Two to read today

 Two to read today:

First, check on this extensive piece from Amanda Marcotte on Salon on the pushback the Moms for Liberty who took over the Pennridge School Board in Pennsylvania are getting. Pennridge is a bellweather for Pennsylvania, which is a bellweather for the country. 

Yes, the Pennridge school board was dominated by far-right members, one of whom had been present in Washington for Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally-turned-riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Yes, at least five of the nine board members were linked to Moms for Liberty, a right-wing "astroturf" organization that has orchestrated a national campaign to remake public education along arch-conservative and anti-intellectual lines. But Pennridge board meetings for months had been dominated by outraged parents speaking out against the Moms for Liberty incursion and the board majority's apparent agenda.

As always: it is not only Pennsylvania, so pay attention to local elections!

Second, it appears that Scholastic book fairs have been presuming there might be pushback on books and is allowing a check off to, Twitter has subsequently turned up, opt IN to so-called "diverse" books: 

Can confirm that they had to be opted into and the boxes of books were labeled “diverse” when they arrived.

— Aislinn (@itmeansdream) October 10, 2023

...with an APOLOGY IF YOU GET THEM ACCIDENTALLY!

I saw this in a FB group today. Scholastic book fairs is not only offering an easy & preemptive way to censor BIPIC, Queer, & other historically excluded voices out of their book fairs, they’re actually apologizing JUST IN CASE TGEY ACCIDENTALLY FAILED YO CENSOR FOR YOU https://t.co/vYnR8X9mS0 pic.twitter.com/fM38sxZ0zg

— Kelsey Bogan, MLIS (www.DontYouShushMe.com) (@kelseybogan) October 10, 2023

Notes from the November Board of Ed: family engagement

 report from the family engagement summit
Riley: "parents are more than ready to be involved...they are the sleeping giant in education"
Deputy Commissioner Robinson whose opening comments we entirely missed as we couldn't hear them

"vision casting"
every registration had to have families registered
"families were so encouraged to have the Commissioner present"
Rachelle Engler Bennett (Associate Commissioner): work to strengthen work in this realm
Department developed a cross-agency framework
Office of student and family support: team of 20 supports
Olga Lopez, Family Engagement Specialist
summit had 400 participants; 37 workshops offered; 29 districts participated

Mary Stewart "family engagement...is a strategy for school improvement, it's a strategy for student success"
"communication isn't the only thing" as how parents parent also matters
"incredibly positive experience"

Robinson: all gathered together, focused on student success
Stewart: practitioners to get that experience of having that with families; to share power with families

Hills: what do you want to see a year from now?
Lopez: families engagement, sitting down together, not afraid to share their ideas

Mohamed: what does access look like?
Lopez: different initiatives, outreach coordinators reaching different families
train a trainers, teach school districts how to engage with families

Canavan: communication and access
school council meetings during the workday: I had some flexibility but not everybody does
how do we share information and how to do we create pathways
Lopez: did a lot of focus groups before putting it together
"we did everything we had to know"
back and forth here about if the Friday was a criticism
Lopez: the school districts did the job of bringing the families
districts in some cases provided transportation
Robinson: "what do you need?"

Moriarty: school councils: to create more parent engagement
"I'm not sure after thirty years if this has come off as well as we'd hoped"
Engler Bennet: need to provide multiple vehicles for engagement
Stewart: site council finds under the purview of the school committee
"that's a big part of it"
Lopez: provide maximum opportunities to be successful

Plankey: love the fact this work is getting the spotlight that I think it deserves
certain point at which students can act as decision makers and advocates
to what extend were students participating?
Lopez: we tried to bring a group of youth; something we have to work on
Plankey: more opportunities
"I'd love to see students involved in this conversation"
notes expansion of statewide student voices: student advisory council; now also Mass Association of Student Reps, Mass Student Union 
would love to see actual student representation on school committees, back by a student advisory, as required by law 
Riley ties back to visioning committee

Stewart: parent involvement, engagement as envisioned by education reform law
would love to see student-led parent-teacher conferences
establish core beliefs, shared understanding from the start, bringing people to the table
notes her own seat is a result of long advocacy to ensure parent voice is at that table

Worcester housing, racial lines, and schooling

 I really found this Worcester Business Journal piece interesting, as it delved into the neighborhood differences of our schools:

In Worcester, what ends up happening, McNicholas said, is public schools in the city’s lower-income areas, which disproportionately house its residents of color, end up disproportionately responsible for students with greater needs, whether because they are English Language Learners, have disabilities, or experience the myriad of challenges low-income students often have.

For reference, 2018 graduation data from the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shows the four-year dropout rate in Worcester schools among English learner students was 10.2% and 6.3% for those considered high needs. For low-income students the dropout rate was 5.9%, and for Hispanic/Latino students, the largest nonwhite population group in Worcester schools, that rate was 7.9%. For white students, the dropout rate was 3.4%.

Put another way, a 2012 report from the Brookings Institution found, for students attending Worcester’s average top quintile school, 87% lived in owner-occupied housing. In the average bottom quintile school in Worcester, that number was 40%. Some schools, McNicholas said, don’t have a higher proportion of students who need greater assistance, allowing those schools to become high achieving easier.

“And then,” she said, “We have plenty of teachers who are really struggling to get through a lesson because they have to adapt to so many different levels of need within one classroom.”

And those challenges, McNicholas said, are absolutely more prevalent in Worcester’s lower-income – and more diverse – communities.

Because the Worcester Public Schools' budget is done through a district formula--and, in particular, staffing for English learners and special education follows need--we don't largely have the district disparities in funding weighted towards greater affluence. What we do have is affluence meaning less need with the above results, and also greater affluence leading to greater support through PTOs, or, in the case of Worcester Tech, the Skyline Technical Fund (and this is reminding me that those donations still aren't going through School Committee, which is legally required). 

There's a fair discussion to have about if enough greater resources are driven to student need, certainly. I'd also say we're overdue for a discussion of how we decide which students go where. We need to be willing to have some vision for that discussion, though.  

My comments on tonight's vote on sex ed

more or less; I'll add links later, but you can find my sources pretty easily

 I think it important to note that we are deliberating this question now, in 2021, because a clear Open Meeting Law violation took place last term in the spring of 2019. A quorum of the Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports subcommittee deliberated on a matter under their purview—the health curriculum—outside of a posted public meeting, and the process ended.

We know this, of course, because of the public records of this deliberation.

When a public body violates the Open Meeting Law, as happened last term, and the matter goes to the Attorney General, she can impose a number of penalties, which generally are designed to make up for the lack of public process: committees can be required to revote, or they can release minutes. They can even be fined. 

