closing tabs

 Things I've had open to share: 

• I linked to this in yesterday's post, but do read the New York Times coverage that, yes, ICE raids do have an impact on attendance: 
  

  The spike in absences is equivalent to the average student missing about 15 days of school each year, up from 12 days, according to Professor Dee’s paper.
  He called the findings “a canary in the coal mine” for public education. If absences continue to be elevated, they could threaten student learning and children’s mental health.

  While the article suggests unlinking school funding from attendance (the data are from California) and perhaps adding funding when there are raids, the answer is of course not having them in the first place.
  At some point, someone may want to mark that chronic absenteeism is part of the school accountability system in Massachusetts.

Last night at Worcester School Committee

As always, this summary is me and mine, so take with that.

We heard a report on summer learning at both the elementary and secondary school levels over the summer. In total, we had about 11% of the student population served, in programs ranging from the extended year for some students who have IEPs, to a summer camp option, to multilingual programs, to a Generation Teach program, and to an early college option.
The final slide, I think, pulls together where we are going forward: 

For any like me with their eyes on ESSER, I did mention last night that I'd like an update on where we are with the 20% set aside for learning loss from ESSER III.

We approved a SLEW of grants (and if you have questions, can I recommend looking at the report? They're useful!):

• $270,000 for a grant to Nightlife for Carpentry and Diesel Technician training 

• $500,000 for Early College Full School and Expansion Year 2 for Claremont; we also sent the early college expansion at Claremont to subcommittee, because the Committee really hasn't talked about it. The backup on this one is EXTENSIVE, so if you're interested in that, do take a look. There's a big programmatic change there for Claremont, over time. 

•  $85,000 for social emotional support for out of school time mental health support. I should note, by the way, that there is major work coming on mental health for students and for staff. Thus here and later on, if it seems as if we're punting a few things, it's because we know that work is going on.  

• $237,021 for a Skills Capital grant for North High for the Allied Health program; check out that list of equipment on page 89! 

• $311,000 for a Skills Capital grant for Worcester Tech for automotive technology; again, check out the list of equipment on page 92! 

• $75,000 for a Skills Capital grant for Worcester Tech for IT 

• $5000 grant for Belmont Elementary for library books   

• $5000 grant from UNUM for a food pantry at Sullivan 

• And everybody's favorite: the $150,000 SWIG (how clever are they on the acronym?) grant for water bottle fillers. Because I have gotten some questions on this: please note that the grant program has strict outlines as to which schools can get grants, so if your school is not on this list on page 107, it isn't that you're being ignored. There has been discussion about additional efforts on this for other schools through ESSER funding, so stay tuned.

We did report out from Finance and Operations...I will try to do a separate writeup of that.you can find that here.

We got an update on COVID, which is going to continue to be part of school committee meetings this year. The state, as I think has been well covered, is offering no new guidance for this school year; the management of the district COVID response is now shifting to the Deb McGovern, the head of nursing. There are no state supplies at all. Worcester is keeping the medical waiting rooms, staffed by CNA's. However, there is no test and stay; the district will have tests which they can send home with symptomatic students, and students who are symptomatic will be sent home with instructions to isolate, but there will be no contact tracing this year. 
Thus students, staff, and families will have no idea if they have been exposed at school. I will offer my opinion that people should then proceed accordingly.

We had an update on how Chromebooks will be provisioned and handled in schools this year. Last year's order of over 23,000 Chromebooks has put us in good shape for this year. Every student grades 1-12 will be assigned a specific Chromebook; if it needs repair, they'll sign out a loaner, but then get the same Chromebook back after repair. We do have spares at every school in the system now, and there's essentially a weekly cycle of schools among the IT professionals assigned. 

If you haven't reviewed the latest broadband report from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, it's what came in from the municipal broadband committee. 

On Jermaine Johnson's motion, we voted to send Sue Mailman as our delegate and Laura Clancey as the alternate to the annual Delegate Assembly of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees in November.
Relatedly, we also changed our November 3 meeting to November 10 (four of us plus the superintendent will be at the Joint MASC/MASS Conference in Hyannis that week).

