Hearing on the proposed charter school

Hey, so before I start this not-at-all liveblog of the charter school hearing, which will absolutely not cover everything, and which is mostly drawing from my Twitter feed (scroll UP), but also other sources, please note:

YOU CAN STILL SUBMIT TESTIMONY THROUGH JANUARY 4!
It goes to charterschools@mass.doe.edu

And as always, the following is my summary, my work, my commentary, and does not claim to be otherwise. 

As MassLive notes in their coverage: "Of the 13 people that spoke in favor of the charter school, 11 were board members, trustees, teachers or staff at Old Sturbridge Academy or Old Sturbridge Village."

Board members present: Matt Hills, Michael Moriarty, Mary Ann Stewart
Possibly interesting fact: all three are former school committee members: Moriarty from pre-receivership Holyoke; Stewart from Lexington; Hills from Newton

Sign-ups didn't open until 3:30; long line for opponents, no line for those supporting
Matt Hills (vice chair of the Board) opens the hearing "depending on the number who want to speak, we may not be able to hear from everyone"

Opening the hearing: Mayor Petty speaking against the charter school on behalf of both the City Council and the School Committee, who recalls testifying for an overhaul of the foundation budget eight years ago, which will take four more years to implement; references the search for the new superintendent, who values listening to the community, says no school district outside of Boston offers the choices Worcester does; speaks of partnerships with cultural institutions; notes his pride in WPS

Superintendent Monárrez, testifying on her 120th day (!), has met with hundreds of people during that time, "the common phrase I hear is…I have hope...This charter petition is not part of that hope"; notes that this is not an innovative plan; "The hundreds of people I have listening to want to work with us to dream about educating all children, not some, to thrive in a future that is not yet determined or designed." Closes with:

 Together we will wrap our arms around the children of Worcester.  Together we will provide learning experiences that are engaging, project based, rigorous and relevant for all children to thrive because in Worcester we know that every child can and will go from here, anywhere… together.

Stacey Luster, former Worcester City Councilor and former HR Director of WPS who is on the proposed Board, noted her third generation tie to Worcester Public Schools, and went on at some length about failures of the district (which was not something that was said before today which is telling, and is of course not the responsibility of the superintendent who has been here for five months, so that's interesting)

director of the state charter school association, you're going to be surprised to hear, is in favor of opening the school

Ellen Kelley, 34 year educator, WPS admin, says her testimony is entitled, "With all due respect, what are you thinking?" She goes through multiple pages of the application, commenting on inconsistencies and noting a number of places where it makes no sense

Ruth Rodriguez ties this all straight back to ALEC and Governor Baker. "It's your job to make sure that all schools are not failing." (Directed at Baker, but testimony is being heard by three members of the Board...)

The OSV Charter science teacher spoke about project learning. I try not to comment too much on teachers' speaking--public comment is hard!--but I was struck by how this testimony and later testimony didn't tie what was being taught back to statewide standards or otherwise comment on how the school will fulfill its legal responsibilities

Nelly Medina, WPS parent and community organizer, notes the lack of parent engagement in the plan and that being a major concern; there's been no evidence of it, and it isn't in the plan. She comments also on the fight for the Student Opportunity Act and potential loss of funds

chair of OSV charter : Calls it a "game changer...making sure these children are being properly educated"
I really struggled with his testimony, as the tone with which he talks about our students is so disturbing...he, and several of the others associated with the school (not the teachers) really had this posture of swooping in from the suburbs to rescue these poor "minority" children

Melissa Verdier, EAW president, who is also a WPS parent: "these opportunities are abundant in the Worcester Public Schools" She notes that as a special educator, she's absorbed students from ALL of Worcester's charter schools.

Brian Allen, WPS Deputy Superintendent: "The proposed budget of this charter school raises serious concerns about the financial stability of the school." 
In order for their proposed state revenue to work "The school must enroll 149 of its 200 first-year enrollment as low-income students, and at least 57 students need to be English learners to achieve this revenue."
He also just got the first laugh from the crowd: "The word “art” is used three times in the opening paragraph, but the budget has no art or music teacher salaries in the first year."
Then let me give you this part in full: 

Most troubling, the charter school will pay a no-bid management contract to Old Sturbridge Village.  By year 5, it will send $470,000 annually to Old Sturbridge Village for a financial service contract for a school with 61 total employees!  Nearly 9 cents of every dollar would be spent on this management contract.  Page 92 of the application states that “this fee is less than if the school hired personnel for all of these positions.”  That is absolutely a false statement.  A licensed school business official and a support staff position perform most of these functions in much larger school districts at a fraction of the cost.

