Worcester School Committee meets January 21

The first regular meeting of the Worcester School Committee is this Thursday, January 21. You can find the agenda here and here.
There is an executive session at 6: to discuss the special education director's contract (one of the few done with the school committee) and to review the superintendent search submissions, as recommended by Finance and Operations subcommittee back in December.

On the regular agenda (which is a long one, as there hasn't been a meeting in a month), there is no report of the superintendent.
There are a number of midyear retirements, resignations, and new hires.
The rest of this is NOT in order; I'm going to start with "heads up" and list the rest.

For consideration: as noted earlier, to limit the superintendent search to an "internal" search managed by the mayor and finished by the first week of March.

Also, Mayor Petty wants to consider making South a vocational school or expanding vocational offerings there. 

The Committee is also being asked to forward school building priorities for MSBA. 

And Mr. O'Connell is requesting that the Committee review the ALICE program ("Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate") (you've seen this written up as the one where kids throw things at active shooters).

Worcester city budget (with a sidebar on safety)

Mayor Petty just announced that the City Council will meet at 4 pm next Tuesday to begin their budget deliberations. They will meet again at 4 on the 12, the 19, and the 26; they will meet if necessary on June 2.
At some point there will be a schedule of which departments will be heard when; I'll post it once I have it.
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Also tonight, the Council took up Councilor Bergman and Rosen's item requesting the City Manager report on the cost of medal detectors and police in schools. They heard significant public testimony tonight (nearly unanimous in opposition), then had a discussion that in part hinged on this being outside of their purview.
In a six-five vote, the motion was defeated, with Mayor Petty, and Councilors Lukes, Rushton, Rivera, Economou, and Palmieri voting against the request for such a report.
Notable quotes:

"why don't we just put bars on the windows and start the concept of a jail early in life?" Lukes #worcpoli

— Tracy Novick (@TracyNovick) May 6, 2015

"if we were concerned about safety, we would be concerned about what actually works" @Sarai4Worcester #worcpoli

— Tracy Novick (@TracyNovick) May 6, 2015

Council comments on transfer

O'Brien, thanks the Mayor, the Manager, Councilor Eddy "real support for public education"
First time "in four years, it may be five"
"important moment for me as we're making a real strong commitment to public education"
this is operational but "important investments in technology and school facilities, in partnership with our friends in state government...very important investments"

Eddy, echo O'Brien "this doesn't happen...happy to make this motion..working together with the superintendent"
"certainly not where we want to end"
talking to people "on the west side and on the southwest side of the city...safety, service, and schools"
middle class

Economou thanks Mayor, Manager
"the number one thing I hear going door to door"
strong education base "everything else will follow"
look forward to working further in the years to come

Rushton "this is the starting point to increase the funding of our schools"
national award winning schools
"over 500 new children came in...people are opting in not opting out of our school system"

Palmieri: "echoing my colleagues is one thing; the results are another"
"what a great education means to each  child...not only for better students, but...prime mover for economic development"
continue to help and assist schools, school department, teachers, and students
"can't think of a better place to invest at this time"

Lukes: "wonder what kind of a message we are sending...only so many dollars to go around...are we robbing Peter to pay Paul?"
free cash "very low this year"
runs numbers which appear to miss that Chapter 70 funds come through the city from the state...
"how much had you originally set aside in your plan to pay for these fixed costs?"
CM O'Brien "I'm not sure I understand the question..."thanks Mayor and Superintendent
NSS "a goal, symbolic"
move money from the contingency "one time money" to school salaries to lower class sizes
$40,000 delta that we had to achieve to get to net school spending
"stuck to that commitment to get to $172,000 'though the need was $40,000"
"we are going to have to begin to make some difficult decisions"
lists schools then public safety, parks
"a step, a symbolic step...we've got work ahead"
"I'm not being optimistic"
"had planned to put $5 million aside for OPEB..and we didn't get to a conclusion on the schools contribution and if it would count towards net school spending"
"defying the statistics across the country"
"long term strategic move now instead of in ten years"
deposits into OPEB
Lukes "likely that we're going in the same direction as other cities and not funding our OPEB and our pension liabilities, then?"
O'Brien: "just the opposite"
Lukes "when we keep taking money out and there's only so much money to go around"

Toomey "incredibly important in a community like ours to fund education"
"came from the bright side over there, in the Worcester Public Schools"
leadership, careful accounting
"incredibly important that folks don't look at this in a negative way, but as an economic vehicle"

