Supports coming for Worcester schools

 Let me start by saying that this is not even close to a complete post! I'm trying to pull together a few different strings of things here.

• You may have seen the reporting that the Worcester Public Schools are looking for outside counseling services at 15 schools. Clearly, someone is keeping an eye on the city's bid list, which is smart! Here's the one in question. This, of course, is part of the much larger work that's now going on in the district in both meeting and working to more comprehensively and sustainably meet student mental health needs; you might have read Dr. Marie Morse talking about that in Worcester Business Journal. There's going to be long-term planning rolling forward, too.
  Some of that also is in the reworking of administration positions we discussed at our last Worcester School Committee meeting. That link goes to the reworked org chart; in that, you'll see (towards the right) that the (new, to be filled) Positive Youth Development position is over both (current)  social-emotional learning and nursing under the (new, to be filled) Chief Academic Support Officer. 
  All of this is first of all acknowledging that this is work that the district needs to be doing. That itself is a refreshing change, as you might remember we spent all of last year having that reality denied by district leadership, even as students, staff, and parents noted the need. If we're going to do this right--and that's something that current leadership, thank goodness, is committed to--that means both that it isn't just internal work--thus the bid--but coordinating with outside work. It also means actually coordinating internal work, and that, frankly, just hasn't been happening. At some point I need to write a whole thing on why we need good administrators and how things fall apart without them...oh for world enough and time. 
  
  
• Also at our last meeting, we approved two position descriptions: one for a Dean of Students, one for School Culture and Climate Assistant. The School Committee, remember, approves new position descriptions; we only hire directly a handful of people. 
  These positions are a) pilots; b) not uncommon in other districts; c) school personnel (they're assigned to a school and in a school building). 
  As we moved to no longer have police in the secondary schools, one concern raised was "what are you going to do now that the police are out of the buildings?" The reflection was that, in some cases, the school resource officers might have had interactions with students during the school day that would now be removed, and that some of those interactions were contributing to a positive climate. I'm not going to argue about this here; I know what the data says overall about this, and also, Worcester's experience has varied on this widely. This is part of the response to that concern.
  The Dean position is an assistant principal level position. This also fills in a gap from my perspective that dates back to 2011: when we pushed teacher evaluation into something much more time-consuming, we took some of the time away from assistant principals, and I don't think that we did much to fill the spaces that left. Having a position that specifically is designated for student interaction at the school level is something I'm interested in seeing tried out. This pilot is at North High.
  The School Climate and Culture Assistants are staff that are in the hallways, in the lunchroom, around students; they're paraprofessional level positions. For the pilot, we're adding five of these: three at North, two at Sullivan Middle. Again, those are positions that are directly working with students.
  
  
• For those who have been ongoingly concerned about things like student discipline and restorative justice practices--you can't just drop those things in!--I also want to note how the Positive Youth Development position is described:The ideal candidate will demonstrate knowledge of • Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports • Trauma-Informed Practices • Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice • Educational Neuroscience
  The position quite specifically is focusing on this question, which also means it isn't simply being added as "a thing to do," but is specifically somebody's job. 

And since we've already voted the above, let me add this: the work that goes on in classrooms has always needed structural support to go well. The crush around schools right now makes that even more important. This is the kind of attention to that which allows teachers to actually connect with students and gives students the support and the environment to learn.
It's very much a work in progress, but it IS a work in progress, which itself is progress!

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday

And the agenda is here, as a PDF with hyperlinks? I think this is new.
Finance and Operations will be reporting out from their Monday meeting.
The report of the Superintendent is an update on the strategic plan (no backup as yet).

There is a response on interactions with homeschooling families (the link doesn't work; it's page 28): of 158 plans in 98 families, the adminstration reports that 96 were approved within the first week, 26 within the second week, 19 before 20 days, and 17 required more than that. The report states that the 17 were all incomplete upon submission, missing "evidence of progress." They state that only 2 plans are missing. The report says a "recent court ruling supported the WPS standards for evidence" though the case is not cited by name nor is it included.

There is a list of Chapter 74 programs and the number of students enrolled, as well as the after school and evening programs and enrollment.

Mr. Monfredo and Miss Biancheria are proposing support for the Baker-Polito effort to reduce domestic and sexual violence among young people.

Mr. Foley and others note Mr. Hennessey's award of 2019 Administrator of the Year from School Bus Fleet.

There is a proposal to update policies - JB – Equal Educational Opportunities; ‑ JFABD - Homeless Students: Enrollment Rights And Services; ‑ JFABE - Educational Opportunities For Military Children; ‑ JFABF - Educational Opportunities For Children In Foster Care (it's language tweaking).

There are eleven pages of outstanding administrative items that the administration is suggesting be filed as the term comes to a close.

There is a request that the following donations be accepted:

• $400.00 from a donor to Claremont Academy to be used as a scholarship for Latino female of Latina who plans to attend college.
• $84.60 from Box Tops for Education to Canterbury Street Magnet Computer-Based School
• $225.00 from the Digital Federal Credit Union to McGrath Elementary School
• $500.00 from the District Attorney's Community Reinvestment and Crime Prevention Program to Forest Grove Middle School to assist with their bullying campaign

There is a request for information about the new vocational tracks at Doherty (which the Committee has already voted in favor of).

There is a request (without backup) to approve a prior fiscal year payment for $308.79 to Airgas ("industrial, medical, and specialty gases").

