Ladies and gentlemen, 'Start your Chromebooks!'

NORTH BERWICK - Earlier this year significant school personnel layoffs were forecast for the academic year that begins tomorrow, but SAD 60 Superintendent Steven Connolly reported last week that about 90 percent of those expected layoffs have been averted through staff turnover and retirements.

On that optimistic note grades K-8 will begin their school year on Wednesday, while ninth- through 12-graders will start on Thursday.

Connolly said one of the focuses of teachers and administrators this year will be to assimilate student learning data and then act on that information as quickly as possible to best assist the learning process.

 “People say we collect too much data, so let’s focus on what pieces of data best tell us the most and let’s use that data in a very quick turnaround to do more specific work with students,” Connolly explained.

He said chief among learning  points this year will be “literacy” as well as “numeracy” which is defined as the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts. 

He said there is a technology shift under way at Noble with students from grade 4-12 now using Chromebooks, which are heavily used in the business world and will better prepare students for various careers.

The Chromebooks may have less memory, Connolly said, but most school programs are “cloud-based” and the Chromebooks can do pretty much everything the Apple laptops could.

Other significant school changes include the weekly late-day start moving to Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Another addition parents and students will find handy is a “Transportation” link on the SAD 60 home page that lists a minute-by-minute schedule for all bus routes, both morning and afternoon.