Interviews for the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education

 

Coming to you live from Mass Bay Community College in Wellesley

My rundown of the finalists can be found here. My initial perspective on them can be found here.

There is a livestream of this, which will be going up here. UPDATED: video is here.

Posting as we go. 

Jack Elsey, Lily Laux, Pedro Martinez to be interviewed

and Craven just said a whole bunch of things including the schedule which I missed because I was trying to find the livestream...sigh...it also isn't written down, as best as I can tell

The Board is soliciting feedback on the finalists here. 

Hey, we have an F&O meeting tomorrow!

The Worcester School Committee Standing Committee on Finance and Operations has a meeting tomorrow at 5:30 (IN PERSON, though it will stream online), and the agenda includes not only our (last?) monthly transportation update, but a corker of a facilities update! 

Quoting just a few of the updates on projects I know to be of interest: 

• on water and heat and cooling: Belmont has a new boiler; Burncoat High and Middle have new domestic hot water heaters; Chandler Magnet has a new boiler; City View has a new boiler, Goddard Elementary has a new boiler; Vernon Hill has a new boiler; Forest Grove is getting two new chillers over the summer; and North High is getting a new chiller this summer.
  
  
• on bottle fillers: The SWIG (School Water Improvement Grant) project has started with initial demo of existing fixtures. A 3-month grant extension has been approved through the end of September. Installation of new water bottle filling stations fixtures to take place over the summer, followed by required sampling.
  
  
• on ADA accessibility: Deborah Ryan Associates studies nearly complete for the following schools: Thorndyke, Gerald Creamer Center, Harlow Challenge & Reach, Columbus Park, and Lincoln Street. Draft reports have been provided for comment, with final reports anticipated Summer 2023. Construction has started on the accessibility updates at Worcester Arts Magnet (triggered by the roof replacement).
  
  
• on Burncoat High and NEASC:  Four firms have been engaged to prepare baseline reports and potential courses of action based on the findings of the NEASC report. These studies include building envelope, accessibility, mechanical systems, and traffic analysis improvements. These studies are now complete.
  
  
• on traffic management: Mount Vernon Group Architects have done traffic and pedestrian design studies at both Burncoat Middle and High and at Roosevelt. There is insufficient funding (as we've discussed) in both cases, though Facilities is looking into options to manage some of the issues of concern. 
  
  
• on Burncoat bleachers: project now awarded to a contractor; it is anticipated this will be done for the fall opening of school. The gym floor is also being refinished as part of the same project. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• on Elm Park's gym: New wooden flooring is installed, and one coat of varnish has been applied. Roof repairs were undertaken to ensure new flooring system would not be damaged. New doors were installed at South entrance to minimize water infiltration at that location. Vendor is expected to be applying final polyurethane and markings over the next month. The gymnasium walls have also been painted, and new bleacher system installed. Anticipated completion by August 2023, ahead of the start of new school year.
  
  
  
  
  
• on the Honeywell districtwide ESSER funded HVAC updates: $22 million investment, across majority of schools in the district. Scope includes automated controls upgrades, exhaust fan replacements, rooftop units, heating systems. Project will be completed in phases, with on-going work though the Fall of 2024.
  
  
• on the new Doherty: is now weather-tight. It's on schedule for opening Fall of 2024.
  
  
• on school moves: there are moving contracts for both the Alternative school and for La Familia; both moves starting on June 21 and will be done by June 30.
  
  

There's LOTS MORE over on the agenda, so go check it out, and maybe plan to at least watch our meeting tomorrow! 

What happened at the April 27 Worcester School Committee meeting

The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet.
It requires a certain relish for confusion.
Molly Ivins 

Here is the agenda for this past Thursday's Worcester School Committee meeting. The video is here.

Note that we had an executive session regarding negotiations with the teachers, the paraprofessionals, the custodians, and the computer technicians. I cannot discuss that further under state law, 'though you probably saw coverage of teachers and paras coming to speak to public session, which was the majority of public testimony, though we did also hear from several teachers in favor of the proposed literacy curriculum, and a parent speaking on the plans (or lack thereof) for the dual language program.
Please don't miss the Goddard Elementary student council (about 39 minutes in) addressing their public petition to us on bottle filling stations for their school. If that is of interest, we'll discuss it at our May 22 Finance and Operations standing committee meeting.
The report of the Superintendent was on "innovating for the future," and brought us a new draft on what was portrait of a graduate, but is now being revised. Right now it is (in draft form) "vision of a learner," and it looks like this: 

...'though this is still being revised. 
There was also a discussion of the Spark plan, which is work that will be citywide on the following: 

The plan is to run Wawecus Elementary as essentially a pilot school for this work, with Spark teachers (a position that will be stipended per administration) to spread it across the district.

We had the March report out from Finance and Operations which was entirely on transportation, and then we took the report out of Monday's Teaching, Learning, and Student Support, which was on the proposed new elementary ELA curriculum. 
I have posted my own comments on the curriculum already; Member Clancey's motion to move the curriculum forward passed 6-1 (Kamara opposed). I also made the motion to  reconsider our vote, allowing the administration to move forward with purchasing the curriculum without further delay.