No such penalties were imposed on Worcester, Mr. Chair, as the matter was never reported to the Attorney General. 

But even if it were, nothing can make up for the consequences of the members of this public body denying students of the Worcester Public Schools two years of comprehensive health education. We do not know, Mr. Chair, how many of our students were harmed by not having what can in fact be life-saving information. 

I don’t want to let this evening pass without noting where the responsibility for this lies.

We cannot make up for that lost time, but we can ensure no more time is lost.

In terms of process, I want to thank you, Mr. Chair, for not letting up on this, as well as Ms. McCullough for ensuring that there was a public process with clear evaluation and parameters with public comment. 

I have noticed that there has been some confusion during, so let me observe: the Committee asked for our staff to conduct a curriculum review. I appreciate the work our health department staff, as well as that of the HOPE Coalition and the Department of Public Health, in a thorough, professional curriculum review as requested.
Both “conflict of interest” and “ethics violations” are legal terms of art, which have specific definitions; the vote this evening is neither.
I’d also note that curricular materials usually are protected by copyright, and thus aren’t available, in my experience, via a public records request. The curriculum we are actually discussing, however, is entirely publicly available. 

Regarding public comment, I do think it incumbent to note that some of what we received, particularly at the last meeting, was no less than hate speech, and in some cases directed at our students. That may be legal in this public forum, but it is unacceptable. It has been also been quite clear how much motivation is based on fear and concern over loss of control rather than care for our students. It was, in many ways, a potent illustration of just why we need the comprehensive curriculum before us this evening. 

All of our students, all of our staff, all of the members of the Worcester community deserve to have their human dignity and bodily integrity valued and respected. 

Our trans students and community members are valued, as they are, for who they are.

All members of the LGBTQIA community deserve respect, justice, and equity. 

All of us here have taken an oath to the Massachusetts Constitution, which lays out in its very first lines a recognition that the purpose of democratic government is “to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life.” 

To shirk our work this evening is to shirk our oath of office. 

Yes, Mr. Chair, Massachusetts General Law says parents may choose not to have their children take such coursework as that under discussion. 

However, those under the impression that students who do not receive comprehensive sex education in school will not have any exposure to sex are badly mistaken; they’ll simply be subject to whatever turns up on a Google search.

To the question of whose job this is, allow me to cite two quotations:

Parents/caregivers are the primary sexuality educators of their children. 
School districts and community-based organizations should function 
as partners with parents/caregivers in providing sexuality education. 
Together, these institutions have the responsibility to provide young 
people with honest, age-appropriate sexuality education.

And:

We need to have sex education for children. The ideal is to start from home, with the parents. It is not always possible because there are so many differentsituations in families, and because they do not know how to do it. And so the school makes up for this, because otherwise it will remain a void thatwill then be filled by any ideology.

The first quote, Mr. Chair, is the first principle of the curriculum being considered tonight from the teacher’s manual of Rights, Respect, and Responsibility.

The second, Mr. Chair, is from a translation from an interview in 2019 with Pope Francis,.

It is not a scandal for public schools to teach comprehensive sex education. It is, in fact, a responsibility we have, and it is one that we here in Worcester have been shirking for far too long. Sex education is covered in the Massachusetts state frameworks for health education—long overdue for updating—and are anticipated by the state laws—thus the ability for parents to choose to have their children not participate. The list of which districts have comprehensive sex education, have had comprehensive sex education, and continue to have comprehensive sex education is lengthy, and ironically includes many of the districts from which we had callers over the past weeks. They would deny our students something students in their own communities already have.

It is also not something that can be or should be isolated to high school or even middle school. We received painful personal testimony from callers who noted their own experiences of sexual assault at young ages. One out of every NINE girls and one out of every 53 boys is a victim of childhood sexual abuse. That means on average at least one girl in every one of our classrooms and several boys in every one of our schools have been victims of childhood sexual abuse. 93% of those reporting such abuse know the perpetrator, and in fully of third of reported cases, the perpetrator is a member of the victim’s family. 

Again, Mr. Chair, we as a district have a responsibility to our students; this clearly cannot be left only to family. While sexual assault is never the victim’s fault, having conversations about bodily autonomy as developmentally appropriate make it that much more likely those who need it will get help by the mandated reporters under our employ.

As one of our callers noted last week, an adult deciding that they are uncomfortable with something does not make it developmentally inappropriate. Child development is a field of study; we educate children in line with that, not in line with various degrees of adult discomfort. Best practice on teaching children about health in all fields is that one does so gradually and consistently over time starting, yes, when they are young. 

And this remains true, Mr. Chair, regardless of the culture or even the religion of the families. We could do a world tour and find the need for sex ed in any country that does not have it. We could easily start with my own cultural heritage, where a country run as very close to a theocracy for much of a century is still uncovering decades of sex abuse in religious schools, not to mention the horrific legacy of the Magdalene laundries. Don’t tell a great-granddaughter of Ireland that religion and culture should be allowed to block comprehensive sex education. 

We are instructed, after all, to remove the log from our own eye before attempted to remove the speck of sawdust in another’s.

Likewise, a parent saying that they could never teach something to their child does not mean that no one ever should. Many could never teach basic principles of mathematics or of science; students still need to know them. I know we have many gifted health teachers in the Worcester Public Schools. 

I will also echo that we have at least a few that have no business teaching health, which is why we must have a single curriculum that is implemented with strict fidelity. We would not have someone who insisted the Earth is flat teaching geography; we must not have health educators that deny basic scientific principles of the field. 

And make no mistake: this is a scientific field of study. It is thus infuriating, Mr. Chair, to hear the vast array of misinformation and outright lies that have been conveyed in this discussion, including by leadership that should know better, and which has a responsibility to tell the truth to people under their care. It is deeply troubling to me how much of the testimony comes from fear and a perceived loss of control. Yet we are told that it is the truth that sets us free.

The reason that we have such solid research on the need for comprehensive sex education is that the U.S. federal government ran the equivalent of a large scale experiment from 1998 to 2016 on the youth of the country by funding abstinence only until marriage education under Title V, Section 510. Review after review after review (compiled by both Mathematica and by Guttmacher) of such programs in the states that accepted the funding over those years came to the same conclusion: there was no evidence that such programs increased the rates of sexual abstinence, and students had similar numbers of partners and rates of unprotected sex as students without any access to any sort of sex ed at all. 

The only positive--and I meant that in a statistical sense--correlation from a 2019 review in Reuters was that students in such programs in politically conservative districts had a teen birth rate that went up. 

