Hey, let's talk about Burncoat

 I am intentionally posting a stub here, as I am working on this on the train outbound, and my posts go out at 3 PM. Come back for more, between today and tomorrow.

On tomorrow night's Worcester City Council agenda, we have the following: 

First a process note: This is coming from the Department of Public Facilities, not from the Worcester Public Schools. That's because school buildings, in a municipal school district, are built not by the school department (which does have its own section on the City Council agenda) but by the city itself. The school department does not run its own building projects, and the School Committee has very, very little to do with building projects.*

Now I want to remind you of where we are with Worcester's school building projects: since 2011, Worcester has rebuilt North High, South High, and Doherty, three of the four comprehensive high schools in the city. Add in Worcester Tech, which opened in 2006, that's all of the largest high schools in Worcester, in the past twenty years. 

Let's give credit where due: considering that Worcester also opened a new elementary school in there (Nelson Place, which was literally falling down, opened 2017), that is a stunning pace of building new schools. Genuinely, and I say this as someone who watches this, this is a tremendous pace.

a few facts on MSBA and Burncoat Middle

I'll save how angry and concerned I am that the Worcester City Council last week put a hold their vote on Burncoat Middle's Statement of Interest for a second week running, and keep this to some statements of fact:

• Communities are allowed to submit a single core project (for a major renovation or rebuild) as their priority project to the Massachusetts School Building Authority each year. They may not "send in them all and have MSBA pick" (that's a paraphrase, to be clear).
  
  
• The MSBA has a very strong tradition of allowing districts only a SINGLE core project at a time. For a very long time, and in most communities still, if a district is still in the process of building a new building, they will not move a district forward with another core project.
  
  
• Worcester is an exception to the above statement, because we have a history of moving our core building projects forward in a systematic way, and the administration has a history of completing and paying for projects as needed. Once a new building has been close to completion, the MSBA has forwarded a second project. This is how we started South when Nelson Place was still going up and Doherty when South was still going up; it is how Burncoat High was admitted to the pipeline though Doherty is not yet done.
  
  
• They will not admit a third when we are any further along than that.
  
  
• The city doesn't have the capacity to fund two new buildings at the same time in that fashion, in any case.
  
  
• When the state organization that will be picking up more than half of the cost of a multimillion dollar project does the organizational equivalent of nudging a community in the ribs and tell the community to send in the school that is contiguous to and shares systems with a building that they have already admitted to the pipeline, they are telling you something important.
  
  
• MSBA is always watching communities with projects to see if they are committed to the projects and acting in ways that ensure that they will be completed.
  
  
  

If you are concerned about this, please share that with the Worcester City Council. 

Worcester School Committee this week plus a report to check out

 Note that: 

• the Standing Committee on Finance, Operations, and Governance meets tomorrow (Monday) at 4:45; the agenda is here. It's a three item agenda--students as custodians; three proposed years of calendars; and the proposed Haas donation (remember that?)* with a recommendation the item be filed.
  The calendars adopt the city's "Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day" phrasing. They also continue Good Friday as a "non-school day."
  
  
• The full Committee meets Thursday at 5 (for executive session); the agenda is here. The report of the superintendent is on alternative programs. 
  Also on the agenda: the reports related to the above; the approval of new courses (which one would expect to go to subcommittee); a request for a utility easement at North High; a proposal that something at Doherty High be named after deceased Worcester Fire Department Lt. Jason Menard; and a request for the costs of the climate and culture specialists.
  Interestingly, among the items is a request that the Committee approve a Statement of Interest for renovation/rebuild for Burncoat Middle School. To quote from the accompanying memo from the Deputy Superintendent:
  

As part of the MSBA’s onsite review of the school, it was recommended that the district would need to submit a Statement of Interest for Burncoat Middle School to be included in consideration to be included in the new school project during the feasibility phase of the project. 