O'Brien (for a second time): "it's a good thing (not a bad thing) that we've worked together to close that deficit"
"making smart investments in school infrastructure"

Petty: report on for Thursday night for exactly how the money is being expended

Roll call: unanimously passes

Schools on the Council agenda this week

There are several items on tomorrow night's City Council agenda regarding schools:

• Item 9.31A and 17h is the $6 million loan order for rehabilitation for schools; this is two years of $3 million each.
• Item 10A is the Committee on Education reporting out and includes the PowerPoint presentation that we received in our joint meeting. 
• Item 11i is from Councilor Palmieri, asking for cleaning and mulch at the LakeView playground (which isn't at the school but in the park across the street).
• Item 11j is from Councilor Economou, asking for an update on Nelson Place. We haven't had an official announcement of a building committee (as appointed by the City Manager) as yet; I have heard that the parent/neighborhood search process is on. Much of the committee is set by the requirements of MSBA (it has to have the Superintendent, the City Manager, the finance officer, the principal, etc). The questions regarding rehab/rebuild and location are ones that will be answered during the feasibility stage; one could even say that we CANNOT know this yet, as we have to look at all options during feasibility. 

Councilors on the WPS budget

O'Brien: where we've come to where we need to go
"closed eight schools, laid off teachers"
federal stimulus aid, continued support from the state
"equally been a challenging time for the city side"
"beginning to stabilize, due to good decisions being made"; cites council, committee, city manager, superintendent, municipal unions
"where do we invest going forward"
"three critical areas...strong economy...public safety...and you need to have great schools"
"we voted with our feet" (well, some of them...) and sent their kids to Worcester Public Schools

Palmieri

..I would hope that prior to having any informal or formal group that the Manager meet with the Superintendent...makes sense before we've picked the blue ribbon committees...
"Superintendent knows more about this budget than any Councilor"

Fundraising for Belmont Street

Councilor Palmieri is addressing the City Council now under suspension, speaking of the community leaders pulling together to fundraise for the school (again, more coming on this).

He is also asking that a group raise money for a reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism. He is pulling together this effort, hoping

Councilor Toomey speaking of the wish list for Belmont Street which will be on the WPS website (there will also be an article in tomorrow's paper).

Request for a detailed list of how much was destroyed and also a question about what insurance does and does not cover from Councilor Petty. Petty stands to point out that the building was alarmed.

Councilor Lukes wonders what security measures they have, requesting a report, referencing that cameras were not working.

A bunch of these are referred to the superintendent.

Add-ons on North High

There's a report on North High on the agenda tonight.
It's coming in on time and should be opening for fall of 2011. (I had this wrong last night)

Councilor Clancy wants to know who decides on the "add-ons" for the school; Commissioner Moylan says that he makes the final decision, keeping it "on time and on budget."
Clancy cites the Tech School, and six "other grammar schools" that have been rebuilt recently.

Councilor Palmieri wants to know if there are any other significant changes that will be taking place at North High. Moylan says no.
Staying within budget for FF&E; if there is more needed, it will need to be raised within the school budget or private funding. (Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment)"They have to go out and identify" other source of funds.
Says it's "almost 25 years late."

Comments from the members: Palmieri

"talking about the budget and how we're going to balance it, but not much about education"
Any adverse impact on North High?

proceeding forward with North High, made the commitment...in short, no. We're good on North.

Maybe the Councilors could meet several at a time with the superintendent for "a real dialogue"

Hope we can talk about a whole host of educational issues: K-8 education

Back to full council

$90,000 has been added to the public health nurses to keep them until September; the money is coming from health insurance.
The City Manager is asking the Council to hold on for some photocopying which will reflect the PILOT money coming from WPI, which will fund the library being open on Mondays and Wednesday and give some funding to Institute Park; it also will reflect the negotiations that the Manager has had with various unions that have agreed to a salary freeze and a 75/25 split, and thus had some positions restored.
(Councilor Palmieri is taking this moment to stand up and laud the City Manager for today's WPI PILOT announcement.)

Councilor Palmieri

speaks of his own experience in the Worcester Public Schools, saying that Loughlin is among the great teachers he had, as was Senator Chandler.



