Slate gravestone in Worcester's Hope Cemetery In memory of Mary and Harriet Moore Daughters of Mr. Wm and Mrs. Mary Moore Mary died Sept 9th 1796 aged 3 years Harriet died Sept 19 1796 aged 1 year |
Slate gravestone in Worcester's Hope Cemetery In memory of Mary and Harriet Moore Daughters of Mr. Wm and Mrs. Mary Moore Mary died Sept 9th 1796 aged 3 years Harriet died Sept 19 1796 aged 1 year |
As some of you know, this blog started because I was frustrated by the holes in the Telegram's coverage around budget in particularly, and so it feels either full circle or something more frustrating to note that the article gets what seems to me to be one of the core pieces of information--how much our budget is--wrong.
The third paragraph in piece says this:
Two weeks ago the school department released its fiscal 2023 budget proposal, a $448.7 million plan that represents a $30.5 million, or 7.3%, bump up from the current fiscal year. That increase is driven in part by a $18 million increase in the inflation factor of the state’s school funding formula and a $13.2 million increase in funding from the Student Opportunity Act, which is giving significant state aid to Worcester and other Massachusetts school systems over the next few years.One of the things I take some pride in is that I spend time and attention to the budget (in fact, I'm writing this with budget materials spread around me, as it's how I'll spend yet more time today). I generally know pretty solidly what our numbers are.
The fiscal year 2023 budget represents total spending for the Worcester Public Schools from all sources of $523,662,716, a $44.1 million, or a 9.2% increase from the adopted FY22 budget level of $479,522,996. Within this amount, the total general fund budget by the City Manager is $417,802,152, which represents an increase of $29.3 million, or a 7.6% increase from the FY22 School Committee's adopted budget of $388,472,088.
I even went back to last year's budget to see if it was from there (it isn't).
When I pulled open my copy of the presentation by Mr. Allen from that night, I finally found it: slide 7:
...which means it is time for my annual reminder regarding authority:
The vote of the legislative body of a city or town shall establish the total appropriate for the support of the public schools but may not limit the authority of the school committee to determine expenditures within the total appropriation.
Russell asks about Worcester East Middle and the capital appropriation (which is thus out of order, because capital is not part of the WPS operating budget)
Augustus agrees that it is about $7M; some question on if the state ARPA funds could be used for that. "That would be my suggestion" rather than adding to the city debt.
Just for some perspective on the municipal debt:
students speaking on student mental health on the Greater Boston Student Advisory Council
student survey from all five regions of the state, all four grades
vast majority of students reported struggling with mental health issues
about 77% of those surveyed said that there was an adult they could turn to, but most are only "somewhat aware" of student mental health
"for teachers to be available to their students"
for teachers to reach out and check in
suggest that school create posters around school and classroom promoting resources
add block for students to choose where to go
send out information on resources to students
nightly workload: many students spending
more than 1-2 hours on weekends; quite a few spending more than 5
active promotion of social and mental health resources
suggestion box for what would be most useful
SLEEP: around 50% of students get 6-8; 30% get 4-6
CDC recommends 8-10 hours for teens
stress: physical safe space in schools
few minutes to check in during class
promote mental health resources in school
The agenda is here. Livestream will be here. Looks like public comment might be something:
If you build trust you don’t get a line waiting to get into your meeting to call out your racism pic.twitter.com/io96MLNFvD
— Roberto A. Jiménez Rivera (@hashtagRoberto) May 24, 2022
What happened at last night's Worcester School Committee meeting (agenda; video)? Here are the highlights:
First, the headline news:
We also voted a three year contract renewal with Kay Seale, who is our director of special education.
We're in contract negotiations, so I don't want to say too much, but we did have some of our WPS bus drivers speak to us.
We also had--and, honestly, I can't tell you how proud I am of this--a strong showing of school psychologists and school adjustment counselors, who spoke on their petition regarding student mental health, in response to the report of the superintendent at the last meeting of the School Committee (also covered behind the paywall here). It takes courage to show up at a meeting and say, "No, it's really this way," when the dominant narrative has been otherwise. As covered in the WGBH piece linked above, our staff strongly argued, and gave data supporting, the need for additional resources and connections in our schools. Staff also used the public comment portion of our meeting--which is new this year!!--to make additional remarks on this issue.
Also Mayor Petty had an item on this agenda to set up a meeting between our mental health staff and the Mayor's Task Force on Mental Health.
In reporting out on two subcommittees, I do want to note that there are ongoing discussions in TLSS on elementary libraries, and Governance is continuing to chug through our student handbook, as well as do some preliminary work on our revision of our strategic plan.
The COVID update was not good. The latest meeting of the medical advisors, as transmission remains high and the local hospitals are becoming concerned, yielded a "strong recommendation" that those in schools (and elsewhere inside) wear masks. The district's student vaccination rate is 35.5% double vaxxed, with another 6.74% with the third shot. That's lousy.
This week's positives: 252 students, 84 staff.
We got a report back on principal succession planning, which didn't include which principals are leaving and being replaced--we aren't being given this information at all--but did have a bit of an outline on school-level involvement, described as follows:
Candidates are screened by Human Resources for the appropriate DESE license. Licensed candidates are reviewed by an administrative team which selects candidates for the school-based committees to meet. The Site Council and the principal at each school identifies family and/or community members for the interview panel. Each committee consists of representatives from schools, central office administrators, the Chief Diversity Officer, members of the Superintendent's Advisory Committee, and school leaders. The committee meets the candidates, reviews resumes, asks questions and discusses the candidates responses. The Superintendent receives the interview committee's recommendations, meets with the candidates and makes the hiring decision.
