Updates from the Worcester Public Schools

 compiled in part, though not entirely, from the weekly updates, Dr. Monárrez sends the Committee

First up, ones that I've been worrying over: starting May 1

• Richard Ikonen will be serving as Director of Facilities. He's coming from Minuteman Regional, where he was Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Facilities.
  
  
• Ryan Hacker will be serving as Assistant Director of Facilities, focusing (I think I have this right) on capital projects. Ryan comes from UMass Med, BUT he last appeared here for his testimony during the hearing on the WCACS, as he's president of ArtsWorcester, AND he's a Burncoat High grad (yup, Burncoat!). 

I haven't met Rich as yet; I know Ryan. I'm looking forward to this.

The Auditor's office did meet with the WPS administration before vacation. That, plus our full delegation backing our call for investigations, is heartening that our concerns over OSV's management of the charter schools are being taken seriously. 

There's an executive session of the full Committee tomorrow (Monday) on negotiations with units A&B (and as it's negotiations, that's all I can say).

As I mentioned in my last post, the administration is recommending--much to the relief of many!--a new ELA curriculum for elementary students. This is of course in response to the many, many concerns from all kinds of places over the Fountas and Pinnell curriculum that the previous administration was very committed to. Major curricular changes need to go through the School Committee, so the recommendation is going to TLSS for a (virtual only) meeting tomorrow at 4:30 before coming to the full committee Thursday. This timeline has been an attempt to balance as much time for a pilot as possible, while still giving time to order materials and get them and PD to teachers before school is out.

Wit & Wisdom and Core Knowledge Language Arts are what was piloted in 21 or 22 classrooms each; page 13 of the presentation gives where. The rest of the presentation is based on feedback from the teachers and others involved in implementation. 
I won't say more on this here, as this is subject to deliberation and vote, but we'd of course welcome feedback (beyond "good bye F&P," which we've heard loud and clear!).

Finance and Operates meets this week on Wednesday at 5:30 ; you'll see that agenda tomorrow, but it will include the third quarter budget report, as well as the monthly transportation report. Also, for those who have been interested in the district streaming sports events, we'll be taking up that item as well. 

And speaking of budget: 

The budget's coming! The FY24 budget will be released on Friday, May 12 (start clicking refresh about 4, though sometimes it arrives earlier!).
There will be the statutorily required budget hearing on Wednesday, May 24 at 6; this is all of the Committee, gathered for no reason other than to hear from members of the public on the proposed budget. 
The School Committee deliberates and passes the budget, cost center by cost center, on Thursday, June 1 and Thursday, June 15. We start at 4 pm.

The one thing this doesn't include--because I don't know it yet--is the date on which the Worcester City Council hears the WPS budget. As a reminder, the Council approves only the bottom line of the Worcester Public Schools; they have no authority over cost centers. The Council also, under Plan E, cannot move funds or add funds to the budget; they can only cut. As the schools are generally funded at their statutory required level plus transportation and no more, one might argue that they cannot do that, either. 

That's what I have at this point. As always, if you have questions, send them along.