A team of educators from New England will conduct an on-site Collaborative Conference visit to Joel Barlow High School on Dec. 4 and 5. The Collaborative Conference is the next step in the 10-year accreditation process conducted by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Commission on Public Schools.
The visit is the culmination of a year-long “Self-Reflection” process, when an internal team of faculty and staff wrote a detailed report outlining the degree to which Barlow meets the NEASC standards of accreditation. During the visit, the team will spend two days observing classrooms, speaking with administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and parents, and reviewing evidence to understand “who we are, our values and core beliefs, and our upcoming priorities and initiatives,” according to a press release from Dr. Mario Almeida, assistant superintendent and head of school.
The team will write a report that will outline its goals for the next two years in time for the culminating NEASC Decennial Visit in 2026.
“We look forward to this visit and the team’s feedback,” Almeida stated. “Our visitors are also educators and are currently active leaders in their schools. They know and understand how high schools work. When they provide their report, they will give us commendations and recommendations that we can use for improving our school system over the next two years.”
The NEASC accreditation review cycle is a 10-year process. At the end of the cycle, the same team, where possible, will return to conduct the Decennial Visit to determine the extent of the progress made during those two years.
Amity Regional High School Associate Principal Monica Kreuzer will chair the visiting team. Other team members are educators and administrators from a variety of schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They include Assistant Chair Dominique Galvez, world language teacher at East Hampton High School; Katherine Howard-Bender, assistant principal at Ludlow High School; Danielle McCauley, physical education teacher at Pomperaug Regional School District #15; and Kristen Mucinskas, English teacher at Wethersfield High School.
Almeida thanked Barlow’s internal team, especially Steering Committee members and two NEASC chairs, Angela Staron, humanities department chair, and Scott Reimold, school counselor, for the efforts they made on writing the comprehensive report over the last 12 months.
