Worcester Public Schools strategic planning meeting

I know no more than what I put in my notes from Thursday, but just to give it its own post:

Tuesday, August 23
9 am
Durkin Administration Building
Room 410

Meetings next week

Meetings up next week:

• The Board of Ed has their June meeting at 8:30 on Tuesday morning in Malden. The agenda is here: the big item on the agenda is the annual evaluation of the Commissioner. There's also an update on Lawrence, on Holyoke, on Level 5 schools, on the FY16 budget, on PARCC, on breakfast in the classroom. There's also a presentation on the new definition of low income that depends on enrollment in other programs (not free and reduced lunch) to encourage districts to participate in community eligibility (for universal free lunch); at some point I should do a post on this, because it's going to miss kids, and, while I admire the motivation, I think it's a bad idea.
• Also meeting on Tuesday morning, this at 10 at the State House, is the Foundation Budget Review Commission. And this is tough, because I can't be in both places at once. Anyone want to liveblog the BoE for me? They should be passing language on special ed and on health insurance and setting their priorities for the remaining time til their final report in the fall. 
• At 5:30 pm on Tuesday, there is a meeting of the Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports subcommittee. You can find the agenda here. We have an update on the curriculum review process (specifically math);  a report on Safe Routes to Schools; and an update on the new elementary report card pilot.

Also? It's the last week of school! School is out for the summer on Thursday!

State of the Schools and Board of Ed

Up tonight is Superintendent Boone's annual State of the Schools address. That's at 6 pm at North High, and the public is invited.

Tonight and tomorrow morning, the state Board of Ed has the October meeting. You can find the agenda here. I plan to be there tomorrow, and I'll liveblog what I hear.

CPPAC meets tonight at 7! Liveblog

CPPAC--the Citywide Parent Planning and Advisory Group--meets tonight at the library.
Notes going up as they come through.Superintendent Boone speaking tonight.

City Council hears the WPS account today at 4

It is a meeting that is public: 4 pm at City Hall.
Note, as always: the City Council approves the bottom line allocation to the Worcester Public Schools; the Worcester School Committee approves the internal allocations.
Yes, I'll be there and blogging!
Edit for a few more reminders: The City Council is meeting in Finance Committee, which is where they review and pass (or not) each account. The Council may approve each account, or cut from the account, or hold it, or send it back to the City Manager; they may not add to any account.

Reminder: BUDGET meeting tomorrow!

Reminder that there is a Joint Committee (Education on the City Council side; Finance & Operations on the School Committee side) meeting TOMORROW night.
5:30 pm
Durkin Administration Building
Go in the door from the parking lot (yes, it'll be open), take the elevator to the 4th floor, and follow the signs for the conference room.

The agenda is here; as you'll see, it's largely budget discussion, for which the back-up is here.

Time to show up!

Worcester School Committee meets tonight at seven

it's been kind of a crazy week, so a reminder...and the agenda is here. 

State meetings next week

Two meetings of state interest next week:

• On Monday night and Tuesday morning (1/27 & 1/28), the state Board of Education has its monthly meeting in Malden. The agenda is not yet posted; look for it later this week. 
• On Wednesday (1/29), the board of the Mass School Building Authority meets on Boston. This agenda also will be posted later this week. 

School Committee meetings in 2014

January 2, 2014 (Inauguration)
January 23, 2014
February 6, 2014
February 27, 2014
March 6, 2014
March 20, 2014
April 3, 2014
April 17, 2014
May 1, 2014
May 15, 2014
June 5, 2014 (4:00 p.m.)
June 19, 2014 (4:00 p.m.)
July 17, 2014 (4:00 p.m.)
August 21, 2014 (4:00 p.m.)
September 4, 2014
September 18, 2014
October 2, 2014
October 16, 2014
November 6, 2014
November 20, 2014
December 4, 2014
December 18, 2014

Upcoming meetings

• There will be a meeting of Teaching, Learning, and Student Support this Tuesday, December 17, at 5:30 at the Durkin Administration Building.
• There will be a joint meeting of the City Council's subcommittee on Education and the School Committee's Finance and Operations committee on Wednesday, December 18, at 4:30 at the Durkin Administration Building.
• We'll also have our regular School Committee meeting next Thursday at 7 pm at City Hall.

