And in Worcester news

The Election Commission has confirmed her position, so Donna Colorio rejoins the School Committee for November and December.

Donna Colorio sworn in moments ago at Election Commission meeting to fill out the School Committee term of Brian O’Connell, who died last week. She said she is honored to fill out his term. pic.twitter.com/44DPfJ2oZY

— Steven H. Foskett Jr (@SteveFoskettTG) October 25, 2019

Also, posted next to the specimen ballots at each polling place on Election Day will be the following notice:

DECEASED CANDIDATE NOTICE

Please be advised the following candidate is deceased

BRIAN A. O'CONNELL

54 PROVIDENCE STREET

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Please note the name of the deceased candidate is on the ballot and cannot be removed. Any votes cast for the candidate will be considered a tribute vote. The candidate cannot be elected.

Any voter who has already cast an absentee ballot may request a new one by making a written request to the Worcester Election Commission.

If you have any questions please contact the Worcester Election Office at 508-799-1134 or elections@worcesterma.gov. 

So if you already sent in your absentee ballot, you can re-vote, knowing that Brian will not be able to serve. 

UPDATE: here's the article; do note that it isn't a law but the city charter that sets up this succession.

Continuity in governance

On the general blogging principle of anything that I've been asked more than once, even more people are wondering.
You aren't wrong to ask: continuity in governance is a basic element of political stability.

Under the section 4-6 of the Worcester municipal charter (starts on page 92 over here) regarding vacancies on the Worcester School Committee:

If a vacancy shall occur amongst the six at-large members of the school committee, said vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as provided in section 2-10(a) for the filing of vacancies in the office of councilor-at-large, from among the candidates for election to the office of school committee at the preceding regular municipal election

To be clear, section 2-10 says:

(a) Councilors-at-large - If a vacancy shall occur in the office of councilorat-large, the vacancy shall be filled in descending order of votes received by the candidate for the office of councilor-at-large at the preceding regular municipal election who received the largest number of votes for the office of councilor-atlarge without being elected, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve. The board of election commissioners shall certify such candidate to the office of councilor-at-large to serve for the balance of the then unexpired term

That would be the November 2017 election, in which the results were:

School Committee election results from November 2017: O'Connell, Foley, Monfredo, McCullough, Comparetto, Biancheria, Colorio. The first six serve on the Committee. 

The seventh place finisher was Donna Colorio with 7,534 votes (behind sixth place Dianna Biancheria with 7,824). Colorio is not running for Worcester School Committee at this time; she is, however, running for Worcester City Council at Large and has left her name on the ballot for mayor.

It does, note, take a meeting of the Election Commission to certify the filling of the vacant seat.

There are no Worcester School Committee meetings remaining before the municipal election on November 5. There are two meetings in November and at least one in December. The newly elected Worcester School Committee will be sworn in the first full week of January (January 6th, if memory serves).

And yes, the municipal ballots for the November election already exist; in fact, absentee ballots have already gone out to voters.

UPDATE: Per Nick Kotsopoulos, the Election Commission will meet October 25. Among the things they'll decide upon is what will be shared with voters about Brian O'Connell's passing.

"I shall not look upon his like again."

He was a man, take him for all in all.
I shall not look upon his like again.

                                          Hamlet, Act I, Scene II

When the "motion to file" the minutes at last night's Worcester School Committee came from Jack Foley, my ear knew something was wrong. The "motion to file" and other procedural motions always, always came from Brian O'Connell.

That will no longer be the case.

While not the motto of any of the institutions he attended. the Latin phrase I associate with Brian is "semper fidelis," always faithful. He didn't graduate from institutions so much as become part of them: a trustee of Worcester Academy, on the board of Holy Cross, a lector at St. John's Parish, a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and I know there are many more.

Brian also was a child of Union Hill and a son of Worcester, and that, too, was a core part of his being. His decades on the Worcester School Committee are a testament to his being of Worcester and of Worcester being part of him.

Brian was not only renowed for his floor speeches on the Worcester School Committee; he was also the most broadly read. For many years, this led to a host of items from across the country of ideas and endeavors from elsewhere that he thought Worcester should consider or discuss. It was often a race to keep up with him. Race I did, and I am grateful to him for that.

