The most read of 2022

 What a year!

Photo UP at the Durkin Administration Building this summer

In the classic manner, we do this from ten to one, remembering that the actual number one remains the face of the blog. Many of you simply wander by from time to time to see what's new. I appreciate that!

10. "We pauperize education": A letter to my delegation (from January): "Schools should be the last thing to close!" we were told over and over, yet no one did anything to create the circumstances that would make that possible. Here's my letter to the delegation (one of several I sent) regarding that.

9. Vernon Hill School (a post from 2015): This one feels a bit like cheating, because I know what drove the traffic for this. Someone on one of the Worcester community Facebook pages asked a question about Vernon Hill (which is the former Providence Street Junior High), and the photos I have in this post responded to some of the question, so I posted a link.
This does remind me, though, that I need to be more faithful about posting photos of buildings when I have them, as they're appreciated!

8. A post on Sonia Chang-Díaz (from December): The loss of Sonia in the Senate (even as her successor is great!) is something I know I will keenly feel, as will many. This is the post which doesn't do her justice, but is my best attempt. 

7. Who are those guys? A bit about the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (a post from 2017, which probably needs updating): With the change of Governor, there have been many under the impression that we'd a) get a new Commissioner (no);  and/or b) get an entirely new Board of Ed (no). I shared this link at least once to try to straighten some of that out. I should probably update it with new names, though. Maybe once we see what else happens after Thursday...

6. A legal opinion regarding health authorities in the Worcester Public Schools (from February): One of the ongoing questions of the pandemic has been who has the authority to do what (and also who does not). In particular around schools, what the authority of the school committee versus the board of health led to a few clashes. Worcester didn't have a clash so much as a sequencing question, but I posted the legal opinion of the city solicitor to clarify.

5. SCOTUS did what? (from June): It's been an alarming year in Supreme Court decisions, and education has not escaped unscathed. This is post is on the Carson v. Makin decision, requiring Maine to fund tuition to religious schools as well as secular ones. This is due to the very particular conditions of Maine education, but it has opened the doors to vouchers effectively being required to be used similarly in states where there are vouchers. 

4. What happens next in the WPS superintendent search? (from April) Posted the night the finalists were announced (at 9:32 pm), this post was designed to ensure everyone knew exactly what was happening next.

3. Remarks on Dr. Rachel Monárrez, next superintendent of the Worcester Public Schools (from April) Posted the night we voted on the next superintendent, this post is my remarks reflecting to my colleagues on my visit to San Bernardino City Unified School District. It was also a recommendation of action (which is what we did!).

2. Finalists for the Superintendent of the Worcester Public Schools (from April): Because I knew that people weren't going to be able to listen fast enough! This simply replicates the text that was shared with the School Committee the evening it was announced. 

1. Let's talk about this charter school application for Worcester (from November): My personal subtitle for this one is "what I did over my Thanksgiving break" but it was worth it, as it caught the attention needed, and that snowballed into the work that got the community mobilized. Fingers crossed we made our case strongly enough.

What's up for this year? I have fallen away from posting about what happens at Worcester School Committee meetings, which is probably something I need to get back to. Local coverage continues to fall off, and that means that the narrative of what is and isn't happening there from those who don't attend or watch meetings is often off course. There is only so much I can do, but I should do more of what I can.

Also: Ongoing work of new superintendent! New Governor and new Secretary! And a fall election under Worcester's new system.

Happy new year, and thanks as always for reading!