask departmental presenters to aim for a maximum of 20 minutes.
