Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Don't shoot the messenger

As I noted in my post on the last Worcester School Committee meeting, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is coming to present on the Worcester Public Schools' accountability and disciplinary data at the invitation of Mayor Petty and the Worcester School Committee at the School Committee meeting on October 17.
This invitation, of course, is as a result of the work around equity that has gone on from the Mayor's Commission on Latino Education and Excellence, but also the organizing work by students, and others, including Worcester Interfaith who has hosted the Worcester Coalition for Educational Equity.
Tomorrow the Coalition is hosting a convening about the state of the schools. The Coalition is also suggesting the community turn out to hear the report of the Department regarding Worcester's data.

In response, it seems, some who have been most allied with Superintendent Binienda are calling faith communities, arguing that this is an attack on the Superintendent, and proposing that they withdraw their support for Worcester Interfaith.

Deep breath here, folks.

Setting aside for a minute the relative propriety of such proposals, can we understand what this actually says? Organizing around the state of the schools and asking people to hear the state talk about the data the district itself reports on the schools is not an attack on the leadership of the schools.
Unless, of course, the leadership of the schools doesn't like what the data says and has no real response to it.

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