Kids losing school lunch due to federal SNAP cuts

 I have noted it several times on here already, but there is an opinion piece in The 74 discussing the loss of access to free meals due to SNAP cuts: 

Last summer, Congress made devastating cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing nearly 5 million Americans — including an estimated 1.5 million children — to lose their benefits. In doing so, those children lost their automatic eligibility for free school meals. Access to free meals is also now threatened for entire school districts in high poverty areas. This is a crisis hiding in plain sight, and as kids return to the classroom, it is hitting families and schools hard.

June 2026 Board of Ed: State Student Advisory Council

 State Student Advisory Council 
for some reason, they never link to the presentation from the SSAC on these...I wish they would

used extensive amounts of data in their work
host successful regional and statewide stakeholder engagement events

A few notes on federal grants

I've been in a couple of sessions recently on federal grants (most recently DESE did one this morning), so providing a few highlights:

• Always remember that federal education grants are almost all what's called 'forward funded' meaning that we have the current fiscal year's funding already. 
• Thus discussions of the FY26 federal budget--which is what the shutdown happened around--are funding that are/will largely impact our NEXT fiscal year at the state and district level, FY27, and thus NEXT school year.
• There are BIG differences among White House/House/Senate's bills, with the Senate being the one that essentially level funds and has the least changes. As the Senate can only act on a bipartisan basis, there's some thinking that the Senate's option is the one that will win out.
• The Senate bill also included language that required that funding to states go out as soon as it was available--none of this wanting to recheck stuff that hung up grants this fall!--but it's anybody's guess as to if that stays in.
• The continuing resolution to fund the government expires January 30, 2026, so expect us to get countdown clocks again soon.
  
•  The CR passed reverses the reductions in force RIFs initiated just after the shutdown began and prohibits the Administration from initiating any new RIFs through January 30, 2026, when the CR expires.
• One piece of good news: Because the CR funds full year appropriations for, among others, USDA, the continuing resolution that passed fully funds school nutrition through September 30, 2026, so that isn't iffy around government shutdowns.

May Board of Ed: budget

 Bill Bell: quick update on federal and state financial resources
Senate today is debating its version of the FY26 budget proposal
$8.6B K-12 funding; bulk is the same as House 1 and House budgets
year 2 of further supports for Literacy Launch $20M
$25M for high dosage tutoring
affirms commitment to student nutrition; some differences in appropriation levels
"but that will get itself worked out"
"that's all based on claims; do our best to work that out"
social-emotional supports for students

Federal side: federal budget for this coming fiscal year (which is FY25 for fed)
have received major entitlement awards
still awaiting for adult education and Titles II, III, and IV
think it is about OMB working out final details; expect to see in next month or so
watching next federal fiscal year budget FY26, which would impact next fiscal year for state (FY27)

And ADJOURNED
Next meeting June 24 back in Everett

Yep, Trump signed the Executive order

Yesterday, at a press event for which he was 45 minutes late, in front of children and some of the worst Governors in the country on education, President Trump signed an executive order entitled "Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities", which directs the Secretary of Education: 

...to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.

I am going to point out again that closing the Department while at the same time "ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits" would be very difficult at best, and with a Department that was slashed in half without regards to programs, and in an administration that, at its most basic level, neither knows nor cares how things actually work, it isn't going to happen at all. And that's before you try to get that through Congress. 

My response for those who have asked me what is going to happed at the federal level with education has become the repeated line from this Saturday Night Live skit: 

"Nobody knows."

The Wall Street Journal (that's a gift link) has a good rundown of what we know at this time. In terms of immediate impact: 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that the department would still oversee major programs including student loans and major funding streams for schools. Trump said during the signing ceremony that many of the agency’s largest programs would be preserved.

This was followed today, of course, by Trump riffing in the Oval Office, at which he appeared to say that loans are moving to the Small Business Administration (which just cut its staff by 40%), and special education and school nutrition (which isn't in U.S. Ed) to Health and Human Services.

...and no, he doesn't have the power to assign those to other departments, either. 