Those involved in studies of children’s health concluded that such programs were unethical because of the actual outcomes of the programs. To persist to giving incomplete information when it has been shown to do actual harm is unethical. 

So to those who asked why it was we have the rates we do of teen pregnancy in the country, there’s your answer. 

To those who have raised the issue of birth rates in other cities with comprehensive sex education: the test is impact. Those cities had rates significantly higher than ours to begin with; it is, at least in part, their use of a comprehensive sex education curriculum that pushed those rates down. Facile comparisons that simply note which city is higher than which without accounting for those other factors tell us little. 

As a number of the callers endorsing such programs also, a review of their associated sites show,  discourage COVID restrictions, question vaccinations for COVID for young people, and take other perspectives contrary to public health, I would suggest we should not take their advice on public health matters.

Meanwhile, as has been widely noted, and is easily Googleable, and has been demonstrated over and again by actual peer reviewed scientific research conducted by legitimate research organizations, comprehensive sex education, like the program before us tonight, is actually effective. We have known this for decades at this point. It is past time we acted on it.

In my consideration of this important matter, Mr. Chair, I have continued to come back to an image from my own high school years. Created by ACT-UP New York, it was three stark lines printed under a pink triangle.

SILENCE

=

DEATH

Because of the activism of ACT-UP and others, as well as the work of researchers, the death sentence at that time due to AIDS is no longer the fate of those who are HIV positive who have access to treatment.

 But the silence that meant death, and the fear and in some cases the bigotry motivating that silence remains with us still. To remain silent when we have the rates of STDs among our students that we do—to remain silent when we know the huge rates of suicide and other harms to trans youth when they are not supported by family or community—to remain silent when our children lack for basic education that would give them, we know, healthier and happier lives—to remain silent under such circumstances is, Mr. Chair, death.

I will support the recommendations of the subcommittee as amended. 

A few Worcester things not to miss this week

 I've been largely doing my WPS updates via video on Facebook and Instagram but I know that isn't how everyone actually gets their information, so I'll endeavor to do better here.

While the full Worcester School Committee doesn't have a regular meeting until May 6, the full Committee will be on for the family forum on Tuesday evening at 6:30. This is focused on the five day return of those students whose families have chosen it, which starts next week on May 3. If you have any questions, please submit them by Monday at 6 pm.

We also have three subcommittee meetings this week, all of which will report out next week:

• On Monday at 5:30, Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports meets for the second of their two meetings on the proposed sex ed curricula. There's also consideration of a few new courses on the agenda, but the first will be most of the focus, I believe. 
• On Tuesday at 4, Governance meets for a few employee requests on donations of sick time, plus the dress code, plus another section of the student handbook, plus our rules. Apparently, those are being held? 
• On Thursday at 5, Finance and Operations is jointly meeting with the City Council's Education subcommittee for (as the agenda says) items "of mutual interest." The two things on the agenda are the reopening plan (at Council request) and the FY22 budget, though do note the backup on that is the February one based on the House 1 budget. The Worcester Public Schools budget comes to the Committee on May 14; it will be based on the budget the House passes this week. 

S. 2348: "An act relative to educational opportunity for students"

pushed out over Twitter Thursday

LINKS:

• The bill is on the state site here 
• I have the PDF posted in my Dropbox here. 
• The summary (from the Legislature) is here and the Q&A here. 
• If you're going to go through the bill itself, you might want to have the fact sheet open with you, as well.

it earns the sticker

In terms of process, please note that the bill has come out of the Joint Committee on Education and goes to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Then it goes to the full Senate. Then it goes to the House Ways and Means Committee. Then it goes to full House.
Then to the Governor.
It is not, I will observe, accidental that the Senate President and the Speaker of the House jointly presented the bill with the Joint Committee chairs. That's a show of unity and support.

January Board of Ed special meeting: School and District report cards

Backup for this item is here, though there is a Powerpoint, which I'll see what I can do about. 
posting as we go once it starts...
Meeting being chaired by Vice-Chair Morton; Chair Sagan participating remotely. Secretary Peyser not present

Riley: a real significant effort went into this for families
Johnston: will give an overview on the current report card and why we have them
"important way of conveying school quality to parents"
"required by ESSA...to provide on an annual basis" with particular required components
"never once in my twenty years of being an educator in Massachusetts has any parent come to me and said, 'I was looking at that report card and...'"
showing current report card for Stoneham
"it's not entirely opaque, but I wouldn't say it's particularly family-friendly"
"almost an emotional reaction...what reaction do you get when you look at this information? are you getting a feeling about this school and its quality as you skim down?"
"a lot of work went into this without it really generating a lot of meaningful discussion"
Curtin: started this process over a year ago
"very quickly realised that we didn't necessarily have the capacity do this work well"
"we realized that we speak a foreign language in this building"
work with Learning Heroes on presenting information to parents
"one of the top two or three organizations I've worked with"
here to talk about how parents want to understand data, then work that they've done

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, May 17

The agenda is posted here.
There are recognitions and such.
The report of the Superintendent is "An Overview of the Process for District Site Visits" and I don't know what that means.
Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports is meeting Monday afternoon and is reporting out (on gifted programs, ice hockey, Mandarin Chinese, summer programs, and the future teachers' program at Worcester State).
There will be (only one is posted) responses from administration on free drivers' ed and on Earth Day.
Miss McCullough is requesting a report on vocational programs not at Worcester Tech.
Mr. O'Connell wants to appropriate the funding the state has allocated for students evacuated due to Hurricane Maria; he's going to be told that they'll do that at the FY19 budget hearing, as that's been said several times. 

Mr. O'Connell (co-sponsored by five other members of the committee) has an item: "review the recommendations of the proposed Strategic Plan and assign them to appropriate Standing Committees of the School Committee, and/or to the Administration, for further analysis, consideration, discussion, and development." Two things: that puts the strategic plan on the agenda (important if you'd like to comment) and sets up a committee public process of review (which we haven't had so far).

Mr. O'Connell also wants to set up an English Learner Parent Advisory Council, per the LOOK bill; maybe we should have regulations first. Comments are due this Friday! 

There is a request for approval of a prior fiscal year payment of $1,496.50 for services rendered to a Special Education student who was placed in the Uxbridge Public Schools.