Worcester School Committee meets at 7

You can find the agenda here.
We'll be starting with the report from the Worcester Educational Development Foundation.

A few notes from the Commissioner

I just pulled these off of the weekly Commissioner's update*

• The state Board of Ed is meeting on November 26 and 27. On the 26 in Malden, the Board will focus on Level 4 schools. On November 27, the Board will meet in Lawrence, to "hear a presentation from Lawrence Public Schools Receiver Jeff Riley on the turnaround effort that he is leading. The Board will discuss its budget priorities and will vote on its state education budget proposal for FY2014. The Board will also take an initial vote on proposed amendments to the regulations on innovation schools, vote on a charter amendment for the Match Charter Public School, and hear a report on the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School."
• DESE is holding eight hearings across the state on the proposed new charter schools. The schedule is posted here. 
• Commissioner Chester begins this week his term as president of the Council of Chief State Schools Officers. 

*If you want to subscribe, send an email to imailsrv@list1.doe.mass.edu with the following in the body of the email: subscribe ESEUpdate Your Name.

Exam/IB meeting tonight!

Yes, you read that right: the stalwart crew of the Mayor's Ad-Hoc Committee on an Exam/IB School is meeting on a Friday night!
We're meeting at 6 pm at the Durkin Administration Building (the 4th floor conference room).
I will post notes afterward. Tonight, we'll be receiving some information back from administration, sharing a bit more information from committee members, cleaning up our presentation for public hearings, and sharing dates of upcoming events.
Please feel welcome to attend!
Notes to come ('though not a livelblog!)

You can watch anytime! ...with a bit more on enrollment

I really need to stop assuming people "just know" things...Charlie, this one's for you.

So, you don't live in Worcester, or Charter just let you down,* or you're someone who does not actually get local cable: yes, you can still watch the Worcester School Committee live! During the meeting, go to the Channel 11 tab on the main Worcester Public Schools website, scroll down the Channel 11 page, and click on the arrow to start the livestreaming.
So, you were out of town last week, or had to watch something else, or were engrossed in a book, and you're now wondering what happened at the Worcester School Committee meeting last week: yes, you can watch the archived meetings! On that same Channel 11 page, click on "archived programs." The third option on that page is "School Committee meetings;" choose the meeting you'd like from the list.
Note that you can jump ahead in the meeting (helpful if you're looking for something late in the agenda), and you also have the option of creating your own clips, if there's a certain piece you want to keep or pass on elsewhere.

_________________________________________

With that in mind, last Thursday's meeting (September 13), included Superintendent Boone's opening of school report (a personal favorite). Included in that were our preliminary enrollment numbers. The official count is October 1, and then we allow time for chasing down free/reduced lunch forms, change of address, and the like. This unofficial count of last week has us at about 750 students more than last year.
...which is a lot. It's even a lot by our standards of growing every year.
Last June; thanks to much work by many (from parents to the City Manager to those who sharpen pencils), we were able to hire ten additional elementary teachers and nine additional secondary teachers.
This was excellent and badly needed. Not only do we need the teachers just for class size, we've also got curricular holes in the secondary schools that need support as well.
And we needed those teachers just for the kids we knew we were going to get.
Those added teachers, though, are going into a system that isn't staying the same size; it's growing. And this year, it's growing at a rate above and beyond!
Besides that, our students aren't enrolling in any sort of evenly distributed fashion. We have 33 elementary schools, and kids enroll in all of them. Three kids in one school may send a class to 29, whereas five in another may only bring that number to 24. Unless we eliminate parent choice from the system--which I don't think anyone is willing to do--we are never going to have an even distribution of students.
Add to that the fact that we are bumping our head against the roof, so to speak: the Worcester Public Schools had fewer children enrolled when we closed schools than we presently have enrolled now. Even if we had the money to hire even more additional teachers--and we don't--and even if we could evenly distribute kids--which we can't under current policy--we don't have rooms to put those newly formed classes in. We're out of space: down to seats, not rooms.
Thus, class sizes that are still, in some places, large.
This is something that everyone, from the School Committee and Superintendent Boone, to principals, is acutely aware of. It's a multi-faceted challenge, though, and it's part of the balancing act with making sure we have enough buses and we get supplies to classrooms and we figure out how we're going to use the new testing regime without a major technology infusion...and so forth.
Let's see how those October numbers shake out, and start having conversations about space.



