a few notes on Finance and Operations

F&O met at noon today. The main reason for the meeting was to get our renewed application into the state for funding for Nelson Place. This went through with some discussion around the crumbling of the structure. It turns out that when the building was built in 1927, we were between technologies; it was built with masonry and steel, and we didn't quite know how to do that well yet. While the building is currently stable, it was built in a way that's going to continue to require ongoing "shoring up"...thus the application to the state to replace the school.
Also on the agenda: administration came back with a response to Mrs. Mullaney's item regarding students accessing their course schedules prior to the start of school.
From the tech side, they can get this ready to go by August 2011. They're working with the academic side.
So here's the thing: the Worcester Public Schools is a big system. 24,000 kids, 3,500 staff, 44 buildings...huge. Getting things changed/done/fixed sometimes seems a lot like turning the Queen Mary. And then sometimes an item gets filed, and admin comes back and says, "Yeah, we can do that, and by the time you need it done."
So to Bob Walton, Brian Allen, and the various tech people working on this system: kudos.