District Downlow - October

October 2026 -- Issue No. 2

The stuff worth knowing. The people worth celebrating. The work moving NPS forward.

We’ll keep it real. We’ll keep it useful. We’ll have a little fun. 😎

September, you could’ve stayed a minute. 

One minute we were welcoming scholars back to school, and the next, autumn showed up. 

Now that the school year is officially underway, I’ve had time to be in schools, watch, listen, learn, and, naturally, continue asking questions. Lots of them. 

Some are about things we already do. Some are about things we could do. Some begin innocently enough before my brain takes a sharp left turn into:

Wait…why do we do it that way?

Which is usually followed by:

What if we tried something different? Dangerous question. 

Welcome to my brain. 😎

Let’s get to it.👇🏽 

Okay, this one started as one of my Annie has another idea moments.

I started wondering about dual language immersion.

Then I did what any perfectly reasonable superintendent would do.

NPS has submitted an application for a state planning grant that would allow us to explore whether a dual language immersion program could make sense for Northampton.

And explore is the important word here.

We're not announcing a dual language immersion program. No classrooms have been selected. No school has been designated. Nobody needs to start panic-ordering Spanish textbooks. 

A planning grant would allow us to do exactly what we should do before making a decision: study successful models, learn from other districts, engage our community, examine enrollment and demographic data, understand staffing and certification requirements, and figure out whether this is actually right for Northampton.

One model I've been curious about begins with kindergarten in one elementary school and adds a grade each year, allowing the program to grow intentionally over time.

Could it work here? I don't know yet.

And that's the point.

We raised our hand for the opportunity to find out. Stay tuned!

And before anyone starts imagining scholars in trench coats with tiny earpieces roaming JFK…

The Undercover Anti-Bullying Team approach, or UABT, is a non-punitive, peer-based approach designed for certain bullying situations. Instead of focusing only on punishing the scholar engaging in bullying behavior, it looks at something incredibly powerful: the social environment around the targeted scholar.

Bullying often gets its power from an audience: who laughs, who joins in, who stays quiet, who excludes, and who has enough social influence to change what happens next.

A carefully selected group of peers works quietly to change that dynamic and help the targeted scholar feel safer and more connected.

And here's the part I love: it doesn't ask the targeted child to fix the problem.

This isn't appropriate for every situation, and it doesn't replace investigations, safety responses, or discipline when those are required. But the evidence behind the approach is promising enough that I wanted our people to learn about it.

So last month I spent a full day training our counselors and other staff on the model.

What I like about UABT is that it recognizes something pretty powerful: the same peer dynamics that can contribute to bullying can also help stop it.

It gives our schools another thoughtful tool when a scholar is hurting or feeling pushed to the outside.

Because belonging isn’t just something we talk about. It’s something we have to build.

This month, our school and district leaders, counselors, and support staff completed training in something called the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines or CSTAG.

Yes, education does love an acronym. But this one matters.

CSTAG gives our schools a common, evidence-based process for responding when a scholar makes a concerning statement, appears to be in distress, or is involved in a situation that raises a safety concern. Instead of jumping immediately to punishment or treating every situation exactly the same, trained teams slow things down, gather the facts, consider the context, determine the level of concern, and figure out what safety measures and supports are actually needed. 

The approach emphasizes early intervention, thoughtful assessment, collaboration with caregivers and staff, and individualized plans when additional support is needed.

That connects to something I believe deeply:

The safest schools aren't simply the schools with the strongest response when something goes wrong. They're the schools that get really good at noticing when something isn't right.

See it early. Understand it. Support the child. Protect the community.

That's early intervention. That's prevention.

Not every improvement needs a strategic plan, three subcommittees, a 72-slide PowerPoint, and snacks. 

Sometimes it's something really simple.

Our schools have substitutes, new employees, visiting staff, caregivers, contractors, and community partners coming through their doors every day. Staff ID badges make it easier for scholars and adults to know who someone is, who they can ask for help, and who belongs in the building.

And because apparently a plain lanyard was never going to happen on my watch, our staff IDs come with DO IT WITH SOUL! lanyards. 😎

We’re putting names to faces...literally. Staff IDs will soon be part of the everyday look across NPS.

One thing I want our community to understand is that a school district isn't run by a superintendent sitting alone in an office making mysterious decisions behind a closed door. At least this one isn't.

Ann Marie Nembirkow, Finance Director 

Chad Dunham, Director of Human Resources

Kate Zak, Director of Digital Literacy

Matt Holloway, Director of Student Services

Ben Taglieri, HS Principal

Keddie Loughrey, MS Principal

Dan Stern, Bridge Street Principal

Rebecca LeBeau, Ryan Road Principal

Lauren Brown, Jackson Street Principal

Anne Cromwell-Gapp, Leeds Principal

Turns out, it takes quite a few people to keep this whole thing moving. 

Cabinet is the leadership team I work alongside to wrestle with the hard stuff, pressure-test ideas, make decisions, and turn vision into action across NPS.

But here's something I didn't expect. During my Educator Forums, some staff started telling me that their leaders and colleagues seem more hopeful this year. Some even mentioned how much Cabinet members look forward to our weekly meetings.

That stopped me in my tracks. It reminded me that culture travels.

When our leaders feel supported, trusted, connected, and excited about what's possible, they carry that back into their schools. Educators feel it. Scholars experience it. And ultimately, that's what matters.

So building Cabinet as a team isn't really about Cabinet. It's about what leaves the room with us.

And yes, our meetings have agendas. Very detailed agendas. I'm still me, people. 😂

But apparently we've also created a meeting people actually look forward to attending.

If you've ever sat in your first IEP meeting and wondered whether everyone else received a secret special education dictionary that somehow missed your mailbox…

Special education is full of processes, timelines, terminology, acronyms, meetings, forms, and more acronyms. And caregivers shouldn't have to become special education experts just to understand what's happening with their child.

So I'm developing a series of short, family-friendly videos explaining some of the basics:

What should I expect at my child's first IEP meeting? 

What happens at an annual review? 

What's different about a three-year reevaluation?

Nothing fancy. No hour-long webinar. No 83-slide presentation. Just me, a camera, and 2–3 minute videos walking caregivers through what to expect before they ever walk into the room.

The goal is simple: help caregivers walk into the room feeling prepared, not overwhelmed.

Because the meeting shouldn’t be about figuring out the process. It should be about understanding, supporting, and planning for the person at the center of it all: their child. 💜

Depending on what you’ve heard lately, you might think NPS is one bad MCAS score away from receivership. 

You know…state officials packing their boxes, mapping the route to Northampton, and preparing to take the keys. 

Good news. They can stay home. 🫠

In fact, when you look at the actual data, there’s quite a bit worth celebrating.

That doesn’t mean everything is perfect. We have real challenges, some stubborn gaps, and places where our scholars simply aren’t making the progress we need them to make.

We can celebrate progress without declaring victory. And we can acknowledge challenges without declaring catastrophe.

Turns out, there’s quite a bit of space between “everything is perfect” and “the sky is falling.” 

I hope you join us at Thursday night's School Committee meeting!

Beautiful People, when I talk about NPS becoming a Destination District, I don't mean a shiny slogan we slap on a strategic plan and admire from a safe distance.

It's the cumulative effect of getting better at what matters: exploring new approaches, investing in our people, making systems easier for caregivers to navigate, strengthening safety and belonging, and being willing to ask whether there's a better way.

Dual language immersion could become one piece of that story. But this is bigger than any one program.

We shouldn't simply ask caregivers to choose NPS. We should give them compelling reasons to.

That’s where we’re headed.

Until next month…

Superintendent Annie