There is a request that the Committee accept donations of:
 - $4,000.00 from the WEDF for the Leap Program in collaboration with the Worcester Art Museum
- $250.00 from donors to Heard Street Discovery Academy for the purchase of a new classroom rug
- $1,000.00 from donors to a Doherty Memorial High School football player in memory of Thomas Walles
- $1,000.00 from Alliance Energy LLC to Grafton Street School
- $1,000.00 from a Foundation to the Goddard Scholars Academy for the purchase of a tuba for the their Band
- to Woodland Academy: - $122.31 from CEC Entertainment Inc. - $250.00 from the College of the Holy Cross
- $2,583.87 from the City of Worcester for being selected as a recipient of a Worcester Arts Council 2018 Award for their project “Making the Impossible Possible”
- to Tatnuck Magnet School: - $4.50 from Box Tops for Education - $85.00 from various donors - $300.00 from I.U.O.E Local No. 4 Social Action Committee - $500.00 from Country Bank

There is a request for approval of a High-Quality Instruction grant of $20,000 for working groups on curriculum.

There is an annoucement about Reading in our City week from Mr. Monfredo.
Mr. Comparetto has three related items on middle school sports: one on partnering with Recreation Worcester, and two on reports.

There is also (THIS IS IMPORTANT) a request that the committee accept a donation and approve an agreement with/from Berkshire Bank, successor to Commerce, of $500,000 for naming rights to Foley Stadium (extending the agreement) and replacing the turf field.

There is a non-specific posting around collective bargaining and/or litigation for executive session.

Update on the OML Worcester strategic plan complaint

My appeal to the Attorney General's office was mailed yesterday.

OH! And on Tuesday, the Worcester Public Schools twitter feed sent out this:

Join us for a Community Forum "Setting the Course: Creating a Strategic Plan for K-12 Education in our City" #WPSlearns pic.twitter.com/72jVHVQKWu

— Worcester Schools (@worcesterpublic) October 23, 2017

Note that Worcester East Middle is actually 420 Grafton, should you be heading there.
As it was the first notice, and I have a meeting tonight, I won't be there. But they suddenly appear to have decided that parents should come, as in the past half hour I have also received:

1. a computer-voice Connect-Ed urging attendance
2. a blank email: 

This...email is blank... pic.twitter.com/9IFbg2xd3i

— Tracy Novick (@TracyNovick) October 26, 2017

Too late to make it up to us on transparency... If you go, take notes!

TWO UPDATES:
Scott O'Connell went to the forum.
And Bill Shaner wrote a bit about the lack of public notice and input.

A Love Letter to My Sons' School District

Would that all our districts could strive for--and be!--a district like this: 

I know how rare it is that a school district would be so dedicated to all of its students—not just in words, but in deeds. And I hope that other schools see this love letter, and know that they too could be receiving these from the parents of their black and brown kids. From the parents of their neurodiverse and disabled kids. From the parents of their poor kids. From the parents of their LGBT kids. I hope they see this and know that all of their students deserve the same love and care that my children are receiving. I hope they see this and realize that they are the ones missing out.

Parents may have a conflict of interest on charter boards, charter association says

I'm overdue for posting something on the Annenberg Report on accountability for charter schools (coming!), but this quote in the Globe from the charter school association is just so wacky that I had to post it:

Dominic Slowey, a spokesman for the charter school association, added that some schools are opposed to seating parents on their boards because they may have conflicts of interest if their own children attend the schools.

Wow. Okay then.
So here's one where maybe the public school system can (again) share a best practice with the charter schools! We've had parents serving on school committees since...forever, really. And it's a best practice, not a conflict of interest.
It certainly is revealing, though, isn't it? If they want parent involvement, they want it on their terms, not on the actual board that runs the school.

Update on Southbridge

written update on Southbridge here
Johnston: receiver starts May 2
already collaborating with her on key decisions
separating middle and high school into two schools, as building was designed
need to hire principals for each building: applicants being vetting, receiver will decide
stakeholder group met for final time last night
development of turnaround plan begins once receiver starts
budget: Paul Dakin helping with that
broader work of stakeholder group: weekly updates sent out to staff and parents
community conversations: "place based"
smaller groups: community members, students, parents to be part of discussions around the district
what's working well, what needs to be improved, what suggestions do you have?
have had four so far: worked with parents on location
have had about 70 participants so far: 10 to 30 participants per meeting
Southbridge is a very proud community
"a lot of comments like 'it's about time'" for receivership
very disappointed that it's come to this; get community engaged in a conversation on needs for kids in city
"it's governance"
less clear on folks understanding quality of classroom instruction
"a source of education" we'll have to pay attention
parent involvement: started as almost an accusation; moved to what are the challenges? why aren't people involved?
maybe parents don't have the support themselves to support their students
one social worker in district; need more support
community members feel they're not used as a resource (beyond parents)
opportunity to bring town together "to restore Southbridge"
work to pull in receiver on these conversations

Stewart: leadership in schools to invite partnerships
district take advantage of that resource

Southbridge public hearing on receivership

posting from the Board of Ed hearing on receivership for the Southbridge Public Schools. We're in what was their high school auditorium (they opened a new school a few years back).
I'll update this post as we go.
I'll do the best I can with names, though the sound quality remains to be seen. Board members coming in now: so far, Willyard, Noyce, Morton, and Stewart are here, as is Commissioner Chester. I'm hearing that parking outside is tight.
Craven and Moriarty have come in. Awaiting Sagan, who has just come in.
As has Secretary Peyser.


Sagan: we're delighted you're all here, looking forward to hearing from many of you
Board introductions
Sagan: very important meeting for us, take our responsibility to children, to taxpayers seriously
Board's authority to create Level 5
districts not fulfilling their responsibility to children
interested in your views on the Commissioner's recommendations
"what you think work and doesn't work here"
"what you think are ways to improve results, which I think you'll agree, are very disappointing"
"a great deal of time and attention go into this. We don't take it lightly."
four people at a time called forward, with those they're required to hear from called in preference
"generally not our time to interrogate you..." but if they do, won't come from your time
have a translator available in Spanish

Chester: thank parents, citizens, staff from district, elected officials for being here and giving us your feedback
have recommended that "we do vote to take receivership"
"recommendation of last resort"
"won't retrace history of Southbridge...was identified a dozen years ago as underperforming"
"despite all that effort, we're looking at a school district where there is some strong performance, but it's the exception"
cites high rate of leadership turnover
if Board votes to take receivership, we will "move very quickly and expeditiously to appoint a receiver"
local stakeholder group to inform a turnaround plan
"assume that staff is hardworking staff, assume that there are strong teachers and strong administrators"
"want to build on strong assests in this community"
welcome those who want to be involved in turnaround
urge those in community to look at an incredible chance for kids in this community


interim superintendent of two and a half months:
appreciate your coming to us to talk about our children
visits classrooms every day
lot of positive things going on every day, but welcome help
"this may be the silver lining"
"this is a community that works together on behalf of our youngsters"
"we're here to work with you" whatever way the Commissioner goes

