Board of Ed: literacy law implementation

 They're now adding a meeting to Monday night at 6 PM

there's a report here but there's also a PowerPoint which I wonder if we will get
anticipate bringing regulations in October as law "is quite prescriptive"
we're doing some retrospective stuff

curricular requirements:

Board of Ed: assessment and accountability results

 Martinez: start from an asset-based perspective
there's a memo here but it doesn't have a lot

Board of Ed for September: opening comments

 I'm under the weather, so this one is coming to you remotely...

The agenda is here; the livestream is here. 

DESE has extended the embargo of  assessment and accountability results until 11 AM today.

Kids losing school lunch due to federal SNAP cuts

 I have noted it several times on here already, but there is an opinion piece in The 74 discussing the loss of access to free meals due to SNAP cuts: 

Last summer, Congress made devastating cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing nearly 5 million Americans — including an estimated 1.5 million children — to lose their benefits. In doing so, those children lost their automatic eligibility for free school meals. Access to free meals is also now threatened for entire school districts in high poverty areas. This is a crisis hiding in plain sight, and as kids return to the classroom, it is hitting families and schools hard.

Feedback on the WPS rezoning

Submitted this evening to alignment@worcesterschools.net

I went to the most recent meeting

Thank you for providing a method for feedback for the proposals for rezoning the Worcester Public Schools.
Because I have been following this process entirely through the printed reports, I assumed that I was simply missing the place that the foundational data for decision-making, that of demographic changes proposed, were being shared. I attended this past week's subcommittee meeting in expectation of seeing what had, at least, changed for that between proposals one and two.
Nothing of the kind was shared, and, I found from asking after the meeting, nothing of the kind has been requested by the district.

The Board of Ed meets this week

 And it is MCAS and Accountability release week.

The agenda for the Board of Ed can be found here. The MCAS data will go up on the school and district profiles at 10 AM Tuesday. As a reminder, always check the accountability data, as it's much more complex than just the testing, which will inevitably grab the headlines. 

(Yes, that's why that whole section of the website will be offline starting at 3 tomorrow.)

In addition to the release of MCAS data and accountability status, the Board has some start-of-the-year housekeeping--election of the vice chair, introduction of the new student member, the appointment of subcommittees--plus something on the literacy law implementation, which expanded the Department's authorities on determining what curricula is used, a power that had belonged to school committees in Massachusetts until now. 

There's also an update on DESE's strategic plan. In one of the ongoingly places I find the relationship between the Commissioner and Board confusing, it appears the Commissioner is simply announcing it, not presenting it for approval, despite (I'd assume?) the Board being in charge of setting of goals and overall direction. 

the first appointees to the Foundation Budget Review Commission

 While some of the Commission is set by the legislation, some are appointed. Governor Healey today announced her picks: 

 Governor Maura Healey has appointed Kristen Smidy and Amy O’Leary to the Foundation Budget Review Commission. 

Smidy is the former superintendent of the Gateway Regional School District and currently serves on the Board of Ed; O'Leary is the  Executive Director of Strategies for Children. Both are from western Mass, which the Governor notes in her press release.