BACK TO SCHOOL INFORMATION!

Here we go! This just in from Superintendent Boone's office:

ALL STUDENTS – GRADES 1 - 12
STARTING DATE: August 26, 2015

CAFETERIA
The cost of the paid lunch has been increased from $1.65 to $1.75, reduced price meals will remain at $0.40. Note from me: stay tuned, however: the School Committee takes up universal free lunch and breakfast next week. 
All schools will be serving breakfast and lunch beginning on August 26, 2015.

PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS will report on August 31st, 2015 as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.
HEADSTART STUDENTS will report as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.
KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS will begin school on August 31st, 2015. The Worcester Public
Schools will be screening Kindergarten children by appointment on August 26th, August 27th and August 28th. If your child does not have an appointment for screening, contact the school your child is registered at after August 17th.

STUDENT TRANSFERS:
Elementary: Please call the Parent Information Center for additional information regarding documentation needed for student transfer:
Dr. James L. Garvey Center for Parent Information
768 Main Street
Tel: 508-799-3450
Monday – Friday: 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Middle and High School: Students transferring between Middle and High Schools: parent/guardian must go to their child’s school to request a transfer slip and to return any books and/or materials. Parent/Guardian must take the transfer slip to the new school to complete the registration. (Please see school hours)

NEW STUDENTS:
All registration for Elementary Schools, Pre-K, Kindergarten through Grade 6, will be conducted at the following location:
Dr. James L. Garvey Center for Parent Information
768 Main Street
Tel: 508-799-3450
Monday – Friday: 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Registration for middle and high school may also be conducted at the above OR at the home school. Please call the school for an appointment.
Burncoat Middle 508-799-3390 8:00 am – 12:00 pm Mon – Fri.
Claremont Academy 508-799-3077 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
Forest Grove Middle 508-799-3420 7:30 am – 2:30 pm Mon. – Fri.
Sullivan Middle 508-799-3350 8:30 am – 1:30 pm Mon. – Fri.
Worcester East Middle 508-799-3430 8:00 am – 1:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
University Park Campus 508-799-3591 8:00 am – 12:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
Burncoat High 508-799-3300 7:00 am – 1:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
 Doherty Memorial High 508-799-3270 7:30 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
North High 508-799-3370 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.
South High Community 508-799-3325 8:00 am – 2:00 pm Mon. – Fri.

I would expect bus routes to be posted next week. Questions? Send them along!

Preschool and kindergarten registration is open

Parents of preschool (4 by December 31, 2012) or kindergarten (5 by December 31, 2012) are welcome to register their children for the respective programs at the Parent Information Center at 768 Main Street in Worcester.
To register, bring proof of residency (a utility bill will do), proof of age, and vaccination record with you.
Half-day preschool is by lottery at the individual school; lotteries for slots available will be held on March 23. You have until March 16 to apply. You can find a list of which schools have preschool here.
Kindergarten is at all schools; admission to the magnet programs is according to space and lottery.

Kindergarten registration

Both kindergarten and preschool registration are now open for the Worcester Public Schools. To register your child, go to the Parent Information Center at 768 Main Street. Bring proof of child's date of birth, proof of guardian's residency, and proof of immunization and lead testing (aka: a birth certificate, a utility bill, and that blue immunization book). A child must be 5 by December 31, 2011 to enter kindergarten this fall. Preschoolers (unless there are special education needs) must be 4 by the same date.
Preschool and kindergarten parents are welcome to visit schools during regular school hours on the following weeks:

• February 14-18: South Quadrant
• February 28-March 4: North Quadrant
• March 7-11: Doherty Quadrant
• March 14-18: Burncoat Quadrant

You can find a map of the quadrants here.

Governance and Employee Issues: handbook

Student Policy Handbook

some of this is cosmetic, some of this is substantive

There's some back and forth here about registering for high school (at the Parent Information Center or high school)...

Cell phones...used? Banned? Confiscated if found?

Advanced Placement classes weight given to college classes taken for credit.

There's also some talk around who takes AP and what they have to do to get in.

There's an excused/unexcused absence question (should we make a distinction?)



Boone says we have "an issue with grading in this city...too many variations on grades...too many subjective opportunities...at an appropriate time, I will be coming back to the School Committee with some issues we're uncovering regarding grading"



Homework: grades "on whether kids know and can do something", rather than strictly attached to how they do homework (Mulqueen)

AP: course cannot be altered, "how do we move to greater numbers of students across a greater number of diverse groups...barriers are set up at courses to be completed, grades to be included..having the door opened wider to include them...PSAT assessments may include"



Mullaney: "shocked...the very notion that you would take grades out of consideration" in deciding whether a kid comes into AP...."Dr. Boone says we have a grading issue; that's the first I've heard of it...fraught with a philosophy I do not share...I care about how hard a kid works and wants to work"

Boone: "this conversation is a perfect example of the perfect example of the challenges of the standing committee format...that's not a negative statement in terms of what anyone has said...committee of the whole...we need as a governance team...we need to spend more time together in work sessions, so we all have the same backdrop of education...our sole purpose here is not to....as the African-American in this room, I do not believe in anything being given to any child because of race, ethicity or socio-economic status" Using things other than grades. PSAT as "AP potential" "broaden the language to allow other valid assessments"

(we're getting a few parents in here now)


(posting now...this is still going...)