On the eve of Worcester's municipal election

On this eve of Worcester's municipal election, I offer the following thoughts, while looking back to what I wrote almost two years ago about the Worcester School Committee, though this is as much about Worcester City Council as it is about the Committee.

Please enjoy this fun "winter is coming" view
of Cannon Mountain last weekend.

A primer to the 2024-25 Worcester School Committee

 as requested

As I regain today what Justice Louis Brandeis referred to "the most important office,"¹ I offer here in that capacity² a primer to the 2024-25 Worcester School Committee. 

This does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to, as the title notes, present some foundational elements on which to build.

Ending the year and the term

 I had every intention of writing you at least two blog posts this week--one for what happened December 21, and one for what to know and consider in the next Worcester School Committee term--but COVID knocked me flat this week. 

As the year and term ends, then, I'll leave you with how I closed with the Committee on the 21st.

Mid-March updates on the Worcester Public Schools

 largely, though not entirely, taken from the Worcester School Committee updates from the Superintendent

Did you hear about the North High boys' basketball team?
First Division 1 champions in WPS history! 

• The Worcester School Committee and much of the cabinet is having a retreat on Saturday the 25th in the morning, to do some professional development work on governance
  
  
• The letter to the Auditor, Attorney General, Office of the Inspector General, and Ethics Commission regarding Worcester Cultural Academy Charter School, Old Sturbridge Village Charter School, and Old Sturbridge Village, Inc was sent last week. You can read it and the accompanying (lengthy!) backup here. Expect to see something coming on the boycott proposed by the EAW and MTA.
  
  
• You may have seen the district's social media traffic pick up, and if you read all our press carefully, you may also have figured out why: We do now have our Chief Communications Officer Dan O'Brien working for us. Dan comes to us via some time both at Minuteman Regional Tech and Boston Public Schools. (We are trying not to overwhelm him. Really.)
  
  
• Final interviews for principals for the open positions have been conducted, and selections should be coming soon.
  
  
• Dan St. Louis, who many may know as principal of UPCS, has been appointed the district's early college director (you can probably see how that's a fit!).  Chris Kursonis, former principal of Abby Kelley Foster Charter, has been appointed Administrative Director, College and Career. Much of the discussion you've heard coming in meetings about high school--what is it about, what's next--is going to be linked to and through this area. These positions fall under the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning. 
  
  
• The Superintendent's Student Advisory continues to meet monthly. Most recently, they contributed to our revised dress code, passed last meeting, and they interacted and gave feedback on an AI presentation reflective of our own. 
  
  
• We have had four unfilled wraparound coordinators. One of those positions is being moved to the Parent Information Center, as part of the larger work of Family and Community Engagement. Also translation/interpretation services and parts of our family engagement process are being merged under one position, which is both saving us money ($90K) and allowing for co-directors of this area, Dr. Déborah L. González and Casey Starr. They are in the process of a THOROUGH (thank goodness!) review of the student enrollment process, including voluntary transfer and school choice. 
  
  
• Public hearing on the WPS budget: MAY 24!! Mark your calendars! 

May Board of Ed: on Boston

Riley: "my assessment very briefly"
then Curtin, then back to Riley

It's a three subcommittee week in Worcester! PLUS THE BUDGET IS COMING

• TUESDAY, 4:45 pm, it's Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports : virtual tutoring, elementary librarians, social emotional learning, Night Life
  
  
• WEDNESDAY, 5 pm, it's Finance and Operations : third quarter budget report, facilities update, transportation update, warrant policy, Doherty update, the student information system, sports game streaming, playgrounds, enrollment, ESSER spending 
  
  
• THURSDAY, 4:30 pm, it's Governance and Employee Issues: several employee sick bank items, student handbook, strategic plan

And on FRIDAY: 

The FY23 budget is publicly released! 