The High School and Middle Schools share some mechanical infrastructure and significant instructional programs (dual language program, 7-12 advanced scholars' academy, and the district’s performing arts programs).

The approval of this Statement of Interest is intended to have the middle school considered as part of the feasibility phase of the high school project. The determination by the city whether to combine the high school and middle school into a shared facility (but remain as two separate schools) would be determined during the feasibility study of the project. That project timeline is expected to take place between 2025-2028.

The deadline for the major renovation/replacement projects is Friday, April 12, 2024.

Do note that the School Committee last term requested that the middle school be included in the consideration; this is the (state required) next step in that. This also must be approved by the    Worcester City Council. 

• While we're thinking about Worcester Public Schools facilities, give a review to the latest release by the Research Bureau, "Building the Future: Investing in Worcester Public Schools facilities."
  
  
• And speaking of the Research Bureau, nominations for the annual Thomas S. Green Public Service Award are open, so nominate your favorite teacher, custodian, bus driver, paraprofessional, nurse, school nutrition worker, crossing guard, school secretary...and so on!

_______________________________________

*Short version from me: Should the Worcester Public Schools name a facility after a man who committed felony conspiracy, witness intimidation and federal tax evasion to the tune of $30M in retaliation for the federal government fining him for patent infringement, in return for a donation of $350,000 to upgrade a shop at Worcester Tech? You can read all the documentation here.
The motion to file here means "end it all."

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday

The agenda is here. There are retirements, thanks, and such.

The report of the superintendent is on English learning. There's a lot to consider here, and I see some flags around partnering with families and perhaps a lack of historical context. Also there's a grant cited here that I can't find. 

Finance and Operations comes back with their second quarter report (including transfers) and their transportation items (no backup on the agenda). If you haven't been in touch with the committee on whatever bus concerns you may have, it would be important to contact them before Thursday.

There is a report back regarding an online gradebook creation: for outside bidders, it would be one time start-up costs of $125,000 plus $185,000. As that's more than one staff person, one has to ask: did anyone look at doing this in-house, as WPS runs most of its data systems in-house at substantial cost savings?

The request for a report on AP's to "include student/parent feedback" is back with two pages of courses, the test costs, the dates students are required to attend...and that's it. No details, no feedback, no plans for it.
It also still leaves out the part where the test is required.

On the other hand, there's a whole four pages on implementation Read Across America Day.
There is a recommendation coming back on a Claremont Academy catchement area.

There a request for reports/reviews on: the 100 Males to College Program; the Doherty building plan; the bus yard at Fremont Street (that would be WPS buses), and bus arrival times (I can't tell if that backup is for schools or for parents); A/C and water in buildings; the MOU with the Worcester Police Department; feminine hygiene products being available free (they are, at the nurse); DEP action at Bright Cleaners (next to Gates Lane); prioritizing homeless students; biweekly listening sessions; strengthening site councils; incorporating more diversity (racial, ethnic and around sexual identity) in history (required under the new state standards); balancing arts/history/etc in early grades; ethics; arts education; a racial equity study; a homebuyer program; a program for IAs to become teachers; increasing recess (admin says they can't go beyond the 30 minutes already required); specific preschool grant funding (already a response: not eligible); and makerspace in school libraries. The last fifteen of those, which is more items than that, are all from Mr. Comparetto. On one agenda.

There's a request the School Committee accept the following donations:
– $25,000.00 from The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation to The Hanover Insurance Academy for the Arts at Burncoat Middle School (I think this is the first one that has come through?)
– $20,000.00 from Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) to the Worcester Public Schools to be used as scholarships to graduating seniors.

There's an executive session for a grievance, two employee lawsuits, and the lawsuit of the Jane Doe V. Worcester Public Schools (which I might be this case (?), which hasn't gotten a great deal of local press).

No blogging from me: I have a meeting that night! 

