Superintendent's Message


Superintendents’ Message

January 2010


Welcome to SAU #53

Serving the school districts of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield, Epsom, and Pembroke


Welcome to the SAU #53 website! Take some time to explore and to learn about SAU #53 and the five districts it serves. The five districts of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield, Epsom, and Pembroke provide the pre-K -12 educational experiences for approximately 3500 students. Pembroke Academy provides the high school experience for the communities of Allenstown, Chichester, Epsom, and Pembroke, while students in the Deerfield community travel to Concord for their high school program.

Budget season is here and we have been busy preparing, presenting, and supporting budgets for SAU #53 and the five districts that we serve. In these difficult economic times, we have been diligent about bringing forward fiscally responsible budgets while still maintaining the necessary funding to continue to provide an excellent education for each and every student.

The SAU #53 faculty, staff, and students have been busy during the first part of the school year. The initiatives mentioned in our first message are in full swing. Educators in all of our schools are working collaboratively to help all students, focus on results to guide their practice and foster continuous improvement. Our SAU #53 Leadership Team continues to meet monthly and we conduct “School Walks” in each of the buildings throughout the SAU. These “School Walks” have been a wonderful way to showcase each of our schools to all of the administrators. We continue to be impressed with all of the wonderful educational opportunities available to our students.

Technology education and integration continue to be at the forefront of what we do each day. Recently, a group of teachers and administrators presented our work in “SAKAI” to the New Hampshire Commissioner of Education. “SAKAI” is a technology rich collaborative learning community which is a fun and exciting place for news, learning, sharing, courses, competencies, and portfolios. To learn more about “SAKAI” check out the link from our front page. SAKAI is fast becoming an integral part of what we use each day to enhance our work.

We are pleased to report that four of our districts, Allenstown, Deerfield, Epsom, and Pembroke have been awarded a collaborative ARRA Title IID Technology grant in the combined amount of over $534,000. The title of this collaborative grant is “Transforming Science Classrooms through Technology”. The funds from this grant will be used to purchase laptop carts, electronic whiteboards, science probes, digital microscopes, and other science related equipment. It will also provide professional development for our teachers and monies to redesign the Science curriculum from grades K-12. We are excited about the possibilities afforded to us as a result of this grant funding.
On March 9, 2010, all five of our districts will be participating in a “Sharing Best Practices” Conference. Faculty members from throughout SAU #53 will be presenting to their colleagues on a variety of “best practices” that are utilized daily in SAU #53. This day is designed to provide everyone with an opportunity to showcase the tremendous work they do each day on behalf of our students. This is a fabulous way for our teachers to gain professional development that is meaningful and beneficial to their practice.

We are delighted that we have been able to keep our commitment to visit schools in SAU #53 on a regular basis. We have thoroughly enjoyed spending time in classrooms with students and teachers. We continue to be impressed with the quality education provided to each and every student in SAU #53.

We invite you to get to know more about our schools and the achievements throughout SAU #53. Please feel free to e-mail us at pwarburton@sau53.org or gpaludi@sau53.org or stop by our office and visit. Our doors are always open!


Mr. Peter Warburton
Superintendent

Dr. Gail E. Paludi
Assistant Superintendent