Early intervention, he says, has been something important to him. Boone says it's something she'll take a look at.
Palmieri speaks of gifted student funding..."a school for gifted children" is something he'd like to see.
Loughlin speaks of the advanced placement in the high schools, music at Burncoat, engineering at Doherty, Goddard Scholars at South, and health at North.
Palmieri wants to see something like Boston Latin.

Liveblogging City Council: Palmieri

lamenting the loss of people in "the bottom 250"
"storms they have to take on, the floods they have to take on...reach out to them each and every day"
"don't talk about that enough"
"most of those that left us today are at the bottom end"

A few closing notes

• In his comments following the Manager's update, Councilor Palmieri made a point of speaking of "the very important work of schools" (one of the only councilors to mention the school side).
• Councilor Haller asked what the affect of the loss of state funding would have on the city's obligations under the foundation funding formula. The manger's answer: $2 million less.
  

Councilor Palmieri on the tax rate

Thanks people for coming and speaking tonight

"I don't think there's anyone in the city that doesn't say they need lower taxes...everyone would like to see lower taxes."

Speaks of CitySquare...going to help out
Infastructure: commuter rail, "we need 15" (more trains)..."generate more residents, more business..."
"We certainly need our partners...our partners have been marginally weak...we need a stimulus package to enhance..." Stronger partnership with the state and fed
Parking overlays..."setting a trend that will have a dramatic affect on business"
"Business leaving in droves...facts are facts! That's not accurate! At a minimum, we've stabilized...not fact that businesses are leaving this city without businesses coming in."
PILOT: "This council has been very strong...if we are getting monies for the public library...it should happen"
"There is a fairness to be looked at"
"If we had a single tax rate today...increase on the residential side of $25 million...on commerical side would go down from $59 million to $33 million...business community would suggest that this would help immeasurably in bringing in businesses; I don't agree"
(he's pretty wound up about this)

"I'm just hopeful, that in the future, when you compare apples to apples, there's something that we all can agree to...we are not unique, 'though we are in a place that is a lot better than others...very, very good living in Worcester....want to make sure our residents can remain in Worcester"
MOTION: Lowest residential tax rate

Palmieri on Question 1

"probably one of the more serious ones that we've had in some time"
a significant number of people who don't believe this is the case...there is this frustration
People aren't happy with government

People ask "where have the legislators invested? Have they really invested in education?..."
"preaching to the choir is not enough...can't just say 'oh, boy, we have a problem'...have to get a bang for the buck"

(reference to $700 billion passed by Congress)

wants statements followed by action

Palmieri

"quite important that the superintendent of schools has recognized this area"
(that'd be AP)
"better education for those of the middle class"
"how passionate the superintendent is about issues like this...issue that struck"
(addresses Mills as he speaks of the "future superintendent")

"without the activists, this council would not have listened at all...lit the fuse...it is lit!"
"fundamental and basic issues in government and that is education"

"Keep us honest"
"Keep our feet to the fire"
(speaks her of the Fire Department union president Frank Raffa as one who does this)
"this is a drop in the bucket...but it's a positive"
"will work far more closely with the School Committee than we have in the past"
thanks the advocates

how not talking hurts the schools

Today's Telegram article is a report based on Tuesday's budget hearing (a note for newswatchers: this isn't unusual. What happened on Tuesday at and around City Council meetings generally gets strung out over the course of the week in the Telegram. It makes it a bit difficult to be timely in responding to what happens at one Tuesday's in time for, say, the next Tuesday's meeting.).
It's the quote from Councilor Palmieri that is most telling when it comes to how the City Council sees school funding:

“I want to give the School Department more money, but not just a blank check. We wouldn’t have any control over where that money would go or how it would be used.”

Now, the City Council isn't supposed to have any control over where school funds go or how they'd be used; it doesn't fall under their purview. I'm sure Councilor Palmieri knows that. What he speaks to, however, is the breakdown between the School Department and the City.The lack of clear communication has created an atmosphere of doubt on the part of some (most?) city councilors. They're perceiving the School Department as some sort of black hole into which money is poured.
This isn't entirely the fault of either the School Department and the School Committee. There doesn't, from the outside, appear to be a clear line of communication between, say, the City Manager's office and the Superintendent's office. There obviously should be. It's in the best interest of both parties.
It also doesn't feel as if all of the city councilors go out of their way to inform themselves about the school budget. If they're that concerned, they should. I would think, for example, that it might concern them that our state funding is in some jeopardy because our city isn't funding our schools at anything like the level they should be.