A bit more information and plenty of open questions on the Hanover Academy (TM)

The letters of invitation to apply to the new academy at Burncoat came out yesterday (I'll note here that I don't have a child this applies to, but I have seen the letter of invitation). Those with at least one advanced and one proficient score on the fifth grade MCAS/PARCC have received an invitation to the two meetings at 6 pm on Thursday, March 9 or Tuesday, March 14 at Burncoat Middle School, though admission will be "tiered."
The letter says that applications are available on the school's website--as yet they are not--as well as at Burncoat Middle and at elementary schools.

Here's some questions I and others have at this point:

• when and where is the public process around this academy going to be? When is the community going to get a chance to weigh in on if this is what they want to commit district resources--because district resources are involved--to?
• what is the WPS policy around naming of schools and academies? How much money does it take to achieve the same status of what lifelong educators who have buildings named after them gave to this district? 
• what precisely is the agreement with Hanover? How much influence does this company have over what will be happening in this academy? Where is that written? Who has seen it and who has signed it?
• what does this academy do to the rest of Burncoat Middle? to Burncoat High School? What are the impacts on enrollment, class sizes, course selections, other programs? Do the students in this academy have priority within the school?
• what interaction, if any, has this proposed academy had with the multi-year self-study conducted by the K-12 arts magnet? How will this impact their enrollment, course availability, recruitment, retention, transportation? 
• what impacts and what mitigations are intended for what this will do to other schools, given that students with high test scores are now being invited to two Worcester middle schools?
• how does the school committee and administration resolve an admission process based solely on test scores with the continued rhetoric around valuing more than that? How does this align with the purported importance of "parent choice" around state tests, when those who opt not to take state tests are not invited to these programs?

More as I have it. 

The skunks are back

It's March and the skunks are back out. And it's time for a few to show up at this garden party.
I posted some of this on Twitter this morning.

Let's talk about this arts academy at Burncoat. It appears, as it is to be dubbed the "Hanover Insurance Academy," that the Worcester Public Schools are indeed "open for business." We are now raffling off naming rights to, well, it's not even clear that it is to the highest bidder, as no numbers have yet been mentioned.
Our public schools are a public resource. Public goods held in common are only held in common under the public trust. They should not EVER be for sale.
There is always a "good" reason. There is always a need, an emergency, a wish...but once you've sold out, you've sold out.
And it appears we have. In fact, it appears that we aren't even going to have public governance and educator oversight of this project:

"This is about as classic private partnership that you can get," Belsito said "We meet regularly with them. We're not just the financial resources. We want to help develop programs. We want to make sure that the talent that we have at Hanover is helping to complement the great work of the educators here in this building."

emphasis added
By what right and by what training and experience does anyone at Hanover have to "develop programs" in a public school (heck, in ANY school)? Why would Hanover be meeting "regularly" with "them," and who is them? The administration? The site council? The faculty?
Are any of these meetings going to be public? Are any going to involve any elected oversight? Or has Hanover just managed to privatize itself an academy in Worcester?

But that, of course, is only the first problem.

Burncoat already has, and has had for thirty years, an arts magnet. Kids can start in kindergarten at Worcester Arts Magnet, then go straight through Burncoat Middle and High School. It's a program that exists nowhere else in central Mass; I'm not even sure it has a parallel anywhere in Massachusetts. It's among the myriad of underappreciated and too-often-underfunded programs in Worcester that you can't get elsewhere.
The magnet doesn't have an admission policy aside from space (and theoretically, behavior, though that doesn't happen often). The elementary school has a lottery ('though it does take siblings first); the middle and high will take transfer students if there is room.
And magnet students are guaranteed transportation in Worcester.
Thus, kids of all sorts can and do attend the magnet. Does it represent the fully array of Worcester? No. Is it closer than it would be if they used grades or worse yet, test scores?  You bet! And ANY kids who attend Burncoat can be part of the magnet at any point in their schooling, so long as there is room in class and in their schedule.

