Thursday, April 8, 2010

First restructuring meeting: April 5, North High

What follows here are a compilation of my tweets from the meeting at North High. Please bear in mind that I was limited to 140 characters and that I was texting this on a phone!

  • Competition 4 fed grants cited. 'continuous improvement'
  • 'have resources other communities don't'
  • Signature programs @ each school. 'Brand outcompetes other'
  • 'the system has not been managed in a way that's helpful' 'smooth out class sizes'
  • Question about current disparities among schools.
  • What would we be losing 2 do this? 'dead-end courses' (example?)
  • Query if we can depend on volunteers. Mulqueen asserts we can & must try. Asserts we must.
  • Mulqueen says if not every child can choose to go to college, we have failed.
  • 'Not a matter of going from zero to 60 says Mulqueen. At the start, he says.
  • If you do not have the buy in from the staff you will go nowhere. Biancheria
  • How are we going 2 handle the disciplinary issues?

4 comments:

Neil and Joan said...

Tracy, was this comment made by Mulqueen, 'the system has not been managed in a way that's helpful'? As a member of the former management team, I would like you, as a school committee member, to know that I take offense at this outsider's view of what happened in the district prior to his arrival. Neither he nor the Superintendent met with experienced members of the former administration. While I have never met him, I cannot believe the condescending attitude this man exhibits in his comments. Jim Caradonio would never have allowed one of these meetings, or ANY meeting for that matter, to take place without chart paper, a recorder, and his administrative staff present. It is great to say, write it down on paper, but I think he does not know the district if he believes that every parent can read and write. You are to be commended for keeping an "unofficial" record of these very public meetings.

Tracy Novick said...

Joan, that was Mulqueen speaking.

Neil and Joan said...

I know that, Tracy. Sorry that I didn;t specifically identify the "outsider". It was a little late when I wrote this.

Tracy Novick said...

Oh, no problem! It's a bit unclear with the tweeting, I think. I'll be typing at all the future meetings.