You may have missed it in all the [waves hands in air], but Springfield, it appears, is moving to take back authority over its schools in its Empowerment Zone.
More than a decade ago, Springfield and state entered into an agreement to place some of the city’s most troubled schools under the control of the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership, a collaborative effort of the Springfield Public Schools, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Springfield Education Association, with assistance from some business partners.
In November, officials agreed that Duggan Academy, Van Sickle Academy, Chestnut Accelerated Middle School, Discovery Poly Tech and four schools within High School of Commerce have reached achievement goals and are ready to return to the control of the Springfield district.
The state initially set the transition to take place this summer, but school officials successfully put off that move for a year to give educators enough time to plan for a smooth transition, said Superintendent Sonia Dinnall. The plan was discussed this past week at a School Committee meeting.
I'd missed that there had been a discussion already last year--did that get any coverage at all?--but this is in keeping with Massachusetts moving away from not having democratically-elected local control of its schools, with Holyoke now out of receivership and Southbridge moving there.
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