Board of Ed in January: Alma del Mar charter expansion

Riley: charter expansion request from two schools; one being brought forward today
heartened that mayor, superintendent, Alma agreed
"promising new path forward for district/charter collaboration in the Commonwealth"
two votes:

1. the deal
2. expansion of 594 seats "this is the recommendation that I would have brought forward if we were solely working through the charter expansion process"

criteria are set forth in statutory language and regulations
"Alma del Mar have met the regulations and so it is incumbent upon me to bring it forward"
hm...not sure that's true
"out of respect for our students and our families"
"proof point for the Commonwealth"
will continue to bring forward charters in traditional process

New Bedford superintendent, Alma executive director first
Will Gardner, executive director, founder
start in kindergarden, high demand, rich in content
450 students, K-8
middle schoolers "are now the top performing students in the city"
building relationships; home visit for every student
cell phone for all staffers "to put plenty of money in the bank with those families"
"focus on a targeted geographic area"
in line with vision superintendent and mayor had for district
"share a vision, as soon as possible, that every family will be surrounded by high performing" options
Superintendent Anderson
"has fournded as a charter school founding principal"...and he does the rest of his history
"all communities desire a well-rounded education for all children"
worked quickly to establish relationships with educational agencies in New Bedford
Morton: suspension?
Anderson: using resources fairly
looking into cultivating students to take ownership of their actions
Gardner: "we have to make a lot of hard choices...culture that's really safe"
says earlier rates were incorrect
middle schools are comparable; "hard to compare elementary schools, as not all are reporting, or reporting in the same way"
Stewart: public process?
Riley: timeline trucated as families need to make decisions
conveyance of building, then legislative action
Anderson: let parents know, and were going through boundary exercises, anyway
"all of our schools are having these visioning sessions...on how we're moving forward"
Stewart: the details of this particular deal are a week old
enrollment process: will choose from a neighborhood, different
what other innovations have you thought about for this schools?
Gardner: was community activist, working with groups throughout the city
had a history of collaborating with the district

McKenna: interesting and innovative model
"all interested in the same thing: kids and education"
"ripe for other collaborations and innovations that are possible"
social workers are a huge help in families and placements
ensuring that you have good special education staff
encourage you to work with professional development in these areas, and "your suspension rates will improve"
"collaboration is the answer for kids, not fighting together"
Moriarty: highlight 3% chronic absenteeism rate
"mindfulness of how important it is to have families and children"
"if you can continue to talk about that, so you can get New Bedford to that, we'll be in a better world"
Fernández: don't believe we can move forward without a shared vision across
LOOK act, thinking collaboratively
move forward with teacher and leader diversity in your district
work collectively, leveraged across districts
Sagan: exactly why Board has selected you [Riley]to be the Commissioner
Gardner could have just barreled forward
town "could just fight, and say at least we've put the political points on the Board, even if we didn't win"
Peyser: we do need to build bridges between districts and charters
"choice is an important element in charter schools...but so are neighborhood schools"
"opens the door for charter schools to be both schools of choice and neighborhood schools"

Doherty abstains
Stewart votes no
nine in favor for the first motion

second motion: Stewart and Doherty no
nine in favor