A Statement of Appreciation From School Committee for Gretchen Morse-Dobosz’s Leadership Though The Pandemic Year
Although Superintendent/Principal Gretchen Morse-Dobosz is not due for a formal evaluation during the 2020-21 school year, we want to acknowledge her creative and inspirational leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Morse-Dobosz has worked tirelessly and proactively to protect the learning and work environment for all students and faculty at R.H. Conwell. She quickly learned about public health protocols and procedures and best practices for online learning. She was proactive about sharing information and ideas from other superintendents and districts and from state leadership with the school committee. She remained accessible and responsive to parents when questions and concerns or needs were raised.
Early in the summer, Morse-Dobosz skillfully engaged staff and parents in a task-force planning process to help develop a learning plan for the 2020-21 school year. As a result of this process, the school committee was able to come to the difficult but exciting decision to return to school fully in-person (rather than hybrid or remote), learning outside in tent classrooms through Thanksgiving and again in April.
Throughout the school year, Morse-Dobosz has:
- Held ongoing weekly task force meetings with staff to evaluate effectiveness of systems and policies
- With the regular and interim nurse, maintained communication with the Board of Health as needed to monitor local and school COVID status
- Sought input and feedback from staff and parents through questionnaires, staff meetings, informal conversations, and Zoom forums about how the year is going
- Responded to requests from parents and school committee members for more communication about school-related COVID issues
- Paid close attention to the way the pandemic disruptions have affected students’ learning and emotional wellbeing and implemented additional educational and emotional supports to attend to increased need.
Morse-Dobosz has managed all this with exceptional grace and positivity. We appreciate her leadership during this difficult year.
With gratitude,
Worthington School Committee
Alison Todd, Chair
Amanda Brooks-Clemeno
Pam Thompson
Cai Walkowiak
Susan Warner