Notes from CPPAC: finished!

(CPPAC, for those of you without a running list of abbreviations in your head, is the Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Council. In theory, every school has two representatives to this body; in practice, many parents, even those active in PTO's, have never heard of it. It meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 7 pm at the downtown library, and all parents, in fact all community members, are welcome to attend.)

Two numbers jumped out at me from a length presentation by Judy Thompson (who head the Child Study office):

• 65% of Worcester public school students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. That's last year's number; it's expected to be higher this year.
• 10% of Worcester public school students are homeless (by McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act standards, which include kids in foster care and in transitional housing). That is September's number.

I don't know that there's anything to add to that but "wow."


The Curriculum Subcommittee of the School Committee is waiting for a report back from the Administration on requiring four years of math in the Worcester Public Schools.

There's hope that we'll have hired a new superintendent by the end of the week. We're "getting some language straightened out."

And, here's something to look forward to: the Worcester Public School's contract with teachers expires in August. Negotiations, here we come!