Live from the April Board of Ed: Opening comments

 Agenda is here

Yes, Westford Academy is the public high school in Westford. Massachusetts had a whole section of history when we had private academies, which in some cases then were take over by the towns as the local high school. I am assuming that's the history here, though I haven't looked.
UPDATED TO ADD: I was right, and I am going to give you a separate post on that!

The meeting is here because student rep Eric Plankey is a student at Westford Academy and tradition is the Board has a spring meeting at the student rep's home school. 

Yes, I have ventured here in person because sometimes the livestream isn't as dependable when the Board ventures out.

Updating as we go 

Public comment: 
Sen. John Cronin speaking on vo-tech admissions
regs allowed schools to continue to use ranked admission
"local control as a license to discriminate with impunity"
admissions "have moved in the wrong direction in every measurably category"
"at the same time Assabet Tech implemented a lottery, and Worcester Tech a limited lottery"
(we didn't?)
"admission at those schools are fair, they're common sense, they reflect our values, and they need to be adopted at every vocational school in the state"
"This Board has the power to intervene to stop that, and I ask that it does"

Superintendent at TECCA
noting he and others spoke last month requesting remote MCAS for their school
asks that this be put on their May meeting agenda

Craven lists subcommittees aloud and then asks Moriarty to talk about his literacy subcommittee

Tutwiler notes that Westford Academy is also his former home, earlier in his career
"necessary shift we believe should happen at the high school level"
new innovation pathways; early college meetings

Riley: thanks Westford for hosting
"Eric has done a tremendous job"
and he is listing a lot of places he visited
Boston: support and technical assistance
"a coordinated plan moving forward...more details to come on that"
DESE: working on "educational vision"
identified key objectives and initiatives
excited to formalize over next month, will present later in the spring
DESE will be moving 75 Pleasant Street in Malden at the end of the calendar year to 135 Santilli highway in Everett
plan to bring forward more information on technology including AI

we're now on to the Westford welcome, which I am not going to try to reproduce here