The key things exceptional boards and members do

Notes originally tweeted from this school boards' (they're school boards outside New England) trainers session by Kay Douglas and David Koempel of Texas, Nick Caruso of Connecticut, and Mike Gilbert of Massachusetts:

Exceptional boards:

• self-govern: this isn't the superintendent's job
• focus on the work of the board and hold meetings that are purposeful and focused on students: the board agenda should be there to finish the goal; "don't spend time doing work other people could do." What is it that the BOARD (and only the board!) can do? What percentage of the agenda is focused on student achievement? To which district goal is each agenda item tied?
• work collaboratively with the Superintendent and clearly articulate expectations to community and staff: build and maintain trust and communication
• set shared vision, mission, and goals and monitor progress: We are really good at setting goals; we are not good at monitoring them. What is the path to the achievement of goals? PUT THE REPORTING OUT ON EVERY AGENDA. 
• engage in professional development together: agree together on PD (with governance team!) on what YOUR district needs

Exceptional members:

• make decisions based on data and monitor progress: If the board doesn't have the information it needs, it isn't time to make the decision. This takes admin PD; don't just "throw up a spreadsheet." The purpose of meetings is to make decisions. 
• respect opinions of others and leave ego at the door: There is no term for an individual board member; they are a member of the board. 
• understand board's role/learn and abide by board operating procedures: Self-evaluation is about how the BOARD (not the individuals) are doing; that's the distinction from elections. 
• prepare for board meetings and ask questions in advance: The most frightening sound any chair can hear right before a board meeting is the agenda packet being torn open. Make it clear in public what questions may have been asked but don't play gotcha with the administration. 
• learn and abide by the open meeting laws and board protocols: know the LAWS
• keep confidential information confidential: once trust is broken, it takes a long, long time to get back. 

Board of Ed for February: charter schools

They're going to take items 3, 4, 5 and 9 (back to back to back) on charter schools

Phoenix Academy on Lawrence:
Wulfson: "Phoenix Academy stands out as a shining light as a network of schools that are doing great work"
"reengage those students who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out"
school has been running under contract with Lawrence Public Schools
"with encouragement and approval" of district to seek a Commonwealth charter, so school may draw from surrounding communities
Sagan: testimony in support included testimony from Riley as receiver of Lawrence
all testimony was in support
Stewart: was largely Lawrence testimony; included current students and alums
"model that is very different from the core model of the district"
Phoenix Academy APPROVED

Veritas Academy
Wulfson: second request for expansion: wanted to get through first renewal, came back with more modest proposal
Warwick notes that it will compete directly with Empowerment Zone in Springfield
we believe "competition and choice are both healthy"
"have certainly seen excellent results in Empowerment Zone" since Veritas was operating
Morton asks to recuse himself as he is a member of the board of Empowerment Zone
Springfield is above 9% but not at 18% (question from Stewart)
Expansion is APPROVED on eight votes in favor, with four abstensions (Morton, Stewart, Doherty, and...?)

Re: Lynn
Wulfson: heard a level of frustration over my decision not to recommend either charters going forward
Lynn will be coming out of bottom ten percent
"I know this is frustrating for the applicant groups...it's frustrating for us! We put a lot of effort into evaluating applications ourselves."
"we have a very complicated system of charter caps in Massachusetts"
"have been personally wrestling with these caps for twenty years in different guises"
"it's tied to Net School Spending...tied to enrollment.,.based on data that we don't even have until the end of the year"
do our best to manage this process
"the reason this is coming to a head right now...we've had communities coming in and out of the bottom ten percent every year"
"right now you're having communities get to their caps, so there's a bigger impact on coming and out"
"doesn't take a big swing in performance to move communities in and out"
based on MCAS results, didn't have them until late fall
wasn't until after the holidays that calculations were done on bottom ten percent
"the charter school community has to understand that caps change based on if you're in or out of that bottom ten percent"
law "could in the future involve taking away seats that had been awarded"
"if I recommend these seats now, you could approve, but a year from now, these seats disappear"
would have to do significant prorating of tuition
"this is not a situation I think anyone anticipated"
"to see if there is something we can do, short of statutory changes, that will make this" more workable for everybody
"can talk about potential for statutory changes... we know the bitter fight we just came through on Question 2...I don't know there's any appetite in the legislature for anything having to do with the cap"
"I do not see that have any leeway under the statute to award seats that will not be available"