True to his surname--I think I can say this, as one who shares it, though we are not, as we both noted many times, related--he was also very sure and unshakeable when he thought that he was right.

One did not serve successfully on the Worcester School Committee with Brian O'Connell without getting a thorough education in parliamentary procedure. It was an extended executive session in my first months on the Committee with him in 2010 that sent me off to learn it thoroughly myself.
I have Brian to thank for that.

Brian was a Worcester institution.  To paraphrase Hamlet speaking to Horatio of his own father: we will not see his like again.


Requiescat in pace

Elbows

"Elbows: the most important weapon in a politician's armoury."

from Yes, Minister

In the past several months, the Worcester School Committee has recognized or honored:

• the winners of Worcester Regional Middle School (grades 6-8) Science and Engineering Contest at WPI 
• the seniors who have been awarded the state Seal of Biliteracy
• students for "exemplifying behaviors that meet the Core Values at the Goddard School of Science and Technology as part of their turnaround process." 
• a South Central Noonan Scholar
• the Doherty Memorial High Powerlifting team
• an International All-Women's Choir member

...and I could go on.

The science fair winners did not have their projects reviewed by the School Committee prior to their being honored. The Seal of Biliteracy seniors did not have their language skills checked by the School Committee prior to their being recognized. The students with exemplary behavior, the athletes, the vocalist...none had the skills or performances for which they were being honored checked the the School Committee prior to their being recognized.

Thus Scott O'Connell is right to remark on the highly unusual hold Mr. O'Connell requested be placed on the item to honor student researchers who presented at Harvard. He has insisted--and the committee agreed, as the Worcester School Committee does not have a personal hold--that the research be given to the Committee first.

This is the research that students did outside of school on their own time and presented first at the Mayor's Commission on Latino Educational Advancement regarding student perspectives on teaching. These same students, based on the way their presentation and they themselves were treated at that meeting and subsequently by the superintendent and other administrators, then called for her resignation. 

That's the first indication that this is not about the research.

The second indication is that this research was presented to the Mayor's Commission months ago and has been in the news consistently since. If Mr. O'Connell and other members of the committee were as interested in teacher diversity as their introductory remarks in the budget hearing claimed, they would of course wish to have read it. They have had ample opportunity to do so. 

Worcester Public Schools FY20 budget deliberations round one

It's 4:10 and the committee is all here but the superintendent is not...the budget is here; I've stuck the account order ("recommended") here.
And it looks like they may be starting at 4:15...
Posting as they go

Worcester updates

Another week in which it's good that Worcester is a two newspaper town...

• Last week's Worcester Magazine cover story on how sex ed failed caught the attention of both Mass Politico (scroll down to "Local Angle") and Commonwealth Magazine, which followed up with some of those involved. Janice Harvey likewise devoted her column to the need for such education. 
• The students who spoke out last week for change are gathering signatures in support.They also have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday.  
• The Worcester Principals' Association have sent a letter of support for the superintendent, covered here in the Telegram and Gazette. Note that this is not a union; principals in Massachusetts are not unionized and probably have among the least job protections of those working in public districts. 
• The entirety of "Worcesteria" this week is on Worcester School Committee. 
• Molly McCullough was on Radio Worcester earlier in the week. 
• Doug Arbetter, a Doherty High grad who ran for school committee several years ago, wrote a blistering letter to Worcester Magazine about the need for change on the Worcester School Committee. 
• Regarding questions of systemic bias, it is useful to read what Framingham is doing. 

More as I have it! 

How sex ed in Worcester really died

A tour de force of a public documents request via Bill Shaner walks through what went on via email that killed comprehensive sex ed in Worcester, at least for this year.
Keep in mind that most of the messages are among a small group of people who have known each other for decades--good point by Lance Harris this morning--

Light evening reading.@TracyNovick and I were discussing string deliberations yesterday...If there are 5,000 pages of emails on a topic that was referred to a three-person subcommittee, those folks deserve an award if they avoided an OML violation.