While the funding that flows through the Department has been so tightly linked to the Department itself in the popular mind that there are often seen as one and the same* they are not the same. There have been attempts at massive cuts of staff at the Department; the current year funding remains intact, and next year's funding will need to go through Congress.

NPR had a piece this morning postulating that the real coming danger to federal funding is through cuts that have already been made to the National Center for Education Statistics: 

For Title I, NCES works with the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze school district boundaries, income levels and other characteristics that help the Department of Education determine grant eligibility.

But by the end of the day on Friday, all but three NCES staffers will be locked out of their computers and on administrative leave.

"The key issue is that – as things stand now -- the data needed to drive the next round of Title I, and grants to rural schools, and grants to other programs, isn't going to happen as a result of the cuts to NCES staff and contracts," said one former NCES employee.

Several employees told NPR that, after the layoffs, it is unlikely the REAP program will be able to get money to schools for the 2026-27 school year.

The same goes for Title I, with an added challenge: The Trump administration is poised to shrink the ranks of the Census Bureau. A reduction in its staff could further complicate the distribution of Title I funding.

That is something to watch closely, then. 

The possible political consequences of any loss in federal funding were (amusingly) highlighted in Politico by conservative education commentary person Rick Hess: 

“It seems very likely in races this fall that Democrats will cut ads with Elon Musk waving that chainsaw, and then you’ll see some mom talking about how her child with special needs can’t get the support they used to get,” he said.

Fall is a long way away, though.  

 ________________________________
*Actual report this morning locally: “In his first two months since returning to office, Trump has ordered significant cuts to federal education funding” 
This is simply not true at all.

USDA cancels a billion dollars in food funding for schools and food banks supporting local farms

 Need a reason to call Congress today?

Yesterday, the United States Department of Agriculture cut two programs for the current fiscal year: one, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, that nationally is about $500M, provides support for local food banks; and the Local Food for Schools program, that nationally funds $660M for schools. Both were the result of a December expansion of prior programs to provide for locally-grown, minimally-processed food from local farmers to go to local food banks and schools.

Per Politico, USDA:

...confirmed that funding, previously announced last October, “is no longer available and those agreements will be terminated following 60-day notification.”

The spokesperson added: “These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency. LFPA and LFPA Plus agreements that were in place prior to LFPA 25, which still have substantial financial resources remaining, will continue to be in effect for the remainder of the period of performance.”

I personally fail to see which aspects of USDA's goals aren't "effectuate[d]" through funding local farmers to provide healthy food for the hungry. 

In Massachusetts, this is $12.2M. Asked yesterday about it, Governor Healey's response was a harbinger of where we're at here: 

When she was asked whether the state had a plan to backfill that loss of federal support, Healey, flanked by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, state Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, and House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, didn’t mince words.

“Are you kidding?” she shot back.

“I think people have got to understand the scope of what we’re talking about here ... the scope is so vast when you’re talking about federal funding,” she said. “We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars,” she continued.

Healey’s $62 billion budget proposal for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 is premised on more than $16 billion in assistance from Washington.

That money funds a host of programs, including MassHealth, as Medicaid is known in the Bay State, as well as public education.

“And that’s not even accounting for the funding that doesn’t even come to us,” Healey continued. “There’s money that comes directly to not-for-profits, and to organizations and to school districts directly that is also subject to just being cut completely. So, the numbers are so huge that there is no way the state can begin to fill the void and pick up the tab.”

It is important to note that even Massachusetts, even with $8B in the rainy day fund, does not have the capacity to make up for the full weight of federal funding. We could try; we could do some things; we cannot do it all.

Something to complain to your reps and senators about. in particular because this is the first time we've seen USDA funding for school nutrition cut or frozen. That does not bode well. 

What a day: on the federal freeze

via GIPHY

What a day, huh? The freeze on federal funds--which itself was frozen by court til Monday order minutes before it was to go into effect last night--was the classic Trump administration "we threw out this big thing and have no ability to manage details like which programs it impacts" maneuver. 

You may have caught the midday memo that specified that, for example, Head Start and SNAP were not included in the freeze. 

