Stonington — The school system has created a new website called “State of the District” that will provide updates on areas such as academic achievements and progress, staffing, facilities and budgeting.

Superintendent of Schools Van Riley outlined the new initiative to the Board of Education at its meeting Thursday night.

Riley said the 2019-20 school year represents "a milestone" for the school system as it completed the renovation and expansion of Deans Mill and West Vine Street schools, which he referrred to as state-of-the-art elementary schools; consolidated the two middle schools into Stonington Middle School; planned to return West Broad Street School and the Central Office building to town control; and moved the central office to the former Pawcatuck Middle School.

Over the next two months, Riley said, he will issue updates on various aspects of the school system, which will be added to the website leading up to budgeting and resources in January 2020 and Looking to the Future the following month.

Riley said the system's focus on three priority areas is responsible for significant improvements in programming and academic achievement/improvement.

These include substantial curriculum development work and K-12 instruction; improvement in the use of data to make decisions on instruction and reallocation of resources; and expansion of community partnerships to support curriculum development, offer learning opportunities outside the classroom, and provide internship experiences for students.

The site can be reached at:

https://sites.google.com/stoningtonschools.org/sps-stateofthesystem/future-outlook.

On the elementary level, Riley listed a long list of accomplishments such as that the full-day kindergarten implemented in 2013 has resulted in immediate improved student outcomes; equitable access to educational technology for teachers and students; improved reading support for students; a continued review of the assessment practices to improve instruction and programming; and the addition of 10 new after-school clubs beginning this school year. He also listed the many awards won by the elementary schools, such as West Vine Street School Principal Alicia Dawe being named the Connecticut Elementary Principal of the Year for 2019, and Deans Mill School being named a School of Distinction for Academic Performance in 2018.

At the middle school level, Riley listed as among the accomplishments, the addition this year of 24 so-called Encore classes ranging from forensics and music composition to international sports and introduction to guitar.

"We're providing opportunities for our students to learn things that other students across the state do not have," Riley told the school board.

He also pointed to improved student performance in language arts and math, an updated health curriculum, new extracurricular activities and equitable access to drama, art, world languages and music for all students.

Among the high school accomplishments, Riley pointed to increased student participation in advanced placement classes while maintaining high scores, the expansion of internships and community partnerships, a steady improvement in SAT scores from 2016 to 2019, the school becoming a leader in the state for students earning the Seal of Biliteracy, and curriculum development recommended by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges being on track.

"We're making amazing progress in high school and we're continuing to move forward. This has resulted in Stonington High School being a leader in academic performance and growth in southeastern Connecticut," he told the school board.  

j.wojtas@theday.com