After asking, we're going to receive a list of which principals are being hired.
We also filed some new items, to wit:
WHEREAS The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long history of standing for civil rights, including advocacy for a bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution, and
WHEREAS Massachusetts codified gender identity as a protected class in the 2011 Act Relative to Gender Identity, and
WHEREAS All children deserve a safe environment in which to grow up, and
WHEREAS Some state governments are now criminalizing supportive medical care for trans individuals; moving to bar families from traveling to access such care; and otherwise violating the civil rights of trans children and their families, and
WHEREAS The defense of the civil rights of the historically marginalized is contained within the first article of the Massachusetts Constitution right of “seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness,”
THEREFORE the Massachusetts Association of School Committees call on the Great and General Court to join with other states in the passage of so-called “sanctuary” laws to ensure such children and their families have “the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights and the blessings of life,” as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth.
An updating collection of the coverage of Worcester's incoming Superintendent Dr. Rachel Monárrez.
Part of the structure of the subcommittees of the Worcester School Committee is that the Finance & Operations subcommittee periodically meets with the Education subcommittee of the City Council "concerning issues of overlapping interest," as the item has it. Councilor Thu Nguyen chairs Education. We'll be having our first joint meeting on Monday at City Hall at 5, and the agenda for the meeting is:
The agenda is here. This is the Zoom link and the password is 462049.
Here are ten reasons why you want to join us:
As always, of course, everything I say here is coming just from me.
Black background of the City of Worcester seal in rainbow shades; this is my WorcesterWares shirt. |
One thing that I have found rather heartbreaking about Worcester, especially around the schools, has been the difficulty of dreaming. We've had so little money for so long, and we've been so stuck in other ruts, that we haven't really talked about what we'd really like our schools to be. What would we do for our kids if we could? How do we want our schools to work for, yes, our students, but also for our employees and for our larger community?
We also too often don't recognize who we really are as a district now, either. If the mark of a Cockney was being born within earshot of Bow Bells, too often the mark of what makes one "Worcester" or seen by some as able to serve Worcester well, has seen similar limitations.
Superintendent searches, done well, are about hope.
They're a chance for a community to take stock of where they are and who they are and who they want to be. Done well, not only those who think about district direction all the time, but plenty of people who have their heads down and their shoulders to the wheel on district and community, think about where the district is going and how they're going to get there, and to talk to each other about that.
I want to give credit where it is due: it was last term's committee that not only said we needed a search, but a full, professional, national one, and that created and voted the RFP that outlined that kind of conversation in the community, with that kind of work to follow over the search.
Worcester, further energized by an election that saw change, then saw that community conversation fully inform the position description that was adopted by the Worcester School Committee. What Worcester said we needed is what the Committee said we needed, and who Greenwood Asher went to look for.
Mayor Petty appointed a large (and I say that as a professional!) search committee that drew from all over Worcester, from all sorts of backgrounds and connections, and charged them with doing the first round screening. That, again, is a courageous thing to do: you're giving over authority, and you're doing so to a group that is not under tight reins.
Search committee work is A LOT: reviewing all the applications thoroughly, doing what homework you feel is necessary, then working with a committee on evaluating people to interview. Then attending all the interviews--we did eleven, over two full work days!--with great attention, listening carefully for what makes each applicant different and how well they answer. Then doing another round of evaluation with the committee.
And let's be blunt: those discussions, if they're going to bring the community forward, are going to involve all the questions raised in the search: who is Worcester? Who do we want to be? What are the needs of the community and how are those best met?
Those are not easy conversations. As Senator Chang-Díaz said at Monday's YWCA Stand against Racism: “If this work is comfortable…you’re not doing it right.”
I am really grateful that we had a search committee that not only were who they are and worked hard, but were courageous in their commitment to our students.
Also, they kept confidentiality. As the Massachusetts General Law notes, it is in the interest of the district to have the first round of screening be confidential, as the quality of candidates a district receives is enormously better if it isn't public until they have a real chance. This was a lot of people, and they have kept faith with the district, which shows integrity and commitment on the part of everyone involved.
And I'd be remiss here if I didn't get a salute to Molly McCullough who chaired the search committee, which meant everything from being an ongoing conduit to and from the search committee, to creating schedules and agendas and question series, to responding to questions and queries from all directions. She did it with patience and thoughtfulness (and hours and hours of work!).
Superintendent searches are also one of the more difficult things for a School Committee to do. It is a very big decision to make. It is a lot of trust to put in someone. It is always going to be second-guessed by someone (who does the second guessing tells you something about the choice you made). Our Committee trusting each other enough to go visit the finalists' districts--a core piece of a professional search--and report back is really a hallmark for me of the working relationships being established among this Committee, which I'm so grateful to have as a member.
I have sat in on many votes for superintendent. This is the first time I voted for one. I said what I said about Dr. Monárrez on Thursday, bringing nearly 30 years of my own experience in and around public education to this decision, which, as I said then is "a description of someone who met, in a myriad of ways, exactly what the Worcester School Committee, and, more importantly, the community of the city of Worcester, wants in their next superintendent."
What I heard from across the district both Thursday night and Friday morning was a level of rejoicing I don't know I've ever heard in Worcester. What is most meaningful to me is the number of places where voices that are not accustomed to being heard felt that now, finally, they were.
I'm very excited about what the new superintendent means for the Worcester Public Schools.
I am also hopeful for the future of my city, given the sort of search that got us here.
Dr. Rachel Monárrez is our next superintendent, Worcester.
It's up to all of us to make this work.
Know hope.