Last night, DESE shared with districts the following (CCSSO is the Council of Chief State School Officers): 

CCSSO received the following statement this afternoon from Madison “Madi” Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education:

“The funding pause directed by the January 27, 2025, OMB memorandum only applies to discretionary grants at the Department of Education. These will be reviewed by Department leadership for alignment with Trump Administration priorities. The temporary pause does not impact Title I, IDEA, or other formula grants, nor does it apply to Federal Pell Grants and Direct Loans under Title IV, HEA. The Department is working with OMB to identify other programs that are not covered by the memo.”

For those a bit up on federal funding, what is of concern here is that, yes, federal grants are "forward funded" in July and October, but then they are drawn down over the course of the year. As AASA notes in their updated post:

We want to clarify that while states are fully allocated their forward funded programs on July 1 and October 1, the actual drawing down for these funds is continual throughout the year. 

Let me note very specifically that while the various updates appears to have excepted most of the education grants, the big one that no one has yet commented on is school nutrition. As EdWeek writes: 

The School Nutrition Association, meanwhile, is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture “to provide more detail on the extent to which this freeze will impact the programs” that provide federal support for students to eat healthy meals at school, Diane Pratt-Heavner, the group’s spokesperson, said on Tuesday afternoon.

If the pause eventually takes effect and funding for school meals does stop flowing, districts will immediately wonder whether they’ll get retroactive payments from the federal government once the pause ends, Thomas said.

“Those programs are running on paper-thin margins,” Thomas said. “Districts have to pass a balanced budget and so, if the meals program goes in the red, they’re going to have to pull money from elsewhere.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the school lunch program, didn’t answer questions from Education Week in time for publication.

I fear that there may be some confusion in Massachusetts and other states that have implemented universal free school meals; the state funding is SUPPLEMENTAL to federal funding on which districts still depend. In Massachusetts, school meals are funded: 

1. First, by the United States Department of Agriculture for meals for students eligible for free or reduced price lunch.
   In districts with high rates of poverty, including most (all?) of our city school districts, this funding is feeding ALL students, regardless of their own finances, through community eligibility. That means the highest need districts are feeding kids almost entirely through federal funds.
   
   
2. Then, through supplemental funding from the state, which fills the gap for districts not using community eligibility to feed all kids (because the finances don't work to support that) by reimbursing districts not using community eligibility. 

Thus, no, Massachusetts and other states that have committed to feeding all kids are not immune to this concern.

I was asked yesterday what the state's plan is for covering this if we lose USDA funding. As far as I know, there isn't one. 

If you haven't called your Congresspeople, please do. 
Pro tip: call their local office. Fewer people do. 

And about those federal grants

Speaking of information Worcester is sharing neatly, if you look at the FY25 first quarter report, the federal grants have come through, and so there is this:

That, plus the accompanying narrative of course, gives some idea of what Worcester (second largest district in Massachusetts, about 25,000 students) gets from the federal government, though do remember it does not include school nutrition--free lunch is entirely federally funded in Worcester and like districts!-- which is another $17M for FY25.

So, figure $44M for Worcester, now that we're back to an average year.

And Worcester folks? Do take a look at that first quarter report while you're over there. My eyebrows went up. That's...an uncommon report. 

March 21 Worcester School Committee meeting

 It's budget season, which means I am all over the state, so I'll do catch up on these as I can; I wasn't at this one and I can't make the next two, either, so they'll be coming later. Do note that the Committee meets this Thursday; the report of the Superintendent is on special education. 

The March 21 agenda is here; the video of the meeting is here. The report of the superintendent on future ready pathways is here.

Note that prior to the public session, there was an executive session on two worker compensation issues and negotiations with the Mass Nurses Association.

The consent agenda was passed. 

The Burncoat High School spirit team was recognized.

Quick note on Worcester School Committee meetings this week

 There are actually three!