Sagan supports not voting seats only to pull them back

Craven: on weight of growth versus achievement
"what if that impacts this decision?"
Wulfson: right now this year's calculation is based on past practice
"absolutely correct in change in performance or change in weighting...Lynn goes back in the ten percent and the seats are available again"
Craven: "I just wonder if there's hope that we can extend on this end"
McKenna: we were in this decision once before "and we said never again will be let this happen"
says on application that it is subject to change
we also said that DESE should say to applicants on the bubble "this may not work"
Wulfson: "it was a little disappointing to hear people say 'we didn't know districts could come out of the bottom ten percent'"
Sagan: "I think that's an unfair comment"
Chuang "the problem is we can't predict the future"
seats available this year will not be available the following year
"this was unavoidable"
McKenna: frequent reminders to charter applicants that the situtations could change
West: I do think the current policy puts the charter proposers in an untenable situation
Wulfson: Families don't always understand the nuances of charter schools or charterizing
"we've asked for these seats, but they haven't been granted yet"
West: potential changes of the formula could impact this list
"not clear to me that you'd want to use the same list for charter growth that you use" for accountability
Wulfson: "I look forward to that conversation again"
"there's strong feelings on both sides of that"

Davis Leadership Academy under probation
Wulfson: "we obviously want our charter schools to succeed..." this school is not where it should be
recommending that we do have a renewal here
"our way of signally the seriousness of the situation"
"make sure that everybody is rolling in the same direction here"
DESE staff: "a reemergence of the governance concerns and need to fulfill duties of the charter school board of trustees"
"did have a decline in academic performance" over term of charter
"not what we expect of a charter school in its fifteenth year"
charter under probation APPROVED

Board of Ed for February: Level 5 updates

backup is here; introducing the new receiver
Wulfson: "as I think everyone realizes, you have to be named 'Jeffery' to get a senior job with the Department these days"
Villar: now in week three "and the learning process is now underway"
first in rural Connecticut then in Hartford, spent two years starting a charter school, then moved into Mereton Public Schools
was director of group focused "on closing the achievement gap"
"policy opportunity...a perform opportunity...depth of education"
"seven superintendents in eight years does an awful lot of destruction in a system"
Johnston: being on the ground was eye opening
23 different payroll forms that came into the HR office every week
"one small example...every system has corellaries"
"there was a lot of support for the turnaround plan...the problem is the schools didn't own the turnaround plans themselves"
what schools need to be doing is very different by grade level
school improvement plans that are based on the turnaround plan
"started with the principals but we said it doesn't end with you"
"school improvement plans are living documents"
visited every school at least once a month
take the tenets of the school improvement plan and comment only on those
"tried to stay true in our observations" to the plan
met with a lot of acceptance and excitement by the school communities
elementary literacy: what are our plans to get children to read?
assessing a single aspect of literacy doesn't look at enough: how do students make meaning?
very strong results on decoding results; when offered a more comprehensive assessment, they found that children weren't making meaning
"dose of intervention" for students needing it
"it's giving the school momentuum"
"still more to be done"
new writing program "the students really are writers"
dual language program: promoting students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds
student noted that new receiver spoke to them in Spanish
"not something students are used to seeing" in leadership
Open Architects doing financial management and human resources
"a lot of people have tried to stabilize the finances of the district in the past"
"inherited a lot of unpaid bills"
"about one in every four invoice he paid this fiscal year was from last fiscal year"
have worked through the backlog
have hired 70 teachers this year; there are only 170 teachers in the district all together
"high rate of turnover"
"there will be some turnover again this year"
need for a new high school principal as current one moves back to family
assistant principal appointed as interim starting March 9
balancing FY19 budget; "getting to the bottom of acknowledging the costs"
opening of OSV charter school meaning loss of funding to district
"there are challenges"
school design grant funds of about $2M over three years
Stewart: on governance
what has happened or is happening with Southbridge on governance
"all level five districts have locally elected school committees"
has been working with the district and "improving the outlook of the schools together"
"brought back some subcommittees...have more of a voice, more of knowing what is happening the schools" on budget and curriculum
will be ongoing work with Villars "to establish their role"
"so they can be part of the change, not simply inherited a changed district"
Craven: "a little bit alarmed by" reports from prior receiver that we were in a good situation
"we're a little bit stunned by the level of chaos the business office was in"
"I don't think in the future that a receiver should report to the Board without reporting in these matters"
Sagan: I didn't think it was going fine until now...maybe it was a question of depth
"I don't think they were sleeping well in Southbridge...I'm not sure they are yet."
Moriarty: want to flag PD on implementation on literacy
"love the dual language concept...if it aligns to the best practices in other Massachusetts communities"