Member Molly McCullough requested that we ensure we are following state regulation in setting seniors' last days.

Member Sue Mailman's item on updating lottery procedures for the next school year was amended for it to be an update for us to consider next year, as the lotteries for next school year have already taken place. 

Two items I filed--asking for updates on CNAs and on future plans for the social-emotional learning department--went to administration for a report back before the proposed budget. I believe that those will be part of the report of the Superintendent at the next meeting. On CNAs, those are positions that are filled through a contract, and if it is renewed is the question. On the SEL department, the plan is to change some lines of reporting and assignment. In both cases, I want to be sure we're doing things with people rather than to them.

I also requested that the administration clarify the plans for the rising seniors in the dual language program, for whom there is, as yet, no plan. This is not the first time that this class, which is the class with whom the program rises, has been left in this position in May. Those of us who are parents--this does include me--are really really tired. 

Member Jermoh Kamara also requested that we keep in mind holidays when set our meetings.

We also sent four policies to Governance for revision, because the authority of the School Committee had been deliberately striped out of them by the previous administration, who had filed the revised policies without School Committee approval.

Oddly, the version of the agenda on the website didn't have the redline version, so let me show you why this matters, as I noted in the meeting:

Under MGL Ch. 71, sec. 37, policy making authority is granted to the School Committee, not to administration. Policy CHD is designed to be a "what if" for emergencies, but any policies put into place without School Committee evaluation MUST go back to the School Committee for review.
The previous administration, in direct contradiction of Massachusetts General Law, struck the Committee review and approval.

Because budgetary authority is the School Committee's, naturally the provision for the management of buildings and grounds starts there. This was struck from policy EC by the previous administration.

One relevant from the same meeting: MGL Ch. 71, section 1 put curricula approval under the Committee, but this starting place for policy was struck by the previous administration.

MGL Ch. 71, section 38M quite clearly outlines an election process that results in a student advisory council that is required by that law to meet with the School Committee every other month. That was, by the previous administration, reassigned--in contravention of the law--to the superintendent. 
Even more concerningly, the entire section regarding the student ex officio member--again, required by state law--was struck by the previous administration.

And again, none of these changes were passed by the School Committee. They were placed into our policy manual by the previous administration without the legal authority required

Consider that as we consider things later this year.

August Finance and Operations: facilities

 F&O met on August 15 and reported out at the meeting on the 18th, but I'm still getting questions on things connected, in particular, to the Facilities report, so I'm going to write up my notes here from that. The agenda is here and the presentation we received at that meeting I've shared over here.

First up, please note: like many other sectors, the Facilities department is running short-staff (and there are openings!); as of the 15th, there were 28 custodial vacancies. As Mr. Bedard noted: Realize how this works, incidentally: we don't leave schools entirely uncovered, so this necessarily means shifts happen across the system to ensure every building gets coverage. That does mean, though, that some places don't have all they need as a result. 
The summer work to get schools ready for back to school has been going on, and the field prep for athletics is also ongoing.
ON THIS AND EVERYTHING ELSE: supply chains supply chains supply chains...we can only get things as quickly as we can get them. That matters a lot whether we are cleaning or fixing or replacing things, so please be patient.

Regarding the environmental management of the district: water sampling for testing of lead and copper was competed in the spring, and fixtures are being turned on and off and signage is being updated. Watch for further communication updating that. 
Quarterly PCB inspections are scheduled for Doherty and Burncoat; the asbestos three year inspection are ongoing. 

The $150,000 water bottle filling grant (!) was accepted at the August 18 meeting. That state grant provides for bottle filling stations (under very particular parameters) at the following places: 

If your school isn't on here, either it's among the newer schools that may already have them OR it didn't fit the parameters of the grant. We are doing some planning for additional such stations, though, through federal funding.
We have only now received the funding for this: please note that these now have to go through procurement and planning and installation (don't look for them next week; they're not there yet!).

Please join me in being unsettled by the lack of boiler in this space 

(note there is one next to it)

There are boiler replacement projects at Belmont, Chandler Magnet, City View, and Goddard; a boiler replacement is in the planning stages at Vernon Hill. Note that most of our boiler replacements in recent years have been at least partly funded through MSBA (through the accelerated repair program), but we can't always wait to go through the process (boilers are a necessary thing). With fifty buildings (most of which have more than one boiler) that have had underfunded facilities needs for decades now, there's a significant amount of need. 

The BIG project this summer is the Worcester Arts Magnet roof (which is an MSBA Accelerated repair project): 

My photo of the new WAMS roof going in.

The roof will be done this summer; the ADA upgrades (triggered by the cost of the roof) will be done next summer.

There are new hot water heaters going in at Burncoat High and Middle Schools (that's abbreviated DHM for domestic hot water, which is a thing that I learned for this meeting). 

Also at Burncoat High: bleachers in the gym! The bleachers were just going to be pull-out bleachers, but the company has told us that they, given the weight at the size, need to be motorized for safety. Those then are needing some more planning before replacement. 
Also at Burncoat High: the new window blinds are being produced!