• on Wednesday at 5, there's a Teaching, Learning, and Student Success meeting; the agenda isn't up yet, but expect that today now posted: preK, gifted programming, and the "modern classroom" project
  
  
  
• on Thursday, there's the regular meeting of the full Committee (exec at 5; public session thereafter). The report of the Superintendent is on future ready learning, which you might remember is a part of the Vision of a Learner adopted last year. 
  Without going into a lot of detail, note that Biancheria's student safety center item was held from the last meeting. There's a public petition (though without the petition itself, so we don't know who from) on installing electric charging meters for the public in the Forest Grove parking lot (the petition language says "free of charge" though the backup does not, nor does it mention the cost of electricity). The student advisory has submitted an item on staff mental health support. There are a number of grants for approval: homeless student supports, two on supporting community childcare, Perkins (which is voke money) for software management and a robot,  and a history field trip. 
  There's a request for an easement for Verizon at Doherty.
  Biancheria wants a report on therapy dogs, and one on homeschooling.
  Guardiola wants a report "on school meals and nutrition including current vendors used by the Worcester Public Schools."
  The administration is sharing the city's annual other post-employment benefits (OPEB) report.
  And on the agenda for approval ahead of the April deadline is the district's three year Student Opportunity Act plan.
  FWIW, I won't be at this, as I have a meeting to present at that evening.
  
  
• There's also a legislative breakfast--you might remember this being proposed in February by Member McCullough on Friday morning at Worcester Tech (and yes, that's a posted meeting); no agenda posted as yet. 

To read this vacation week

 Here are some longer pieces to read as you have a chance this week:

• The L.A. Times on the school nutrition program: great internal look at what it means to feed 107 million meals a year while juggling multiple sets of regulations, supply shortages, and the palates of lots of different students.
  
  
• Rachel Cohen's deep dive for Vox on after school programs (and the lack thereof): 
  About 8 million kids are enrolled in after-school programs today, but that’s less than a quarter of

  total demand, according to the nonprofit Afterschool Alliance. Research it led in early 2020, just before the pandemic, found that nearly 25 million more children would be enrolled in an after-school program if one were available to them, up from 19 million in 2014.  

• This New York Times piece (oddly in the Opinion section) covering what it means to be a parent of a trans young person in a state which thinks such children shouldn't exist. The family spoken with is in Missouri; you might also read this piece speaking with parents in Florida.
  
  
• The first of what will be ten pieces for the next ten years of school finance from Jess Gartner and Jason Becker at Allovue, this one on teacher compensation. I wish I could make everyone involved in any aspect of negotiations, including public perception, read this one:
  

  Because teacher compensation makes up such a large percentage (over 60%) of district budgets overall, meaningful teacher compensation increases are nearly impossible strictly through reallocation of existing resources. Reallocating dollars from student transportation, nutrition, facilities, student support services (counselors, nurses, psychologists, etc), professional development, and technology cannot close the teacher wage gap. 

   

• And finally, if you're feeling worn out this February, read "You are not okay and tomorrow will come [and you should eat a banana]" from Emily Kingsley: 
  

  ...idiot or optimist, I still come home with hope each day. 

  It’s because of this one little word: and. 

  Everything is terrible and I can still change the clock battery.

  
  

A School Committee member Thanksgiving

For those who test the lights and warm up the engines

Before swinging the big yellow buses out into the dawn;

For those who unlock the doors, check the heat and lights,

Opening the school to greet the day;

For those who staff the crosswalk in all weathers,

Red STOP in one hand, beckoning wave with the other;

For those who count out the milks and the fruit and the cereal,

And greet each breakfast eater with a welcome;

For those who ensure the computers work, and the buses run, and the snow gets plowed; 

For those who explain just one more way, just one more time, just one more day; 

For those who come alongside each individual child for the bit more support to get them there;

For those who see the student who is hurting or scared or lost or confused,

And make sure they are not alone but cared for;

For every headache or upset stomach or COVID test or playground collision met with care and concern;

For the perfect next book to read, the right match for job training, the stretch for college, the call for outside support;

For each talk outside of class that traces behavior back to source;

For those who work to improve practice, to create resources, to support those still learning to reach kids;

For every phone answered, every door checked, every tardy student welcomed, every visitor welcomed;

For those who order the materials, process the payroll, pay the bills, file the reports, update the enrollment, plan the bus routes, comply with every regulation and law;

And for those who make sure that all of the above happens;

For anyone who wakes up at 2 am, wondering how to reach that one kid,

And for anyone who wakes up at 2 am, wondering how we can do this all just a bit better;

For every child,

Every day,

For all of this and more, I am grateful. 

