blogging on education in Worcester, in Massachusetts, and in America
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Level 4 schools in Worcester
There will be more on this tomorrow, but Worcester Magazine has it right: there are two Level 4 schools, as declared by the state. They are Union Hill and Chandler Elementary.
I am totally appalled that the State is now playing a role in District personnel decisions. Jim Caradonio would have seen this one coming down the Pike and rallied his colleagues from other districts to prevent state intervention.
This is where that Memorandum of Understanding is going to come back and bite WPS in the hind quarters. The Worcester School Committee, by majority vote (remember Tracey vote no), agreed that the four options of doom were acceptable. The teachers union signed on too, so whatever happens they've already pre-agreed.
Well, we can turn down the STG grant. If we say we don't want the federal money, we don't have to play by the federal rules. And it's federal rules, here, Joan. While the state did explain all of this to WPS, it's those four Duncan turnaround models that Jim mentions.
Believe me, no one in Worcester knew federal legislation more than I did. In my Dec 15 post regading the MOU I expressed concern regarding the payback of these dollars if Worcester did not meet the State set timelines, etc. I think the State is playing hard ball so they can tell the feds in their RTTT Show and Tell Meeting what they have just done in MA to the Level 4 schools. I guess my original post wasn't stated correctly. Jim C would have made sure that every single school committee memebr understood the consequences and not sold out the district for such little monies. Once autonomy is gone, it is almost impossible to get back. This is truly a sad day for the WPS.
5 comments:
I am totally appalled that the State is now playing a role in District personnel decisions. Jim Caradonio would have seen this one coming down the Pike and rallied his colleagues from other districts to prevent state intervention.
This is where that Memorandum of Understanding is going to come back and bite WPS in the hind quarters. The Worcester School Committee, by majority vote (remember Tracey vote no), agreed that the four options of doom were acceptable. The teachers union signed on too, so whatever happens they've already pre-agreed.
Well, we can turn down the STG grant. If we say we don't want the federal money, we don't have to play by the federal rules.
And it's federal rules, here, Joan. While the state did explain all of this to WPS, it's those four Duncan turnaround models that Jim mentions.
Believe me, no one in Worcester knew federal legislation more than I did. In my Dec 15 post regading the MOU I expressed concern regarding the payback of these dollars if Worcester did not meet the State set timelines, etc. I think the State is playing hard ball so they can tell the feds in their RTTT Show and Tell Meeting what they have just done in MA to the Level 4 schools. I guess my original post wasn't stated correctly. Jim C would have made sure that every single school committee memebr understood the consequences and not sold out the district for such little monies. Once autonomy is gone, it is almost impossible to get back. This is truly a sad day for the WPS.
Oh, I think you're right about telling the fed how we're doing.
And yes, it's about money, for certain.
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