...the interviews and the selection meeting now are.
The charter school application opens with this:
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So, a couple of things:
I think it's great we have a statute of Major Taylor downtown. I know it is crucial that kids see themselves depicted in heroic and marvelous ways through images of history and fiction and all we bring to them.
I know well that we have enormous amounts of ground to make up in who we depict as worthy of representation in public art, as well as much else.
But this, to me, is a frank demonstration of this application not being from Worcester.
You see, Worcester isn't a city of statutes; by the public art records, we have 21 statutes in Worcester.
Of those, eleven depict a human being, and of those eight depict a historic person* (and that's counting Isaiah up at Holy Cross!). The only one of those that's a woman, incidentally, is Abby Kelley Foster, and that one isn't built yet.
What we do have is growing amounts of public art that do depict Worcester, its people, including its children, in all of its variety, most notably in murals across the city.
Major Taylor is not the only such depiction in public art of an African-American in the city. Far from it.
And if you knew our city, you'd know that.
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*one of them, of course, is Christopher Columbus
Full rundown on the application over here
Something I didn't know but found out this morning:
Previous to the pandemic, Massachusetts had a law which allowed for remote participation by members of public bodies (city councilors, school committee members, etc) under particular conditions (including a quorum of the body, including the chair, being present in person) IF allowed by the local authority.
In Worcester, this was an executive branch call: it's under the purview of the City Manager. And no city manager prior to the pandemic had allowed for it.
When the pandemic hit, we had emergency STATE action, allowing for remote participation for everyone, including the actual members of the public body. This superseded any local decisions.
That provision has now been extended twice, most recently when Lieutenant Governor Polito, as acting governor, over the weekend signed another extension to the end of March, after the previous extension expired on Friday.
Because we were living in that grey area for a bit, I asked cityside if we had made any provision for remote participation for the public bodies.
In answer to my question, I received back this letter through the City Clerk's office. It contains the following:
In accordance with the regulations, the I intend this letter to serve as the chief executive officer's authorization of the practice of remote participation by members of all city bodies in the city of Worcester. I am hereby notifying the city council, school committee members and all city boards and commissions accordingly.
And thus: remote participation by members of public bodies in Worcester IS now allowed, even if the state provision expires!
Public schools are a public good that we have forged together through public conversations, elected school boards, and democratic policymaking. Within schools, we should deliberate, craft, and institute the aims we seek. Moreover, public schools are special because they impart the skills and knowledge necessary for future generations to continue to deliberate the public goods they will uphold. Public schools are places where children learn how to exchange and respond to the ideas of others as they balance their own individual needs with needs in their communities. They are places where children learn to be a public.But do read it all.
...above all, it is closed today for the same reason that much of what was built during the Great Society era now looks ugly to us: years of underfunding, disinvestment and deferred maintenance, a neglect that comes of a deeper social and political dysfunction. We have learned to tolerate decay, and ugliness.
That’s the reason Pershing Park, near the White House, is an eyesore today. And the same reason that outhouses in the National Park Service are often overflowing, and fountains all over Washington are out of service or nearly so. Demolition by neglect is now our maintenance policy, and not just when it comes to things we have made in bricks and mortar; it erodes our civic landscape, too.
