ATHOL — When asked at the time of her hiring how she would spend her first 100 days as school superintendent, Darcy Fernandes said she would reach out for the input of faculty, staff, parents and other stakeholders. As part of establishing a visible presence in the schools and throughout Athol and Royalston, she said she would schedule frequent visits to all four buildings, devote sufficient time to connecting with students, and make appearances at community events.
She is fulfilling her promises, and brought that energy to the members of the Athol Lions Club as its most recent guest speaker.
When it comes to serving the children in the Athol-Royalston Regional School District, many would say Fernandes is not one to rest on her laurels. She’s serving the children and encouraging them to serve their community.
The former assistant superintendent of Randolph Public Schools took the reins in June of 2017 and has hit the ground running.
Fernandes held the positions of principal of New Bedford Public Schools, assistant principal and then interim principal of Brockton Public Schools, and was a teacher in the Wareham public school district.
Fernandes says she is willing to find alternative strategies to resolve problems in the district.
Strengthening Education
Fernandes talked about strengthening education at each of her new schools, and put into place certain measures to do that.
She said while assessing the amount of material support for teachers in the district she discovered, “There were no core instruction books for ELA (English Language Arts). We were asking teachers to teach English, but they didn’t have the books to do that.”
That has since been addressed, she said.
She has also sat with the teachers and administrators “to get an understanding of what good teaching looks like.
“We created a tool with the top 10 teacher practices that should be happening in the classroom,” she said.
Those practices are being used to train the teachers and get a sense of what is happening in the classroom, and as a way to measure progress.
Fernandes said she is also providing professional development to teachers.
“Teaching is not something you learn once and walk away,” she said. “Kids change. Curriculum changes. The way we interact with kids changes. We have to provide support for our teachers in that area. And we also have to listen to them. They’re the ones on the front line. They’re the ones who work with those kids every day.”
The superintendent also established district instructional leadership teams for every building. The teams meet once a month to give an overview of what’s going on in the schools and what they need to work on.
“We review the data of the district, and come up with a supportive plan around that,” said Fernandes, “In addition, I set up focus groups in which to ask how everything is going.”
She said she has visited every school to talk to the staff and focus groups, and will be going back in again in May and June “to assess if things are changing in the right direction.”
Creating
service-minded students
Fernandes said she is also exploring ways of guiding students toward being more service minded. She would like to integrate kids into community service.
In preparing for her appearance before the Lions Club, Fernandes said she was thrilled to read of its missionary spirit.
“That’s the type of world in which I come from,” she said. “That’s why I am here. I have a missionary spirit. I want to help kids.”
She asked for ways the Athol Lions could network with the school department.
She shared that her mother is a social worker and nurse and father was a church member endlessly involved in helping the homeless.
“Service for me has been something that has been embedded in my family and part of what I do,” she said. “Thanksgiving morning, I don’t eat until we go and serve, it’s that simple. We are expected as a family to do service consistently and we are expected to do it because it’s the right thing to do not because someone told me to do it.”
District strategic plan
She said service and ensuring students participate are key elements of the strategic plan in the school district currently.
“What I’m trying to do is get an understanding of the landscape and where are we connected, where aren’t we connected, how are we developing a service-minded student and how we can build upon what’s already been started,” she said.
Currently, students are required to do a number of service hours at the high school in order to graduate.
“That’s a great start,” she said, but she has a problem with the word “required.” “I feel service is something you do from your heart and your soul and move forward with it. Also, it’s something that has to be taught. You don’t wake up one morning and say you’re going to take care of my community. You need to understand what is important. Need to understand the key elements that will make a difference in your community, and you have to be willing to say, this is the right thing to do today.”
Not required, but committed
Fernandes said the Wareham school district did not require community service.
“But before I left, of the 600 middle school students there, 400 had gotten a minimum of 75 hours of service every single year,” she said. “All volunteer, no requirement.”
In addition, more than 250 students had earned enough points to go on an overnight field trip for the service they had done.
One year, while students were getting onto a bus to go camping, a police cruiser pulled up alongside the bus.
An officer said he had a student that had done something inappropriate the night before, but had completed his service wanted to go on the trip.
The officer asked her if she would you be willing to take custody of him for 24 hours and they’d take care of him when he gets back. Fernandes didn’t have a problem with doing just that and said, “This person was marvelous on the trip. When he got back he realized service was the one thing he really was committed to. That young gentleman now works as a full-time employee at the site where he started his work as a volunteer. It’s been amazing to watch him blossom into a whole different person.”
Service can make a difference
She said, “Service is an avenue which can make a difference for kids, in the end it gets them to understand that they can make a difference in the world and can connect them in some way that will get them to be seen in a positive light. I have never met a child I dislike,” Fernandes said. “Have I met kids who struggle? Absolutely. Have I met kids who aren’t sure of their purpose? Absolutely. What I have come to realize is the way you get kids on the right track is getting them to see the options which they have and that not all their options are about money.”
Some options are about servicing their community, supporting others in some way.
“Having community service as part of the community is a huge step in moving forward,” she said.
Fernandes said she was intrigued when she read about the connection of Helen Keller and the Lions. In 1925, Keller attended the Lions Clubs International Convention and challenged Lions to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” The Lions accepted her challenge and their work ever since has been been focused on preventing blindness, locally and worldwide.
Fernandes said she struggled with reading as a child. She said a book about Keller was the first she ever read.
“I was inspired by it. I watched the video on the Lions’ website [http://bit.ly/2Fzqceh]. Now I understand why you do eyeglasses — it makes perfect sense to me. Obviously, even Helen Keller, with her disabilities and issues, was able to find a way to make a difference in our society,” she told the Lions.
She asked to work with the Lions to look at ways in which to get kids to better serve the community.
“I want the opportunity to brainstorm ways we can get kids to be more service-minded. Lions are one of the examples in the community to do that. I want to look at more ways of getting the kids integrated into service and have a strategic plan for it rather than say, ‘you need to do so many hours,’” she said.
Fernandes shook the hands and chatted with each of the 40-plus Lions who were in attendance at the meeting Tuesday. She noted each one mentioned “with pride” their work with the blind, with diabetes, “and that you are all here because you want to make a difference.”
She said she is not looking to working with people who have an agenda.
“I’m only here for one reason. I’ve always worked with struggling districts. That’s my choice. I was a kid who grew up in a struggling neighborhood,” she said.
Members informed her that for many years, students from the National Honor Society and Students Council have assisted the Athol Daily News Santa Fund by wrapping Christmas presents for local children, and as “extra credit” serve as Santa’s elves on delivery day.
Students have also helped out with skits in the annual Lions Haunted Hayrides, and at blood drives. Other opportunities for students include participation in the Lions Youth Speech contest.
Tyreece Younger, 17, of Athol was regional winner of the Massachusetts Lions Youth Speech competition held last year at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Leominster. He won a cash prize and advanced to the district competition, held in Boxboro during the Massachusetts Lions District 33A Midwinter Convention, where he was a finalist and earned a $200 prize.
The Lions also sponsor a Peace Poster contest each fall.
And in years past, there was a Leo Lions Club, which could be established again, for students if there is interest. Grades through 12 are eligible.
The Lions said there may be ways for the students to help gain service insight, such as by helping with the observance of National White Cane Safety Day, which was established in 1964 and held each Oct. 15.
Fernandes said she is in favor of a discussion with the Lions’ executive committee to explore the options mentioned.