*unless you have them as an internet provider, too. Sorry, no help here.

Upcoming dates

A few upcoming dates of interest:

• a reminder that the Finance and Operations subcommittee is meeting with the City Council Education subcommittee on TUESday, June 19 at 5 pm at Nelson Place School.. We're talking facilities.

• the superintendent's evaluation is scheduled for next Thursday, June 21. We haven't yet received anything from administration on this; once we do, I'll post it. Meantime, you should contact the School Committee with anything you think they should consider on this.
• the first meeting of the exam school/IB ad-hoc committee is on Monday, June 25 at 7 pm at City Hall. This, and all meetings to follow, are public meetings; if you have interest in this, please plan to attend.

with apologies for the lack of posts

...as I have been flat on my back with the flu since last week... 
There is (so far)  a meeting of the Worcester School Committee tonight at 7 pm at Worcester Technical High School. You will find the agenda here.
On tonight's agenda: a presentation of three schools who will be submitting innovation plans. Worcester Technical High, Lincoln Street, and Worcester East Middle Schools are presenting tonight. There is, as yet, no backup (and we haven't gotten the plans yet).
Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports had a meeting on Tuesday, and the report is coming back from that meeting. That report includes debate teams, BMI, cell phone use in school, and gym class.
There wasn't actually an F&O meeting this week; it was postponed by Mr. Foley because I was sick. 
We've got two requests coming in from City Council (wow, and they never send us stuff): one for a master plan, and one for negotiating parking for Gates Lane School.
We've been told by the DPW that the garage at City Hall won't be done until late April. Expect to see some action on that one.
A number of requests going off to committee: revising graduation to align with MassCore, creating descriptions of the standing committees, asking for a report on MCAS appeals, looking into a virtual school, and creating a policy on remote participation by members. Oh, and should we look into that empty space at St. Peter-Marian?
Also, some recognitions: those who won the essay and art contest honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and a Girls Inc. scholarship winner. (Those are not happening tonight; we're passing items.)

Starts at 7!
 

School Committee meeting location change!

Please note that due to the construction at City Hall, all meetings of the Worcester School Committee through March 2012 will be held at Worcester Technical High School. In most cases, they will be in the first floor conference room (right across the hall from the auditorium). The one exception is this coming Thursday, November 3; that meeting will be on the fourth floor in the Harrington Room (turn left once through the doors, take the stairs or elevator to the 4th floor; it's the corner tower room).

I should perhaps say that we strive to keep the meetings televised. For Channel 11, that limits us to City Hall, Tech, and the 4th floor of the administration building.

Worcester School Committee meeting

And not only do we have a packed house, due to the innovation schools presentations; we also have quite a number of members of the teachers' union out in the hallway (breaking out into periodic chants).
Starting this evening with honoring the two Young Women of Consequence Awards, presented last month to Paige Allen of Burncoat High, and to Patricia Feraud of South High Community School. Patricia was here; Paige couldn't be, as she's in Hairspray at Burncoat (which is up tomorrow and Saturday nights, too!).

Innovation Schools in Worcester

have to be submitted (to School Committee) by March 31 (Superintendent gets them on March 24)
put into effect for this fall
public hearings throughout April prior to a School Committee vote in early May
at April 7 School Committee meeting, each team will briefly present their plans to the committee (and the public)
second School Committee meeting hosting public hearing around the innovation plans

This week's meetings

This week:

• There is a meeting of the Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports subcommittee tomorrow afternoon at 5:30 pm at the administration building, fourth floor. The agenda is here. CPR, Tech school courses, curriculum review, and the federal dropout initiative are all on the agenda.
• The Citywide Parent Planning and Advisory Council meets tomorrow night at 7 pm at the Worcester Public Library. I haven't yet seen an agenda for that.
• The regular meeting of the Worcester School Committee is at 7 pm this Thursday at City Hall. The agenda is here. I'll do a summary later this week!

All meetings are open to the public.