July 2, 2009

Dear Staff, Parents/Guardians, and Community Members,

Today we released a draft version of the FRPS Recovery Plan to address the findings and recommendations identified in the District Leadership and Resource Management Evaluation Report issued by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in March 2009.  Beginning April 17, 2009 school department administrators, representatives from the Fall River School Committee, the teachers’ union president and DESE staff participated in various working groups to develop strategies and action plans in the areas of school committee governance, human resource management, fiscal management, and teaching and learning.

The Fall River School Committee will discuss the draft Recovery Plan on Monday, July 13, at 6:30 at the Henry Lord Middle School. Prior to school committee discussion the school department invites public comment on the strategies and action steps of the Recovery Plan.  The Recovery Plan is posted and available for download on our website at www.fallriverschools.org. Staff, parents and community members are invited to provide comment by using the blog feature on our website or by calling the school department at 508-675-8420 x405 during regular business hours. Additionally, comment may be written and submitted to the Superintendent’s Office at 417 Rock Street, Fall River, MA 02720. All comments and feedback received by July 12, 2009 will be reviewed and considered in producing the final Recovery Plan.  Copies of the Recovery Plan are available at the School Administration Building at 417 Rock Street.

Pending school committee endorsement, the Recovery Plan will be sent on July 15, 2009 to Commissioner of Education for approval.  Once the plan is approved by the Commissioner the state appointed monitor will observe the implementation of the plan and report its progress to the Commissioner every six months.

We look forward to your input and thank you for your interest in improving Fall River schools.

Sincerely,

Meg Mayo-Brown
Superintendent of Schools