Scott Lazo, current Board chair
"it's all about the kids, it's all about striving to excellence"
in 2012 that took a turn: five superintendents in four years
middle/high put under one principal "which created the revolving door"
"we need your help"
"is takeover the answer? I'm not sure"
"we're looking at all the mistakes of the past, and I think what we have to do is move forward"
"we need help, we do need help, there's no doubt about it"
school committee and governance here "just waiting to straighten it out"

Joan Sullivan, first grade teacher, president of the teachers' union
members of SEA are "vital to the success of any state plans to improve our district"
advocate for students to receive resources they need
comprehensive education
educators want to share their expertise to assist their district
"stands united in creating the schools our children deserve"
district has only one social worker
"please hear us"

chair of town council, 'though not speaking as chair
"crucial point in our history"
"a decision needs to be made...whatever decision this Board of Education makes is a decision our community has to support"
"unfortunately we have not been participants in the process"
urges parents to speak their minds
"today as a community we have a voice"
"we will support whatever decision comes forth"

Southbridge town manager: thanks interim superintendent
Commissioner has recommended that Board designate Level 5 district
speak for many "they do not care about politics...want to know what we need to do now to move forward and provide a quality education"
"the district has seen widespread turnover"
he's now reading parts of DESE's report
You've asked for our vision for the district: long term leadership, strong staffing"school committee that strictly deals with policy and stays out of day-to-day operations"
parental engagement, students willing to work hard

Resident of Southbridge and parent of a Southbridge student
"my son needed to help, he was violated in the first week"
went to district for help and was offered school choice
say that you want community to come together"...and yet you're pushing people away when they need help"
think principals cover up for teachers
"I feel like a hopeless mom who can't protect child"
"think school system should not work on covering up for their teachers but to help teachers and parents communicate"
"we definitely need this takeover"

longtime Southbridge resident, current school committee member
"it may very well take a generation to restore students to pre-2004 numbers"
should not allow it to be an excuse for continued student failure
since 2012, "district has spiraled out of control"
decision has been made
"unfortunate it has to take place in such a far away place as the city of Boston"
plans to serve out term

ninth grade English teacher
tenth year in Southbridge Public Schools
"I have some of the best students in the world"
chose to loop with them
"students come with a range of abilities and challenges, challenges far beyond my abilities as a professional to solve"
"have to acknowledge and help us to solve the needs of the students"
urge you to not just listen to the voices to the teachers and the educational assistants, "but please hear us"

Student of Southbridge High school
teachers and staff have been great though "maybe we do need the help"
"coming to a point where they've gotten the things they need to do...but it comes to a point: the staff do great"

education assistant at middle/high school: why you shouldn't put district into receivership
"finally have a school committee that has a focused direction"
"working towards solving problems on their own"
"cleaning up the house that was left them"

associate principal of middle/high school
"have seen firsthand what instability can do to students and to those who help them learn and grow"
wanted to help lead the change at the middle school
have high expectations "and they can succeed"
cannot hold staff or students to expectations that you have not modeled for them
"until a child is available to learn, teaching means nothing"
across the board plan, PBIS...
"the one thing we haven't had is time"
need stability in central office to support these initatives
work towards the same goal "to provide all students with a high quality education, because that is what they deserve"

city councilor: representing the 42% of the community that is Hispanic
big night for my community, big opportunity

parent of daughter in middle high school
"this doesn't happen...we don't ever have a full room EVER"
"we don't have enough textbooks for all of the students...we don't have enough teachers...we don't have enough support"
"blemish for them to have to discipline a child"
son chose to go to a vocational school "students thought he carried a knife, because he was from Southbridge"
if it's been a problem for so long "why would it take the state twelve years to step in?"
"it took twelve years for it to get as bad as it did"
"I heard someone say earlier 'we can't go any lower,' and that is the saddest statement of all, because those are our children."

math teacher hired two months ago, native of Panama
see future doctors and others in her classroom
"need similar role models who speak their native language, Spanish"
here and will continue to do whatever it takes

resident went to meeting several months ago
only one to acknowledge that the kids were suffering
"welcome you to take over the town"
always been a roller coaster
"if you had any idea of the bullying that goes on behind closed doors"
"lots of things that go on with the forgotten children, the special education students"
"why should we have to fight our school system?"
"the Southbridge model is 'if you speak up in public, we'll call DSF on you.'"
"yesterday is gone, today is the present, you're giving us a gift"
"and the future is our gift"

lifetime resident: "my feeling is you've made up your mind up on what the vote is going to be"
new school committee; "things obviously didn't work out" ("PTA moms")
now have the committee back from before
"the PTA mothers threw everything out"
"with you guys coming in, you can get rid of a lot of the deadwood teachers"
"there's a lot of good things with you guys taking over"
"but you haven't exactly done a good job in Holyoke and Lawrence, either"
"but we need a little more time without everyone being scared"

Sagan: "Board has not reached a conclusion or fully debated it"
asks Chester to comment on teachers being fired
Chester: "we have exercised receivership twice...in neither situation did we believe it was wise to require the faculty to reapply for their positions"
"don't have an intention of doing so here; either"
Believe there are strong teachers: "build on what you do to turn this district around"
"welcome you to be part of that turnaround process"

parent of five boys in Southbridge, has lived here 17 years
should give new school committee a chance
"they're working so hard, should give them another chance to prove themselves"
kids misbehaving in class, making other kids not focus
"not giving teacher enough to make the strong decision" to resolve the problems
some kids should be put in a separate class, maybe, because they're affecting other kids

"I graduated from this school in 1968 and I did okay"
came back and did cable access
"I filmed those twelve years...and you can see how beautiful those kids were for those twelve years"
could make better use of the educational access channel
"that's been a missed opportunity"
"I never said no to the town, and I never said no to the school"
"and then adminstration changed, and all that went away again"
"hope to God there is a place for this school committee" in the receivership

parent from North Carolina
"love Southbridge, I love the potential"
"so many parents I've met, they're amazing"
so diverse, kids from everywhere, "we're not tapping into it"
"we're not tapping into that"
"I believe in Southbridge"
"my son's about to be a sixth grader, and I'll be honest, the only thing I'm considering, everyone says 'oh, school choice' But why would I want to help anyone else's community?"
"I don't care about the politics"
I want my son to get a scholarship
"I'm working him, but someone is failing him"

retired teacher, Latina
"welcome you, anything you can do for us, I hope it is in the best interest of our students"
if our three elementary schools are Level 3, why are we Level 5?
Why fix what is not broken?
need for cultural awareness, special ed teachers, support staff
need for public transporation: will you look at moving after school programs for parents and students?
need for parental involvement
vocational component to high school

teacher, vice-president of union, parent
"how we move forward from this point on"
"well aware of challenges we face...what is often missed in the list...is that the teachers have been harmed greatly by what's been happening over the last ten or fifteen years"
"lived with lack of vision, and when we have had vision, it's changed in about two months"
"we've been rowing very, very hard, but without any direction"
"We certainly don't need a plan that turns over staff; we do that very well ourself"
"we're willing to do the hard work"
"don't give us a receiver that will try to fix things from the top down"
"what we need are teachers and principals working together with support from up above"


parent of twin ten year olds
one on an IEP: have had to continuously since September about implementing his IEP
19 accommodations and only 3 were met
other son is in honors
"I as a parent had to go in there and insist"
"if you can do better than what my child has received, then go ahead and take it over"

