ATHOL — While the town is months away from voting on a proposed operational budget, Athol Royalston Regional School District Superintendent Matt Ehrenworth met with officials who will weigh in on his portion of the spending plan.

Ehrenworth met with Athol’s Selectboard at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 4. Ehrenworth is in his first year as leader of the district, having succeeded previous Superintendent Darcy Fernandes.

“I just wanted to publicly introduce myself to the board before coming to you with numbers,” he said. “Next week we meet with the Finance Committee, and I’m sure that will be the beginning of a very long and productive relationship. Hopefully, it won’t be a long conversation; we’re going to try to make it clear and simple.”

At the request of board Chair Alan Dodge, Ehrenworth provided a brief synopsis of his background prior to coming to the ARRSD. He then followed with an overview of his plans for the district.

“Predominantly, what I’ve been hearing, and what my focus is right now, is similar to Athol’s Year of Kindness,” said Ehrenworth. “We’re really focused on belongingness. My goal is to make sure all of the students and all of the staff and community members feel like they’re a part of the school system. And I’ve also tried to make it known that we’re here as a provider for the community. The school district wants to work with the town to make sure we’re providing everything that we can to the families and the community.”

Ehrenworth also intends to improve instruction and the lives of students while at the same time ensuring that teachers, students and families are happy. Dodge then asked Ehrenworth for more detail regarding educational goals.

“Right now, we’re focused on really homing in on instructional practices that are meaningful in the classroom,” Ehrenworth said. “So my new assistant superintendent and I, Dr. (Cynthia) Kennedy, we redesigned the walk-through tool that the district uses. There used to be 10 or 12 things that administrators were looking for in the classroom, and what we found is that too much information and too much constructive criticism just ends up being overwhelming.”

Ehrenworth said the district has predominantly had a problem with teacher retention. His focus is on what is sought for the classroom—higher-order thinking questions and making sure the lessons and activities are aligned to the learning targets. And another big piece is student discourse; students working together to communicate and share ideas.

The board chair had asked specifically about MCAS scores, to which Ehrenworth replied, “The hope is that by getting into the classrooms and working with the teachers and supporting them, we’re going to raise the scores. There’s not one answer for every grade level or every test, but it’s a long endeavor and I think what we’ve been finding, too – and I hope the School Committee doesn’t get aggravated with me because I haven’t shared any entry finding with them – but I’ve been community members, students, teachers, families.”

Ehrenworth said a recent family survey elicited over 300 responses, while about 100 district employees responded to a staff survey. He feels it’s a priority to evaluate the culture in the schools and make sure the kids feel safe and that they belong.

Before Ehrenworth exited the meeting, board Vice Chair Rebecca told Ehrenworth, “I just want to thank you for being such a great community partner. It’s not often that you see a superintendent come to town and want to work and not want to build a moat around the school – instead building bridges to other community partners. So, that’s been wonderful.”

“We’ve got great families,” said Ehrenworth in closing. “We’ve got a tremendous staff. The kids in this community, and the families, are absolutely, undeniably some of the best kids and families that there are to work with.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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