Worcester School Committee meets September 18

The Worcester School Committee has its regularly scheduled meeting this Thursday, September 18, at 7 pm at City Hall. You can find the agenda here.
First up, recognitions! Worcester Tech English teacher Caitlin McCarthy is being recognized for her Kathleen Roberts Creative Leadership Award from the MTA. Ms. McCarthy was recognized for her work on diethylstilbestrol (DES) (a synthetic estrogren) and its impact on those who have been exposed in utero. For more on that, see here. 
We had a great event this summer, seeing some nice work at Worcester East Middle School's library, due to their librarian Sarah Kopka and the grant she received from Heart of America. That, with volunteers from AbbVie, led to a lovely library!
Jennifer Cordero, a student at Doherty, was selected for the Hispanic Youth Research and Leadership program at the University of New Mexico.
And the Worcester Bravehearts baseball team, along with others, instructed some of our youth in solar and STEM topics this summer.

The report of the Superintendent is (my personal favorite) the opening of school report! The presentation is not yet posted. Should you want to know how the beginning of school went, or all those numbers that go into running a system of 25,000 students, this is the report for you!

"Worcester: the City That Reads and Smiles!" kicks off on October 3. We're going to be hearing from Jen Carey on that during the meeting. 
A recommendation from Mr. O'Connell coming in that we acknowledge the late Rep. Binienda.
Mr. O'Connell wants to try out standing desks. 


We have this great list of facilities work that was done over the summer. 

We are being asked to approve three grants: one for $16,500 from the Mass Biotechnology Education Foundation for science equipment for Worcester East Middle School; $15,000 from the Verizon Foundation for STEM education for grade 5; and $31,200 for "professional development innovation" from the state (I don't know what that last one means, either, but I'll ask.)


Mr. Monfredo is asking about additional bullying prevention programs for October, and the bowling club at Tech. 
I'm asking that we give our student advisory council space on the agenda. 

And it's INTERNATIONAL WALK TO SCHOOL DAY on October 8; please plan to celebrate!

Miss Ramirez proposes honoring Candles to Crayons.
Ms. Biancheria is asking for a review of procedures for kindergartners getting on and off buses.

We're being asked to approve school year calendars through 2018! 
We're being asked to approve the appointment of a nurse.

And we have two items in executive session (which starts at 6, which is going to be interesting, as the City Council now has a meeting at 5:30): collective bargaining with nurses, and an update on litigation.