Then there are a slew of items from Mr. Comparetto:

• Request that the Mayor consider alternative methods to electing and appointing School Committee members that includes, but is not limited to, district School Committee seats. 
• Request that the Mayor and School Committee establish Worcester Public Schools’ Safe Zones.
• Request that the Superintendent present an annual report on the status of education for Latino students.
• Request that the Administration incorporate best practices for creating a diverse workforce.
• Request that the Administration provide an update on current restorative justice practices.
• Request a moratorium on suspending K-2 students for non-violent offenses.
• Request an "equity audit" of the Worcester Public Schools in accordance to best practices.
• Request that the Administration provide an update on the efforts of the Administration to create ethnic studies programming

Miss Biancheria wants an update on the South High building project (shouldn't this be a standing item in a subcommittee somewhere?) and an update on recess (which I think Ms. McCullough has an outstanding item on already).

And there is another prior fiscal year payment in the amount of $1,484.10 to Johnson Controls Fire Protection LP for services performed at Burncoat High School (fire supression?).

And there is an executive session: for arbitration with the Mass Nurses Association; for litigation with the Estate of Suzanne F. Miville; and for collective bargaining with the computer technicians.

Yes, I am planning on being there and blogging.

The rest of Worcester meetings this week

Note that the Worcester Public Schools' (bottom line) budget is before the Worcester City Council on Tuesday, May 30, at 4 pm.

The School Committee begins meeting in budget session on Thursday, June 1 at 4 pm, with an executive session at 6 pm, and a regular meeting at 7 pm. The agenda for all of that is here.

In addition to recognitions and the major request for an appointment I posted below, the School Committee is hearing a report on professional development, which largely seems to be focused on the curriculum liaisons, including at least one "to be appointment" for "college and career readiness." OCPL is apparently "Office of Curriculum and Professional Learning."

The reports out from the meeting of and budget hearing by Finance and Operations are on the agenda. As always, the hearing on the budget is being reported out after the first School Committee budget session. 

The restorative justice programs at Claremont and at North are back on the agenda (?).

The School Committee is being asked to approve a prior fiscal year payment of $1685; to accept a grant from "Project Lead the Way" at Doherty, which appears to involve classes at WPI, for $26,250, and for Worcester Tech for $15,000; to accept a grant from Lowe's for $3810 for Burncoat High; to approve a prior fiscal year payment for Education, Inc. for home tutoring services for $8,902.50; to accept a donation for Worcester Tech of $435;

Miss Biancheria is asking for monthly incident reports and for the cost and locations of graduations. She also is requesting more information about the changes in staffing around the Central Mass Collaborative.

Miss Colorio is suggesting that recognitions be consolidated to once a month.

The Administration is asking that the admission policy of Worcester Tech (largely regarding legal changes, per the notice).

The executive session is for the teachers' contract, for an HVAC worker's grievance, for worker's compensation for a teacher, and for non-represented employees, both administration and not (as they don't have a union negotiating, they haven't come through on new contracts. This probably is whatever the administration is proposing in cost of living increases.)


Also, check the front page of the website: LOTS of graduations this week! 

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, May 18

You can find the agenda here.
While it does not appear until later down the agenda, in honor of the anniversary of Ernest Thayer's death, the Worcester School Committee will be doing a reading of "Casey at the Bat" as part of the meeting.
There are also a number of congratulations.

The report of the superintendent is end of cycle reports on the innovation plans of Chandler Magnet, Goddard Scholars, University Park Campus School, Woodland Academy, and Worcester Tech. Each of the schools is requesting a renewal of their innovation plans; remarkably, all that is being offered to the committee for this decision is 2 to 4 page charts. Most schools are requesting no change in their innovation plan. The one change that is being requested is from Goddard Scholars, which is asking to eliminate the "proficient" tier for the 4th grade MCAS, which is the sole determent of admission. They would thus be taking only "advanced" students. Interesting in that it more concretely sets the academy's emphasis on test scores, and does so in a year in which testing is through a new system. 

There are updates on restorative justice programs at Claremont Academy and at North High School.

The committee is being asked to accept an "Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education Grant" for $51,602, which surprisingly is actually for machine shop training (with an ESL component).

Mr. Monfredo is requesting a summer reading kickoff.

The committee is being asked to accept a number of donations to Tatnuck Magnet, to Woodland Academy, to Burncoat Street Prep, to Worcester Tech, to Canterbury Street, to Belmont Street, and to the administration (?) for the opening of school in 2017. They're also being asked to vote a prior year payment of $1,685.00 to WB Mason.

There is also an executive session on teachers' contract negotiations, a worker's comp case, and a grievance.

No liveblog; I'm off to cover MASBO's Annual Institute! 

Restorative justice in NH

It's worth reading this Atlantic article about restorative justice at one high school in New Hampshire. What I found most useful is the comment about what doesn't work:

Kathy Evans, an assistant professor at Eastern Mennonite University, which offers a graduate certification program in restorative justice for educators, shares Rotherham’s concerns. Restorative justice can’t exist in a vacuum, Evans said. Schools also have to address the campus-climate issues that contribute to student behavior. 

Quantifying the number of schools using restorative justice is difficult. In addition to the large-scale district programs that have been well-documented, many teachers are opting to use the model in their individual classrooms. That’s one of the reasons why a group of restorative-justice advocates and educators met last summer to begin outlining plans for a national association, according to Evans. The goal is to support grassroots efforts and to ensure that there’s both consistency and accountability for restorative-justice programs in schools. 

Evans said she observed a restorative-justice circle at a school recently in which the students were still looking to the teacher for permission to speak. That’s a red flag, she said. 

“Educators do this quick-and-dirty one-day training and they think they’re qualified to do restorative-justice work—they’re doing the best they can with what they do know,” she said. “But the circles are supposed to equalize the power and give students the right to speak. That didn’t happen.”