RECESS

"I got here because I'm in the education program in Nichols...when asked which schools should we go observe at...they said any school but Southbridge"
seventh grade math teacher, have been here since five days after graduation
has implemented after school programs
points out that he's a "gringo" and shouldn't be the only mentor for Latino program
"we cannot see this as abnormal"
"we need teachers who go above and beyond"
message sent by putting that new school over there
"we have to put that trust back...you put your children's lives in our hands every day"
"our children are human beings and not statistics on a paper"

parent of a first grader: "to see my little six year old say that he wanted to drop out every day...that's ridiculous"
his homework was in his folder for two weeks; teacher didn't check
was supposed to see the guidance counselor every week: he's seen her twice
support system needs to be better
"I refuse to medicate my son because a teacher refuses to do her job properly"
"all my son's friends' mom have said "don't send him there, it's terrible"

Southbridge resident
"it's my opinion is that Southbridge doesn't have the resources to take on special programs" to educate its students
"very expensive, very expensive to administer"
"Southbridge doesn't have the resources"
Southbridge, FYI, pays for 28.72% of their foundation budget; the remainder is state funded, as they're a low aggregate wealth district
will there be more resources?

principal of high school: ready to embrace our accelerated improvement plan
ready to move forward, with or without receivership
"want to applaud the staff that is here today and the staff that comes in every day"

teacher has worked for 29 years in Southbridge
seen constant change "without anyone waiting long enough to see if it would work"
cannot control leadership
cannot control needs of students in our classroom
"challenges of working in our district are great"
"have chosen to stay and to teach the children of Southbridge"

librarian: reorganization of school district means reorganization of library without needed materials for students
worked to get library back to Mass library system

citizen of Southbridge, graduated in 1975
have been a sub several different times
"lack of comprehensive message and understanding between the higher levels, like the superintendent, and the people teaching every day. And the students sense that. The kids do know what is going on around them."
"would be nice for those of us who don't have friends in the system to find out what's going on"

resident of Southbridge 51 years; dropped out in 1979
"it doesn't go 12 years back; it goes way back"
"when I dropped out, I couldn't even read"
the teachers try, they love their students, I know that
"everything has to stop: the bullying, the fighting...my daughter's being bullied now"
"I'm tired. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm tired."

graduate, class of 2015
"don't take us over and run us over"
"Some are here and aren't speaking, but I am"
Pioneer pride: see school differently by visiting school
"I do plead that you don't take over"
"your help is all we need"

class of 2006, teach communication media at the middle/high school
"I work here because I want to help Southbridge; I want to do it for my town."
was here and was told that we'd have trouble getting into college because of the level of our district
"I really am here to prevent our school from going any lower."
don't destroy tradition
not the only thing that's important: ELL support, an alternative program
making videos "I thought doing things like that would make a difference"
think your quarterly reports have been light on the negativity than your most recent report
"Don't destroy the Southbridge Pioneers."

teacher in Worcester, speaking for Southbridge educators
sees that those in Worcester"have better leadership, better support, better chances for community involvement"
in favor of receivership: teachers need resources, support during this time of transition

parent had an encounter with a previous Southbridge superintendent told that "boys were stupid"
youngest son is in the honors class, NJHS
hear a lot of the special needs students
wonders why her son doesn't have homework
many teachers afraid to do anything because parents will not support them
"they're great teachers, and I have no problem with them teaching in the way they are with my son"

parent had to transfer daughter in 2013 due to issues with her at high school
"She used to cry every single day when she was at the high school"
since she's at Shepherd Hill,she's flourishing
"what I want to see in Southbridge in the public schools"
hope that we can make a change
"change can be good"
"can be done in a school system"

parent and IA in district
teachers always met all my expectations
"if we had more RTI teachers"
hard to get everyone where they could be on their levels
teachers who teach specials, they do a great job, need someone with them to accomodate what these specials have to offer
really concerned at middle school
"how am I getting [my daughter] ready for college?"
guidance counselor "could only deal with the students that were failing"
have parents on same level as students; sending homework to parents who can't support students
"many parents who want to be but don't know how"

ELL teacher one ELL IRF teacher in district
need ELL director desperately
bilingual in Spanish, have been here 23 years "because I choose to be"
time to spend with our lowest proficiency students last year
need more certified reading teachers, more ELL teachers, need more time with special ed teachers for ELL students
need more staffing, need more people
"dedication and the love of our students is here"

graduate of Southbridge 1991
two kids in school: concerned with son going into middle school next year
looking at school choice, versus keeping student in town
teachers have no resources
"As a taxpayer and a resident of this town and I demand that this school district needs help"
"If you're offering help, we'll take it"

works in finance office under business manager
worked here in 2009, have had five business director
"We need a huge, huge change in the business office"
"The budget is totally out of control, which we all know."
dropping an ELL director is totally beyond my comprehension
"a lot of our staff have been hired because of WHO THEY KNOW and not because they're qualified"
"more textbooks, less wrestling"


product of the Worcester public schools "and I feel that I had a better education than my children are going to have here"
warns that district should stop fighting Sturbridge charter school
"you'd best believe I have an application in there"
Son wants to be pushed, wants to excel
"half tempted to go back to Worcester. I know it's the same level, but from my experience, they're trying"

2002 graduate of Southbridge High
very excited to go off to college
have four children, three on IEPs
learned to become an advocate for my children
considering removing daughter going from kindergarten to first grade, and consdiering leaving the disrict
"I want my kids to say that they're from Southbridge and they're proud to be from Southbridge. Pioneer Pride is a really thing. I want my kids to have the same pride that I did in my school."