We then had a length discussion, which may have been a little hard to follow if you're not up on how Worcester School Committee functions: when there's a motion at a Committee meeting, for the most part, they can go two places: to one of our subcommittees, or to administration. Now, if they're on a subcommittee agenda, the chair of those subcommittees works with administration on what items end up on a meeting agenda. If it goes to administration, it pretty much is there until administration decides to bring it back.
And so they can, and they have, build up. 
I filed an item for this agenda to look at all outstanding administrative items and decide if we still needed them. Some of them are just old (and never got responses). Some, though, as I said at the meeting, were a response on the Committee side to managerial inaction; if you can't get an answer or a response from administration offline--and we should be forwarding requests for information offline!--a Committee member may well file an item. We also might, in the face of administrative inaction on something that is managerial, file an item seeking action.
That isn't best practice. It isn't what's supposed to happen. When it does, something is broken; in Worcester, something has been. 
So as a means of clearing the decks and moving forward with a new administration that has, clearly, every intention of being responsive (and frankly, already is), we reviewed the outstanding administrative items and we filed (which means they're gone) a LOT of them. 

We voted in favor of the administration's recommendation that we increase the day-to-day sub rate from $85 to $110. Note that this also includes the following information: 

The Administration intends to use the funding for up to 50 day-by-day substitutes to supplement the 70 full-time building substitute positions included in the FY23 budget, for a total of 120 available substitutes. During the last school year, the average daily absences of teachers (in positions that require a substitute) was 120.4 (with a high of 200 absent on January 6, 2022, and a low of 25 absent on August 30, 2021).
Although the FY23 Budget did not include funding for day-by-day substitutes, the cost for this year will be funded through available ESSER carry-forward funding (unexpended summer and after-school funds during FY22). It is expected that the total cost to be $990,000. The effectiveness of the additional substitutes will be discussed with building principals during the course of the year and evaluated as part of the FY24 resource allocation process.

...which, as someone who was very concerned that there was no provision for day-by-day subs in the FY23 budget, is very reassuring. We're also sending the policy on subs to Governance, as we're concerned by how often paraprofessionals are being pulled off their assigned duties to sub.

We also approved the removal of the bar on all backpacks in school except those made of clear plastic or mesh. Thus, yes, students in school may carry backpacks this year.

And finally, I am happy to say, we approved for execution the contracts of Brian Allen as Deputy Superintendent, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer; and Marie Morse as Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning. Those contracts were signed last night after we adjourned. 

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! 

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday: BUDGET TIME!

The Worcester School Committee meets on Thursday this week: NOTE THAT THE BUDGET SECTION STARTS AT 4 PM!
And yes, there's a budget post coming next.

The executive session for a single grievance is scheduled for 6; the regular session is scheduled for 7.

Let me start by highlighting three things on here that I think are of general interest:

• the administration is recommending the hiring pro bono save expenses (which makes me a little nervous) Michael P. Angelini and others at Bowditch and Dewey for a lawsuit against the state on the Foundation budget.  

• the Chief Diversity Officer position was held from the prior meeting due, it seemed, to dissatisfaction with the job description, as I described here; note further that it also requires building administrator experience, which is not all that relevant. The position description posted for this week's meeting is the same. Further, the item is phrased "for informational purposes," which is something I would hope the School Committee rejects. It is a new position; it requires School Committee approval.

• Mayor Petty has the following item:  

Request that the Administration invite representatives from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Center for District Support to make a presentation on the district’s accountability and disciplinary data.

This is a natural reaction to the superintendent's ongoing claims about what "DESE says." Naturally, one wonders, what does DESE say? This would clear that up nicely.
Let's be clear: either Superintendent Binienda embraces this, as what she's been saying will be backed up, or she rejects it, leading...to the opposite conclusion.