So how is the new academyTM doing admission? The district is holding...

information sessions for parents whose students were invited to apply for a spot in the academy on March 9 at 6 p.m. and March 14 at 6 p.m. The deadline for parents to apply for their child's sport in the academy is March 31.

emphasis added
This is conjecture, but I'm going to bet here that they didn't comb the record of every child in grade six in the entire district. But there's a very easy report to run off and create a cutoff on: test scores.

And what happens if you use test scores as a proxy for "talent"? You end up with a group that is overwhelmingly middle class and white.
You end up with an academy that doesn't look much like Worcester.

What you do manage is to migrate a bunch of higher test scores to Burncoat, though, And, while Sullivan has Goddard Scholars, and WEMS has the science academy, and Forest Grove draws from the wealthier (and paler) part of town, Burncoat has an arts magnet that doesn't pull based on test scores, so it gets no advantage from its magnet on that count. But only letting kids into their special academy by test score will pull the rest of Burncoat up nicely.

And how do I know this? Because we laid it all out in the report we gave back in 2014 around creating an advanced academy of some kind in the city. Limited admission programs are always, always a problem on this. A school or district not only has to be aware of this; they have to actively plan for this NOT to happen in order to avoid it.
It appears, on the contrary, that this is the end being sought here.

Thus we will have a privatized academyTM for students with high test scores.
What's funny is there's no lack of those around. But those don't dare call themselves public.

Two quick things on last night's Worcester School Committee meeting

• On this Burncoat goes Goddard Scholars proposal: Goddard Scholars admits based on state standardized test scores. Will this proposed academy do the same? If so, that shuts out students whose parents refuse the state test on their behalf. It also will raise the same disparities--in race, income, and language--that we see in an arrangement based on test scores.
• On the chronic absenteeism program: is this an extension of the years-long ad hoc committee that has been operating on absenteeism? If you think "it's taken so many years to get to this point," I invite you to use the search bar to the left for "absenteeism" to see the myriad reports that have been on this issue over the eight plus years of this blog.

Arts Magnet Program: Report of the Superintendent

You can find the report here
Arts Magnet program reviewed: assets and challenges, vision that was developed, highlight some recommendations
Four challenges:

• scarcity of resources
• need for facilities improvements
• lack of recognition for arts magnets

Vision middle school with 10 weeks of arts modalities; then move in to twnety weeks of 2 arts

high school integrated in a more formal way in an expanded way

"that their students not be limited by one art form"

more creativity and more control of what happens to middle school students

expand arts curriculum to learn media arts

develop reliable and convenient funding sources

offer alternative and options to middle school students

improved communication 

next steps to create a specific subcommittee to create an action plan

charge those subcommittees 

FY16 budget increase for arts magnet

Monfredo: exactly what we were talking about subcommittee last week

informing parents about the great programs that go on in our schools

thanks to SOFA "have been relentless in supporting the arts"

Biancheria: when we talk about pathways, this is the example

motivation 

gives kids a chance to try things outside of school

O'Connell: some years back there was a sense that arts were more enrichment

dramatic change and evolution 

continue to stress, continue to develop

Foley: found that the best part of the report was the quotes

quirky kids at Worcester Arts Magnet

opportunity for students who want to explore the arts to explore that pathway in an environment that's supportive of it

Ramirez: getting Lesley to do the recommendation: "that's awesome"

Great value 

and then I talked for awhile...
I asked about if the middle school process was changed (right now, kids pick a speciality on entering middle school)...essentially, they're talking about it
I asked if we were talking about the magnet program reflecting the district...response was about getting the word out to parents (and an observation of the change in the dance program in particular, which looks a lot more like the district)
I floated that we should perhaps should consider someone with some authority around scheduling being in charge of the arts magnet program
And I recommended to the administration the specific (and many) mentions of the need for facilities in their recommendations to us

Why I'm not voting for Doherty

Tonight the Worcester School Committee sets its number one priority for major renovation/rebuild to send into the Mass School Building Authority. While we're forwarding Burncoat High and Worcester East Middle School, as well, the recommendation is that Doherty be designated as our number one priority.
I voted against this in subcommittee on Monday, and I'm voting against it again tonight.

