Spirit of Knowledge profile (and Seven Hills, too)

so, let's all remember: New charter schools were to serve UNDERSERVED students to close the achievement gap.
So we asked about Spirit of Knowledge...
You can find the charts here. Admin has included information about Seven Hills, as well, as we had an outstanding motion on that as well. Go look at the numbers!
Spirit of Knowledge serves 31.2% low income students; WPS serves 70.1%
SoKA serves 11.9% special education students; WPS 20.9%
SoKA serves 15.6% ELL; WPS 24.3

In terms of demographics, WPS is 38.2% white, 37.5% Hispanic (using federal terms here), 15.1% Black, 8.6% Asian, 0.6% Native American
SoKA stats: 30.3% white, 30.3 Hispanic, 30.3 Black, 8.3 Asian, 0.9 Native American

Nearly all the kids who came from WPS were ALREADY DOING WELL on MCAS when they left to go to Spirit of Knowledge.
Perda: "the more academically able"
Mayor O'Brien: "not what the Governor had in mind"

Foley: "Those who heard the platitive cries of those starting " the Spirit of Knowledge
compares numbers
"the pool is not similar to what we have in Worcester"
"should not be surprised when their MCAS scores come out if they are perhaps higher than the Worcester Public Schools average"
pre-selectivity of parents who opt out, parents who are engaged, parents who are savvy enough to find out when the lottery is, parents who opt out
"take no joy in the failure of any school"

O'Connell reviews the numbers
means of re-segregating education in Massachusetts, not necessarily in race

Mullaney: why are parents leaving our school system?

Mayor O'Brien: I and other members went to the hearing and heard this grandious statement that this was about closing the achievement gap
we presented all the data showing that this school and others
using that success to justify this charter
"we have been hoodwinked..and we need to take this on the road"

Boone: introspection that we have to do as a system
"urban is not a description of children; urban is a description of where our children live"

Novick: citation of the law, they have to a plan to attract and retain students of similar profile to the sending district
requests the retention plan
petition the Board of Education for time on their agenda (on how well this is succeeding)

Monfredo: asks that we send a letter to the Governor, state delegation