I see this of a piece with the Mayor's item following this, in which he asks for all communication that the district has with DESE be sent also to the School Committee. While I hesitate to call anything impossible, do know that districts have ongoing daily communication with DESE, some of which is done automatically through data systems; this isn't about cc'ing the School Committee in on a few emails. Narrowing the scope of this to items of concern (which is too vague...let me think about that some more) such that the School Committee is getting things that are flagged would make this possible and perhaps even useful.
Of course, starting with the actual accountability data from the fall by itself would be a good start.

Okay, the rest of the agenda: along with the usual rounds of recognitions and thanks, there is no report of the Superintendent.

There are two subcommittees reporting out: Governance, which it appears was entirely about the procedure for homeschooling, and Finance and Operations, which included the annual audits and the third quarter report. Never take for granted a solid audit, which these are.

There are some resignations and appointments.

There is a report on the One City, One Library system which disappointingly opens by focusing on third grade reading scores as a goal, but has some good thinking on challenges and what might be good to work on.  

There is a response to a request for information on immunizations. 

The School Committee will get a presentation from Tobacco Free Massachusetts in the fall.

The overdue update on due process in the handbook is on the agenda.

Flagg Street parents want a pathway to the school from St. Paul Drive; one should note that there are many, many schools in the city that would benefit from such connections. 

There's the annual "we're going to need to close the fiscal year" item.

There is a request for reception of a summer learning grant ($43,620) for Worcester East Middle.
Mr. Monfredo wants to add broadcast journalism or video production (perhaps one could point to the media arts program at Burncoat?).
There is a request to consider the siting of a new Doherty (not suprising but also not entirely under school committee purview).
And City Solicitor David Moore has reviewed the Open Meeting Law complaint dealing with Mr. Monfredo's collecting of signatures for an advertisement supporting an extension of Superintendent Binienda's contract and does not believe the Committee to be in violation. 

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday

Let me note by the way that we've entered the biannual "city council takes up school committee items" that happens every election year; that was last week, but there are more items on this week's agenda. We're also seeing the school committee agenda flooded with items, as happens every election year. That'll get a lot of reports generated (maybe) but it doesn't get work done.

In any case, the Governance subcommittee has a meeting scheduled this week on Tuesday (it says Thursday, but I'm going to guess the date is what's right) with a number of items that...look like they belong in finance? However both a possible lunch policy and adherence to the recess policy are the agenda, which I know is of interest to many.

As a side note, having to click through means one can miss meetings; Teaching, Learning, and Student Support met on March 20. This report on Hanover Academy raises more questions than it answer. There was also a report on snow day remote learning (which looks mostly as though it is another copy of DESE's information on it).

The full Committee meets Thursday. The agenda is here. The superintendent's report is on AVID.

The mostly-online back and forth over a post by Mr. Comparetto (see the first Worcesteria item here) is being taken up by the EAW president Roger Nugent, who calls Mr. Comparetto's comment "racist."

Mr. Nugent is also requesting additional speech and language pathologists.

There are appointments and recognitions.

The same backup is coming back on online grading and has anyone yet asked about doing it in house?

Mr. O'Connell is suggesting the use of Confronting White Nationalism in Schools: A toolkit. I'll just leave that there.

Somehow we're still seeing prior year payments, this one for $60.00 to the LearnWell for in-district tutoring.


There is a request that the committee accept a donation of $5,700 from the Goddard Scholars Academy PTO for Chromebooks.

Mr. Monfredo is collecting books and suggests that administrators highlight programs in their schools during the report of the superintendent.

Miss McCullough is proposing "Adulting Days."

Oddly, Mr. Monfredo and others are suggesting now that the Committee send a letter requesting "Foundation Funding Bill that would benefit the GateWay Cities," which is odd coming from a committee that received the clear comparisons they did.

There is a request for dates and times of spring cleanups.

Mr. Comparetto is proposing: district school committee seats; mentorship opportunities; a report on teacher diversity; a grow your own teacher program; a report on One City, One Library; a report on farm-to-school programs; an internship program; a moratorium on high-stakes testing; a report on progress of the strategic plan; a request for additional budget hearings; a report on wraparound coordinators; an update on immunizations; after school and out of school programming.