— Lance Harris (@CMassPolitics) April 4, 2019

--and that it is still the case in Worcester that there are those who believe (in some cases correctly) that some emails or calls to the right places will get things done. Thus that piece doesn't entirely surprise me.

I am very concerned, however, about this exchange, and the perspective it offers on Worcester's longest serving member, Brian O'Connell:

On Jan. 24, Mullaney connected the fight to national issues.

“The world is a stupid, stupid place,” she said. “Look at what happened in the NY Senate yesterday re: abortion. Covington Catholic. Brett Kavanaugh – all these things go back to abortion and the infiltration by the left of the American nuclear family.”
O’Connell agreed.
“Like you, I worry more with each passing year about truly frightening developments like the proposed New York legislation, Covington Catholic and so much of the deliberation surrounding the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh,” he said. “Catholic anti-defamation initiatives truly need to highlight implicit or explicit anti-Catholic bias when it occurs, calling it what it is.”

That would be frequently-incorrectly-characterized New York change in the abortion laws (no, it does not legalize infanticide), the students of Covington High School harassing a Native American man at the anti-abortion march on Washington, and the Justice Kavanaugh deliberation which turned on a question of sexual assault, none of which, of course, were "Catholic anti-defamation initiatives."
But it is telling if you think it is.

Worcester School Committee on FY18 (round three)

I missed a few accounts, but came in just in time for Brian O'Connell's annual professed ignorance about the table of accounts (the "hidden administrators") speech. Mr. O'Connell, of course, is a school business manager.
Mr. O'Connell argues for and makes a motion to cut $150,000 from the central administration account.

Worcester school meetings this week

and there are a few...
The Governance and Employee Issues subcommittee meets on Wednesday at 5:30. Of note at this meeting: they're reviewing the student handbook--which suggests no substantive changes--and section I of the district policy manual (that's Instruction)--which I also don't see anything to raise eyebrows on--with one exception: they're about to let vocational students out of the two years of foreign language requirement ('though that's only in the handbook, not in the policy manual...and the two should agree). That would mean that students who don't complete that requirement would be ineligible for admission to (for example) UMass, which is why the MassCore requirements (including the two years of language) were adopted.
They're also hearing about collaboration around the Byrne Criminal Justice grant and discussion of municipal governance and of registering students to vote.

On Wednesday night, the final CPPAC meeting of the year is 7 pm at the Worcester Art Museum, and the guest speakers are Superintendent Binienda and City Manager Augustus to talk about the budget. A good time to ask questions...

The School Committee picks up budget again at 4pm on Thursday. The sequence of accounts is here, and they left off with security guards. There's a lot left to get through. If past experience is a guide, they'll go as far as they can til 6, recess to executive session, come back at 7 for the regular meeting, and pick up budget again once they've completed the regular meeting.

The regular meeting has a LOT of recognitions.
The report of the superintendent is on the ALICE security protocol, which includes training students and staff to fight intruders, rather than lockdown. The presentation is here. It appears, from the presentation, that the administration adopted this protocol without a school committee vote or any public notice.

There are also responses to motions made during and surrounding the budget deliberation two weeks ago: the motion on non-fulfillment of transportation, on leasing buses, on the wall by Tatnuck Magnet School, on Seven Hills charter school and WRTA grant-funded transportation, on McKinney-Vento transportation reimbursment (36% last year), on the Foley Stadium revolving fund, on graduation expenses, on what the crew team needs, on the repair of athletic equipment, and on athletic supplies purchased.

Mr. O'Connell is proposing having public meetings and hearings as part of the development of the new South High School.

He also wants to discuss departmental consolidation with the city.

He also is suggesting two meetings a month in summer (continuing the regular year schedule) and an additional meeting in months that have a fifth Thursday.

Miss McCullough is asking for a report on itinerant special education staff caseloads, specifically referencing Boston, and also a report on "what, if any, orientation, training or ongoing professional development is provided by special education department leadership to principals, as it relates to itinerant special education staff."

