October Board of Ed: advancing student learning (the "vision" section)

 and Johnston opens with what was clearly "class you're still talking" voice

This is the "educational vision" section

October Board of Ed: accountability update

 on underperforming and chronically underperforming schools

THREE SCHOOLS COMING OUT OF SUCH STATUS TODAY; ONE DISTRICT

October Board of Ed: on the commissioner's search

 search process is underway with Isaacson, Miller

Craven
Tutwiler
Fisher
West

...have been appointed to the search (screening) committee)

interviews with Board members

PUBLIC SURVEY GOING LIVE TODAY which I will link to when I find it

Now linked! 

October Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting: opening comments

 The agenda is here; livestream is here

My notes from last night are here

and the meeting has started, but there is no sound on the broadcast...

Special meeting of the Board of Ed: voke admissions (part I)

 The agenda is here; the livestream is going to go up here.

Meeting opened by Vice Chair Hills (with an amazing amount of noise behind him)
Johnston opens by saying it will be looking at the impact of the last engineering change
quotes “Every system is perfectly designed to get the result that it does.” (W. Edwards Deming)

Tonight's agenda:

The Board of Ed meets tonight and tomorrow

 Note that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education not only meets tomorrow (for their regular monthly meeting); they meet TONIGHT for the first of two of what they're calling "study sessions" on vocational admissions. That meeting is only online and starts at 5.

The regular meeting is tomorrow, starts at 9, and includes:

1.  updates on accountability for Holyoke Public Schools, John Avery Parker (New Bedford), Van Sickle Academy (Springfield), High School of Commerce (Springfield), Oliver Middle School (Lawrence) 
2. information on what they're calling a "Curriculum Data Dashboard" 
3. literacy reviews in Educator Preparation and Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Program  
4. and "Continuation of DESE's Strategy to Advance Student Learning, Including Potential New Initiatives"

(can we talk about this thing where Every Major Word Is Capitalized in Agenda Items?)

Agenda for all of that is here. Livestream will come up here.

Two to read on the ballot question on MCAS

I've been ongoingly disappointed at how poorly informed most of the discussion of the MCAS ballot question is (insert my ongoing observation that there is actual data and things happening at the Board of Ed meetings, which should have much more attention), but here are two pieces I'd recommend: 

• The Boston University Statehouse Program has taken a look at the lack of clarity on both (yes, both) sides of the ballot question funding. You can find the piece by Ava Berger published in The Cape Cod Times, which is providing access to the article for free as a public service (subscribe to your local newspapers, people!).
  
  
• I find it helps to have outside perspective on things, so The New York Times look today at the ballot question, which puts it into the national post-pandemic context is interesting. (And that's a gift link)

Recommended reading

• You may have recognized how damaging the right-wing assault on school districts has been, but now there's a first attempt to calculate how expensive it has been. The answer: $3.2 billion. The report, posted through UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, is here. You can also find coverage in The Guardian, K-12 Dive, Chalkbeat, EdWeek
  
  
• Coming in this week's New York Times Magazine is this long read on cheer: how it became a dominant sport, how dangerous it is for girls, and how it's probably violating anti-trust laws. That's a gift link, so read and share. 
  
  
• In both Oklahoma and Louisiana, educators and parents are suing their respective states to stop mandates for Bibles (Oklahoma) and the Ten Commandments (LA) in the classroom. 
  
  
• I really appreciated this opinion piece from New Bedford superintendent Andrew O'Leary on vocational school funding.
  
  
• I appreciated the paragraphs in this piece regarding San Francisco on position control.

Why I'm voting no on question 2 regarding the competency determination

 DISCLAIMER: I WRITE THE FOLLOWING AS ME, SPEAKING ONLY FOR ME. I DO NOT HERE (EVER) SPEAK FOR MY EMPLOYER, FOR ANY ORGANIZATION FOR WHICH I SERVE IN ANY CAPACITY, OR FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN ME.

THUS NO, YOU MAY NOT QUOTE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING IN ANY OF THOSE CAPACITIES.

However, the speech rights of any individual are strongly protected by the federal Constitution, and even more strongly protected by the state Constitution. I've been asked several times offline how I'm voting on this question; I have shared my thinking as I outline it here.

Early warning on FY26

Please enjoy this fall tree from the Berkshires.
It is the most positive thing in this blog post.

A quick note from me (as I am swamped over here):

While DESE won't set the official inflation rate for the foundation budget until the end of December, using data that doesn't close until the end of October, the change in the rate of the implicit price deflator for state and local governments so far is running below 2% this fall. 

In other words, the inflation rate for next year's foundation rate, as written into statute, would again be very low.

I would strongly recommend getting this onto your legislator's radar ASAP.

MASC folks, you'll see this more formally in the next bulletin.

On my dad

My dad Bill O'Connell, me, and my mom

My dad died Saturday.

We buried him today. Here is what I said at his funeral:

Attorney General's office finds the MA Board of Elementary and Secondary Education violated the Open Meeting Law at their January meeting

 In a finding issued yesterday, the Attorney General's office found that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education violated the Open Meeting Law at their January meeting, when Chair Craven invited a panel of speakers to address them on antisemitism without any public notice. 

My notes from that portion are here; a comment from me is here.