Mr. O'Connell is asking for information on Stembus.org

Miss Biancheria is asking for a report on "Stand for the Silent."

And there is an executive session on a grievance, a workers comp case, possible litigation around a teacher, and Jane Doe v the Worcester Public Schools.

Senate debates "An Act Modernizing the Foundation Budget for the 21st Century"

You can find the bill (and amendments) here.
This is totally not going to start for awhile. 

2pm: Senate is now in session. I'm going to need to leave at 3:30 at the latest, so this will not be wall to wall coverage, alas.

Senator Brady (of Brockton): "we couldn't have done this without our districts, without the advocacy of our districts, we couldn't do it without our local elected officials and our citizens"
introducing local elected officials and Brockton Superintendent Kathy Smith

Senator Chang-Diaz:
who is listing cuts from district after district 
"have become year after year effort"
citation from Supt. Boone when they held hearings 
"and then there's the work that wasn't cut because we weren't able to start it"
a single counselor spread across multiple schools "despite constant demand for trauma services and recovery from the last shooting"
"face every district across our Commonwealth and it has been so for decades"
some districts considering suing the Commonwealth
districts suing "inspired the 1993 Education Reform Act"
"we act on the legacy of these reforms"
from 2002 to now, real dollar spending has fallen 7%
students "are waiting on our courage"
"a bold righteous and radically American promise" when we passed the '93 act
"all means all"
"when we say 'liberty and justice for all,' all is supposed to mean all"
made a deal with districts "expectations matched with investment"
"since then we have acted like education is a static enterprise"
"our funding formula has not grown with us"
and districts are buckling under the pressure
"it has been a quarter century since the Legislature checked in with the math that undergirds our public school system"
"we've fallen into one of the deepest achievement gaps in the country"
now reviewing FBRC findings
"were endorsed unanimously by the Commission"
"the promise of quality education...runs to the very heart of who we are as a Commonwealth"
the education section is "the only place that 'cherish' appears in the Constitution"
"ask my colleagues to think of things that they cherish in their lives
"are we cherishing public education?"

Lewis: " have worked for many, many years for this day"
and intros students from Malden High
this issue motivated him to run for public service and go into the Legislature
letter came home that his daughter's school library would be closed
asked for parents to volunteer to keep the library open
"this was a real eyeopener for me"
thanks Chang-Diaz for her leadership, thanks Jehlen
education is the hallmark of Massachusetts
"Horace Mann recognized that Massachusetts" does not have natural resources...human capital is what we tapped into
"the oldest written Constitution still in use today...it's written in there...that's how deep it goes"
in the years since 2000, the foundation budget has not kept pace
the average school in the Commonwealth is now forced to spend 120% of their foundation budget (it's 129.7%)
"what that masks is our most disadvantaged districts" can't spend over the foundation budget, while the more well-resourced districts are spending well over that
"putting tremendous financial pressure on all of our schools"
"every year, they're struggling to balance their budgets...and every year, they're told by the City Council, the finance committee, 'Nope, you'll have to cut'"
"this is exactly the opposite of what we intended in the education reform act in 1993"
"that to me is a moral failing of the Commonwealth"
first state to set up a system so that every district gets what it needs: "the same high quality education" in every district
"hope that we will once again lead the nation"

Sen. Spilka: "hard for me to sit still when we're having a debate about changing the foundation funding formula"
why she first ran
organized others to lobby and advocate
changes that were made in '06 and '07 "adequacy was the issue that eluded us in those days"
"what does it really take, what does it need to include" for each district across the state
"and it has to get updated"
"look at circumstances across the state"

Sen. Jehlen:"state budget takes another step forward...it's not enough, but it's where we ought to go"
"make that obligation transparent every year"
public hearing where all will agree on way forward
minority leader has pointed out important obligations we have made
1. Funding 2. State control/oversight 3. Charter schools
"we have increased the demands...we have raised the number of charter schools...but we have not kept the grand bargain"
"most of the aid increases...have not been targeted to the most underresourced communities"
"in 2002, we stopped meeting our obligation to fund local education adequately"
"those underresourced districts are the ones we count as most underperforming"
districts under state control are getting less than the state average increase this year "Southbridge singled out as having to reduce their staff by 30 this year"
commitment before we write our budgets
"none of the Governor's budget have met" increase in revenue
"this step is our part of keeping our part of the grand bargain"

