May 2021 Board of Ed: opening remarks

 You can find the agenda here. The livestream will eventually appear here.

the video is picking up 16 minutes in, so I don't know if they already started or not: updating as we go

May Board of Ed from the Malden Public Library: teacher diversification

back up is here, but there is a PowerPoint
I actually can't see who is speaking, so IDs are going to be missing, mostly
"have a lot to be proud about, but as we celebrate what we've done well, we have to recognize that we're only number one for some"

Worcester Youth Organizations call for action, accountability

Ahead of this afternoon's 2 pm press conference at City Hall, you can read the full statement from the Worcester youth organizations calling for change here.

UPDATE: The YWCA of Worcester just released the following statement. It closes:

The YWCA particularly calls on the School Committee to stand with the Mayor in calling for action and we further urge the School Committee to hold those in the system who perpetuate inequity accountable.
As Maya Angelou told us, “Do the best you can until know you better. Then when you know better, do better.” Our students and their futures are counting on it.

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, October 18

You can find the agenda here. There is again not a report of the superintendent (...are we going to talk about accountability at some point, here?). There are a number of recognitions.
Miss Biancheria has filed for reconsideration of her item on snow removal equipment (is she questioning the referral?).
Miss McCullough's item on on I'm Not Scared; I'm Prepared is back on the agenda (?).
Mr. Monfredo is requesting a report on cursive writing.
Because there are still a number of homeschooling families receiving run-around on getting their plans approved by the district (and with an utter lack of consistency), homeschooling plans are back on the agenda on an item filed by Mr. O'Connell.
As you may have read, the House Worcester 17th district race got a Worcester Public Schools crossover this week:

[17th Worcester district Republican candidate Paul] Fullen and Jeff Creamer, principal of South High, are pictured shaking hands with the front facade of South Community High School displayed prominently in the background. It also includes a plug from Creamer, which, importantly, attributes him as the principal.

Creamer is now vigorously denying that he ever endorsed Fullen, and Superintendent Binienda says that Creamer didn't ask what Fullen was going to do with the photo of he, a candidate for public office wearing a suit, shaking hands with Creamer, the principal of South High, in front of South High. Okay, then.
In any case, the item from Mr. Comparetto that made it on the agenda for Thursday reads:

Request that the Administration interact with the City Manager and City Solicitor to make certain that all City of Worcester employees are fully informed about the State's guidelines regarding appointed and public employees’ public participation in political fundraising efforts and endorsements.

...which would seem to be only part of the problem (as Binienda is saying that she understands this not to be a conflict, which in case can someone get an actual OCPF ruling?); the other problem (as Bill Shaner covered in "Worcesteria" in the first link) is the principal of a predominately children of color school has endorsed, in appears, a candidate with openly racist views. Training in campaign finance isn't all that's needed here; administrators in Massachusetts are in part evaluated on culturally proficient communication (indicator III C) and on cultural proficiency itself (indicator IV B), and while this is hardly the only indication that WPS has a serious issue on cultural proficiency, it certainly is an important additional one.

Mr. Comparetto also is asking about the cost of high stakes testing (any chance we could examine the USE of high-stakes testing, as well, since we seem to be doing a nice job of channelling a lot of privileged kids into "gifted" programs using them now?).

Miss Biancheria is asking about the use of In Force Technology which is software that allows teachers to call 911 directly in case of an emergency, per the item. (er...)  And here's that article again on how much money is being made on school safety in the current atmosphere.
Miss Biancheria also would like a report on environmental management, including the number of employees involved.

There are two requests for prior fiscal year payments: $200.00 to the Educational Development Center (EDC) Learning Transforming Lives for the 2018 Urban Collaborative Spring Meeting Registration and $1,150.00 to Taft Education Center for services rendered in FY18.

There are also two (BIG) grants: the Skills Capital Grant ($495,575) for robotics equipment at Worcester Tech, and $150,000 from the Barr Foundation for what looks like research on post-secondary success of WPS students, in connection with the strategic plan.

There is also executive session posted for negotiations with Plumbers and Steamfitters and with Tradesmen.