And the rest of the Level 5's
Parker in New Bedford: soliciting proposals for potential receivers in the coming year
"we hope to be able to offer him a recommendation in the next few weeks"
will engage in community stakeholders as part of that process
McKenna: "the timing won't work to have the superintendent because you won't have a superintendent"
New Bedford "hopes to have for the beginning of March...it's not off the table"
on all Level 5s
each school increase in use of instructional rounds
distributive leadership: solicit feedback on key decisions from teachers
difficulty with staff retention and turnover
McKenna: challenge with suspensions
Johnston: really went after it
while I don't have the exact numbers, improvement in culture and climate have been notable
McKenna: turnover "which has been an issue in a lot of charter schools"
particularly young teachers and inexperienced teachers..."workload is enormous"
it is going to continue to turn "unless someone pays attention to it"
"has to be a more innovative" process for some of these positions
"hard to do long term"
"I think a lot of the charters haven't accepted that yet...thinking through more innovative ways to job share"
"in other parts of the country, schools have started to do that"
"I think that they lose really good folks, after they've put in time...they learn on the job, and then they lose them"
Moriarty: agree with that call to action, but I would broaden that to schools that DESE has intervened in
"systemic...encourage Department to better understand this ongoing issue with teacher turnover"
"the tough places are tough places to keep people"

Let's talk about North High

I posted a thread on this yesterday on Twitter, but I've done a smidge more digging and I think I know where this is coming from now. 
I missed the initial article from earlier this month announcing that Superintendent Binienda had moved into North High School while Principal Lisa Dyer was out on medical leave and did not intend to appoint an acting principal in the meantime. Offhand, it's not clear to me that it's legal to fail to have a principal; the relevant MGL is Ch. 71, Sec. 59B:

The superintendent of a school district shall appoint principals for each public school within the district at levels of compensation determined in accordance with policies established by the school committee. Principals employed under this section shall be the educational administrators and managers of their schools and shall supervise the operation and management of their schools and school property, subject to the supervision and direction of the superintendent.

The section then goes on to enumerate the quite extensive list of responsibilities and powers of the principal under the Mass General Laws. Those are specific, distinct, and discrete from the powers and responsibilities of the superintendent.The union president being okay with it isn't what we're looking for here; I'd be interested in a legal opinion, preferably one from the state.

Likewise, of course, having the superintendent overseeing just over a thousand students of a 27,000 student system directly is less than reassuring. Worcester needs a superintendent who's actually running the system.

Yesterday's follow-up article, revealing that the superintendent intends a turnaround plan of some kind, wasn't any more reassuring. The opening comment:

“North High’s performance on the MCAS (this past year), for the third year in a row, showed no progress”

...is simply not true. You can find North's MCAS data over time on DESE's website here. You don't have to know about CPI and PPI and the rest to tell what the lines are doing. Here's a screenshot of the charts for students scoring proficient or higher, 2013-2017.

Are those lines trending steadily downward for three years? No, they are not. They did go down this past year, but they had gone up the year before.

More to the point, look at the median student growth percentiles (from the same page):

Have they bounced down? Yes. Have they gone down for three years? No. Again, they were up before they were down.
We can't panic every time there is a year of down results. Analyze, plan, figure out what had happened, absolutely, but some classes are stronger than others (and that's why the state doesn't judge on a single year's worth of data, either).

Now, are those fantastic results? No, they aren't. And the district has been concerned and working on North in past years. There are also things that matter besides MCAS, and those things, because North High is a high school, the state even judges the school on. Here, for example, is North's dropout rate since 2012:

It was 2.4% last year; the state's rate is 1.9%.
And here's the four and five year graduation rates:

Again, none of these are my numbers; they're what the district has reported to DESE.
So let's say that I'm coming into this a bit skeptical that North High is suddenly in an emergency situation.