Sen. DiDomenico: great to stand before you today on this day for children
"most important title is 'Daddy'"
Everett has to choose between library, media, things they should do
"class sizes are exploding, and they need to do more with less"
"we have to do more, and this bill does just that"

Sen. Bruce Tarr
"this day of reckoning which is long overdue"
amendment after amendment offered by minority to this end
"and then, Mr. President, we forget about one of our commitments"
"and the gap began to grow, and grow, and grow"
"something which should have been done probably in 1996 but certainly by the year 2000"
"tasked this Commission with doing a lot of work because it had been so long" since anyone had considered the foundation budget
"I would argue that this should never happen again"
"and there is still a lot of work to be done on the foundation budget"
"those need to be addressed, too" listing circuit breaker, regional transportation, charter school reimbursement
"critical that we have a process and a schedule" to address the gap that has developed
"pass the bill, send it to the House, and urge them to pass it expeditiously as well"
"I suspect that this bill receive tremendous bipartisan support, and it should"
"creates a mechanism, it creates a process, it does not create resources"
"look at the divergance between what we should be doing and we have been doing"


I had to duck out at that point, but here are a few highlights from later coverage: 
Senator Tran chose to make his maiden speech on this bill, relating his own history as an immigrant from Vietnam who went to public schools in Clinton. He said that he has lived the American dream and now can assure that others will.

A number of amendments were withdrawn, most of which will, the Senators said, be put forward as budget amendments.

The one amendment that did pass unanimously was one from Senator Bruce Tarr, the Senate Minority leader, creating a reconsideration of the foundation budget via commission every five years.

The bill passed unanimously 38-0.

UPDATE: coverage from...
MassLive
The Sun Chronicle with the spot-on observation of its bipartisan nature
RadioBoston which you have to listen to
Commonwealth Magazine which does a nice job of linking it to the "Leading the Nation" celebration also happening this week

Worcester School Committee meets February 16

You can find the agenda here. It looks as though there are subcommittee meetings both today and tomorrow, 'though I haven't seen any mention of what's going on with those due to weather.
In addition to those subcommittee reports and some recognitions, there is a report on chronic absenteeism (no backup posted as yet).
There are also a few teacher appointments.
There is a list of the crew team's equipment, which Mr. O'Connell had requested.
Mr. O'Connell would like to bring back PEAK (which was a gifted program for elementary students).
Miss Biancheria would like a wrestling team. She also would like a summary of the principals' challenges on safety.
Mr. Monfredo would like to consider a K1 program.
The School Committee is being asked to accept:

• "a donation in the amount of $7,500.00 from McGraw Hill Education that will allow Susan Farrell, Rose Dawkins and Dr. Mary Meade-Montaque, to attend the 2017 Patrick Suppes Personalized Learning Forum at Stanford University and Google Inc. Headquarters."
• a $3000 Patterson Parternship grant for Chandler Elementary's library.
• a $122,500 state grant for Worcester Tech for career vocational training...no details in the backup on what the money's being spent on.
• a $21,000 grant from UNUM "to enhance the classroom curriculum and support specific classroom initiatives," which will be measured by "students' comprehension and fluency." So I'm assuming they're spending that on literacy somehow.

Also, there is an executive session at 6pm, which includes (you guessed it!) PCBs as well as a grievance and two workers' comp cases.

