Chandler Elementary Community Meeting: April 14

The presentation here was the same, of course, as it was at Union Hill, so you won't see much change in those notes. The community comments were different, though. Boone in purple, Chandler Elementary community in gold, my comments in black italics.

crowd of maybe 60 or so people in the cafeteria at Chandler Elementary
lots more kids tonight

"about the future of Chandler Elementary School"
introduces CAO, Quadrant Manager
three current, two past School Committee members
two current city councilors
share some information about Level 4 schools
apologies to staff "it will be a little bit redundant"
ensure all students achieve at a high level
state's system for how it will rate schools: previously schools that did not reach goals that were expected were deemed "priority schools" : WPS a Commissioner's district due to # of Priority Schools (13 in WPS)
new accountability system ranked Level 1 through Level 5
Level 4 schools, there has been some progress
Worcester will have 29 Level 3 schools, again some progress, but not on the level it needs to be (to be sure it doesn't become Level 4 or 5)
used four years of data "primarily of MCAS" 2006-09
CPI index, growth data ("how much are kids growing") on MCAS
50% of students showed expected growth on that time period : "that's good news..challenging news that 50% didn't show expected growth" on MCAS
20% of lowest performing schools in the state, but no more than 72 schools that are Level 4 or 5
35 schools are currently deemed Level 4 (Boston had 11, Springfield has 9, Holyoke has 4)
17,000 students are in Level 4 schools
she asks for a show of hands of who among the parents have heard of No Child Left Behind (there are very few hands that go up)
Obama administration looking at not just scores that students make
MA recognizes that it takes a lot of support to get students achieving
"expectations for student achievement...has created some funding opportunities...have some strings attached to them"
School Turnaround Grants above and beyond money going to schools, additional money to turn around schools
federal gov't : 1. Turnaround model (50% of teachers replaced and the principal) 2. School closure 3. outside operator 4. Transformation model (principal replaced, teachers evaluated on student assessment, time use, instructional best practices)
model 4 has been chosen : "first of all, I do not believe there is any school in the city of Worcester where 50% of teachers need to be replaced for the schools to be successful...do not have space" for 300+ students in another school...charter school option "I think we can run our own schools with the right level of support...not a recommendation I'd make to the School Committee"
fourth model "makes the most sense...much more balanced approach to how you turnaround a school"
"trouble is..that it requires that we replace the principal if the principal has been here for more than two years...there is no single group that has led to a school being designated Level 4...has served this community for many years...wanted to say in his presense..not the teachers' fault, not the parents' fault...collectively as a community we just haven't gotten it to fit well"
standing ovation started by teachers, joined by parents
"he has not been fired as an eductor in the Worcester Public Schools...will continue to be an asset in this district...see him around in this district..still a valuable member of this community...fired to me means you have no seat on the bus...will be a member"
Monday "after a lot of angst and agony" SC voted for funds
What are the next steps?
Stakeholder group : turnaround plan, 13 members: admin, teachers, union, parent, community member, Quadrant manager, early ed, workforce development (to strengthen the families)
timeline: what happens going forward?
applying for funds, members of group appointed, group has 45 days to look at data to figure out how to move forward
Superintendent creates a plan that will be "embraced by the community and the School Committee"
redesign team at the school of teachers, parents to implement plan
teams brought together to kick this off: orientation
what will team by focusing on?
13 essential conditions : stakeholder group and superintenent uses as a foundation for what should be in place
best teachers, aligned curriculum, leadership authority, effective instruction, student assessment (monitoring), professional development and time for collaboration ("there's a lot we could do with professional development"), extended time (which Chandler has already "are there ways we can continue to look at our time more effectively?"), social/emotional/health needs, parents ("it doesn't mean parents show up in this building every day"), use of resources and budgeting
data mining : "Our schools have started using a lot of data" work with Focus on Results
"have to look really deeply...look at things that perhaps we haven't paid attention to...dismissal rate..mobility rate...need to validate some of our thinking around some of the data...how many students aren't making it from grade level to grade level...look at these data points for every group of parents in this building"
by grade level, by race and ethnicity, by English Language Learners, by disability
MCAS data, health needs
"aren't just doing things that feel good to us or we'd like to do, but get at the challenges in the center of the data"
state will work with district to create benchmarks
"we're doing these things, but what are we doing them for?"
"have three years in this plan to improve the school"
"having to look closely at those 29 Level 3 schools...continue to accelerate progress for all students...everybody has to achieve..need to continue to do what we do"
analyze and evaluate what's going on with these community supports (Chandler is a community school)
haven't evaluated what programs we have in place; "if we've done certain things, have they made a difference, and should we keep it or not"
"how do we stop doing things that don't make a difference and start doing other things?"

