On the eve of Worcester's municipal election

On this eve of Worcester's municipal election, I offer the following thoughts, while looking back to what I wrote almost two years ago about the Worcester School Committee, though this is as much about Worcester City Council as it is about the Committee.

Please enjoy this fun "winter is coming" view
of Cannon Mountain last weekend.

the new SCOTUS term opens today

 ...which is pretty depressing. A few things to read: 

• Chris Geidner over at Law Dork, who observes that it hasn't really been a summer that is SCOTUS-free, given the shadow docket land we live in
  
  
  
• Elie Mystal, writing in The Nation, who gives us five of the worst cases before the court. Observe how many of them directly impact our students and their futures.
  
  
  
• And K-12 Dive looks specifically at K-12 education impacts of the cases before the court

"Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever 

onward and upward are dead damned wrong."

Molly Ivins

Passing along some mid-November notes from the superintendent

⁦@worcesterpublic⁩ educators are displaying their talents tonight 6-9 pm. Come by and be amazed. #educatorsrock #talent pic.twitter.com/CSWbiI91kE

— Rachel H. Monarrez, PhD (she/her/ella) (@drrmonarrez) November 11, 2022

Are you following Dr. Monárrez on Twitter?

 

from the weekly updates to the School Committee:

• It's been 100 days this week that Dr. Monárrez has been with us!
  
  
• There's some discussion happening and to be had further around schools being used as polling places. 
  
  
• Over 50 current staff members attended an information session on Performance Assessment for Leaders earlier this month. UPDATED for some more explanation: among the things an educator has to complete for a principal license are four tasks: data analysis; creation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC); supervision and evaluation (focusing on pre and post observation feedback) and family and community engagement. That's in addition to a 500 hour practicum. This session was designed to give aspiring principals more information ahead of Worcester forming another leadership cohort with a continued focus on diversifying our principalships.
  
  
• The Worcester Educational Collaborative recently published a report on Worcester Public Schools and early college.
  
  
• The Commissioner is moving forward the proposed Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School for the second state, which is an interview with the Department, public hearing. The administration will share with the School Committee that application once they have received it, and we'll coordinate response.
  Per the Superintendent's update: The Department will announce the date and details of the required public hearing in Worcester for the proposed WCACPS no later than Monday, November 14, 2022. In addition to a public hearing, the Department will also collect written public comment. Comments should be submitted by Wednesday, January 4, 2023 to: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, c/o Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148 or by email to charterschools@doe.mass.edu. Commissioner Riley will then review all of the materials and make his recommendation to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education if he believes the proposal should receive a charter. The Board will vote at its February 2023 meeting if a recommendation has been made by the commissioner.
  I have many, many thoughts on this which I will share in a separate post at some point. This is coming from the same people that run the Old Sturbridge Village Charter School.
  
  
• Note that the pause in accelerated repair funding announced by the MSBA last week will have an impact on what was being considered for Worcester East Middle School.
  
  

Most Americans now live in mixed-race neighborhoods

 I've had this piece, this analysis, really from the Washington Post open in a tab for a week now, waiting to be able to do something with it, because I think it's really important to a lot of things about how we live as Americans, education among them.

(Note, incidentally, that I've used a gift link for that; you don't need a subscription to the Washington Post to read it.)

The evaluation the Post did is based on this: 

When we say neighborhoods, we mean census tracts, which typically hold about 3,800 people. We created our tract data by rolling up even smaller block-level estimates to fit 2020 census tract boundaries, so that we could compare individual neighborhoods over time — something that’s not usually possible given the constantly shifting outlines of official census tracts.

 And they found this: 

Back in 1990, 78 percent of White people lived in predominantly White neighborhoods, where at least 4 of every 5 people were also White. In the 2020 Census, that’s plunged to 44 percent.

The piece has some great visuals on this--charts, maps, other things to play with--so I really urge you to take a look. 

I keep hoping to see someone take this up with the election results from Tuesday--if you see something, let me know?--because I'd be really interested if this had an impact both on attitude and access. It would seem to me that this make differences in both counts.

From an education perspective, of course, most children attend schools based on where they live. If where they live is more integrated, that makes a difference in the make-up of their schools. That's pretty huge.

From a Massachusetts perspective, we're tracking with the trend as a state: 

And a new 2020 majority in mixed neighborhoods is true both of what's nationally seen as metro Boston and the metro Worcester/Hartford thing. 
HOWEVER, if you zoom in on the map showing in which decade each county passed "most residents living in mixed race neighborhoods," and note that "never" is grey:

...it really depends where in Massachusetts you are. 
Anyway, neat stuff! Go look! 

One can't talk about a lawsuit when one is a party

But I do want to observe that this is happening. 
There are parallels being made with Lowell, which was sued on Council and Committee grounds. 

Worcester can make a change

A word on the Worcester election:

Note from me: all School Committee challengers were invited to participate. Seven did. 

To read Election Night

Charlie Pierce is watching the midterms from the elementary school you know from Brown v. the Board of Education: 

Dick and Francine, two poll workers, were talking about all the people who'd been through during the morning hours, and about how great they felt working at this particular polling place on this particular day. "When you think of what began here," Dick said, "you feel like there's something special to coming here to vote."

Vote Yes on 3

I would hope, dear readers, that this is not a discussion that you and I need to have. I would hope that you understand that everyone deserves equal protection--yes, protection--under the law, and that means that no, others don't have the right to discriminate against people.
I would hope that you would understand that the fearmongering around bathroom usage is not only nauseating, but completely wrong. And I say that, incidently, not only as a woman but as the mother of three daughters; don't you dare use my children as an excuse for your bigotry. 

I would hope that you would understand the damage we are doing to some of our absolutely most vulnerable people every time we raise these non-issues. I would hope that you would want to do better, not worse, on how we treat vulnerable young people.
I would hope that you would want to stop that.
Vote yes on 3 if you are in Massachusetts. I also always suggest supporting the Trevor Project. 

Some reading from over the weekend

Should you have missed them:

• An essay by Professor Peter Gray of Boston College on the deficit of play today's children are suffering from.
• The New York Times Magazine had a long read on voting rights, which, given the makeup of the nation's public schools, matters greatly
• Another in the ongoing series the Boston Globe has been doing about Boston's desegregation of schools, this time focusing on the two women who led, in some fashion, each side. 
• The T&G had a front page story yesterday on charter schools and who they actually serve. Key to remember that ELL and special education represent a range of need, and the highest end isn't, nearly ever, covered by charter schools.
• And a question on why we're assigning homework in elementary schools

Go vote today, Worcester!

I love what I do.
I'd be honored to keep doing it.

The polls open at 7 am and are open all day til 8 pm. You can vote for up to six School Committee members. You can find my name at number 7.

Today, the world really is run by those who show up. Please do!

Vote for Seamus O'Connor!

Our boys' hockey team is in the central division finals game tonight at 5:45 pm against Nashoba at the Wallace Center in Fitchburg. Go cheer them on if you're free! And speaking of hockey, this in from Mr. Shea, WPS Athletic director:

It is our pleasure to inform you that Seamus O’Connor, a member of your Boys Hockey Team, has been selected to participate in the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association High School All-Star Classic presented by Shriners. The game is hosted by the Worcester Sharks of the American Hockey League and will be played at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on March 21, 2015 at 1:45 PM, as part of a hockey tripleheader. At 4 PM the MSHCA Boys All-Star team will take the ice followed by the Worcester Sharks vs. Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 7 PM.

Your student athlete is one of only 46 players in the state of Massachusetts chosen to participate in this prestigious event. Sheamus and his family have already been contacted and will be skating for the North All-Star team.

Fans can vote, via text, for the starting line-up. 

They're determining the starting lineup by votes! Let's get Seamus on there:

Text the Last name of the player (O’Connor) you want to be in the starting line to 74499* before March 17^th.

I've corrected the above spelling of his first name which the press release had incorrect.

Election Day!

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." 
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

GO VOTE TODAY!

Why you should go vote tomorrow (education edition)

Hey, Massachusetts! We have an election tomorrow!
Tomorrow is the Massachusetts state primary. If you are a REPUBLICAN, you can go vote for Republican candidate for governor (and candidates standing for nomination uncontested). If you are a DEMOCRAT, you can go vote for a Democratic candidate for Governor, for Lieutenant Governor, for Attorney General, for Treasurer, and (depending on your district) possibly a Senator and a Representative. If you are UNENROLLED, you can pick which primary to vote in (and it doesn't change your political registration).
For those in Worcester, you can find the list of who is running here. And you can find where you vote here.
I am a huge fan of voting and urge you to do it whenever you are given a chance; in my own case, that's because women have only been voting in the U.S. for the lifetime of my grandfather (he turned 95 in March, and he would tell you to vote, too!). BUT here are why many of the above offices matter specifically in terms of education:

For Governor: the Governor appoints the members of the Board of Ed. They, in term, set policy for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (deciding things like what tests we give and what standards we follow), plus they appoint the Commissioner of Education, who manages education in the state. I think for many years, many of us just sort of ignored the Board, as there wasn't much that happened there that had much of an impact. If nothing else, Race to the Top changed that. These decisions matter, big time, to what's happening in classrooms across the state.

Likewise on Lieutenant Governor.

For Attorney General: among the responsibilities of the AG is enforsement of the Open Meeting Law. If you want decisions made in public--and you want public officials held responsible when they aren't--pay attention to this position.

For Treasurer: in addition to overseeing the finances of the Commonwealth, the Treasurer serves as chair of the Board of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Those new windows, boilers, roofs? A new Nelson Place? New high schools? That all comes from MSBA. We've been well-served lately, Worcester: who is in this position has something to do with what happens next.
And here's the only endorsement, or rather lack thereof, that I'm going to make: please note that Barry Feingold, running for this position, was the originator of the Senate version of the charter cap lift bill. He attempted to amend the bill that came from the House to not have the state pay for current charter schools before creating new ones. This is not a fiscally responsible position. Choose otherwise.

For Senator and Representative: That charter cap bill above? It was stopped in the Senate, and instrumental in that were Worcester's two senators, Chandler and Moore. The only 'no' vote in the House from Worcester was from Represenative Keefe. Our chapter 70 aid, circuit breaker reimbursement for special education, kindergarten grants, and, frankly, funding for just about every other corner of education in Worcester (and, to varying degrees, across the state)? It comes through the Legislature. Laws on everything from the school safety plans we have in place to the number of charter schools we have to how we decide who graduates? Again, that all comes through the Legislature. We need good people in these seats who are well-informed on education policy (or are willing to learn!).

Polls open at 7 am tomorrow and they stay open until 8 pm (or until the last person in line at 8 votes). GO VOTE!

Monday morning links

Should you have missed them over the weekend:

• You should read this great story from 1839 of how knowing how to read rescued a boy kidnapped into slavery. Also, I love that we have T&G reporters digging through the Worcester Historical Museum files! Nice work, Mr. Caywood!
• An important read on how the correlation between being married and avoiding poverty may well be for the reverse reason than is being forwarded.
• Matt Damon did an Ask Me Anything on reddit and tackled education policy. To wit: "We would never let businessmen design warheads, why would you cut out educators when you're designing education policy?" His mom is Nancy Carlsson-Paige, who we are fortunate enough to have as an early childhood ed advocate in Massachusetts, so he does know whereof he speaks. 
• There was a massive march at the North Carolina state capital on Saturday to support the Voting Rights Act, part of the "Moral Monday" marches that have been held there to protest an array of government actions, including some lousy education policies.
• I was saddened to learn that education advocate Ted Olsen of Oregon recently died. He was among the first to break publicly with Stand for Children when it became clear that they do not, in fact, stand for children. I share this column about his granddaughter's close friend and how our system continues to fail them in his memory. Thanks, Alain!
• OUR local education reporter, Jackie Reis, got a second place award  for education reporting in the 2014 New England Newspaper and Press Association awards.Congratulations, Jackie!
• Finally, more to come on this, but public comments on the  proposed changes to the charter school regs are due next week.

In Worcester? Can you take a quick survey on voting?

Whether you voted yesterday or did not, please take this survey for a research project one of our WPS teachers is doing in pursuit of her Ed.D. She's looking a municipal voting patterns and tying them into elementary school assignments. It's quick and for a good cause!

Election Day in Worcester!

It's Election Day in Worcester on Tuesday! Municipal elections are those where each voter has the best chance to make a real difference in a race; they have been know to come down to a handful of votes making the difference. Make sure your vote is cast!
If you are registered to vote in Worcester but aren't sure where, you can look it up here.

And P.S.: I heard a rumor that there might be "I Voted" stickers, should that make a difference. 

Meira Levinson on civic engagement and empowerment

...catching up here. Professor Levinson telling a story regarding her experience teaching at an African-American reopened school in Atlanta. The School Board had brought in uniforms; the students did a social studies project on why. So far as they could tell, from their research into the history, no one had much thought about what they were doing; it's just what was done. The kids took it as an affront: that they were being separated from their neighborhood and they were making it impossible for the kids to go back and intergrate into their community, that they weren't trusted, that they weren't good enough or trustworthy enough, that they had in some way to be changed or fixed.

You should go vote

...particularly if you've got kids to bring along with you.
If you're in the fifteenth Worcester district and you pick up a Democratic ballot, there's a decent chance that you're deciding on your next state rep. Don't miss that. State reps are the closest to us when it come to Beacon Hill, so use your ballot on that one!
If you're in most of Worcester, you won't have a contested race on your ballot, or you'll have a single one, that of Congressman McGovern, who is being challenged by William Feegbeh on the Democratic ballot. To the Congressman's credit, he hasn't taken anything for granted (his Facebook page today reads like a western Mass travelogue), and he's running a real race. There's a great bit here that really ANYone can run for office and that even sitting Congressmen can be challenged in their primary races.
If you take a Republican ballot, and see all those uncontested races, or take a Green ballot, on which there are no names, or even if you go down the rest of the Democratic ballot, and see the rest of the uncontested races, there's a pretty clear message. There's a good chance that we're going to hear a lot today and tomorrow about low voter turnout.
How about low candidate turnout?

Go participate in democracy today; it doesn't run without us!

Recount day! UPDATED

I've got a huge backlog of things to catch up on....to come!

It is recount day for the Worcester School Committee. Note that every city ballot will be counted for all School Committee candidates.
You can watch it live here.

7:30 UPDATE: And if you're awaiting results, I'm told they are currently adding totals, and it could be awhile yet.

Why your vote matters for education

I've just been reading this essay by Jane Addams (she of the settlement houses movement) from 1915 on why women should vote (five years before they got the right to vote). It has everything to do with why EVERYONE who cares about education should vote tomorrow:

Chicago one spring had a spreading contagion of scarlet fever just at the time that the school nurses had been discontinued because business men had pronounced them too expensive. If the women who sent their children to the schools had been sufficiently public-spirited and had been provided with an implement through which to express that public spirit they would have insisted that the schools be supplied with nurses in order that their own children might be protected from contagion. In other words, if women would effectively continue their old avocations they must take part in the slow upbuilding of that code of legislation which is alone sufficient to protect the home from the dangers incident to modern life.

Two-thirds of the Worcester Public Schools budget comes from the state.
The state and federal government have EVERYTHING to do with what kids are taught, how much of it they're taught, how they're tested on it, and yes, how we pay for it.
Both levels of government also have to do with how those kids get back and forth to school, how their teachers are certified, how safe the buildings they learn in are (and how often they're repaired and replaced), what kind of food they're served at lunch, and what's in the textbooks they learn from.
If you care about education, you can't sit this one out.