Brent Abrahamsob, was school committee member until June, when he resigned 
"Southbridge once known as 'Honest town.' That's been compromised tonight."
when I resigned interim superintendent was nearly in place, plan for search also in place 
Town Council interfered, resulting mob
Council said that school was in a "death spiral"
School Committee punished for submitting a needs based budget
done not to benefit students but to protest a individuals' lack of improvement
bringing back to School Committee some of those who'd been a problem
displaying same hubris as before
"the turmoil this present school committee has caused since July 1, 2015 is virtually unprecedented"
"yet another lost year for the Southbridge public schools"
"I implore you to take control of the Southbridge public school districts not on February 23, but tomorrow"
little sympathy for voters of Southbridge as those chose current school committee
children don't deserve to be on losing side

Sagan; "I have to say that this is an unusual meeting for us...I don't know what else to say."

RECESS til tomorrow's meeting

Family and Community Academy report

...is the report of the Superintendent tonight. You can find the presentation here.
Boone: how we more closely involve parents and families in schools
Cary: "began several years ago as a result of work with several organizations in the city"
the more families are involved, the more parents are involved in their children's education, the more successful the children are
has increased in success and participation
began to be "branded" in the community as a recognizable name
participation of WPS as part of effort starting last year
support parents and families "in developing the skills and confidence for lifelong learning and active engagement in the development of the whole child"
Rojas: meaningful ways that parents can participate in their children's education
building relationships among parents--schools--community providers
Four areas: advocacy, learning, child development, culture & community
offering "Academy Credits" for completing workshops

• a core certificate is for 15 credits across two areas
• a leadership certificate is form 25 credits across all 4 areas (5 in each catagory, plus 5 in another area of interest)

"to develop a cadre of parent leadership to support their child, support their school, and support their district"
Developing a course catalog of learning: putting together those offered by various other parents
more organized way of disseminating information
website being developed (not up yet)
will reflect from parent input on process
Boone: trying to develop a family academy, community academy that has some real takeaways for parents

Monfredo: how are the parents invited?
Cary: targeted mailing list from each community group, CPPAC, Connect-Ed from WPS
meet at various times, last week's training on MASC site councils
"courses on the go" for training on the go
Rojas: community partners have been doing this work for years
Biancheria: comfort zone for people to attend, acknowledgement that they're learning while in the program beneficial to students as well as parents
asks that those who complete things be acknowledged by School Committee
O'Connell: growth of year to year, addressed in a series of logical ways
"as you continue to succeed, parents working with their schools...for the benefit of education"
"nurture it, support it, and encourage it"
CPPAC needs and welcomes new members
site council parity (of parent participation)

Parents literally giving their blood for higher test scores for their children

From the "you can't make this stuff up" file, here's China:

In July, Pujiang county in Zhejiang province announced a program allowing children of parents who gave blood to get extra points on their high school entrance exams. Under the program, local children of “gold medal” donors offering 8,000 milliliters would be granted an extra three points, while children of “silver medal” donors and “bronze medal” donors who gave comparatively less blood could be given an additional two and one points, respectively.

The Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, October 2

The Worcester School Committee has a regularly scheduled meeting this Thursday, October 2, at 7 pm. You can find the agenda here.

In addition to our regular approval of the public session minutes of the previous meeting, you'll see we're approving (and releasing) the minutes of six executive sessions. In each case, the reason for it being an executive session has expired. Kudos to Dr. Friel to getting these out! Score one for open government!

We're recognizing the donations from two groups who have helped to start our students' school year off well: Cradles to Crayons and Reliant Medical Group.
We also have a new section, giving our student representative a chance to speak.
The report of the Superintendent is on the Family and Community Academy.
Colleen O'Brien has retired and we have several new appointments.
We'll be hearing from Jen Carey on Friday's "Worcester: the City That Reads" event (more on that to come!)
Mr. O'Connell is bringing in a document on travel abroad for consideration.
He's also concerned about gym floors, Constitution Day, and AP Mandarin Chinese.
We are being asked to accept a donation for the special education department in memory of Paul Piuze, who was a special ed bus monitor. His family asked that donations in his memory be made to the special ed department.
We have several requests for recognitions.
Miss Biancheria would like the job description for the position of principal of Worcester Technical High School.
She'd also like a report on raising MCAS scores and a description of college nights at high schools.

We'll also at 6, be having an executive session for an update on our negotiations with nurses.

Site Council training!

Under the Ed Reform Act of 1993 (chapter 71, section 59C), every public school in the Commonwealth is to have a school council, which:

 shall meet regularly and shall assist in the identification of the educational needs of the students attending the school, make recommendations to the principal for the development, implementation and assessment of the curriculum accommodation plan required pursuant to section 38Q 1/2, shall assist in the review of the annual school budget and in the formulation of a school improvement plan, as provided below.

If you're on a school/site council, are interested in being on one, or just want to know how all of this works, CPPAC and the Worcester Educational Collaborative is bringing in the Mass Association of School Committees for a training session:

May 6th 6pm-8pm

Fuller Conference Center

Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences 

Space is limited. 

Please register April 28th by calling Margaret LeRoux at 508-757-5631 ext.222 

or by e-mail at mleroux@wecollaborative.org
A light supper will be served. 

This BPS bake sale press release is a thing of beauty

...so I will run it here in its entirety; the bake sale raised $1250. And props to both Superintendent McDonough and BPS CFO Don Kennedy for showing up!

*Parents Organize $61 Million Bake Sale To Take Place at City Hall Plaza on April 8th, 4-6pm to Bridge FY14-15 Boston Public Schools Deficit*

*Group hopes to raise $508,333 per minute to offset devastating Boston Public School budget cuts*

March 31, 2014.

After spending the last six weeks trying - and failing - to find the Boston school system's secret money vault, parents have now arrived upon a Plan B to help address the daunting $61M deficit facing the Boston Public Schools (BPS).On Monday, BPS parents from dozens of schools from all across Boston announced that they will deploy a tool that has served them well in past attempts to mitigate education cuts: a bake sale.

*The Bake Sale to raise $61M will be held on City Hall Plaza Tuesday, April 8th, from 4-6 pm*. The tens of millions of dollars projected to be raised during the two-hour event will be donated to Boston Public Schools.

"Plan B will work," explained Karen Oil, a parent from the Young Achievers school in Mattapan. "BPS parents will draw on our years of experience selling cupcakes and muffins in bake sales to help the Mayor and the Legislature close the huge deficit caused by the loss of federal and state funding, cost increases, and enrollment miscalculations."

"Our small school faces dire instructional losses, as well as deep cuts to our essential support programs," Roxbury resident and Mendell School parent Ellen Pierce noted. "When good, successful schools like ours, and many others, become neglected, it's the kids in those schools who suffer the consequences." Pierce continued, "There are many things parents have come to appreciate about the BPS in recent years, and it's such a shame that so much good work will be undone by these cuts. So we thought we'd help. We think we can sell enough cupcakes to help close that $61M gap. And muffins as well!"