Worcester meetings this week

Up this week:

• It doesn't appear to have been advertised anywhere, but there is a posted South High Building Committee meeting for tomorrow night at 6 pm in the school library. No idea what's on the agenda or where they are in the building project, as there isn't a folder or full list of topics anywhere I can turn up. 
• The School Committee meets Thursday at 7 pm; you can find the agenda here. There does not appear to be a report of the superintendent. There are several retirements, resignations, and appointments. The enrollment report, already previewed in this weekend's T&G, comes back essentially as a budget preview (timely, as the Governor's budget comes out next Wednesday). It's worth noting not only did WPS break 25,000 students for the first time since 2003; while Worcester also remains the third largest district in the state, we're back within striking distance of Springfield (25,391 to Springfield's 25,633). The inflation rate squeaks in at !.1%, so at least this year, it's a positive number. Honestly, this probably needs its own post, but read the summary. Administration points out that having School Committee members add individual items to the curriculum is maybe not a good plan...and some schools sing the "Smiley Face" song already. There is response to a request on teachers on expired licenses. There will be a performance of the South High band (this is an agenda item).Mr. Monfredo notes the annual Worcester Historical Museum Valentine contest. Mr. Foley requests a budget presentation to the joint committee (on Education for City Council and on Finance and Operations for School Committee). Mr. O'Connell would like more on the 'no confidence' vote at Quinsigamond Elementary. There are also several recognitions and donations, plus grants of $10,000 for lacrosse at Doherty High and $14,000 for LIBRARIES(!) at Canterbury Street, Rice Square, and Worcester East Middle. PCBs and a grievance are on the executive session agenda for 6 pm. 
• There is a Legislative Breakfast at 9 am on Friday at Worcester Tech, with a fairly extensive list of items: one would expect the Foundation Budget Review Commission, but there is also additional computers, preschool, kindergarten, MSBA, AP exams, and "a Compact to prioritize public education and coordinate efforts to firmly establish the Worcester Public Schools as the best urban school system in New England and beyond." 

If I can, I'll try to make the section on Thursday on enrollment, as it appears to be the only budget preview Worcester is getting in January. unless there's one that appears as backup for Friday.

One City, One Library donations and recognition

I asked if there is an MOU with the library on this program; there is a DRAFT MOU, which still needs to be discussed further with the City Manager.
concern with recognition if the MOU has not yet been detailed echoed by O'Connell
city has asked that this be taken tonight
passed

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

Pratt Library:"shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color"

Like the Ferguson Library did last year, the Pratt Library in Baltimore has been staying open amidst the storms around it and acting as a safe community space for all these past days.
The name made me curious, so a quick Google brought me to Enoch Pratt. This is a good story, so I'll quote a bit:

 Many residents of the City in late 1881 speculated what was being planned for the excavations going on in the north side of West Mulberry Street, by Cathedral Street, near the old Baltimore Cathedral in the tomey Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood, north of the business district on Cathedral Hill. The mystery was explained when on January 21, 1882, in a letter addressed to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Pratt offered a gift of a central library, four branch libraries (with two additional ones to be constructed shortly thereafter), and a financial endowment of (U.S.) $1,058,333. Further, he requested that to Mayor William Pinkney Whyte and the Council continue an annual appropriation to the new library system and support it in the years to come to supplement the interest and benefits accumulating from the principal of his bequest. His intention was to establish a library that "shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out the books if they will handle them carefully and return them." 

emphasis added
Note that this was in 1882.

And guess who he inspired? Andrew Carnegie.

Friday linkages

An ICYMI list for the weekend: 

• John Monfredo, Jack Foley and I (among others) were at a presentation this morning by the Building on What Works Coalition, a joint project of Mass Inc, Mass Business Alliance for Education, Mass 20/20 and some others. They're calling for a three year $75M competitive grant program open to districts with 50% high need students or above for early childhood ed, extended day, and innovative programs. I don't want to speak for others, but my sense that they were met with some polite skepticism here in Worcester. I know that Mr. Foley spoke for my concerns as well when he spoke of the importance of a focus on the Foundation Budget Review Commission and the core funding of education in the state.
• Important detail from the Brookings report on the gender gap in reading (as flagged by Libby Nelson at Vox) that the much-praised Finnish PISA test results, which lead the world, rely entirely on girls for their superior performance. As per usual with Brookings, I have my doubts about some of their other points. Nonetheless, good catch.
• If like me you have a soft spot for a literary spoof, you'll enjoy Scot Lehigh's take on Boston 2024 via Poe.
• Novelist Richard Russo is helping to raise funds for his hometown library, which he credits for much. 
• Looking ahead to the presidential election, here's Hillary Rodham Clinton's relationship with various education perspectives. 
• Education Next has a "Defense of Snow Days," with some research showing that days off don't hurt student performance (yes, on standardized tests) but student absence due to snow on days there is school DOES. 
• And Jarrett J. Krosoczka shares a bit of excitement on reading

