Staff Kick Off a New School Year

The first staff day back is always a special one, it's the one day all year when the entire Spotswood staff comes together in one room to kick off the year. On August 31st, staff returned for a day of professional learning to start the 2026-2027 school year.

This year, our focus is on building foundations, taking the time to build things slowly and intentionally rather than rushing to do it all at once. Superintendent Bicsko shared what this focus means for our schools and the work that was done this summer to start this work. Over the past two months we made progress on four fronts: revamping our ELA and Math curriculum at Memorial and beginning work on a curriculum for our Spanish Heritage Speakers, protecting our programs and personnel through a conservative budget, enhancing our cleaning procedures at Appleby and Memorial, and building new supports for teachers in educational technology and intervention strategies.

We also took the time to celebrate some milestones. Congratulations to Mr. Dempsey at the High School and Ms. Schmidt at Appleby, who are both entering their thirtieth year in Spotswood! We also recognized staff who went above and beyond on professional development this past year. Erin Peabody, Rachel Adamczyk, and Melissa Forgione each earned the Diamond Award for completing more than 200 hours of PD, congratulations to all three of you!

The PTA sponsored a breakfast for staff, which was much appreciated and a great way to welcome everyone back.

The Spotswood Education Foundation also gave out their annual grants. A few highlights to look forward to this year include a spelling bee at Memorial Middle School, an artist-in-residence program at the high school, adaptive speech devices, and many other exciting opportunities for our students.

We're looking forward to a great year ahead and are ready to meet students later this week!