The committee is being asked to accept a donation of $19.10 for classroom books, of $1000 for SAT for seniors, of $1000 for a scholarship (due to Mr. Allen's award), of $676 for special education transitions, of $250 for the alternative program (from an award they won!), of $660 from Intel, and of $13,000 from the Quinsigamond Village Improvement Council for equipment. They're also being asked to vote a prior year invoice of $585 and invoices of $7695.

Mr. Foley is suggesting the following:

To ask the Mayor and the Superintendent to develop a new approach to the School Committee agenda that will make the meetings more effective, productive, and deliberative. Suggestions would include the establishment of a consent agenda for items such as routine approvals of donations and recognitions, the development of criteria for recognitions, designated meetings for honoring recipients of recognitions, and the presence on the agenda at each meeting or every other meeting an important educational policy issue facing Worcester Public Schools that school committee members would learn about (through materials distributed prior to the meeting) and discuss with administrators at the meeting.

There is an executive session scheduled for 6 pm on a grievance, contract negotiations with the teachers' union and with non-represented personnel (both non-administrative and administrative), and:

To authorize the Superintendent to negotiate an employment contract for Susan O’Neil, Ph.D. as the Deputy Superintendent, effective July 1, 2017.

...which I assume means that the committee voted in favor of the hire?

discussion of warrants

for what the heck this is about see here
O'Connell: MGL provides with school committee with statutory authority over finances
all school department bills must approved by the school committee (1995 finding)
"at best, a rather cumbersome initiative to undertake"
"it is in fact a requirement that we have some means of approving bills"
strict enough in fact that checks are not to issued
asking that it be referred to administration for a warrant approval process
have a means of distributing warrants and signing by means of technology
warrants on the school committee agenda in Haverhill, most cumbersome but "possibly most transparent"
"harmonize its own convenience...making information for those who do choose to look at the information in detail"
asks that it be referred to administration
Foley: interesting item from Mr. O'Connell
asks that it be sent to F&O
"what this means operationally, what it means from a budget perspective"
ensure school committee fulfills their responsibility, while not encumbering the administration
O'Connell: asks that the state be contacted as well
what the state recommends for a community the size of Worcester
that the discussion is focused on a recommendation that is reasonable

referred to F&O

Worcester School Committee FY17 budget deliberations (round 2)

scheduled to start at 4; list of accounts is here; they should be picking up with administration; the budget itself is here, and the Table of Contents on (web) page 7 is hyperlinked to each account. Updating as we go.

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

A few dates and updates

• We were supposed to be having a Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports meeting last night; Mr. O'Connell cancelled it due to the North meeting. This means that we have not had a TLSS meeting since November. No word yet on rescheduling.
• Reminder that there is still a Foundation Budget Commission hearing Saturday, February 28 at 11 am in Bolton at Florence Sawyer Elementary School.
• The Board of Ed meets Tuesday, February 24 at 10, for essentially a double-header meeting, as they had the previous meeting get cancelled multiple times. Assuming we have an operating Orange Line, I plan to go. 
• Next regular meeting of the Worcester School Committee is February 26. 

Rule 50

(this is on deisolation)
Petty asks that it be held for the next meeting for a report
as we're under a Department of Justice settlement, getting legal advice is what we need

Looking for more on the Superintendent's evaluation? updating with comments from members

It was early in the meeting; scroll down!

Let's take a look at comments from members!

Questions from the members

posting as we go
Monfredo: why are some schools using paper for PARCC?
Boone: lack strong technology infrastructure, scheduling
Perda: assessment of all schools readiness for PARCC; comprehensive review of all machines available and of network speed
factored into decision; some preferred to do paper, even if they had the technology to do computer

O'Connell: urge colleagues not to adopt the recommendation
not in the best interest of children, parents, teachers, schools; staying course on MCAS
"children thrive on consistency"
"have the drill down quite effectively...go into test really well-equipped"
instructing in new technology will take away from regular instruction
MCAS gives some sense of somewhat confusing data for parents to figure out how kids are doing
transfer of information "a challenge"
teachers to spend time on instruction with new test; more time lost from instruction
real carrot for using PARCC as hold steady on accountability "safe harbor"
"ultimate success depends on how students are doing"
suggest that our best course at this point...is to hold the course
Boone: we should value the voice of our principals...the idea of the carrot was not the decision on why they decided to use PARCC
standards in the curriculum are the same regardless of the assessment; teaching curriculum to meet the standards, we're not teaching the test

Foley: not a great supporter of the test
full portfolio of assessment is the way to go
"stay with MCAS allows to stay on academics; I'd argue that there's a lot of time in the classroom that'd be spent on academics if we" got rid of these tests
same approach on MCAS
it isn't going to stay the same, regardless; this gives us a chance to test it out
Petty just came in

Novick comments: (this is sorta what I said, but I forgot the keyboarding note. Dang.)