What's the best parts of Chandler Elementary?
What are the challenges?
What will it take for Chandler to be an outstanding school?

hoping to put some things together so principal and faculty can do some summer planning so they are ready to move forward together

Parent and community questions
asks teachers to hold their questions so that parents can take this chance, as there will be a faculty meeting on the 4th

does Springfield have NONE? no, they have 9 (Boone says it's her Southern accent)

Mary Keefe thought it was really interesting "what this money can be spent on, gave us a list"
federal gov't still defining the full scope of work, some of them are revising curriculum, additional instructional materials, technology, extending day...just about anything you imagine the money can be used for it can be BUT cannot be used to offset budget cuts in the city
cannot take money out of Chandler and replace it with the federal money
budget for school will be developed after the plan is developed
"as a school, it will go through zero based budgeting. Just because we've done it in the past, doesn't mean we should continue to"

"you said the problem is not the principal, not the teachers, not the parents..do you think a new principal will change the school?"
"your question is at the heart of the national debate over" the philosophy
"if we just change the structure and don't change anything else...much more focused approach to what we're doing...there's a difference set of energy in the building"
"not just an arbitrary system...throwing the baby out with the bathwater...everybody has to go along with this model"
whether it's proven or not"

law says that ELL must be looked at for a Level 4 school (kudos to this woman for having gone through the law! She's absolutely right; ELL also has to have a parent team in schools with ELL above a particular percentage)
focusing on literary, children with disabilities, children who are ELL, college and career ready
"drilling very deeply on some data around English Language Learners"
"part of a pilot program...work with building principals to better support ELL in their buildings...training to be used statewide"
"a lot of data support"
"how we serve our population..best practices across the country...what are they doing to be successful for student achievement"
students not doing as well academically, 'though they are doing very well at learning English
not doing as well once they have less language support
36 Title I schools in the state recognized for their work with ELL students
"some pockets of concern and some pockets of " good things

Councilor Haller asks what impact it will have on it being a community school
Boone suspects it will be considered one of the best parts of Chandler
language in act that supports social, emotional, health needs...good argument for continuing
"I think that's going to be key in the success of this particular school"
how are we asking the right questions to align the needs of the community
supports we could put in place
healthy families are a part of community achievement
Haller asks if there is money in the FY11 budget for community schools; right now it is level funded for next year
cites the work with Worcester Interfaith on community schools

Boone says it's an awfully quiet group of parents

Question: does the money carry over to the following year? maximum of $500,000 for three years
intent is to use these funds for these years
"have to make some clear decisions about how we use those funds...once we've done the restructuring and redesign, then the school is on the path for the future...have to look at what it will take for the schools to go forward...what are the ongoing financial resources...get some heavy lifting for those first three years"

Mary Keefe announcing that she's proud of the parents that are here
collecting names and contact information
Spanish translation of the same
thanks staff for "working with us"

first of several of these: "we're in this together"

Question : do we need to hire more teachers?
we'll look at it
doesn't automatically mean that we need more

Steve Patton, former city councilor, cites the community health program at Elm Park Community
"could this be used to put a school-based health center in this building?"
Boone says we could, but that would be about all we could do with those funds
if that's a huge need, we may need to see if we can find partners
Woodland Academy lost theirs because the grant was cut

question about daughter being very nervous about taking the MCAS
what support are you going to give for that?
"things that are already going on...as adults we tranfer our anxiety to our children...make sure that children aren't afraid of showing all that they've done"

Boone says this is not early release: please look at these key questions