For those who haven't had a chance to check the Worcester School Committee agenda for tomorrow evening, the following are being proposed by Superintendent Binienda for her goals this year:
- Starting in August 2020, participate in ongoing professional learning opportunities to further develop my leadership skills and to inform district decisions.
- By June 2021, use data to identify achievement gaps and implement improvement practices and resources to support learning for each student.
- Throughout the 2020-21 school year, develop a plan for staff recruitment and retention and implement strategies that will increase access to well qualified, diverse professional candidates.
- Throughout the 2020-21 school year, create a school and district community environment that promotes two-way communication with families and provides resources for effective student learning and performance.
- By June 2021, develop an annual budget that is aligned with the Strategic Plan and ensures equitable and efficient distribution of resources.
- By June 2021, create a learning environment that reduces barriers through use of the frameworks of Culturally Responsive Teaching, Universal Design for Learning, and strength-based decision making.
A few reminders:
- The superintendent proposes goals, but ultimately the decision on what those goals are belongs to the School Committee.
- Goals are required to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
- Goals of the superintendent should be specifically aligned with the district strategic plan.
- Goals of the superintendent should be responsive to the most recently completed evaluation, to district data, and to community need.
Should you have thoughts, please be in touch.
[duplicate of comment sent to email I have for you]:
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy –
Supt. Maureen Binienda’s (henceforth “MB”) goals leave me with a blizzard of questions. But I can’t attend tonight’s meeting, and anyway I have so many questions for any one meeting to answer. Fortunately, Megan Gutwillig of our Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Worcester Education Justice work-group plans to attend. She will take notes to share with the rest of us.
Despite all my suspicion and lack of trust where MB is concerned (actually nothing personal – she has always been sweet to me personally), I’d like nothing better than to be shown that her “walk” is even in line with, or in the general direction of, her “talk”, and not going in circles, which would be in effect going the opposite way.
Her “talk” (June 2020) is confusing enough for me:
A: “I want to reaffirm to our community and most importantly to the young people we serve that Worcester County Public Schools does not and will not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind in our schools.” B: “…it truly takes a systemic approach to root out and dismantle racism.”
I can’t reconcile these 2 statements, just a paragraph or two apart. How heartfelt and supreme-priority is this WPS “systemic approach”? Is the Supt. admitting how desperately we need such an approach, or not? If so, is it because she does acknowledge the “rootedness” of WPS racism?
Am I missing something, or is something missing?
Within that context, the School Committee (realistically, you) should ask MB questions such as:
In stating your goals, you use words such as “gaps”, “diverse”, & “equitable”. Yet you don’t mention what groups are most affected by “gaps”, or suffering from a lack of access to “diverse” candidates or “equitable” resource distribution. Q1: How come? Q2: Who gets the short end of the stick? Q3: What do you think is at the “root” of that? Q4: If any of these disparities correlate with race, do you still maintain that WPS “does not tolerate” racism?
I have specific questions for each of MB’s 6 goals, although they all connect up. But I’m afraid I’m out of time! Could or should we delay approval a little? Would it help to know or think more about the goals’ implications, and whether their timeframes are realistic given the need for a “systemic approach to root out and dismantle racism”? Might this not be helpful, especially given that the goals avoid, so studiously, any admission of racism even being behind any “gaps”! [What does this avoidance mean? Who is it meant to placate? Am I the only one having an “Alice in Wonderland” moment here?]. If approval is given, can it be done in a such a way as to reserve the right to explore them with MB in more detail?
I’ll send my goal-specific questions to you tomorrow!
Thanks & Blessings,
Nat