Written in memory of WPS School Bus Driver Isaac Beauge, who died last week. 

It's not about the bus

On WPS Transportation. Or not.

Rick Cinclair's photo for the T&G as part of Jeff Chamer's article of Monday

I got a message from a mom this week that said her daughter loves the new bus and said "it was beautiful." I think they're beautiful, too, but not only because they're shiny new buses.

We dropped our eldest off at college yesterday for the start of her senior year, and on the drive home, I was reflecting (as parents do) on the space between the person we'd just again sent forth and the four year old I remember helping up that big initial step onto the bus for kindergarten all those years ago, as many Worcester parents did for the first time this week. That little person and that big bus have an outsized relationship.
There's an enormous amount of trust embodied in that assist up the step and letting go of that little hand. As a school committee member, I keep that strongly in mind, especially this first week. 

It's the person who is at the top of the steps, though, that's the first impression families have of this system, this structure, their child is joining. The relationship of students to school bus drivers, like so many of the non-teaching staff in districts, often are among those that make all the difference. They're the first person from the district they see in the morning, the last they see at the end of the day, and how that interaction goes can determine how a day goes, and how a perspective on education is shaped.

Former Worcester superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone used to tell the story--you may have heard it?--of the custodian at NASA who, when stopped in the hall and asked what he was doing, responded that he was working to send a man to the moon. His work mattered in getting that done; a building that isn't cleaned and maintained isn't one that can send someone into space.

This is the same argument, really, that the Worcester School Committee was making by using ESSER funds to buy school buses: if the kids don't get to school at all or on time, and that's their access to education, then effectively they're not getting the education that they're guaranteed. That means that the mechanic that keeps the bus running, the trainers who make sure our drivers can drive the buses, the routers who make sure we have (and keep!) timely and effective routes, the liaisons who are getting people in and out and answering phones...they are people who are making sure Worcester kids are getting a public education. 

And that isn't only the case in Transportation. The student who got held after class and is five minutes late for lunch and still gets lunch with a warm greeting, the myriad of reasons a student may need a custodian during a school day and has one who ensures the student can get back to class, having buildings that are warm when they are supposed to be and have water where they are supposed to have it (and not where they don't)...these are the things that allow kids to get an education.

There's no better illustration of this right now than Jackson, Mississippi, where the entire city of 150,00 is without access to clean, running water. The district has flipped their schools back to virtual learning. And there's no end clearly in sight on this crisis.
You may not wake up in the morning, thinking about your access to clean, running water, but if someone isn't waking up in the morning, thinking about your clean water, and if that argument isn't ongoingly brought to those who vote the dollars to support that clean water, and those in power don't take action at some point, you aren't going to have clean, running water anymore. 

And we don't think a lot about the people who do that until the water isn't running or the bus doesn't show up or the building isn't clean or something isn't fixed.

Thus this Labor Day weekend post: for all those who do work in education and elsewhere that too often is invisible, until we need them and we don't have them. 
May we appreciate, celebrate, and value then in ways both symbolic and concrete.

MASBO: DESE update

Rob O'Donnell:
coronavirus relief funds (102): working through applications now; have received 341 as of August 31; have reviewed about 75% of those received. If haven't heard about approval yet, chances are that it has been approved; just waiting to be set up in system to send out payments; have issued payments for 162 so far; about 80 or so working on still reviewing; 
Some are purchasing Chromebooks through the state; total is just north of $5M; using Remote Learning Essentials grant for that (state is applying those funds for it; if that isn't enough, it will come out of above); will need to reduce value of grant by value of purchase
EOYR for grants; will be needed to be added to revenue sources for FY20 report if used in FY20
There is more grant funding beyond DESE; municipal funds coming from cities and towns (also "other federal grant" line in reporting)
Might towns receive more funds before Dec. 31? Don't think they've gotten it all already; was coming in two phases

Local contribution study: collecting public comment to inform study (had intended to do public forums); open through October 16
You should comment!