But, let’s be very clear about what this charter school is really all about and why it should not be approved:  Page 5 of the FY22 Annual Report of Old Sturbridge Village states, “one such innovation is the anticipated expansion of Old Sturbridge Academy…we will be working to apply for a charter in Worcester, with the goal of opening an elementary school there in the fall of 2023. Our academies are key to the future of the Village...The academies will provide reliable, contractual revenue to the museum, safeguarding us against fluctuations in uncontrollable factors that impact admission revenue such as weather and public health.” 

This isn’t administrative costs; this is diverting public school dollars to, in their own words, provide reliable revenue to Old Sturbridge Village! 

 Post on this here

A teacher at OSV Charter spoke on "experiences" and this was another one where I really struggled to attach it to anything

A WPS parent and paraprofessional  Geoff Killebrew noted the timing (both in terms of SOA and contract negotiations) and said "Diversity has come up several times, but I'm not seeing a lot of diversity in support of the" proposed charter and that was the truth! 

Ryan Hacker, president of ArtsWorcester and a graduate of Burncoat High School: "the base need for this proposed academy is dubious at best" Notes partnerships and speaks of his own experiences

A parent of an incoming kindergartner thought it would be nice to have more choices.

Kay Seale, who oversees WPS special education, says she is "deeply concerned about this charter school's ability to execute the deliverables"; several students referred back to our district; she said she lacks assurances of what steps will be taken in meeting students' needs

A parent from Worcester was concerned about the lottery for some of Worcester's programs (note: admission to a charter school is by lottery)

Jessica Adampwicz, WPS Behavioral Clinical Services, "we service all Worcester Public Schools students" and notes the number of students who come back to WPS from charter schools 

Director of Multilingual learners Carmen Melendez says the proposed school "will not be able to support the needs of multilingual language"; notes that the lack of track record of OSV, as they have so few EL students that they can't report results; says WPS has "research based" multilingual programs

Saúl Ramos, 34 year educator in WPS, 1st VP in EAW, speaks of "amazing team of educators" in WPS; "it truly does take a diverse city, not a village, to raise & educate a child, a diverse city of educators, of parents & caregivers, and of community members, not a Board of Directors who lack the expertise our public school"

and then I took a bathroom break which I think means I missed Jim Donahue, the OSV ED, speaking!

Lisa Leach, WPS performing arts liaison lists the MANY MANY connections students in WPS have their the cultural institutions in Worcester and beyond; "It is MORE THAN A FIELD TRIP"
brought down the house

Jermoh Kamara, Worcester School Committee and South High alum, notes that the charter would give 2:1 tech access in grades K-4; in WPS, they have 1:1 access starting in preschool, as well as providing for home internet access as needed; "Over 9,000 Worcester Public School K-5 students take digital literacy and computer science... Over 3000 7-8 students take courses that explicitly teach computer science, technology and engineering, media arts, and digital literacy and citizenship."

Another pro-charter speaks of the school coordinating with partners in creating curriculum, but they have only proposed partnership, and thus no curriculum, which then will need to be created?

State Rep. David LeBoeuf (also a South High alum) spoke in opposition, noting there is no indication that the school can fulfill the proposal, recalling the collapse of the Spirit of Knowledge charter, and calling the application "nothing more than a scam"

Worcester School Committee Sue Mailman notes the strong investment in vocational education, not only at Worcester Tech, but across the city in innovation programs; that learning begins in elementary schools, which is a pathway missed by those not in the district; “Far from it being a choice between ‘vocational and textbook’ as the application argues” lists programs available to families staring in preschool. Speaks of SOA funding with superintendent who welcomes community partnerships finally coming together "now is our time"; proposed foundation of charter "would be competing directly for these same resources" as local foundations

