Superintendent's Update - October 29, 2025

Dear Shrewsbury Families, Colleagues, & Community Members,

I hope that you have been having an enjoyable fall season.  In my visits to schools, it has been a pleasure to see students engaged in learning experiences skillfully designed and taught by our educators, and see the evidence of the many ways in which our schools are promoting positive school environments.   There are many intentional efforts happening to promote our strategic commitments of both "educational excellence" and "the enhanced well-being of all."

While our school communities have experienced many positives so far this school year, we have also experienced several losses.  Our district and the Sherwood community in particular continue to mourn the untimely death of Mr. Jonathan Butler, a longtime 6th grade math and science teacher, from a cardiac event at home.   A large contingent of Sherwood and district staff attended Mr. Butler's calling hours and service this past Saturday, and continue to support his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Kyleigh.  To view Mr. Butler's obituary, including a link to a scholarship fund for his daughter, click here.  

Please read on for additional information regarding our school district.

Funding allocated for SHS feasibility study process for potential future expansion and renovation:  At last week's Special Town Meeting, representatives overwhelmingly approved allocating funds to implement the feasibility study process for a potential future expansion and renovation of Shrewsbury High School in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), who would reimburse the town for more than half of the cost.  I am deeply appreciative of this high level of support, which will enable the SHS Building Committee to engage an owner's project manager and an architect to conduct a feasibility study and schematic design for a solution to the severe overcrowding at SHS.  The MSBA has determined independently that a project should be designed for a future SHS enrollment of 1,940 students (slightly higher than the current 1,899 student population), which is 690 students more than the school's contemporary design capacity of 1,250 per current state standards (or 55% overcrowded).   A project would also include the MSBA sharing the cost of replacing aging building systems (roof, HVAC, windows, etc.).  The feasibility study process will occur over approximately the next two years, with the earliest potential vote on funding an actual expansion and renovation project being in the fall of 2027.  For more details, click here for an FAQ document.

Celebrating outstanding SPS staff:  This fall we have celebrated staff who have made significant contributions to our schools in two ways.  First, at the beginning of each school year, we gather our entire SPS staff in the SHS Field House, where I give out the annual Superintendent's Awards for extraordinary service to our school district.  This year's recipients were:

Superintendent's Awards
Tobyle Alvarez & Katie Fox, Secretaries, Oak Middle School
Denise Bairos, Secretary, Special Education Office
Kathleen Barnes, Fourth Grade Teacher, Beal School
John Brocki, Science Teacher, Shrewsbury High School
Erin Burtnyk, Health Teacher, Shrewsbury High School
Jenn Cotie, Sixth Grade ELA/Social Studies Teacher, Sherwood Middle School
Catherine Dowling, Preschool Teacher, Parker Road Preschool at Beal
Sheryl Lesslie, IT Technician, Paton School & Central Office
Andy Moran, Math Teacher, Shrewsbury High School
Subhasree Moulik, Paraeducator, Oak Middle School
Kelly O'Connell, Adjustment Counselor, Sherwood Middle School
Bonnie Pierce, Applied Behavioral Analysis Technician, Spring Street School
Sue Shaugnessy & Anne Marie Turner, Media Center Aides, Floral Street School

Jayne Wilkin Award
Meghan de Leon, Director of Special Education, Shrewsbury High School

Thomas M. Kennedy Award
Scott Mulcahy, Principal, Paton School

ChinHuei Yeh Award
Heidi Anderson, Cheryl Barron, & Kitty Daly, English Language Education Teachers, Coolidge School

This past Monday, we honored our professional educators who achieved professional status (i.e., tenure) after three successful initial years in our district.  Only educators who have been judged to meet our district's high performance standards through the supervision and evaluation process are recommended for professional status. This year's honorees are:

District
Felicitie Boisvert, Social Worker
Nicole Bradley, Clinical Coordinator
Christine Pellerin, Coordinator, Post-Secondary RISE Program

Parker Road Preschool
Laura Hildick, Preschool
Kerri Kelly, Preschool, Little Colonials
 
Major Howard W. Beal Elementary School
Jessica Masterson, Speech & Language
Carrie Sullivan, Kindergarten
Samantha Swanson, Special Education
 
Coolidge School
Heidi Anderson, English Language Education
Lucinda Orne, Grade 4
Jennifer Wilson, Special Education

Floral Street School
Lindsey Buccella, Music
Ashley Celularo, Special Education
Breana Hogan, Grade 1

Paton School
Allysen Feeley, Special Education

Spring Street School
Marissa Davis, Grade 1
Sarah Incutto, Adjustment Counselor
Elizabeth Ryan-Belton, Visual Arts
 
Sherwood Middle School
Abigayle Capps, Grade 6 Math/Science
Trisha Cardinal, Speech & Language
Tamar Jeniski, English Language Education
Danielle Jusseaume, School Nurse
Sarah Koopman, Grade 6 Math/Science
Katelyn Salsgiver, Special Education

Oak Middle School
Katherine Dear, World Language, Spanish
Alexander Johnson, Grade 7 Science
Logan Kimble, Adjustment Counselor
Andrew Shoro, Drama
 
Shrewsbury High School
Jessica Bretta, English
Rana Dabbagh, Biology
Alicia Derry, Adjustment Counselor
Sheena Fitzgerald-Sanchez, Social Sciences
Andrew Frassa, Social Sciences
Guimei Jia, World Language, Mandarin Chinese
Alexa Kassos, Speech Language Pathologist
Leslie Keddy, English
Michael LaChimia, English
Albert Munoz, Adjustment Counselor
Paul Quinn, Special Education
Lauren Silbor, Physical Education
Gregory Soboff, School Counselor
Kayleigh Webert, School Nurse

While leadership roles do not qualify for professional status, the following leaders were also honored for completing three successful years:
Hallie Burak, Principal of Oak Middle School
Jamie Millett, Director of Counseling & Mental Health
Scott Mulcahy, Principal of Paton School
Lindsey Stasiowski, Human Resources Manager

Congratulations to all of our staff who were recognized this fall!  

Thank you for your continued support of our community's public schools.

Respectfully,

Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools