FY27 Governor's budget proposal

As I noted on Wednesday, Governor Healey has filed her proposed FY27 budget; as this is the second year of the legislative term, this is "House 2," as she files the bill with the House. 

As per usual, I'm keeping a running "account-by-account" for K-12 over here. This year, I honestly started by downloading this page from the state website and then playing with it; you might also find that useful. 

As always, dear readers, I post here for me and for you and in an entirely unofficial capacity. 

On revenue

I think the big story here is one Sam Drysdale at State House News Service caught and covered and then...no one picked up their coverage, as best as I can tell, so it is (sigh) only behind their paywall¹. 

A few notes on federal grants

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

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

Back to school week in Worcester

Worcester Public School students in grades 1-12 go back to school on Monday (plan for buses and walkers, Worcester!). You find lots of useful information on the district's back to school page, which also includes a welcome video from the superintendent and all of us on the School Committee: 

Worcester will, for the EIGHTH year in a row, have universal free lunch and breakfast. You can find menus for schools here. 

Families, note that a lot of information is shared on WooEdu, which is the student and parent portal through Infinite Campus (search your app download for "Infinite Campus" and choose either the student or parent version). You'll need a claim code shared by your school.

Also I highly recommend downloading the VersaTrans My Stop app, which is the bus tracking app. You'll need student ID and birthdate for that. 

Preschoolers and kindergarteners go back on Thursday of this week. 

If and as you have questions, please be in touch! WELCOME BACK WORCESTER! 

Eliminating school lunch fees increased participation

 ...by a lot.

Incredibly important report released last week by the Food Research and Action Center looking at participation in school breakfast and lunch programs during 2021-22, when universal coverage of lunch was still national.

As K-12 Dive (rightly) highlights, participation in school lunch programs went up 51% during that school year! 

Just feed kids, folks. It works.

Consolidated COVID-19 resources for Massachusetts schools

DESE now has a page for it.
It was also reassuring to hear questions regarding the state's possible assistance for schools come up at today's Ways and Means hearing:

During a hearing on the education components of Gov. Charlie Baker's $44.6 billion fiscal 2021 budget, House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Thomas Stanley asked state education officials if they anticipate a need for any additional funding associated with the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, or if the costs for schools to respond would "fall on the backs of the districts."
"I'm just thinking there may be a need to hire more people cleaning, and down the road, depending on how bad this gets, how many school districts are prepared to have the kids learn from home for a period of time, things like that," the Waltham Democrat said during the hearing at the Malden senior center.

For those asking about meals, I'd suggest reviewing this memo from USDA School Nutrition, which seems to suggest that feeding kids outside of school is allowed, but doing so and not requiring them to eat on-site requires a Presidential declaration of emergency?

This piece from the Atlantic looking at what prolonged closure of schools would have for consequences is a good start, and I particularly appreciate that they ran with the example of a district that doesn't have widespread internet access. We can't just move school online!

This Twitter thread from Professor Nicholas Christakis at Yale which looks at the impact of school closure on the spread of the 1918 flu is both fascinating and useful. It starts here:

Let's talk about school closures re COVID-19. It's a tough topic, scientifically and pragmatically. It's hard to estimate the benefits precisely. And closing schools can have costs, such as health care workers having to stay home, kids missing subsidized lunches, etc. 1/

— Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) March 4, 2020

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday

Let me note by the way that we've entered the biannual "city council takes up school committee items" that happens every election year; that was last week, but there are more items on this week's agenda. We're also seeing the school committee agenda flooded with items, as happens every election year. That'll get a lot of reports generated (maybe) but it doesn't get work done.

In any case, the Governance subcommittee has a meeting scheduled this week on Tuesday (it says Thursday, but I'm going to guess the date is what's right) with a number of items that...look like they belong in finance? However both a possible lunch policy and adherence to the recess policy are the agenda, which I know is of interest to many.

As a side note, having to click through means one can miss meetings; Teaching, Learning, and Student Support met on March 20. This report on Hanover Academy raises more questions than it answer. There was also a report on snow day remote learning (which looks mostly as though it is another copy of DESE's information on it).

The full Committee meets Thursday. The agenda is here. The superintendent's report is on AVID.

The mostly-online back and forth over a post by Mr. Comparetto (see the first Worcesteria item here) is being taken up by the EAW president Roger Nugent, who calls Mr. Comparetto's comment "racist."

Mr. Nugent is also requesting additional speech and language pathologists.

There are appointments and recognitions.

The same backup is coming back on online grading and has anyone yet asked about doing it in house?

Mr. O'Connell is suggesting the use of Confronting White Nationalism in Schools: A toolkit. I'll just leave that there.

Somehow we're still seeing prior year payments, this one for $60.00 to the LearnWell for in-district tutoring.


There is a request that the committee accept a donation of $5,700 from the Goddard Scholars Academy PTO for Chromebooks.

Mr. Monfredo is collecting books and suggests that administrators highlight programs in their schools during the report of the superintendent.

Miss McCullough is proposing "Adulting Days."

Oddly, Mr. Monfredo and others are suggesting now that the Committee send a letter requesting "Foundation Funding Bill that would benefit the GateWay Cities," which is odd coming from a committee that received the clear comparisons they did.

There is a request for dates and times of spring cleanups.

Mr. Comparetto is proposing: district school committee seats; mentorship opportunities; a report on teacher diversity; a grow your own teacher program; a report on One City, One Library; a report on farm-to-school programs; an internship program; a moratorium on high-stakes testing; a report on progress of the strategic plan; a request for additional budget hearings; a report on wraparound coordinators; an update on immunizations; after school and out of school programming.

Mr. O'Connell is asking for information on Stembus.org

Miss Biancheria is asking for a report on "Stand for the Silent."

And there is an executive session on a grievance, a workers comp case, possible litigation around a teacher, and Jane Doe v the Worcester Public Schools.

Senate Ways and Means budget

The Senate Ways and Means Committee released their FY18 budget today. You can find the executive summary here, along with the ability to download the rest of the budget.

A few foundation budget notes first: in the outside section, the FBRC implementation committee (for lack of a better term) is set up:

Section 5B½. (a) Annually, not later than January 15, the secretary of administration and finance shall meet with the senate and house committees on ways and means to jointly determine an implementation schedule to fulfill the recommendations filed on November 2, 2015 by the foundation budget review commission established in section 4 of chapter 70. The implementation schedule shall establish a foundation budget as defined in section 2 of said chapter 70 incorporating the categories of tuitioned-out special education rate, assumed in-school special education enrollment, low-income increment, low-income enrollment, foundation benefits, retired employee health insurance and English language learner increment; provided, however, that in the first year of the term of office of a governor who has not served in the preceding year, the parties shall determine an implementation schedule not later than January 31 of that year. In determining the implementation schedule, the secretary of administration and finance and the senate and house committees on ways and means shall hold a public hearing and receive testimony from the commissioner of elementary and secondary education and other interested parties. The schedule may be amended by agreement of the senate and house committees on ways and means in any fiscal year to reflect changes in enrollment, inflation, student populations or other factors that may affect the remaining costs in the schedule. The implementation schedule may be included in a joint resolution and placed before the members of the general court for their consideration along with proposed legislation to execute and implement the schedule. The implementation schedule shall be subject to appropriation.

That's important, because that's the part that really makes it happen. If they have to get together and publicly decide every year "here's where we are; here's where we're going," then this becomes something that we're all in on making happen.

Worcester School Committee meets Thursday

The Worcester School Committee meets Thursday. You can find the agenda here.
It appears it is time once again to honor Mr. Allen for receiving the Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officers International. 🎈
The schools receiving the EoS Breakfast awards are also being recognized (and the awards being accepted), making it appropriate that the report is on school nutrition (not yet posted, though today's announcement may well mean it's being revised! UPDATE: posted)
Not having exhausted the discussion at the subcommittee level, the committee will be discussing their concerns over wifi. Salient point:

...extensive research into the matter has not produced any solid evidence that non-ionizing radiation given off by smartphones and Wi-Fi routers is harmful to humans...

They'll be voting a delegate and an alternative to the MASC Delegate Assembly in November.
Not having acted last week, they're considering a resolution on the Foundation Budget Review Commission's findings.
And Miss Biancheria wishes to:

review the precautionary measures and safety features under the safety regulations of the bus contracts for both the Worcester Public Schools and Durham School Services.

The 7th grade science text book is up for review (That'll go to TLSS)

There is an executive session beforehand for an HVAC employee grievance (again?) and collective bargaining for teachers (still). But hey: NO PCBs!  
I'll see if I can make at least the nutrition presentation; I'll be interested to see what difference the federal change makes 

Feeding kids better food leads to better educational outcomes

In a finding which should surprise no one, but has yet to be applied anywhere outside of Margaret McKenna continuing to advocate for universal breakfast*, it turns out that feeding kids better quality food makes a difference:

Test score data from some 9,700 elementary, middle, and high schools found that contracting with a healthy meal vendor correlated with increased student performance by between .03 and .04 standard deviations—a statistically significant improvement for economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, Anderson said, adding that the size of the effect “is not huge … but it is notable.”

Not only that? It's cheaper than other options:

What’s more, he said, districts are almost getting these improvements free of charge. After tabulating the average price per meal in the vendor contracts—and estimating the cost of in-house school meals based on National School Lunch Program reimbursements—the study found that it cost about $222 per student per year to switch from in-house school-lunch preparation to a healthier lunch vendor that correlated with a rise of 0.1 standard deviations in the student’s test score.
To put that statistic into perspective, healthier meals could raise student achievement by about 4 percentile points on average.
In comparison, it cost $1,368 per year to raise a student’s test score by 0.1 standard deviations in the Tennessee STAR experiment, a project that studied the effects of class-size on student achievement in elementary school. The paper notes that established research in the field supports the need for “lower-cost policies with modest effects on student test scores [that] may generate a better return than costly policies with larger absolute effects.” 

Plus, it's FEEDING HUNGRY KIDS:

Test score data from some 9,700 elementary, middle, and high schools found that contracting with a healthy meal vendor correlated with increased student performance by between .03 and .04 standard deviations—a statistically significant improvement for economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, Anderson said, adding that the size of the effect “is not huge … but it is notable.”

The full report can be found here. LET'S START APPLYING THIS!

*Okay, that's an exaggeration. Districts and schools have been doing this. The state and the fed should be pushing it, though. 

Novick Reports: Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds conference in sum

As shared with MASC earlier today:

Earlier this week, I attended the Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds child nutrition conference, which MASC co-sponsored. The day’s schedule is here; you can also find a link to the presentations there. My liveblog of the day is here.

The morning keynote was Daniel Giusti, who you may know as a chef; he’s now working on Brigaid, which will have chefs working with and in schools in New London, CT. One of his points was the real gap that exists between the culinary world (most particularly including its training) and institutional food of all kinds. He’s clearly found the realities of school cafeterias eye-opening. It will be interesting to see where Brigaid goes.

The following presentations were on the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act and updated nutrition standards.

A few statistics I found interesting:

• Those in school meal programs consume about half of their calories in school.
• 97% of schools are meeting the new 2010 nutrition standards.
• Kids are now eating 13% more of their entrees, 16% or more vegetables and 23% more fruit at lunch.

While the HHFKA expired in September, Congress has yet to pass an update. There are concerns with the bills that have come out; see the slides for more details, though we’ve also discussed them on the [MASC] list-serv in the past. In particular, the proposed House change on Community Eligibility would remove 7000 schools that are currently in the program (and untold others that haven’t yet made it in).

The following panel was on the link between school food and school performance, though it also functioned as a reflection on what is and is not working around feeding kids. Beyond the obvious cost and delivery concerns, there was a repeated call for students to have food that is thoughtfully prepared and presented; to have enough time to sit and eat; and to have time to socialize over food. It wasn’t clear that the presenters knew where to go with that (‘though I think we do!).

I went to a session following on Springfield’s new Commissionary, which I didn’t take extensive notes on, but I’d encourage those interested to ask Springfield about. Boston City Council President Michelle Wu spoke of the importance of school food, and then I had to leave. My understanding, though, is that Boston Superintendent Tommy Chang echoed the importance of students having enough time to eat.

As always, questions welcome!

Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds conference

Not sure yet how I'll divide this one up...coming up is an update on the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act and other legislation, changes in nutrition standards, and food and the link with school performance 

New national school lunch bill

The national school lunch bill is out for markup today (it just started at 10; you can watch it here). As was correctly pointed out in this New York Times column on Sunday, the main news is that there is no additional money included in the bill. This still leaves school lunches (and breakfasts) woefully underfunded, particularly for a program on which so much depends.
The bill does:

• extend the length of time until school districts have to hit the new lower sodium levels. That requirement also must be reviewed by an outside entity by July 2019.
• lowers the percentage of grain products that must be 51% whole grain from 100% to 80% 
• provide greater flexibility (and possibly more funding?) for summer feeding programs
• establishes loan and grant programs for school kitchen modernization
• leave the fruit and vegetable requirements intact. 

Costs per breakfast over time

Interesting chart from USDA:

As always, you can click to make it bigger.

The numbers are from the last available data, which is from 2004, unfortunately, but the conclusion--that there were fewer breakfasts being served, but costs fell as numbers increased--bears out. 

I'd be interested in seeing if something further is seen with Community Eligibility as it increases participation.

Big day on the federal level

Post to come on the news of Secretary Duncan's resignation and former NY Commissioner John King taking his place (suffice for now to say: not good news). However, two quick things that I had missed in the change of month:

• October 1 started the new fiscal year on the federal level, and, no, they haven't passed a budget yet. We're into continuing resolutions (CR) and trying to fend of sequestration again.
• The Healthy and Hunger-free Child Act (that's school lunch) has expired. Here's hoping that they don't mess that up in renewal. This wrong in many particulars editorial in the New York Times last Sunday didn't help, 'though this Huffington Post post responded correctly and with links (I just wish it had gotten the same level of circulation that the Times article surely did). 

Universal free lunch (and breakfast!) for our first full week

The menus for next week are up!
If you go to a school with a full kitchen, you can find the full menu here.
If you go to an elementary school without a kitchen, you can find the menu for the full month here.

And did you see? Not only in Worcester, but nationwide, our school lunches are becoming healthier.

Back to school queries UPDATED

A round up of answers to some of what I've gotten over the past two days:

• Lunch menus: The School Nutrition page is found from the bottom of the main WPS page right now. The center menu is for schools without kitchens; the link takes you to the menu for schools that do have kitchens. Yes, you can just send in your child and have them get lunch! If all your child needs is milk, that's fifty cents. Parents, did you notice? No nutrition form to fill out yesterday!
• Buses were a bit late coming home in some cases yesterday due to 7th graders and 9th graders (in particular) finding their way to them these first days (and remember, that backs up through the system due to our tier system). The same will probably be true on Monday, when we bring on our kindergartners!
• Yes, it does say on the calendars that seniors may need to make up snow days. This has always been the case; we just put in on the calendar this year. It will depend on how many we have, and that would be decided in the spring. By state regulation, seniors can only get out of school a limited number of days early. 
• Hoodies in the secondary schools: after a flood of tweets from high school students, I asked about this downtown today. From what I was told, in their meetings before school, the secondary principals agreed that the issue they've had is hoods being used to obscure who a student is (if they're in a hallway skipping class, for example). Thus the ban on hoodies (as we already have one on outdoor coats that might have hoods) has been implimented. That doesn't mean students can't wear other second layers (sweaters, sweatshirts without hoods, fleeces, etc); just no hooded gear. (And yes, I did pass along the astute observation that schools should probably stop selling them, then. Good point!)
• Homecoming games: there's been a rumor going around that the homecoming games are cancelled this fall. I checked this with Davide Shea, WPS Athletic Director, on this, and here is his reply:

More questions? Send them along!

Finance and Operations: Community Eligibility Provision (free lunch)

Allen: Boston has been doing this, has existed in state for two years
have been analyzing for that time
until state clarified, have not made a recommendation to the School Committee
now feel comfortable making recommendation
first on school lunch, then on rest
"regardless of what we do...has no bearing on impacts its going to have on grant entitlements and so forth"
School lunch: about 22 districts in MA already in CEP
54 districts are eligible to participate: 41% of student enrollment in the state (390,000)
CEP explained
financials of this makes it favorable for us to participate
increase in reimbursement of $1.2M
reduction in funds collected (to zero) from about $400,000
total net revenue increase of $647,862
anticipate between a five and ten percent increase in participation
will become an easy choice for parents: a state and federally recognized program, quality of program continues to improve each year
both due to benefit to students and minimally cost beneficial to district

Student has to take at least three of five components that are being offered each day; anything less than that would still have to pay cash
all accounting and auditing procedures are still in place

Foley: to our benefit to have students take three items out of five
Allen: principals notified that School Committee was considering this
will roll out FAQ
Foley: eliminates stigma
still need to collect forms for Medicaid; not a meal application
Allen: and could elect to revert back four years from now
Foley: financially beneficial to do this, operationally beneficial
should be faster to get kids through, as well
Allen: difference between what we charge versus what we're being reimbursed with; most of financial gain is due to paid meals being undercharged
Ramirez: impact of switching: is there a cash flow deficit? Now all reimbursement
Allen: DESE turning around funds through reimbursement
submit monthly reimbursement as quickly and accurately as we can
a couple of weeks, "7 to 10 days"
shouldn't present a cash flow problem
Ramirez: shouldn't encourage children to take food and then throw it away

These are my questions: time to eat?
additional lines for where it can be done
school by school capacity
even if necessary to have mobile stations to get kids through in a timely fashion
medical documentation needed for gluten and dairy
vegetarian: at high school and it's the other option in elementary
Yes, they'll be prepared to feed all the kids next Wednesday if they all show up and want lunch

Allen: breakfast in the classroom in 23 sites to date
would allow us to expand to all schools
have already had a number of schools express an interest in doing that

Other impacts on the switch to economically disadvantaged
"has now replaced the low income catagory for all purposes"
solely direct certified students in the state
state has seen a decrease in the number of students
state overall decreased by 31.4%
Worcester fell by 30.4% (from nearly 18,000 to 12,5000 (about))
FY16 grants will show that in all cases, particularly in Title I: we saw a large increase, as we had a large increase in low income enrollment AND the state is now using the economically disadvantaged number for this change; we hadn't fallen as far: THIS HAS HAPPENED ALREADY
Accountability system: low income is a subgroup; state is now change to ED
state felt that they were making changes anyway and this was the time to make that change
state providing guidance to MSBA
Chapter 70 actually mentions low income; statutory change needed
state could no longer use the same numbers; districts that have already switched to CEP have been held harmless for two years
state provision for low income is $1.2B; 10% of foundation budget
state intends to use to CEP number but change the per pupil rate so as to have no change in the overall amount of chapter 70; this would be a positive change for difference
Foley: getting sense from state: why replicate work that has already been done
risk is minimal because Boston is in the mix
Allen: Boston and Springfield as well
aid couldn't go away due to low income hit
Ramirez: how would WPS keep track of impacts?
Allen: it'd be good for us to let them know what is potentially coming and what this change means for Worcester
make sure that they hold harmless the $1.2B and change the per pupil
recomendations that we forward information directly to delegation ASAP on other impacts
also that we send question of counting kids in poverty to accountability

Q: parents with money on account: parents can ask for refund or leave money on account for a la carte purchases
MOTION: adopt CEP
forward information about impacts on ch 70 et al
refer child povery question to accountability

all motions adopted unanimously

Community Eligibility or universal free lunch: (being updated asquestions come in!)

Coming up on tomorrow's subcommittee agenda (5:30 pm, 4th floor of the admin building) is the Finance and Operations' members consideration of voting the Worcester Public Schools into Community Eligibility, which would give us universal free breakfast and lunch. It will then go before the full committee on Thursday night.
You can find the notes from administration specifically on the school nutrition change here. The rest of our backup items have to do with what the state's changes on measuring low income students means for measuring the amount of poverty in the students of the Worcester Public Schools (this was one of the reasons we haven't applied earlier and remains a major concern at the statewide level; you can find my post on the statewide information here).
Setting that aside for a moment (as that's moved to a level where all we can do is advocate), a quick rundown on how the Community Eligibility Provision (yes, CEP) works: Kids who are enrolled in state benefit services--specifically SNAP, TAFDC, MassHealth, and homeless kids and kids in foster care--are considered "direct certified;" that means that the state counts them directly, without further district action. If 40% or more of students in a district (or a charter school) are direct certified, a district qualifies for CEP. If a district votes to go to CEP, they are reimbursed for meals at 160% of their direct certification rate, to a maximum of 100%.
You can see my other posts on how this might miss kids in the counting.
The link to our subcommittee backup above gives the math, but suffice to say that it works out that we can then feed ALL kids for free through federal funding (and remember: WPS already was fully self-funding the school nutrition department; they don't get any money from our regular budget).
Because the 40% (plus) of qualifying children are already being processed through other programs, WPS will not have to process any forms (and parents won't have to fill them out!). That not only saves time; it saves money. Any district that has 100% reimbursement through CEP is certified for the next four years (so no forms for at least that time).
A few quick FAQ (which I will add to as I get more):

