Hearing on the proposed charter school

Hey, so before I start this not-at-all liveblog of the charter school hearing, which will absolutely not cover everything, and which is mostly drawing from my Twitter feed (scroll UP), but also other sources, please note:

YOU CAN STILL SUBMIT TESTIMONY THROUGH JANUARY 4!
It goes to charterschools@mass.doe.edu

And as always, the following is my summary, my work, my commentary, and does not claim to be otherwise. 

As MassLive notes in their coverage: "Of the 13 people that spoke in favor of the charter school, 11 were board members, trustees, teachers or staff at Old Sturbridge Academy or Old Sturbridge Village."

Worcester School Committee meets on Thursday

The Worcester School Committee has its final school year meeting this Thursday, June 18. You can find the agenda here.

We meet at 4 pm for budget. The sequence of accounts is here; we'll start with school nurses salaries this week (and have to go back to utilities, as that was held last time). I would think that we could get through what remains before exec...but then one never can tell.

This week at 7, we're recognizing the Bravehearts for their support on reading, and the Worcester Tree Initiative (and supporters) for new trees at Roosevelt Elementary.
We'll also be recognizing our Teacher and Nurse of the Year (and you're invited to tomorrow night's celebration at which they'll be announced).
And, it's our final meeting with Stacey Luster, who's leaving WPS to join Worcester State.

We have the Superintendent's midcycle report on goals, as required by the state evaluation system. There won't be a particular vote associated with that; it's a midyear check-in.

We have our report back on motions from last budget session, as well as items from throughout the year that were refered to budget. These will probably actually be taken up during the budget session.

We have a response back from administration regarding suggested policy language on homeschooling (including allow students to participate in extracurricular options). We also have the report requested by Miss Biancheria on the number of students currently being homeschooled in Worcester.

We have the held item on funding for crew travel.

Mr. O'Connell suggests honoring Hanover and others for AVID.

We also have the annual "let the administration make transfers to close the fiscal year" item (which gets reviewed in the fall by the F&O subcommittee).

Finally, we do have two items on for executive session: consideration of negotations on contracts for Chief Academic Officer and Chief Finance and Operations Officer. While the renewal of the contract of the CAO doesn't directly fall under our purview, it can be discussed with regard to allocation of resources (renewal is entirely the superintendent's decision). The CFO, per MGL ch 71, does fall under School Committee purview, jointly with the superintendent.

Teacher handbook

motion from Monfredo that we have one handbook for teachers for the beginning of the year having all information of things that are sent in
Mullaney asks how things are sent in for teacher absences, in terms of lesson plans.
Boone says we're working towards a single policy manual that has all policies, as discussed at the retreat lead by MASC.
note that Mr. O'Connell has taken the chair as vice chair.
Luster reviews how the teachers call in sick, that they need lesson plans on file with principals, how subs are found, and so forth
Mullaney calls attention to the word "ideally"...asks if it varies with the "forcefulness of the principal" or why there is variety in how this is implemented
asks for more teeth in how all of that is implemented
Luster points out that teachers may well not be as well trained in subject areas as the teachers they're replacing
Boone points out that having good attendance makes all the difference

Hiring

Luster notes that a district of our size in better fiscal times, we'd hire 200 teachers a year. This year we hired 55 new teachers (either replacement for those who've retired, or getting teachers with appropriate certification).

Misc Education OM

Fees and licenses going up by 80%, Biancheria notes. NOVA Net fees at North and Creamer are the difference (previously this was funded by donation).
asks if we can reduce the employee recruitment/advertising account, as we've laid people off: motion to cut by $5000
Luster: there are positions that we need to replace: we could do it internally, but it might cut down on who we get. Advertising is expensive.
suggests cutting it by $5000
Foley concerned we'd be shortchanging ourselves if we didn't include the full spectrum
Biancheria asks if we can cut the food account (which is $8000; cut to $6000)
Monfredo asks if we can cut moving expenses by $5000
Allen says moving several classrooms (that can't be done in house); recommend maintain.
O'Connell will support cut to advertising.
Can we fund food out of grants?
account is cut by $5000 from advertising; motion to cut food fails
passes as done

Support overtime

O'Connell asks how many people use the clerical overtime.
Allen estimates that IT, Human Resources, and other central office staff are most of the clerical overtime.
O'Connell wonders if we would save money by hiring another person to rotate.
Allen points out that we need specific skills for some of these positions: IT, HR
Luster says right now there are people in HR working 60 or 70 hours a week to move the positions needed, interview, layoffs, etc
Luster comments that over the past few years, HR is down three positions, so overtime is up from that.
O'Connell asks for a report on fesibility of bringing a full time person back and cutting the overtime as a result.
Mullaney points out that it's only $60,000 of overtime; can't see the savings.
Biancheria "looks at this as an important account, and the reason is overtime"...motion for $10,000 off of the amount
"everyone in our school department is double timing it"
asks that we do things a different way
Foley says this is looking at the typical course of the school year, peak work load.
Monfredo asks that admin look at this for next year

Nurses

We're taking school nurses out of order, as a number of the school nurses are here.
The current nurse of the year is addressing the committee about the cut of half of a supervisor position.
Monfredo is running through the duties of these supervisors.
We currently have 42 full time nurses; a nurse coordinator, and 1.5 nurse supervisors.
The nurse supervisor who is half time will be half time covering in the schools (for a full time position)
Boone says this is as result of the concern over having nurses in the buildings (per school committee and elsewhere), giving additional support to nurses in the building (the money has been cut from the substitute line).
The mayor is moving through the thought here: this in fact increases the amount of person-time in the buildings.
One of the nurse supervisors is saying that we have only 41 nurses in the buildings.
Boone says there are 42....Luster comes to the table and says that we have 42 positions, 41 people, and an open position.
Biancheria asks what the dollar amount is....$13,000.
The mayor asks what that gets us...that would lose us a halftime in the schools.
Novick: what would do with the halftime position? It would be assigned to a particular school based on accuity (the schools are evaluated based on the students in the building and their health needs; some schools have two nurses, some have a fulltime nurse, some have a halftime nurse, shared between two buildings)
Mayor O'Brien is working the pay difference: this gets us more nurses in the schools, but it cuts the pay of this person. Might we get the pay up someway while keeping the person halftime supervisor, halftime nurse in the school?
Mullaney recommends moving the account as it is, and if there is money later, we can talk about it later.
Mayor O'Brien recommends passing account as is, backfilling later if needed, for funding possible overtime for additional supervisory work (for monetary and supervisory needs), if it is needed by the administration.
Foley points out that admin can come back as needed through the year.

item on instructional coaches

"request that the administration provide the School Committee members with the process and qualifications which make one eligible to fill the position of a Focused Instructional Coach to ensure a fair and equitable determination of employment"
Biancheria: asks if we're consistent in applying evaluation
Boone: requirements have shifted based on current need
Luster says that she'd like to give a written response