Wayland School Committee appoints Debbie Dixon as interim student services director

WAYLAND — June 21, 2023 — Wayland fills interim student services post after state grants critical shortage waiver. The School Committee unanimously appointed Debbie Dixon, a Wayland resident and former Sudbury and Franklin special education director, after Incoming Superintendent David Fleischman personally lobbied Commissioner Jeff Riley to approve a waiver allowing the retired educator to collect both her pension and a full salary. Acting Superintendent Perry Graham said the state has grown "much more stringent" on such waivers since COVID. The committee also heard first-year data from Claypit Hill's new Language-Based Classroom: one fourth grader's oral reading fluency rose from 48 words per minute at 91 percent accuracy to 137 words at 97 percent, and nine of 10 students met or exceeded expected annual growth. Parent Courtney Connery, speaking for the SEPAC, pressed the district to notify kindergarten families of dyslexia screening results within 30 school days rather than waiting until January.