However, I did have a chance to poke around a bit more this afternoon, and I've come across what I think is probably driving this.
You'll remember that only high schools were assigned levels this year. That means that this exercise, where we set the schools in order by percentile, suddenly only involves high schools (save the Level 4 and 5 elementary schools). Remember that you want a higher percentile (those are better), and take a look at the list (I clicked to set them in order by percentiles and then scrolled down until I found anything, as nearly all the elementary schools don't have one):

So from the top here we have Madison Park (Boston's vocational school, which is undergoing another round of turmoil now); Holyoke's Dean Vocational (which was under state receivership before the district was); then Brighton High, New Bedford High, High School of Science and Tech in Springfield, Excel High, all of which are Level 4 schools already. The first Level 3 school we hit is North High in the third percentile, before going back to Level 4 again with West Roxbury.
Remember, though, that the Level 4s are always at the Commissioner's discretion, which is how we find this if we scroll further down:

Yes, that's Springfield's High School of Commerce, a Level 4, coming in after North (it has a higher percentile this year).
All of which is to reiterate that it is a mistake to think that this all comes down to MCAS scores. It doesn't, and it never has. What does the state look at?

District governance.

By the by, Worcester is already a Commissioner's district, so that threat won't stick. 

November Board of Ed: update on Lawrence

You can find the backup here.
Sagan: some announcements of changes in receivership in Lawrence
Wulfson: joined others up in Lawrence; Riley announced he'll step down at the end of this year
recap where we are in progress on this district
after his presentation, will talk more about moving forward on receivership
Riley: "I wasn't sure I wanted to come...I was pretty happy in the Boston Public Schools...it was very hard to leave"
"best experience of my professional career"
"parents, teachers, kids are amazing"
strong gains particularly in mathematics, science has nearly doubled
"growth scores big" over 50 in new MCAS
Graduation rate now up over 71%, "heading hopefully to 80 in the coming years"
dropout rate has been cut in half
used school funding to fix the buildings
"perhaps one of the most important things we did to parents to buy in"
"we've gone too far in the world of education in just assessing students by a test"
arts, enrichment, "these are things that are valuable"
"I hope that these things will continue"
"This was a home-grown investment...if anything, my role was a facilitator"
still more to do
special education road map for next years: "structure of special education has to be fixed"
"And I would be remiss if I did not talk about the budget"
"The foundation budget is not working for Gateway Cities; we need to revisit that...and the city needs to go beyond the minimum."
"It's incumbent on this Board" to work on foundation budget
"there is virtual nowhere left to cut"
"there is still persistent achievement gaps that aren't being addressed, there are still communities that don't have what they need to address the needs of their students"
"positive first step" to shift to board
look forward to day that schools will be returned to local authority

Wulfson
state receivership seen by some as punishment
take responsibility in Constitution
step in where it is not working
Lawrence in a much better place than it was six years ago
"see it as being a partnership with the district"
next step: will be a board
"really two things that need to happen" to leave receivership: continue progress, ensure there is a local governing structure and climate that the gains will be sustained once the state leaves
"starts to bring more local voices into the mix"
the receivership board will select a new superintendent who will report to receivership board (who will report to Commissioner)
Board will be between five and seven members: good educational policy foundation "regardless of where they live" and some from Lawrence
Board will act as if it is a governmental body: comply with public records law, open meeting law
"important step in re-engaging community and being transparent about its work"
hope and expect that it will meet with school committee, members of community
Sagan: is there a model of moving towards shared responsibility
Wulfson: some school committee members re-elected
Sagan: "I don't know how that's possible with what they did!" (wow)
Wulfson: will engage in conversation with mayor if that's the best structure of long-term governance
(so are we contemplating governance changes? We don't like school committees now?)
saw in New Bedford "a respected superintendent" stepping down as she didn't receive the support she needed
spoke of long-term continuiting of superintendents at MASS/MASC conference (he did, but didn't mention the school committees!)

