First Worcester School Committee meetings of the new term (and a few notes from me)

The first Worcester School Committee agendas of the new term are posted, as the first meetings of the year take place over the course of the inauguration evening:

1. The Committee meets before the meeting to draw seats and to take a straw poll on the position of vice chair (the Worcester School Committee elects their own vice chair each year). The seats, for those not familiar with Worcester's arrangement, are assigned for the two year term in the Esther Howland Chamber at City Hall, where the City Council also meets: 
   
   Because the Council has eleven members including the mayor, there are ten desks (the Mayor chairs all meetings from the dais), of which the School Committee uses six.
   The straw poll for vice chair is a dry run for the actual vote which takes place during the ceremony.
   
2. During the Inauguration, the Committee votes for vice chair for the year. The rules of the Committee say:
   A Vice-Chairperson shall be chosen for the year ensuing from the members of the School Committee by a vive voca vote, each member present answering to his name when called by the Clerk or other proper officer, stating the name of the person for whom he votes, or that he declines to vote. The Clerk or other proper such official shall record every vote. 
   In Worcester, the School Committee vice chair has no independent authority; they simply run the meeting when the Mayor isn't there (which, to his credit, isn't often under Joe Petty's mayoralty). 
3. After the Inauguration, the Committee votes to accept "the policies and by-laws of the previous School Committee to be in force until changes are accepted," so they have something under which to continue to meet. 

As it happens, we'll already be violating the rules, as they also say that the organizational meeting is to take place on the first Monday in January. Instead, of course, the meeting is on this coming Thursday; it's less of an issue as the meeting will simply have taken place already. 

As the School Committee members get an email when an agenda is posted, my plan is to post links to those on my School Committee Facebook page as well as on Twitter (as I did here); I've missed more than one subcommittee meeting in the past due simply to not knowing it was scheduled, so I'll do my best to help with getting that information out.

While I do plan to continue to post a gloss of at least the full Committee meetings here, as I have for...years, at this point, there may be a bit of a change, as I began to note over here, and I want to talk a little bit about why.
The code of ethics under which school committee members in Massachusetts operate, found in full here, has two pieces that, in my mind, particularly are relevant around social media and serving as a member: 

• under "relations with administration," one is to "[r]efer all complaints to the administrative staff for solution and only discuss them at Committee meetings if such solutions fail." I frame this as "don't stick it on an agenda if you can do it with a phone call," but it also means that complaints, as a member, go to those who can fix them, not to the larger universe, unless that becomes necessary. Frankly, I'd always rather have things fixed than make it a point that I had anything to do with the fixing, so you may see fewer public Worcester concerns here and elsewhere online. Please know that doesn't mean they aren't being voiced, which may well include from the floor as needed. 
• under "relations with fellow members," one is to "[r]ealize that they should not make statements or promises of how they will vote on matters that will come before the Committee." This can be a tough one to hear and a tough one to do. What it does, however, is respects the role deliberation during a meeting is to have in the public process of making decisions. New members are told--and thoughtful long-serving members know well--that there will come a time or more when you come in thinking you'll vote one way, but the discussion or information presented shifts your perspective. That's how public deliberation is supposed to work!
  That is going to mean, however, somewhat less opining on matters on upcoming agenda items, as my discussion of them and deciding on them as a member should be happening during the public meeting. 

I'm also just going to note: at this point, this blog has almost twelve years of my thoughts on education, so...lots is out there, in any case. 

I am acutely aware of the space that I fill.
I'm going to do my best. 

City of Worcester Inauguration

Yes, it's open to the public, and please do come.

For today

The Second Coming

William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer; 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; 

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, 

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned; 

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity. 

Surely some revelation is at hand; 

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi 

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep 

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 

posted yesterday on Twitter by Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune

Most read in 2015

Unless I suddenly start getting a lot of traffic on a blog post I wasn't I expecting, I don't pay a lot of attention to my analytics, but here's my once-a-year look at what was most read.

As usual, the top hit is just the front page, meaning that there are a lot of you who just come by to see what's new. That's increasingly unusual these days; most blog traffic is driven by links. I appreciate--and will try to stay attentive to--the faith that I have something new and worth reading up!

1. The single post with the most hits (not surprising, given last year's weather) was this post on how snow days and the Worcester Public Schools calendar works. That was an evolving post, as I fielded questions about how the calendar works and how WPS was going to deal with the days off. With luck, we won't need that information so urgently this year!
2. Governor Baker's FY16 budget proposal and its impact on urban districts had the second highest number of hits this year. YES, YOU SHOULD BOOKMARK THIS ONE FOR THIS YEAR!
3. This one seems to be caught in a bigger search: "special education" brings you the interviews for a new special education director back in 2012. 
4. Given that the national Massachusetts education story was on testing, it makes sense that the liveblog of the Board of Ed's deliberation on that decision would make this list.
5. For a bit the only place with any public information on this was here: the proposal to make Chandler Magnet's field a parking lot for Worcester State. 
6. My notes from the March 5 update on North High at Worcester School Committee saw a lot of traffic.
7. I posted my testimony before the Board of Ed on MCAS or PARCC. 
8. Governor Baker appointed two new members to the Board of Ed in September, and Google is our friend on these.
9. Baker's inaugural a year ago had some language on education, but not much for the education of most kids. 
10. ...which was borne out a month later by his choices in midyear budget cuts. 

It's always interesting to me to see the mix of Worcester and state on these. As I said earlier, my blogging on Worcester will continue, but will be more focused on the superintendent search and the budget; the state blogging will continue...and more to come on that. 

Mayor Petty assigns committee assignments for 2014-2016

Mayor Petty announced this term's subcommittee assignments for the Worcester School Committee.
And there are changes!

Accountability and Student Achievement
Dianna Biancheria, chair
John Monfredo, vice chair
Brian O'Connell

Finance and Operations
Jack Foley, chair
Hilda Ramirez, vice chair
Tracy O'Connell Novick

Governance and Employee Issues
John Monfredo, chair
Tracy O'Connell Novick, vice chair
Jack Foley

Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports
Brian O'Connell, chair
Dianna Biancheria, vice chair
Hilda Ramirez


And just a reminder here that the Worcester School Committee votes in their own vice chair (it is not, as the Council's is, set by municipal charter) during the inauguration. Our vice chairs serve a single year term; it will rotate next January.
We'll also pull seating assignments (pull, yes: it's random!) and vote in our rules on Thursday.

Inauguration 2014

And when we say "Open to the public," we mean it! Please come.

Inauguration Day

The 2012-13 Worcester School Committee taking their oath of office (the above swiped from clbergpowers' Twitter feed)

I will be serving as Vice Chair this year.

Worcester's Inauguration

While it appears to have somehow missed the T&G altogether (there's a nice chart in the printed section that lists the inaugurals for Marlboro, Gardner, Leominster, and Fitchburg), there is in fact an inauguration in Worcester tomorrow, as well!
(to be fair, they do have articles on both the outgoing and incoming Worcester mayors, just no useful time and date info on the turnover.)

It is, however, happening, and, yes, open to the public!

Tomorrow at 5 pm at Worcester Technical High School (that's up on Skyline Drive next to Green Hill Park)
There will be free transportation available from City Hall at 4:30 pm (and some officials, including the new Mayor, are taking it!).

And a note here on labels: I'll continue my custom of referencing the City Manager as "O'Brien," while I'll add a new label for the new mayor of "Mayor O'Brien."

UPDATE: They waited until Monday.