Jay Sullivan: a comment was made on the regional call that municipalities (with the exception of cities that are real hot spots) have more money than they can really spend; some may not be sharing because they are hoping to use it for revenue replacement; heed advice and keep track of all COVID-19 expenses; ex: paying school nutrition workers despite building being closed; those taking leave due to COVID-19
reporting piece on grants due on October 30 to walk through what that requirement would be
Student Opportunity Act and how it relates to 
SOA was to make budget more realistic on special education and health insurance, but also to increase funding EL and low income students; phased in implementation over 7 years would be ch. 70 increase over 7 years; bulk of increase in state aid would have gone to districts with largest number of low income and English learners; also changed circuit breaker, phasing in circuit breaker, and froze circuit breaker threshhold (was 4x statewide foundation; froze at FY19 level $45793); made more expenses eligible; BUT have to reimburse instructional costs BEFORE any transportation; "I have no idea" what will be paid this year "because we don't have a budget"; will be basing what we do on level funded circuit breaker
"If SOA isn't being implemented for those districts that have high need students...then should we really be implementing the circuit breaker side?"
"If we're not giving you the medicine, should we be giving you the spoonful of sugar?"
The FY20 threshhold if NOT frozen would be raised ($21M statewide at 75%)
"we're supposed to be making payments next week" but we don't know what we're getting
not exactly sure what's going to happen with that

Education hearing on remote learning

Video is online here

The Legislature’s Education Committee is holding an oversight hearing at 11 today on remote learning and K-12 schools during COVID-19. (I’ll be tuned in, may sit on the floor of my living room to recreate the hearing experience.) Here’s the agenda. #mapoli pic.twitter.com/dA41YeqFDa

— Katie Lannan (@katielannan) May 13, 2020

Chairs Senator Jason Lewis and Rep. Alice Peisch at the State House (and masked); all others participating remotely
Peisch opens: oversight hearing: to inform the committee, the Legislature, the broader public
to inform work on rest of year and next
note difficulty of situation we are; "no roadmap on how to handle this"
thanks teachers, parents, and staff "who have been patiently educating Massachusetts's students" since schools closed
Lewis: thanks colleagues, invited panelists
since mid-March, "audacious experiment in remote learning"
acknowledge efforts and struggles in making change "literally overnight"
"we know it has not been easy"
daughter who is a junior has faced a variety of challenges
laptop, internet, quiet space, two parents home, speaks English as her first language
"many, if not most of our students, do not enjoy these benefits"
have an obligation to provide an education for our students, nonetheless
"we must ensure equitable access to high quality remote learning" to all students

Give grace

Bloodwort in bloom

In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher.
WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.
Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do. 

World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the COVID-19 media briefing on March 11

Content warning: coronavirus pandemic, death, trauma

Fall Joint Committee hearings

These are always shared as "subject to change," but the Joint Committee on education as of right now has two hearings scheduled for this fall:

• Wednesday, September 4 on a whole host of things, but the big ones are recess, the make up of the Board of Ed, and nutrition
• Monday, October 7 mostly on charter schools

Both start at 11 am in Room A-1 at the State House 

Worcester FY20: building by building staffing changes

In the back of the Worcester Public Schools' budget book is a building-by-building budget, beginning on page 283. If you have children in the schools, you may want to take a look at your children's school budget. Do remember that, particularly in elementary schools, staffing can change over the summer, depending on enrollment; most elementary changes are due to enrollment changes yearly in any case. There is a formula citywide for how schools are staffed which begins on page 400.

Worcester meetings this week

Crucial reminder: tomorrow at 7 pm, the Finance and Operations subcommittee has a public hearing on the FY20 Worcester Public Schools budget (4th floor, Durkin Administration Building).