Who volunteers and what that means for kids

The New York Times Motherlode post "When Elite Parents Dominate Volunteers, Children Lose" hits precisely what I've been feeling a great deal this season (as can be attested by more than one patient administrator who has heard my rant on it). I am relieved to see it being expressed this way in a public forum, and I hope that this will be making its way to more PTO and site council meetings.
I am enormously grateful for parents who volunteer: in Worcester, we wouldn't have had (or still have) elementary school libraries, field trips, playgrounds, and a host of other necessities that aren't funded as if they are. I also appreciate those who push to get things done when many don't have the time.
Often, very often, it is those with the luxury--and it is the luxury--of time and money to spare who do so. And having those parents make the decisions around activities and fundraisers leads to exactly the dispartity put forward by the column.
We need to be acutely conscious, most particularly if it is we who are the volunteers, of this disparity. In Worcester, for example, 74.3% of our public school students are free or reduced lunch eligible. Out of every four kids, three of them have a family that is struggling to keep that kid in sneakers. That's the silent majority that may well not be at the meeting where the decisions are made. Their voices need to be heard, nonetheless.

Funding the Worcester Public Schools: WEC and Research Bureau presentation

I'm at Mass College of Pharmacy for the second presentation on funding the schools. Live blogging as we go

The Worcester School Committee meets TOMORROW!

We have the July meeting of the Worcester School Committee tomorrow at 4 at City Hall. (Different time, same location) You can find the agenda here.
We have a two-fer on congratulating and thank the Ecotarium.
There is no report of the Superintendent; note that this means that we are not voting on next year's standardized test plans this month. I suspect this is because we have several members out for this meeting; I haven't heard yet when we will vote.
We have two reports from subcommittees: Accountability (my notes here and here) and our joint committee with City Council (notes here and here).
We have two reports coming back on instructional assistants: the number of hours per school that they work; and how they are paid when they cover a class.
We have two donations coming in for Worcester Tech.
We're being asked to accept a grant for $94,279 for machine shop equipment at Worcester Tech, and a grant for $10,000 for a writing program at Worcester Arts Magnet.
We have an item to work on the bids for transportation in Finance and Operations, as our transportation contracts are up this year.
We are being asked to amend the social media policy.
Mr. Monfredo is asking us to consider putting ads on school buses.
Mr. O'Connell is referring the changes in Erate (as previously discussed in F&O) be referred to F&O.
Mr. Monfredo is commending those responsible for the redone library at Worcester East Middle, and asking reminding us of World Smile Day (October 3).
Ms. Ramirez calls our attention to Jennifer Cordero for being selected for the Hispanic Youth Research and Leadership program at the University of New Mexico.
The city auditor is requesting that we pass the Misc Ed OM account again, specifying the three accounts into which it goes. 

We have our usual "now that we've passed the budget, we might need to make transfers" item, heading to F&O.

Mr. O'Connell calls to the attention of our PTOs and such that there is a new way of being recognized as a 501(c)3. 

He also wants to thank those who educated our students on solar energy.

It is time to appoint someone to represent us on the collaborative board (this tends to be the superintendent).

Miss Biancheria would like additional information on the new regs on explusion and suspension and its implementation. 

She'd also like an update on the Worcester East Middle School science labs.

Mr. Monfredo wants to know if the attendance campaign last year worked.

I think we should talk to the state about the foundation formula (now that they have a committee considering it), the City Council about the capital budget, and the City Council about the city's investment in education. 

I'm also sending the dress code (the student dress code, from the student handbook) to Governance, and I want to talk about implementation, too. More on that tomorrow. 