Simply put, Doherty is not our building most in need of renovation or rebuilding.
Does it need renovation? Sure.
It doesn't need it more than Worcester East Middle, which was sent in for windows, roof, and boiler years ago, got the boiler, but awaits our designation as a number one priority to go ahead with the roof and windows along with the systems upgrades needed. The building has served us since 1924. It is solidly built and in great shape. It's only going to stay that way with some upgrades, though, and those are overdue. They're also going to cost substantially less to finance than another entire comprehensive high school, at a time when we're about to break ground on Nelson Place and we're just beginning the planning for South.

It doesn't need it more than the Burncoat complex, which by both MSBA ranking from their statewide assessments and by NEASC reports has many more issues than Doherty. Burncoat High was built as three small schools: it has no single cafeteria, it has no high school-sized library, it has no auditorium (it's in the middle schoo), and the school health office is actually in the middle school. It's also running a citywide and renowned arts magnet program with an auditorium with the acoustics of a barn, practice rooms in such terrible shape that they're kept locked, dance studios that are really just shop rooms (with no changing space), no theater room (it's the lobby of the auditorium), and art rooms that are either just classrooms or a converted (small school) cafeteria.
And Burncoat has land to build on.

Look, I get why people are going to vote for this.
But we're being asked tonight to designate, not loudest want, but actual greatest need.
And that's not Doherty.

Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

 Edmund Burke, "Speech to the Electors of Bristol," November 3, 1774

Night at the Oscars

If you haven't had a chance to see it, below is the entire "Night at the Oscars" by the arts magnet program.

WPS things to do this weekend!

A few things to bring to your attention:

• the Doherty football team has made the division 4 state playoffs. They play against Wahconah (the Western Mass division champs) at 2 pm tomorrow at Doyle Field in Leominster.
• Burncoat Middle and High Schools are producing A Christmas Story tonight and tomorrow night at the middle school at 7 pm. Tickets are $5/children and $8/adults. A bit of this was performed at the arts quadrant show last weekend, and it looks like quite an excellent show!

Good luck/break a leg to those involved!

Middle school honors

Admission depends on:

MCAS scores

MAP scores

Student grades

Teacher recommendations

Parent recommendations

In addition, schools may have other criteria. 

O'Connell: any weighing?

Houlihan (principal at Burncoat Middle): no, students are different

Williams (principal at Forest Grove): it's flexible. Cited AVID students taking two honors, hoping to get them to full honors 

Monfredo: school of choice. Wishes to send information out to parents of fifth and sixth grade, Connect-ed to let people know.

Rodrigues: very important for families to know 

Biancheria: very positive things happening in the middle schools

Kids pleased with what is going on in the halls. How can we help you?

Williams says he'll take five more staff members 

Activities: intermural program. FG has 250 kids coming after school for sports
Biancheria: other opportunities? Programs you'd like to offer?
Houlihan: students who stay after for extra help.  Pockets of activities happening; transporting students home after activities, especially going into daylight savings.Would love to have the art agencies working after school working on site.
Biancheria: looking at transportation and the cost of transportation, how to get the students home
"that's a piece that we should bring to finance and operations; if we're not providing the bus, we need to provide the bus passes"
programs at the school
Rodrigues: next month working with middle school principals for after school activities
principals from arts magnet quadrant, looking at the quality and enhancement of the program
Monfredo: talk to Steve O'Neil at the WRTA

Recognizing the Boston Globe award winners

Art and Writing Awards from Burncoat Middle, Burncoat High, and Doherty Memorial High.
Contest began in 1923.
judged on technical skill and the "emergence of a voice"
about 900,000 submissions

Burncoat Middle School

   Teacher: Victoria Caezza

Anika Nyman                Gold Key

 

