Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, March 3

You can find the agenda here.
Bill Coleman wants to talk about substitute teachers' compensation.
There is no report of the superintendent.
F&O will be reporting out from their Monday meeting.
There is a report back on textbooks (timely, as the district is also buying $700,000 worth of new ones!).
There is a report back on the projected cost of a gymnastics team (which doesn't look as though it has changed much since I asked in 2013).
There's a request to authorize adminstration to have a five year contract for environmental management services (the authorization is for the length).
There are several donations being received.
And Miss Biancheria would like reports on Read Across America Day, the assignment of full-time teachers for long-term absence, and the Recovery High School.
The School Committee is also receiving the proposed relocation plan which was covered in yesterday's T&G. The district has been renting space for Chandler Elementary for a number of years, so the school has been split between its building on Chandler Street and a building at the YMCA on Main. The school is continuing to grow, and managing the single school in two spaces is...less than ideal. Plus, of course, the rental costs money...and not just any money: rentals don't count towards Net School Spending. Add to that the complications of a single administrator covering the grade 9 and 10 program at Fanning as well as at the Creamer Center up on Granite Street, and you start to see why some of these moves make a lot of sense. And, frankly, anything that gets the Parent Information Center someplace that makes some sense to parents (like the central administration building) is progress.
I hope to make this one: 7 pm, City Hall. 

BACK TO SCHOOL INFORMATION!

Here we go! This just in from Superintendent Boone's office:

ALL STUDENTS – GRADES 1 - 12
STARTING DATE: August 26, 2015

CAFETERIA
The cost of the paid lunch has been increased from $1.65 to $1.75, reduced price meals will remain at $0.40. Note from me: stay tuned, however: the School Committee takes up universal free lunch and breakfast next week. 
All schools will be serving breakfast and lunch beginning on August 26, 2015.

PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS will report on August 31st, 2015 as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.
HEADSTART STUDENTS will report as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.
KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS will begin school on August 31st, 2015. The Worcester Public
Schools will be screening Kindergarten children by appointment on August 26th, August 27th and August 28th. If your child does not have an appointment for screening, contact the school your child is registered at after August 17th.

STUDENT TRANSFERS:
Elementary: Please call the Parent Information Center for additional information regarding documentation needed for student transfer:
Dr. James L. Garvey Center for Parent Information
768 Main Street
Tel: 508-799-3450
Monday – Friday: 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Middle and High School: Students transferring between Middle and High Schools: parent/guardian must go to their child’s school to request a transfer slip and to return any books and/or materials. Parent/Guardian must take the transfer slip to the new school to complete the registration. (Please see school hours)

NEW STUDENTS:
All registration for Elementary Schools, Pre-K, Kindergarten through Grade 6, will be conducted at the following location:
Dr. James L. Garvey Center for Parent Information
768 Main Street
Tel: 508-799-3450
Monday – Friday: 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Registration for middle and high school may also be conducted at the above OR at the home school. Please call the school for an appointment.
Burncoat Middle 508-799-3390 8:00 am – 12:00 pm Mon – Fri.
Claremont Academy 508-799-3077 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
Forest Grove Middle 508-799-3420 7:30 am – 2:30 pm Mon. – Fri.
Sullivan Middle 508-799-3350 8:30 am – 1:30 pm Mon. – Fri.
Worcester East Middle 508-799-3430 8:00 am – 1:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
University Park Campus 508-799-3591 8:00 am – 12:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
Burncoat High 508-799-3300 7:00 am – 1:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
 Doherty Memorial High 508-799-3270 7:30 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
North High 508-799-3370 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
South High Community 508-799-3325 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.

I would expect bus routes to be posted next week. Questions? Send them along!

On the heat

or lack thereof. The Worcester School Committee received the following from Mr. Allen this afternoon:
It is clear that the recent cold weather has had an adverse impact on some of our heating plants and we are taking the necessary steps to address these issues as soon as possible so as to minimize any impact on instructional time. 

We have received the most communication regarding Doherty High School.  The immediate response that we will be taking is an earlier starting time for the heating system during the colder weather.  This should mitigate much of the overall building problems that has been experienced at the school.  However, the school does experience significant heat loss; first when the rush of students enter during the morning (with doors being opened for extended times) and during the day due to the condition of the school’s overall building envelope.  This also contributes to the variances in temperature within rooms and is not a new issue.  This is the condition resulting from of the non-insulated, single paned windows that surround the entire building envelope.  This is one of the reasons that we have identified Doherty High School as a project for major renovation under MSBA.  We will continue to work with our HVAC and building custodial staff to address daily, localized issues at the school.  We believe that turning the heat on earlier and some other steps will mitigate the problems at this school.

We have also experienced problems at other schools this week, including WTHS, McGrath, PIC, Quinsigamond, and Fanning.  These were primarily related to building controls and remote communications issues and have been resolved.  We’ve also had problems at North High and those issues appear to have been resolved through the construction contractor.  The building needed adjustments to the building controls based on the commissioning process of the school while in full operation. 

Jim Bedard is meeting with the HVAC lead tradesman each morning to review the status of all buildings and deploys necessary resources to address any issues.