Norwood School Committee hears Coakley Middle School progress, approves surplus and staffing changes and authorizes contract talks with Chartwells

NORWOOD — The Norwood School Committee on April 9 received a construction and transition update for the new Coakley Middle School, approved the declaration of surplus for materials to be removed from the old middle school, approved new job descriptions and administrative staffing changes, and authorized district staff to enter negotiations with Chartwells for food-service management. Members also reviewed a state integrated monitoring report on special education and civil-rights compliance, discussed proposed changes to student transportation registration fees, and approved several DESE grant awards.

Committee members were told the Coakley Middle School project is on schedule for substantial completion on June 6, with furniture deliveries starting May 19 and a moving window planned for the days immediately after the end of the school year. Vertex representatives showed photographs of interior finishes and systems testing now underway and outlined timelines for final inspections, teacher orientation and public tours.

Why this matters: the schedule affects the district’s moving plan, student transition activities and special-education and classroom assignments for next year. Several formal actions taken at the meeting — a vote on surplus property, approval of job descriptions and authorization to begin contract negotiations — are procedural steps the district needed to clear as it prepares to occupy the new building.

Construction and transition schedule Vertex project staff presented recent drone and interior photos and said exterior and most interior finishes are nearly complete. “Most of the facade is complete. I’d say it’s, like, 99% complete in this photo,” Vertex representative Anissa Ellis said as she walked committee members through images of the media center, classrooms, gym and commons. Vertex staff said furniture deliveries would begin May 19 and the project team is targeting a substantial-completion date of June 6; final occupancy and student visits are expected in August once the town’s inspectional services and the fire department complete sign-offs. The district will use a temporary permit to allow staff access to the building for summer preparation but will not move students in until final occupancy is granted.

Transition activities the district described include: - An open house for families of incoming fifth- and sixth-graders on May 8 (6 p.m.) that will focus on Q&A and guidance support rather than tours. - A set of “step-up” style visits in August for fifth- and sixth-grade orientations and separate sessions for returning seventh- and eighth-graders to familiarize them with the new building and schedules. - A “Mustang mentors” program using current students to help incoming students with tours and questions. District staff also described a staged packing and moving plan: teachers have been given crates to begin purging and packing; movers are contracted to perform the bulk move in the four days after schools close; inventories of reusable items (desks, instruments, specialty shelving, kitchen equipment) have been assigned to other district buildings or marked as surplus for disposal.

Special-education placement and programming District leaders addressed where specialized programs will be located in the new building and how services will be scheduled. Dr. Prezick, who leads transition planning for the middle school, said the district expects to co-locate most therapeutic and program classrooms near the grade-level teams so students remain close to their peers rather than isolated in a separate wing. The district plans dedicated rooms for LEAP and other program classrooms and said most therapeutic classrooms include calming spaces.

District staff said program teachers have already begun visiting elementary programs to meet students and conduct observations. The district will continue to hold individualized IEP/IEP-transition meetings as needed and said services students receive in grade 5 will continue at the middle school when they move with the grade.

Inventory, surplus and votes District staff said they have inventoried everything in the old middle school and identified equipment and supplies to be salvaged and reassigned to other Norwood Public Schools buildings; items beyond useful life were listed as surplus. The committee voted to approve the surplus list and disposition plan (motion carried 5–0). Staff emphasized art, science and library materials will be moved early because of volume and fragility.

State monitoring: DESE integrated monitoring review District student-services staff gave an update on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) integrated monitoring review (the monitoring process previously called "tiered focus monitoring"). Lorie, the district’s student-services administrator, reported the final report was issued March 19 and the district submitted a corrective action plan to DESE on April 9. She said DESE rated many standards as implemented — including child-find processes, assistive-technology access, IEP implementation, licensure for special-education staff and a range of civil-rights items — and identified a small number of partially implemented areas that require corrective steps.

Lorie said one partially implemented area was documentation and annual training for transportation staff about students with special-education needs; the district has already completed training and will institute an annual review process. Another technical finding concerned where some physical/occupational therapy was delivered at certain elementary buildings; the district reported plans to resolve those space issues. The district must resolve corrective-action items by March 18, 2026, and will submit periodic progress reports to DESE.

Staffing and organizational changes The committee approved a set of new job descriptions and administrative reorganizations intended to provide more curriculum and student-services support as grade 5 moves into the middle school. The approved items include two pre-K–4 coordinators (one STEM, one humanities), department-chair coverage for grades 5–12 in core content areas (with department chairs relieved of most teaching duties where possible), and two assistant-director positions for special services (one focused on pre-K–4 and one on grades 5–12). The committee voted to approve the job descriptions as outlined in the meeting memo (motion carried 5–0).