This usually includes an update on the state budget, and, as the House Ways and Means budget came out since the last time the Worcester School Committee met, there is something to look forward to. In fact, it looks as though the T&G got the report ahead of time. There are LOTS of things to say about the budget--and remember, everything costs money!--so go and be heard!


The Worcester School Committee meets Thursday at 7 pm in public session. Along with recognitions and thanks, it appears Superintendent Binienda will not be doing a report which speaks of how the goals of the district and her own performance goals are being met, but instead will be having a sort of speed dating show and tell by principals.

There is a single page response to the request for updates on health education under the new marijuana law.
There is a report on AEDs.

There is a response to a request for graduation rates, disaggregated by different categories. The administration, along with a note, has chosen to include this information in the form of a spreadsheet. I thought we might find it more useful in the form of a graph, and I added all the years available online:

All data from DESE, as submitted by WPS; I've gone back as far as DESE has data online. 

 And because that bunches up at the end, I'm going to do something I usually rail against and rescale that to just the part changing (note the axis starts at 40%):

And yes, that multi-race non-Hispanic line dives for 2016 in the data reported to DESE.

Note what happens to most of the lines from 2014 on.

It is also important to note--and troubling to note that not included in the report is the information--that four year graduation rate is among the contents of the new accountability system:

In 2018, the Worcester Public Schools did not meet the targets for four year graduation in the categories of all students, high needs students, economically disadvantaged students, English learner and former English learner students, students with disabilities, and black students. The district made no change in the graduation rate of Latino students. Only in white and multirace non-Hispanic students did the district exceed its targets.
This is the sort of information that would be relevant to have included in a report of the superintendent to the School Committee. Better that the superintendent call attention to it than DESE does.

Apparently, the week of March 24 was Public Schools Week.

Most of Mr. Comparetto's items from the last meeting were held. There are now responses from administration on the mentorship request (in which they talk about early childhood ed programs and the Worcester Future Teachers program, neither of which is the sort of program Mr. Comparetto is speaking of like iMentor or  Classroom Champions; perhaps this is actually the response to another item?); the Farm to School program; an internship management program (which again doesn't appear to be responding to the query); and an update on the strategic plan (just that it is coming in July).

Mr. O'Connell suggests the use of a "see something say something" app, which will go nicely with the cell phone ban.
Mr. Monfredo is requesting an "action plan" for children to read on grade level, plus a "quality primary summer school reading program."
He'd also like a presentation on vaping.

There are a whole lot of donations coming in for votes of acceptance:

• $22,008.00 to the Worcester Public Schools Athletics Department from the Office of District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. to assist with Freshman Basketball Teams to involve youth in programs that help to prevent crime, gang activity and substance abuse. 
• $2,303.00 to South High Community School from Andy’s Attic to assist with the purchase of Chromebooks 
• $28.50 to Tatnuck Magnet School from Yankee Candle 
• $225.00 to Tatnuck Magnet School from Sports Alive 
• $500.00 to Tatnuck Magnet School from I.U.O.E. Local No.4 
•  $2,354.00 to Tatnuck Magnet School from various donors through fundraising efforts 
• $10.00 to Lake View School from Ruben Ardon 
• $1,000 to New Citizens Center Secondary from Herlihy Insurance 
• $9.070.19 to South High Community School from the “Class of 1963 Scholarship in Memory of Robert Aucoin” 
• $450.00 to the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program for assistance with research from Boston University 
• $75.00 to Lisa Wolfe and family from the South High Community School Black Student Union

There's also a prior year payment of $7,103.53 to the City of Springfield (I'm going to guess special education?).

The administration is proposing language for the handbook for next year for the Seal of Biliteracy (which is great, but let's get some vetting of this proposal!).

Mr. Comparetto and Mr. Foley are asking for an update from the Sex ed task force.

Mayor Petty is requesting:

Request that the Superintendent produce the last 10 number of years of suspension and discipline data for review by the public and School Committee and a full review of data collection, storage and dissemination procedures to develop best practices for transparency.