And we have a prior year payment of $4,166.75 we're being asked to authorize. 

There is NO executive session.

Tomorrow at 4! 

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, May 1

We have our May Day meeting at 7 pm; you can find the agenda here.

First up: recognitions! Science fair award winners, safety poster winners, and volunteers at Worcester State.
Then we're going to say goodbye to Jim Bedard, our facilities director, who is going to work for WPI (who is amazing and will be greatly missed...but I'll save that for the floor).

Report of the Superintendent is a new Seven Point Financial Plan, on which more anon; most of these are things we either already explicitly or implicitly do in our budgeting in the Worcester Public Schools.

Standing Committee reports from yesterday's Finance and Operations meeting and hearing are coming back to the full committee.

We have a report back that administration did ask that students be given access to library materials during MCAS testing (did anyone hear anything around this?).

The United Way is making a donation to Belmont Community School and Burncoat High (of $500 each).

Mr. Monfredo (who always remembers these) is asking that we remember Teacher Appreciation week (May 5-9) and Nurses Appreciation Week (May 5-11) and that we recognize the Teacher and Nurse of the Year (which we'll do at our final regular year meeting on June 19). Write a note!

North High got a grant for a garden!

Miss Biancheria has a transportation request, and is also looking for an update on the Worcester Tech graduation.

We're being asked to approve a prior year (a prior prior year? 2012-13) payment of $2652 for a guidance counselor stipend.

We're being asked to approve the new fingerprinting policy required by state law.

And we have the quarterly Central Mass Special Education Collaborative report. They're looking for new space, and it appears they're doing some marketing (?).

Comments from School Committee on FY15

And you're just going to have to catch me on replay

School Committee meets Thursday

The Worcester School Committee meets this Thursday at 7 pm. You can find the agenda here.
(If you skim down to the end of the agenda, you'll see that we are indeed meeting in executive session beforehand, for several collective bargaining items and for two disciplinary hearings.)

We've got a two-fer on South High: recognizing Maureen Binienda for her 2013 Woman of the Year award, and recognizing the good work of Andy's Attic over at South (and they are always looking for donations!).

We've got a request for negotiations coming in from EAW over district determined measures (on the new teacher evaluation system).
We'll have the report from tonight's Accountability meeting.
We have one retirement and two appointments.

Ms. Biancheria is requesting a report on the Family Academy, one on the Temporary Learning Center, and one on secondary teacher ratios.
Mr. O'Connell is referring the Gateway Cities report to subcommittee.
Mr. Monfredo is looking for dates to meet with the delegation about the FY15 budget (good!), and to have administration consider the Providence Reads literature.
Mayor Petty would like to know if we can add private, Catholic, and charter school families to our ConnectEd messages.
There's a prior year payment of $12,676.99 for two teachers for sick bank days.
And administration wants to change our July meeting from the third to the fourth Thursday.

There are also a slew of setting dates for recognizing: Superintendent Boone's being awarded the Odd Fellows' Community Leadership Award; our All State Honors Music Festival students; WPS Valentine award winners; Paula Harrity and Sandra Bobone for the Thomas S. Green Award; Michael Lyons for the Msgr. Edmond Tinsley award.

Donations, too! $53 for library materials for Norrback; $5000 to Worcester Tech from Worcester's Best Chef; and $75,000 for another summer food truck (!)

Grants! $10,000 from the state for alternative education (of which the bulk is going to a consultant for evaluation...); $120,000 from the state for innovation schools (profession development for Chandler Magnet on literacy and Goddard Scholars on Lincoln and Worcester Tech on externships with industry); and $2000 for a writing program at Worcester Arts Magnet.

One Library update

Superintendent Boone reports MOU finalized in next few weeks
will be brought to School Committee for informational purposes;we don't need to vote it
Those working in those schools have been CORI checked, as they are in the buildings

Exit plan for Union Hill; Renewal plan for Chandler Elementary

Boone: Union Hill need to assure continuing progress
Chandler Elementary: review turnaround plan, so close that we need only renew plan