Food service procurement: Chartwells Business office staff reported the district received one bid for the food-service management RFP: Chartwells (Compass Group North America). The proposal scored highest on the non-price evaluation and offered a guaranteed net return to the district’s food-service program of $436,735 per year as part of the price proposal. The committee authorized district staff to enter contract negotiations with Chartwells, on terms to be finalized and returned to the committee for approval; the authorization passed 5–0. Committee members asked for an executive-session negotiation briefing on contract risk and assumptions, including the degree to which the bid’s financial assumptions depend on federal and state program funding.

Transportation registration and fees (discussion, no vote) District staff presented a proposal to change how the district solicits student registrations for bus service and to use an administrative processing fee schedule to incentivize early signup. Under the proposed structure the base transportation fee for paying families would be simplified to $275 and families who register early (by June 30) would pay no administrative-processing fee. The administrative fee would step up for later registrants (for example, $25 after June 30, $50 after Aug. 30 and $100 after the start of school); families with need would still receive waivers processed through the district’s Aspen system. Kindergarten riders who are transported via a shuttle would remain free for the coming year, but staff warned kindergarten transport could be charged once the shuttle model ends.

Committee members asked staff to bring the recommended language to the policy subcommittee for review and to confirm outreach and communications plans; no committee vote was held at the April 9 meeting.

Grants and programs The committee approved several grant-related items and program adoptions, including expansion of ST Math at remaining elementary schools (district funding of about $3,500 per school was already budgeted), participation in an SEL-focused DESE pilot (which supports Coaching for Change and optional screening pilots), a Playful Learning Institute/early-literacy planning grant, and a PRISM planning grant for pre-K–3 literacy work (about $19,430 in planning funds this year). The district will use the PRISM funds to plan larger applications to DESE next year; the committee approved these grant acceptances (motion carried 4–0, one member absent).

School health council and wellness policy Committee member Theresa updated the board on the school health council’s work and said the council is seeking broader teacher and student representation to support k–12 wellness monitoring and to prepare the two-year wellness-policy compliance report the district’s policy requires. The council’s next meeting is June 3 and planning is under way for a district wellness fair on Nov. 8, 2025.

Superintendent goal-setting cycle (discussion) Committee members discussed two timelines for the superintendent’s annual goals and evaluation—(1) the committee’s present cycle (goal-setting in the spring and summative review in March) or (2) a school-year cycle aligned to strategic initiatives (planning in June–July, goals set for the school year and evaluation after school year close). Committee members requested legal/contract guidance about how moving the evaluation window would interact with board membership turnover and with the superintendent’s contract; the board agreed to continue that discussion in executive session and to return to the April 30 meeting with proposed next steps.

Next steps and meetings The committee scheduled a follow-up discussion of policy and of the superintendent-evaluation timeline for its next meeting, April 30. The district indicated it will continue regular public updates on Coakley construction and release detailed moving and orientation schedules to families and staff.

Votes at a glance - Approval of executive- and open-session minutes from March 26: motion moved by Theresa, seconded by David; tally recorded in the meeting as 4 yes, 0 no, 1 abstention. (See minutes for full roll-call.) - Approval of surplus inventory/disposition: passed 5–0. - Approval of job descriptions and staffing reorganization (STEM and humanities coordinators pre-K–4; assistant directors for student services; department chair model 5–12): passed 5–0. - Authorization for district staff to enter contract negotiations with Chartwells (Compass Group North America) for food-service management: passed 5–0; contract language to be returned to the committee for approval. - Acceptance of several district grants (ST Math expansion, SEL pilot/Coaching for Change, Playful Learning Institute work and PRISM planning grant): motion carried 4–0 with one member absent.

Where to find the documents The meeting packet available in the public record includes the Vertex progress photos and schedule, the surplus inventory list, the DESE integrated monitoring report and the district’s corrective-action submission, draft job descriptions, the RFP scoring summary for food service, and grant award letters. The committee asked staff to attach the full DESE report and the surplus inventory to the April 30 packet so residents can review the details.

Looking ahead The committee will reconvene April 30 at 7 p.m. (hybrid) to review outstanding policy language (transportation fees) and to continue the superintendent-evaluation timeline discussion in executive session.