McKenna on continuing to raise graduation
Riley: a lot of it is bringing students back
now about academic engagement: keeping kids in
kids have internships, work studies, college credits

Craven: lessons learned?
Riley: trust teachers
"strength of our district is our teachers"
"believing in teachers and letting them have a voice"
collaboration: "getting people from all sides" in

West: insight into final step to return to local control
"possibility to make changes to the school governance structure"
"or whether you have an appointed committee"
Riley: I don't think there should be anything taken off the table
"anything to make sure kids in Lawrence are getting a better and better education every year"
structure remains to be seen
McKenna: Connecticut has Commissioner district that are majority funded by state; board is majority appointed by state, some appointed by local

Moriarity on third grade reading
Riley: agree but also need to give students time to learn second language; we know it takes several years to acquiring language

2016-18 standing committee assignments for Worcester School Committee

via Tom Quinn at Worcester Magazine:

Accountability and Student Achievement: Chair Biancheria, Vice Chair Colorio, O’Connell

Finance and Operations: Chair Foley, Vice Chair McCullough, Colorio

Governance and Employee Issues: Chair Monfredo, Vice Chair Biancheria, Foley

Teaching, Learning and Student Supports: Chair O’Connell, Vice Chair Monfredo, McCullough

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, October 1

Our first October meeting is at 7 pm on Thursday. You can find the agenda here.
There's lots going on this week. We have several groups coming through for recognitions. Mr. Monfredo has filed for reconsideration of the item on preferential hiring for in-city applicants for jobs. We have all the minutes from this past month to approve, plus the language of the school committee section of our policy handbook to approve.
Then onto the rest of the agenda.
The report of the superintendent is on the arts magnet program in the Burncoat quadrant.
By Thursday, we will have three standing committee reports: Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports, Governance, and Accountability (see my previous post).
We have a few more HR updates as we're still beginning the year.
We have the held item on parking around Temple Emanuel back up again.
Mr. O'Connell is concerned about the costs of the Affordable Care Act (particularly around, if I'm reading this correctly, the so-called "Cadillac tax").
Mr. O'Connell wants to look at MCAS scores, and PARCC scores, and AP scores.
We're being asked to approve a prior year payment of $6,487.80 for translation.
Mr. Monfredo is asking that we support Senator Flanagan's S 2020 regarding opioid testing for students. 
We're being asked to accept a donation from Doherty graduates of $10,619.15 for Doherty (I believe I see the cleaning up of student activity accounts happening here).
I'm asking my colleagues to look at the resolutions that are before the Mass Association of School Committees Delegates Assembly next month, where I'll be representing Worcester. 
Miss Biancheria is asking for an update on crosswalk repainting.
She'd also like a report on the number of students who are homeless and what schools they attend (This one is screaming 'FERPA violation' to me; we'll have to see what admin says about how this could be reported)
Miss Biancheria would like to know how we hire consultants.
She'd also like to honor Maureen Binienda for "developing innovative ways of providing healthy food" to students (which I think we already did?).
Mr. O'Connell wants to providing mentoring through the Chamber of Commerce.
Administration asks that we honor the Worcester Senior Center African American Seniors Group for their donations to our students.
Mr. O'Connell wants to know that our site councils are meeting.
And we're being asked to approve a prior year payment of $162.73 for three citywide gym teachers.

Governance and Employee Issues

Agenda is here

Wellness policy relating to Safe Routes to School

The district will support active transport to and from school, such as walking or biking. The district will encourage this behavior by engaging in activities such as: designation of safe or preferred routes to school, promotional activities such as participation in International Walk to School Week, National Walk and Bike to School Week, secure location for storage of bicycles and helmets, instruction on walking/bicycling safety provided to students, promotion of safe routes program to students, staff, and parents, and documentation of numbers of children walking and/or biking to and from schools.

