Yesterday David Perda and I testified before the Mass Board of Ed about the Spirit of Knowledge Charter School. This is mostly keying off of these numbers, thought Mr. Perda added a slightly different chart on the MCAS scores of students. Remember, this is a school chartered under the new Ed Reform law, so this wasn't the deal under which they were granted the charter.
More or less what I said is here. It seemed to me that the Board was shaken (as were we) that parents were applying to local elected officials for help in dealing with their own administration--elected officials, remember, who have no power under state law to help them directly.
But it does send a message to the local school Comm. and EAW that parents have no confidence in the system.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly have you done to better the system so that it benefits the taxpayers?
Answer it. Don't be a coward.
Will, I went into this more in the testimony, but that's just it: they've gotten nowhere with the charter school, so they came to the school committee for help. All we really can do is send them to the Board of Ed.
ReplyDeleteAs for your second question, a quick answer: when the WPS budget comes out on Friday, all the $25+ million in grants will be listed in the budget: where they come from, how they are spent. That's never happened before, and it's from an item I filed and got through.
And getting the grants listed as part of the budget is a big deal. It's a level of transparency that most school districts don't like to show. Until three years ago we didn't show it in Leicester either.
ReplyDelete