Superintendent Offers Update on WPS, KP to Introduce Free Pass Program for Wrentham Residents

Wrapping up in roughly 35 minutes, it did not take long for the Wrentham School Committee to get through their brief agenda yesterday during their meeting at the Roderick School.

In his report to the committee, Superintendent Jeffrey J. Marsden gave an update to the construction and repair work happening in the Wrentham schools.

In the Delaney School, a hallway wall and floors were recently repaired along with the air filters and heating units in the building. Work on the parking lot outside the school should be done by the end of the week. The Roderick School also experienced similar repairs involving the air filters and repairing of walls.

The Vogel School was taken off the capital plan after a root inspection showed that the building has 20-30 more years of usage. 

There will be some repairs done to the building but the results of the inspection will help avoid a several thousand dollar project according to Mardsen.

For those who have never attended an event at King Philip High School, the KP school committee is now offering a new program to help raise interest in the school

In her update of the King Philip School Committee to the Wrentham School Committee, Lynn Desrochers updated the members on a new KP pilot program to help distribute free passes to events at King Philip Regional High School during the 2012-2013 school year.

Every month during the school year, the school will distribute 130 free passes to the senior centers, selectmen, and the Wrentham Public Schools for King Philip sporting events, plays, and concerts from the KP Music Association. Each participant of the program will get 10 passes each month to distribute.

The hope is that the program will increase interest in the school and communication between the regional high school and residents that may not have children in the school system. 

There are still some unknowns concerning distribution and promotion of the free passes and the committee is open to hearing any ideas to promote the free passes.

The committee will also be looking at if the program hinders the school’s ability to raise money at these events or if the passes are simply bringing in people that may not have gone without the free pass.

Desrochers also brought up the idea of a similar program for the Wrentham schools but that would be more of a promotional effort since the majority of events at the Wrentham public schools are free.

After a couple of years or large classes, the enrollment size for the 2012-2013 school year is expected to dip down to the 1,200 student mark. The low numbers are good news for parents who prefer smaller classes with some classes as small as 18 students.

The Parent-Student Handbook was approved with an unanimous voice vote as were the FY 2013 budget allocations.