EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow School Committee met on Oct. 23 where they discussed Birchland Park Middle School’s raising of $1,000 for Rays of Hope, the town’s Communication Subcommittee as well we the Superintendent’s report on the first six weeks of school.

Committee member Deirdre Mailloux noted that she attended Birchland Park’s “Pink Day” which was in reference to Rays of Hope.  The school’s School Council raised $1,000 for Rays of Hope through various fundraisers, including the sale of shirts and additional smaller items.  Additionally, about 20 students participated in the Rays of Hope Walk Run.

“It was really fun walking into the lunchroom and seeing all of the kids in pink, so they did have a sort of pink-out,” Mailloux shared.     

In recent Town Council meetings the idea of becoming more active on social media sites including Facebook and Twitter has been discussed in an effort for town officials, committees and groups to penetrate information to the public.  Mailloux shared that she met with the Communication Subcommittee, and explained that the town could have the ability to sign up for a service called Service 911 which allows the Police Department to become more aware of the townspeople and their needs during times of crisis.

“As a resident you register with this Service 911, and the Police Department is then able to make reports or have information about town residents.  If there was a disaster they would know, oh, here’s a house where a child has special needs, or I think it was from the last blackout we had, they noticed there were a lot of homebound seniors that didn’t have other neighbors or people visiting.  They just want to be able to know what’s going on in town,” Mailloux said.

Superintendent Gordon Smith discussed a recent quick-poll that was sent out to families of school-age students. Of the 2,200 individuals who received the survey call, 256 opted to respond.

The survey asked three questions, how the opening week of school and the transition back from summer was handled, how parents and guardians saw the staff through their ability to answer questions and being service-oriented, and how the open house evenings went and if they were well-organized in providing information to parents regarding their child’s classroom and educational programming.

Smith said that 96 percent of responders agreed or strongly disagreed that the transition back had gone well.  About 94 percent of responders agreed and or strongly agreed that the East Longmeadow School system’s staff was capable in answering questions and being service-oriented.  Finally, 89 percent of parents agreed or strongly agreed that the open house events were beneficial.

“It just gives you another quick snapshot of how people are seeing the first six weeks of school,” Smith said.