Board of Ed: opening remarks

As a reminder, the agenda is here. We're doing JUST K-12 Board of Ed now, and back to a more usual agenda, opening with comments from the Chair, the Secretary, the Commissioner, and the public. 
A group with shirts that say "KIPP Lynn" has come in, so it looks as though we'll hear some testimony on that.
Sagan: semi-annual disclosure that his wife serves on the board of Sposado; would "consider" recusing himself if there were an item having to do with MATCH

Wulfson: Jeffrey Villar appointed receiver in Southbridge
waiver of the 1% alternative assessment requirement received from US DoE
"odd as decision rests as district level based on student level"
unclear how we would do that without setting levels "which would be totally inappropriate"
report on district access to technology
proud of progress made, noting concerns that had been expressed
charter matters approved, and also Pioneer Valley will appeal to Board
Quality Counts, MA number one in the country
take with a grain of salt: "very much influenced by the values the survey designers put into it"
"better to be at the top of the list than the bottom of the list"
"work that teachers, and administrators, and students, and families have been doing"

Public comment

Increased access to computer science; speaker from MBAE
importance of equity of access
teacher development
"close the digital divide in Massachusetts"

Bentley Academy: waiver
no minutes posted on their website
"incredibly dangerous" to have teachers visit students' homes
"tenth graders are not scholars; they are kids"
"would hate to think that my town could be held liable" for conditions under which the charter was granted
"would like to see at least one finalist that would challenge the federal government on about 7500 things"

Turkish-American National steering committee member
curriculum spoke of Armenian genocide; sentences questioning that were struck
broad based review of curriculum

Paulo Freire Charter school comment
Executive director speaking: assure you that we are committed to doing what is needed to move our school forward and out of concerns
strong PD plan; social justice discipline plan
realigning science curriculum
develop director, enrollment coordinator, multi-year strategic plan
"have begun to turn the school around in a short time"
"these are the students in danger of dropping out, who have anxiety, who need a different place"
Board member: address certain concerns of Board
"We are heading in the right direction"
stability of leadership after high degree of turnover in both principal and executive director
bringing in more trustees on school board
board had failed to have committees up and running
believe previous board lacked experience and understanding of expectations
McKenna asks who is on the board now
chair is director of SUIT UP Springfield, have sat on numerous non-profit boards
two deans on board (one from Smith, one from Westfield State),

KIPP Lynn expansion: two alums
current student at Bennington College on full scholarship
learned to grow from my mistakes
hardest part of KIPP "is the day itself"
day from 7:45 to 5
"after a long day of extracurricular, we still had to go home and complete the assignments we were given, just like any other student"
"have been prepared to get my work done and on time"
"the odds were stacked against me as I had to work twice as hard"
graduate of UMass Lowell
helped me with my FAFSAs, my interviews, my transfers to private to community to public college
KIPP "was there to assist us" regardless of where we were going from there
my brother, my sister, and so many other kids from Lynn
"KIPP been reaching into the trenches to increase our social mobility"