"We are so happy city, state, and federal politicians are searching for the money right now - looking under sofa cushions and pointing to one another,hoping someone didn't leave it in their car," said Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, a parent at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain which is losing 13.5 positions. "Unfortunately, they haven't found it all yet. State officials, for example, have managed to find only 63 percent of the charter school reimbursements they owe the Commonwealth's public school kids. Some have offered to check their lunch boxes to see if they have more Chapter 70 aid and Circuit Breaker funding too."

"Next year, state funding will only account for 11 percent of BPS' total budget (down from 31 percent in FY99). So together with federal losses, cost increases, and the BPS' enrollment miscalculations from last year (and despite the Mayor's 4 percent increase), we have a huge deficit," added Oil. "We all care deeply about the great schools that 75 percent of all Boston children attend today. And so we thought we would help find some money too."

The Curley, Mendell, Philbrick, Young Achievers, Lyndon, Roosevelt, Bates, BTU School, Mary Lyon, Hurley, Roger Clap, Winship, and Irving, are among some of the 63 schools that, on paper, face large cuts next year. When cost increases, as well as federal and state cuts, are factored in, that figure is likely closer to 90 schools. "So we thought we'd help the City and the Commonwealth out by selling $61M worth of cupcakes. That's a lot  of cupcakes to sell, but we think we can do it," added Berents-Weeramuni. "Muffins too. I mean who doesn't like muffins, right?"

Did we mention we'll have muffins?

After BPS parents raise the necessary $61M this coming Tuesday, April 8th from 4-6 pm on City Hall Plaza, they plan to head into City Hall itself to view the BPS Student Art Show, which runs until 7:30 pm. "The art show is just one example of the amazing things that happen at Boston Public Schools every day," said Pierce. "At the end of the day, that's what it is all about."

Three things to read this weekend

• This column, by Clare Higgins, former Northampton mayor, on the conflict in charter schools and their funding.
• This article from Salon, on the underserving of marginalized kids by charter schools, with this great quote by NYCLU:  “All kids have a right to an education, not just the ones who are easy.”
• This column from the New York Times, with probably the most insightful view on parental opt out of standardized testing that I've read yet. 

And one more! 

• This article from Holy Cross professor Jack Schneider on how public schools' main issue may be that of branding. 

FY15 Don't Panic: Organize

Okay, folks: it's budget season, and, for the Worcester Public Schools, it isn't going to be pretty.

Let's start with a few slides from the FY15 presentation that spell out pretty much all you need to know.
(These are just screenshots from Mr. Allen's presentation, which is here. You can click to make them bigger.)

First, the projected change in the money coming in:

So, all told? We're looking at a DROP in funding from last year.

But, not surprisingly, our costs aren't going to go down. Here's the increase in cost to just open the doors, with no change in service, next year:

(that's right in line with previous years; it's usually about $11 million)

The thing is, though, we can't just reopen the doors next year with no change. We have more kids in particular areas, we have curriculum needs and changes...

...and we have other things that we really ought to be doing that we aren't...

Those three slides together: 

and if you do the math:

Now, we can, and undoubtedly will, debate the relative merits of some of the above; OPEB, for example, doesn't count towards Net School Spending, and thus is probably not a good choice for a system below that already. Maybe we need to postpone some decisions and purchases.

Most of the above, however, is not really debatable. We have 25,000 students who are going to turn up next August, and we have to have teachers there with the lights on and computers working and supplies to use with buses to get them back and forth. 

The money for the Worcester Public Schools only comes from two places: the state, which funds (for next year) a projected 73% of our general fund budget, and the city, which funds the remaining 27%. The projected lacks of the revenue for this coming year is due to both sources: on the state side, Chapter 70 not going up by much, and on the city side, the continued funding at or below Net School Spending.

I keep using the word "projected," though, because neither the state nor the city has passed their budgets yet, so we don't actually know what those numbers are going to be at the end of the day. And the people who ultimately make both of those decisions are people who are elected by us and work for us.

Thus it is time:

• to start writing emails and making phone calls
• to show up for meetings
• to waylay elected officials as you see them
• to get the word out to parents and education advocates so they do likewise

On the state side, right now the House Ways and Means committee is developing their budget. They don't do that in a locked box; they hear from members constantly as they do so. Thus contacting Representatives Mahoney, O'Day, Keefe, Donahue, and Binienda right now is a good idea. Once that Ways and Means budget comes out, amendments and passage are quick, so you want to get to them now. 

Once the House does their budget, it will the Senate's turn, so starting to get in touch with Senators Chandler and Moore is also a good idea, and it isn't too early to do so.

Mr. Monfredo gave a good rundown on state budget issues when he spoke to this at our Thursday meeting; I would focus on increasing Chapter 70, fully funding the circuit breaker, and fully funding the charter reimbursement in advocating now. While fully funding preschool is a great idea, it doesn't make any difference to our budget for FY15.

(Longer term, we also need them to look at the foundation budget, but that won't help us this year.)

The other piece of our budget comes from the city, and the city, of course, has significantly greater discretion when determining how much to spend on schools. Worcester--finally--passed a budget that was at our foundation budget last year, but, because it was only AT foundation, we slipped below it over the course of the year. We've been warned directly by the state against doing this, and yet it persists.
It's time to stop.
The statewide average for funding schools is about 18% over foundation. Worcester is in the bottom 2% of school funding when it comes to cityside funding over foundation.
Worcester can, and should, do better.
In Worcester, the City Manager recommends a budget to the City Council; the City Council can cut that budget but--and this is important--they CANNOT ADD TO IT. Thus, if there is going to be a budgetary recommendation that is anything other than "we hit foundation," it needs to be in the budget that's recommended.
Much like the House Ways and Means, the City Manager and his administration aren't in a locked box while they develop the budget, which they are doing now. City Councilors advocate for priorities.
Let's make one of them schools.
There's a link to the right with the contact information for City Councilors. They need to hear from the community, loud and clear, that schools need money to back up the assertion that they are a priority for this community. Saying it doesn't make it so.
If you are free, I'd also urge you to come to the Joint Committee meeting on March 10 at 5:30 at the Durkin Administration Building. The School Committee Finance & Operations subcommittee will be discussing the FY15 budget with the City Council Education Committee. 

This is a budget gap that isn't going to magically disappear by June. It's going to take a community outcry to close it in any way that doesn't do harm to our kids' education.
Time to organize.