Biancheria: glad to see conversation and decisions made with principals
recommendation for Jacob Hiatt to take PARCC; but a high number of students opted out there
Goddard has 10.4% opt out; but taking PARCC
"not just one test, not just one assessment"
test makes determination of how students are doing
consistency lacking in what is going on with schools (due to state not making decision yet)
"down the road, there might be something else"
"I am at the level of waiting for something else"
which principal (new or last year) made a decision?
Boone: on point of consistency, number of students that were scheduled to tested; this was a sampling
Biancheria: 90% of refusal of students to be tested
Boone: Worcester Tech had students taking industry certification then; some students were taking AP
Perda: student results were not being provided, that's one reason people opted out; also, students taking the field test also had to take the MCAS last year
"I feel that we have two bad choices in front of us"

Petty: know there are some concerns, but we're going to move ahead in the future
passes 5-2
motion to suspend rules- 5-2
motion to reconsider: fails 2-5

Supplemental agenda: budget!

Again, you can find the backup here!
City now over NSS for the first time since 2010
Boone: obviously, we have greater needs
critical secondary needs: recommendation to school committee
ask School Committee to support resolution
O'Connell : note of appreciation to Council
where will positions be?
Boone: pretty close to exactly where they need to be
"reticent to say which schools, lest they get really excited ahead of it"
teaching load of 125 cap; class loads exceeding that
O'Connell: is it disruptive to switch classes? Boone: some students will have a new teacher
instrument lessons? Could we use some of these funds for that now? Suggestion to hold the item pending administrative report on costs of adding that
Allen: can we refer instrument lessons to F&O? Other outstanding items in F&O, could be added in quarterly budget process
instrumental lessons referred
Boone: hope that we won't hold up hiring teachers

Petty: "the school budget has so many outside factors...next month, we won't be at net school spending"
think the commitment from the Manager was one time because the budget wasn't really set
even after the figuring that $40,000 was the hole
Council did it to bring down class sizes
"my commitment was that this would go to teachers"

Foley: thanks mayor for leadership
joint meetings "we've established an awful lot of common ground"
understand what Net School Spending is about, what it means, "that clarity is so important"
they want the money to be targeted as well
can possibly deal with remaining schools through other means

I mentioned what I said in my earlier post, including that not cutting our budget on charter reimbursement is a big deal. To my questions: the answers are yes, a charter school reimbursement in July is unusual; and the earlier city administrative number was an error. 

Biancheria: attended Tuesday evening's meeting to thank the City Council, Mayor, City Manager
Have seen different areas to dedicate money to
"this was not something that they took lightly"
$172,000 is not the cure all
donation of $25,000 for cafeteria tables from an outside source
could we do that for instrument lessons?

passes unanimously
with reconsideration so that it can be implemented tomorrow

School Committee members on PARCC

I just made two motions: 

• To ask that we petition the legislature, governor, and state board to waive our accountability system until the switch is live
• Until such a time as an action is completed, the Worcester Public Schools will not field test the PARCC

O'Connell comments on Common Core

appreciates reports
articles that appear on a weekly basis
changes need to be studied extensively by educational researchers, by teachers, by students
"devil lies in the details"
"there are many people that need to be educated by some of the minutie (sp?)"
teachers focusing spending time on how it works with the classroom
teachers being evaluated on the basis of student mastery of skills that they have not had to master in the past
"issues are not going to be resolved in Worcester"

Superintendent's self-evaluation and goals

Notes from my comments here.
You can find the suggested goals here.