Dang! That's a strong statement in the form of a motion.
In line with his public statement prior to vacation, Mayor Petty is also requesting (I'm going to post the full items here; note how the co-sponsorship changes):

• gb #9-161 – Mayor Petty/Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough/Mr. Monfredo/Mr. O’Connell (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent provide estimated budgeting needed for a Chief Diversity /Equal Opportunity Officer and her organizational plan for implementation.
  
• gb #9-162 – Mayor Petty/Miss Biancheria/Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough/Mr. Monfredo/Mr. O’Connell (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent report on district processes and compliance with MGL c222 and make any necessary proposals for changes in policy and procedure.
  
• gb #9-163 – Mayor Petty/Miss Biancheria/Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent reengage with Worcester State University in order to refresh and update the 2014 report, “Suspensions in Worcester: A Continuing Conversation.”
  
• gb #9-164 – Mayor Petty/Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough/Mr. Monfredo/Mr. O’Connell (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent inform the School Committee on her plan and timeline for professional development and training on cultural differences, unconscious bias and diversity.
  
• gb #9-165 – Mayor Petty/Miss Biancheria/Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough/Mr. Monfredo/Mr. O’Connell (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent report to the School Committee on her plans to introduce trauma informed care into our schools as well as budgeting requirements for Fiscal Year 2020.
  
• gb #9-166 – Mayor Petty/Miss Biancheria/ Mr. Comparetto/Mr. Foley/Miss McCullough/Mr. Monfredo/Mr. O’Connell (April 9, 2019) 
  Request that the Superintendent report on school funding of community nonprofits such as African Community Education, the Latino Education Institute and the South East Asian Coalition.

There is an executive session for contract negotations with the superintendent. 

The Worcester School Committee meets November 1

You can find the agenda here.
There are a number of recognitions, including a request for a letter (a letter?) to congratulate Elm Park on exiting Level 4 status.

First up, the report of the superintendent is the accountability report. If you follow state reports, a lot of this will look familiar, as Worcester's doing something valuable here: more than half the presentation is explaining how the accountability system has changed. (More of this!) To do this, they've essentially swiped the DESE slides in walking through how it has shifted (this is not an easy thing to explain; I'll be interested in how it goes!) for the first half. The second half is Worcester data and (sigh...how about we don't do this) comparing Worcester results with other urbans. What I don't see here--I'll be interested to see if it comes up--is some discussion of what in particular are the areas of needed focus within the district and school by school.

The Administration is forwarding "for informational purposes" (hmph) job descriptions for two new positions: Assistant Director of Finance and Operations for Nutrition and Marketing, Communication, Initiative and Outreach Coordinator. There's no public backup.

The administration has given the Perkins grant allocation, as requested.

The ongoing saga of chasing homeschooling families around on paperwork has a response back from administration. By my read, the form doesn't appear to agree with what's said in the report, for starters. 

The administration has responded to the request that administration clarify with staff participation in the electoral process by...sending them back the committee-approved policy GBI.

Miss McCullough is seeking a possible policy on lunches (the length of them, particularly in elementary schools); a review of IT password creation and security; and a review of the recess policy "to ensure it is being adhered to districtwide" (that's school committee agenda-speak for "it isn't; let's fix that").

Mr. O'Connell is asking about possibly renting modular classrooms for Burncoat Prep (This would be additional modulars, as Burncoat Prep already has several).

There are also donations:

• $1381.09 to Worcester Arts Magnet School from the Parent Teacher Group for the purchase of a new water fountain 
• $1090.00 to Tatnuck Magnet School from various donors through fundraising efforts 
• $2500.00 to the Worcester Public Schools from DonorsChoose.org 

...and prior fiscal year items:

• in the amount of $7,724.18 to Wheelabator Millbury, Inc.
• in the amount of $238.39 to Home Depot Credit Services.
• in the amount of $241.65 to Northeast Electrical Distributors.
• in the amount of $172.50 to Signet Electronic Systems, Inc.

There is a 6pm posting for an executive session for collective bargaining with Tradesmen, Plumbers and Steamfitters, and Aides.