Burncoat High School

   Teacher: Margaret Grasso

Derek Beeso                 Gold Key

Wylesha Rodriguez         Gold Key

Sthefany Lamoureux       Gold Key and Honorable Mention

Maxwell Amoah              Silver Key

Teahna Naples               Silver Key

Nia Holley                      Honorable Mention

Holli Carlson                   Honorable Mention

 

Doherty Memorial High School

   Teacher: Laurie Atchue

Chelsea Fairweather        Gold Key

Sabrina Nguyen              Silver Key

Athena Parella                2 Silver Keys

Carrie Bliss                     Silver Key

Irvi Stefo                       Silver Key

Dylan Brisbon                  Honorable Mention

Samantha Shannon          Honorable Mention

Burncoat High Music Magnet graduate appointed to the New York Philharmonic!

Congratulations to Max Zeugner, a graduate of the music magnet program at Burncoat Middle and High Schools and Elm Park Community School, on his appointment to the double bass section of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra! From performing arts liaison Lisa Leach:

Max began studying guitar and electric bass with Joe D’Angelo at the Joy of Music Program and Burncoat Middle School. Upon his arrival at Burncoat High School, teachers Carol Castonguay and Deborah Cole encouraged Max to study the double bass. Max participated in lessons, ensembles, and master classes during his time at Burncoat and began working with several professional chamber groups, including the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. 
Since then, Max has studied with the world’s best instructors, including Edwin Barker. He has performed locally and internationally, most recently with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester, England and the Worcester Chamber Music Society. His parents, Alice Valentine and John Zeugner wish to commend the staff of Burncoat High School and the Music Magnet Program in particular for the outstanding preparation and education all three of their children received.

Congratulations, Max! We're proud of you!

School repair and rehab projects

I thought it might be easier to sort through if you could just go to the school you're interested in, so I've loaded them as separate Google docs (the full backup is here).
Note that these are executive summaries, not the actual applications. Further note that the Green Repair program is a single page chart including 21 schools that need windows, roof, or boiler, or some combination of the three.

• Nelson Place
• Burncoat High
• Doherty Memorial High
• South High Community
• Worcester East Middle
• Tatnuck Magnet
• Clark Street Developmental 
• Goddard School
• Flagg Street
• Chandler Elementary 
• Burncoat Middle
• Green Repair Program

Full list of graduation dates and speakers

Here's the full list, including School Committee speaker:
All middle schools graduate on June 23 at their own school (with the exception of UPCS, which graduates at Clark)

• Claremont Academy, 11 am, Dianna Biancheria
• Burncoat Middle, 1 pm, Dianna Biancheria
• Sullivan Middle, 10 am, Jack Foley
• Sullivan Middle, 1 pm, John Monfredo
• Forest Grove, 10 am, Brian O'Connell
• Forest Grove, 1 pm, Brian O'Connell
• UPCS, 1 pm, Jack Foley
• Worcester East Middle, 1 pm, Tracy Novick
• New Citizens Center, 1 pm, Mary Mullaney

High School graduations take place at 6 pm at the DCU Center, except where noted:

• May 27, 11 am, St. Casmir Alternative, St. Casmir's Church (no speaker)
• May 27, 10 am, Creamer Center, Worcester State College, John Monfredo
• June 6, Burncoat, Brian O'Connell
• June 7, North, Jack Foley
• June 8, South, Tracy Novick
• June 9, Doherty, Jack Foley/Mary Mullaney*
• June 10, Worcester Tech, John Monfredo
• June 13, Claremont Academy, Clark, Dianna Biancheria
• June 14, UPCS, Clark, Tracy Novick

*As both of these members have children graduating from Doherty, they will be splitting the speaking assignment.

Teacher(s) of the Year

Two semi-finalists and a finalist for Worcester Teacher of the Year
Francis Gribbons at McGrath Elementary
Jeremy Woloski at Burncoat Middle
Michele Emond at Worcester Tech