Passes

home rule petition to permit the award of civil service appointment to provisional custodians
Brophy: not only custodians, other employees, and not only WPS, but City
Monfredo: send to City manager

tax exempt status on a simple and expedited basis for PTOs
they're their own independent entitiies
circulate the information but find out if they're independent

Clark Street library, name it after Eileen Barbieri

homeschooling language for the policy handbook
which was already approved and is in the handbook for this year

social media policy was put out in a bulletin and was reviewed with employees
policy was passed by School Committee previous year BUT was not sorted out with EAW prior to this year, so was distributed and reviewed for this school year
motion to file

Superintendent's evaluation: to include outgoing members in the evaluation of superintendent
(in other words, those who worked with the Superintendent are those who evaluate the superintendent)
point by Foley and Monfredo that this shouldn't happen, anyway, as we're supposed to evaluate the superintendent before members leave office
language that the offer is made, but outgoing members may if they choose

Subcommittee meetings scheduled

just posted
Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports meets Tuesday, September 22 at 5:30
Governance and Employee Issues meets Wednesday, September 23 at 5:30

Strategic planning

Ramirez: unlike other School Committees that drive some policy direction, we don't have that
structure in place
sometimes we're chasing items, rather than setting the tone for the district
"really have a conversation"
look to this body as a governance body
improve the structure of meetings: create a consent agenda, leave some time for items that are more importance year have MASC trainings every year, regardless of who is on the committee
look at strategic planning and where the committee should go
not get distracted on where the district could go
working the superintendent: principal PD and mentoring
parent engagement and structure
lay out some of the research on this nationally
lessing the items and then look for involvement of the community
hope that we can take this and maybe discuss it again
Petty: suggests it going to Governance
Monfredo: something we could discuss
Petty: have meeting soon, bring it back to the full  committee
O'Connell: at the time we do meet in September, could ask superintendent for her goals
have some alignment with her goals
Biancheria: keeping in mind as we move forward with this
items that are placed on the agenda are from the public
"this is what we do as a School Committee"
"we are elected officials...issues of concern that arise...that need to be on the agenda"
Novick: professional development of MASC, as raised here, makes it clear that there parts that are our job, and parts that are not
"There are items that do not need to be on an agenda"
one real contrast with other committees in their levels of effectiveness across the state is the focus on what is our job, under state law
O'Connell: our meetings are quite brief, comparison
chance to watch us
"important that we don't get ourselves caught up in what is the Superintendent's job and our job"
"the more information we can share to the public"
Ramirez: agree that we do that quite effective on the budget "we have a great budget"
agenda is "very very dense with request for information without knowing where we're going"
division between informative and micromanagement
referred to Governance

Governance: policy

Proposed changes to the Student handbook are here
posting as we go

Rodrigues: three backups: current policy handbook, changes to handbook made in August 2014 (didn't make handbook), changes made in September 2014.
greatest volume of changes are those that were changes in the late summer/early fall of last year
some clarifications and cleaning up the language
others cleaning up language, clarification
Monfredo: legal changes run by principals?
Rodrigues: yes, and some changes made per request of principals

Foley: August and September changes made or marked in yellow are additional changes?
Monfredo: we're all set on the colors
pages through 7 approved
through 19 approved

Biancheria: changes made through pages 27-34: seems like a lot
Rodrigues: most changes already made last year; some details for clarification of which section applies; also need details for code on conduct
search of students or lockers brought to code of conduct section
added as part of the suspendable offenses under code
Biancheria: excluded?
Rodrigues: some of discipline may be excluding a student from extracurricular activities
Biancheria: creating another level of discipline? excluded not suspended?
Rodrigues: if you're suspended from school, not allowed in extracurricular activities; may be times principal may not suspend a student, but may exclude from an extracurricular activity