• Which kids would get free lunch? ALL kids in the Worcester Public Schools. That's kindergarten through grade 12, at all of our schools.
• Anything else? Breakfast, too! (And snacks at the schools that do snacks for their in-building after school programs).
• What will I have to do? Just send your kids to school, and when they count who wants lunch, have them raise their hands! Secondary students should just join the lunch line.
• Are the schools prepared for the possible increase in lunches served? Yes, I'm told that they are. And the lunch ladies I've spoken with are VERY excited about it!
• Can the cafeteria handle food allergies? Yes. We already are peanut free; we have options that are dairy free. If your child has a gluten allergy, please send in a doctor's note to that effect; there will be a lunch created just for your child (that may take a bit for processing).
• What if we are vegetarians? The secondary schools all have a vegetarian option. We're expanding that in elementary school, 'though sunbutter and jelly sandwiches are also available. 
• My kid usually buys milk at school; now what? If you send your kid in with a sandwich, have them pick up an apple and carrot sticks as well as a milk (all free), and you have a free lunch (or most of lunch, depending on your kid!). Kids will need to take three items for it to count. Should they take anything LESS than three, they will still need to pay for what they take. Milk will still cost fifty cents, if that is all they take. 
• I had money on account; can I get it back? Yes, your child will come home if there is money in your account; fill it out and return for a refund. Alternatively, you can leave the money there if (as above) your child will buy milk or individual items. 
• What's the catch? Part of the idea is that if EVERYone gets lunch for free, no one gets singled out for having or not having money, for being a free lunch kid, or what have you. So the catch is that more kids, we hope, have a full and healthy lunch (and breakfast!).
• Where did this come from? This one comes to us courtesy of the oft-maligned Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010. Yes, that would be a federal law actually doing what it says in the name of the act!

Keep the questions coming! We meet at 5:30 on Tuesday, and at 4 pm on Thursday (that's at City Hall). Both meetings are public (so come by if you're interested) and both are televised as well as live streamed. 

With thanks, as always, to my tireless sources in Nutrition and Finance. 

And in this week's episode of "Which Committee Is This, Anyway?"

...we have not one, but TWO items on this week's Council agenda!

11c. Request City Manager consider the expansion of the JROTC program to include the Army and Marine programs. An expansion would give our children an opportunity to experience the programs provided by each branch of the military. This would also help them with the direction and discipline that the military provides and further our efforts for youth intervention and involvement. (Gaffney) 

JROTC programs are not under the purview of the City Manager; they're public school programs, and thus under the purview of the Superintendent.

And also:

11d. Request City Manager request the Superintendent of Public Schools to consider allowing St. John’s Food Pantry to pick up “excess” food from the Worcester Public Schools that would be disposed of for the purposes of serving the same to the poor and needy rather than throwing it away. Currently, the Worcester Public Schools dispose of “excess” food at a significant cost and waste of resources. We are throwing away food while people struggling to feed themselves and, in many cases, feed their children. Donating the “excess” food would help the St. John’s Food Pantry feed our residents in need. The Bill Emerson Act permits the same without liability and St. John’s Food Pantry has the ability to pick up the food. *“Excess” food is that food prepared or in process that the children do not eat. It is not to be confused with food that has been handled by anyone other than those in food preparation, placed in the trash or otherwise. (Gaffney, Lukes, Rivera)

While this one catches a referral, it's simply incorrect in its assertion: there is not "excess food" being thrown away "at significant cost and waste of resources" in the Worcester Public Schools. We don't have much food leftover after serving kids, bluntly speaking, and what we do, we compost as we are able (this has been an ongoing work during the years I've been paying attention), and there isn't a significant cost involved.

 I always find it's best to check my assertions before filing such items, particularly if one is going to editorialize within them.

Community eligibility for lunch

O'Connell asks for information about applying for grants as part of discussion
Boone: why we haven't applied as yet, state has now addressed
sent to F&O