Burncoat teacher: "my first job was teaching at charter school. Special education students were pushed out. ELL's that were not at a higher level were pushed out"

Member of the OSV Charter board on whom my only note is a concern over lack of understand of district governance, which seems not to bode well

Marie Morse, "proud product of the Worcester Public Schools" parent of four graduates and assistant superintendent; went by the building rented and notes that the sign outside gives the impression that it will for certain be opening; in review, "where is this different model of education...on what page of this long wordy application I would find this innovative approach"; notes that EL Education is "a capitalist product" and "scripted is not innovative" WPS educators reviewed EL Education for science and it didn't make the top five; over 75% voted it down, in part due to the question of if it met the needs of Worcester's learners; "It may be best for Old Sturbridge Village, but it is not best for Worcester"

Suzanna Resendes, principal of WPS La Familia school, called her school "a true epitome of a cultural school,” contrasting with the lacks in the application

A woman raising her grandchildren in Worcester said the WPS had failed her son while describing an application process that we do not use

Aislinn Doyle, parent of a WPS kindergartner, opens by noting that she'll be a WPS parent until 2038; "this decision will impact their entire educational career", as someone trained in museum work, "frustrated by the shallow marketing pitch" in museum education; " It is not an innovative museum-based curriculum"; as someone who just went through the choices, says there are a lot of choices; they had 15 elementary schools from which to choose; says the budget given the size of school seems high, and questions stewardship of funds. Closes: 

As a parent, I trust the folks who live, work and have relationships in our community, who send their children to our schools, who have the experience and expertise to teach our unique children.  Not folks from somewhere else, who have a theory that they can do better without providing any convincing evidence, and only appear to be here to fulfill their non-profit's opportunistic strategic plan at our kids’ expense

I think this was a member of the Democratic Socialists; if I got that wrong, please correct me: "what we need is democratic control of schools run by the interests of those being served"; "end the death by a thousand cuts"

The head of OSV museum interpretations speaks of working with the students at OSV; and this is something I really wondered about: on the school's website, there are interpreters listed; are they OSV charter staff, partly? Does the school partly pay museum workers? Also name checks a number of Worcester organizations, with which it is not clear the proposed school has actual relationships

Cara Berg Powers, WPS parent, who teaches at Clark and also wrote this analysis of the charter application, says she'd expect someone applying to have the level of expertise she demonstrates in her own testimony; also calls out ongoing use of the word "minorities" by charter proponents

Worcester School Committee Vice Chair Jermaine Johnson reviews the assessment portion of the proposal, name checks the proposed charter's use of Fountas and Pinnell for reading assessment, concerned about the lack of feedback looping in assessments in proposal, closes with "it's not Worcester, not now, not ever"

Shelby Strong, May Street parent: "I lived in the New Orleans area my entire life and taught secondary math there for my entire career before moving here, and I'm here with a cautionary tale of how charter schools affected, and devastated, the educational landscape there." Cites conclusions from Stanford study "Whose Choice? Student Experiences and Outcomes in the New Orleans School Marketplace" including racial disparities and lack of oversight; "Look, the cost of living might be lower where I come from, but 7 million dollars is still a lot of money, and our public schools are not a piggy bank for organizations who want a more stable revenue of funding."

A Southbridge Public School teacher spoke of the impact of the OSV Charter on Southbridge, not only financially, but "the students in Southbridge don't understand why their friends keep leaving and they blame it on themselves." This is really awful, and this is squarely on the state for setting this up

Burncoat parent: "attempted grift of Worcester Public Schools money by a private organization that apparently wants to be a charter school chain"

WPS teacher speaking on behalf of another who used to teach at a charter: "we need union-backed living wage jobs" and notes teachers she knows teach at OSV Charter who aren't at the hearing

somewhere towards the end there, I spoke, too.

If you recognize yourself above and I don't have your name, my apologies; send it and I'll add it! Also glad to flesh out comments if you send them my way. I want to write a separate post of thanks, but here's my quick thanks to everyone who showed, who gave testimony, who sent in testimony, and who's working every day for a stronger, better, Worcester Public Schools system for our kids. A new charter school will not do that.