Biancheria: in reference to the bullying law
"school community members" are we talking about staff and students?
Rodrigues: bullying law has evolved: anyone within the school community
"anyone within the school community could be a target under the bullying law"
Biancheria: is this language that is being used frequently? or is this something we're doing?
Rodrigues:
Biancheria: is there a way to put that definition? not specific
Foley: concerned that it doesn't include everyone, could raise issues
Rodrigues: that way there's no one left...if we're going to catagorize staff
was furnished to us by legal counsel
Monfredo: counsel is agreeing with the statement
Novick: aggressor limited to student or staff; victim may be anyone (volunteer, site council member, parent)
Pezella: could include a volunteer, due to changes in MGL (now has added amendment which includes adults bullying students)
Foley: quoting the state law, talks about how we define bullying, what we're saying in the other paragraph below, not referencing the state law that's there; we're saying the civil rights are guaranteed.
Monfredo: let's leave it as it is, we can always make a change a year from now
Monfredo: not to make any changes about cell phones, motion to address cell phone use with secondary principals, about safety and academic use
Foley: legal counsel on search? Yes
glad to see changes on policy in deliberation with principals
"at a time we're struggling with technology...how do we come up with a plan that allows kids to manage that properly"
supportive of motion
passes
change on athletic eligibility: passing classes
Biancheria: who determines student's average?
Rodrigues: since this regulation, SAGE report can be printed,, shows who is eligible and who is not
athletic liaison lets coaches know
Biancheria: because student mobility is an issue, SAGE follows them? Yes.
approved
changes in school health nursing changes
changes in security measures: physical restraint (per state law)
homeschooling: motion to add language on participation in extracurricular activities
Rodrigues: waiting to have language approved state counsel
Biancheria wants to hold off on any discussion until she has numbers
Foley: may need to approve this book before we have a discussion
Rodrigues: approve the proposal with new language to be approved at a later date
Novick: clarification for our principals as much as anyone; the confusion isn't on the part of principals
Foley: if we have any language ahead of printing, ask for it
if we're following the law, bringing greater clarity to what we're doing
approved with change (pending, somewhat)
testing sections pass
change in time for Elm Park Community School: longer day per Level 4 turnaround plan
changes approved as proposed

Luster: proposed changes from Mass Commission on non-discrimination on Nondiscrimination
addition of criminal record, active military status, genetics, or ancestory (this throughout the section on Nondiscrimination, starting on page 8)
changes in address and phone
"up to and including termination" under finding of discrimination disciplinary action

Changes approved as amendment
this is before the full committee on Thursday night

Even Homer nods: Governance today

Apologies for my complete failure to point out that there is a Governance subcommittee today at noon to consider the proposed changes to the WPS student handbook for the 2015-16 year.
You can find the proposed changes here.

Meetings next week (with UPDATE from the Council agenda)

More to come on both of these, but both the Governance subcommittee and the full School Committee meet next week.
Governance meets on Tuesday at 5. This includes an update of the employee social media and computer use policies (which has been on here since last June), updates on making WPS the school of choice, the question of having a Title I parent council, and Rep. O'Day's H3793 on health education.
The full Committee meets on Thursday at 7 (6 for Executive Session). The report of the superintendent is on the school disciplinary policy. Remember that there is also the public hearing on the proposed grant for security communication between schools and policy, as well as the vote on the proposed IB school.

UPDATE: Also, I see from the Council agenda that we've hit the annual "I'm on City Council, but I'm doing School Committee's job" season:

Request City Manager obtain information/reports from the appropriate departments prior to this year’s budget as to the cost(s) and feasibility of implementing full-time Worcester Police Officer(s) and/or metal detector(s) in each of our public high schools and the current costs/expenses associated with security measures thereat. (Bergman, Rosen)

A) not the City Manager's (or the City Council's) job and B) (multiple reviews of the research reveal) not something that actually makes schools (or ballparks) safer.

Meetings next week

While it's a short school week next week--Worcester has school only on Monday and Tuesday--there are two meetings of note.

• On Monday, the Governance and Employee Issues standing committee meets at 4:30 PM in the Durkin Administration Building. You can find the agenda here. Title I parents advisory council, Bill H450 on teaching health, the WPS social media policy, the Byrne grant, and aligning our evaluation process with our elections are all on the agenda. 
• On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Board of Ed has their regular monthly meeting. You can find the agenda here. They are voting on the waiver for a Brockton charter school.* They're also getting an update from Lawrence, voting on opening proposed changes to the vocational regs to public comment, getting a progress report on "Intergrating College and Career Readiness,"**receiving an update on proposed on amendments on restraint and seclusion, receiving the 2014 report on teacher evaluation, and receiving a report on Level 5 schools. And yes, I'm going, and yes, I'll be blogging. 

*They've decided the Fitchburg one can just roll forward, as they've now gerrymandered the district it's drawing from to make it a "bottom 10% district"

**Sorry for the quotes. I have trouble taking that very seriously.