GENERAL BURNCOAT STATEMENT: Please note that two things are true at Burncoat:

1. It continues to be next one being voted by the Worcester School Committee and Worcester City Council for major renovation or repair. Eleven years ago, we opened new North; last year, we opened a new South; new Doherty is under construction. We have had a very strong relationship with the Mass School Building Authority, where we have--unusually!--been able to have two major projects going at the same time. With South now open, fingers crossed on getting Burncoat in.
2. Burncoat High is undergoing its every-ten-year NEASC reaccreditation. As part of that process, the reaccreditation committee has come back with a report on the facilities, with their concerns. That's in the process of being reviewed and sent out for further study. Even as we plan to replace the building, it's obviously still being used as a school, and so those two things need to be held in balance. 

Claremont locker repairs are being scheduled.
The Elm Park gym floor is being torn up (may be completely up now!) before the layers of waterproofing and other underfloor prep happen before the new one can go in. This is going to take some time
Greendale Head Start has a new parking lot.
The walk-in refrigerator at Norrback is in the engineering stage.
The fire alarms are being replaced at West Tatnuck (it won't be done before school starts, but the old ones weren't taken out yet, so the school has them).

Grafton Street's cafeteria ceiling work will be done before school starts. 

A word on elevators: the Vernon Hill freight elevator was raised at the meeting, but I have been asked about others; we do have several elevators where the issue is beyond waiting for a part (which has been a thing, certainly), and is into questions of replacement (which is very expensive). Thus some of those are much longer term discussions. 

Finally, watch for updates in the future (probably our next F&O meeting on September 8) on the Honeywell and Nault Siemens review of our HVAC systems for upgrades through ESSER funding. Because that is a capital expense, it had to be reviewed and approved by DESE. 

As always, if you have questions, comment or get in touch! 

Worcester school meetings this week : UPDATED

And we have a school committee agenda...it only was posted this morning...
There are two subcommittee meetings this week (apologies for not posting earlier):

• Finance and Operations met last night which appears to have had the auditors in, as well as covered the third quarter report, with transfers coming out of health insurance to cover balances. Note that cutting legal services in a negotiation year was not a good idea. Since WPS seems to be running a rolling agenda, we can't tell what's going to be talked about at a meeting unless there's a backup. That completely negates the reason for having a posted agenda. 
• Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports this afternoon at 5 is set to cover Mandarin Chinese, girls ice hockey, summer programs, gifted students, and the DOJ agreement. I am told it is cancelled. 

There's also a regular Thursday meeting, which has the postponed report of the superintendent on a FY19 budget update (a week (?) ahead of the FY19 budget going out to the School Committee). 

There are a series of appointments, resignations, and retirements.
There are some recognitions.

There's a response that allowing for school choice siblings automatically to be in the same school would cause space issues. 

There will be (not posted) a response on free driver's ed.

Miss Biancheria would like a schedule of Memorial Day events by school.

Mr. O'Connell would like the district to consider participating in the Massachusetts Assistance Program for Lead in School Drinking Water.
Mr. Comparetto would like the committee to go on record in favor of S.2325, the Foundation Budget Review Commission bill.
And there are two grants for reception: the Increased Quality Summer Learning and Transition Program Grant for $45,000, which will be used for a summer rising kindergartner program at Elm Park and for 7th graders at Forest Grove; and the 21st Century Learning Centers Summer Enhancement Grant for $20,000, for a summer writing and reading program at Sullivan Middle and Burncoat Middle.

There is a 6 pm executive session for negotiations with teachers, tutors, tradesmen, parent liaisons, and plumbers and pipefitters, and two grievances. 

If it looks as though the budget update is happening, I'll try to make it. 

Let's talk about Worcester Public Schools' facilities

First, let's look at where we are (this is from page 146 of the FY17 WPS budget):

The $3 million "allocated for building renovation projects" is the Worcester-side match on MSBA projects. You'll remember that long list of accelerated repair--window, roof, boiler--projects that the city is doing with state assistance? That city-side comes out of the $3.5 million allocated to the schools.
Once that's happened, and once there's been technology upgrades, and the buses have been replaced, we're left looking at $65,000 for 50 buildings. $1300 per building isn't going to get you far.

That isn't, of course, the only money that's spent on buildings. Capital spending is the big projects: if the HVAC system breaks, that's capital; if a radiator breaks, that comes out of Facilities ordinary maintenance. But here's what facilities OM has looked like (again FY17, this is page 22):

"But it's gone up by one percent!" you note. Yes: it's gone up by one percent for trash hauling. As the EAW noted earlier this week, with four million square feet to cover, that's 33 cents a square foot.

Now, City Manager Augustus raised some hope that he's understanding some of this with his message on school capital funding, though it appears that what he's doing is creating stabilization funds for the projects at South and at Doherty. That isn't a bad idea--it was shortsighted of the Council to cut North High's last year--but all that does it keep those projects moving forward. Important, but it doesn't fix anything else.

And we have some things to fix.
It was of course the Co2--note that is carbon dioxide, like what you breathe out--that got the headline from Burncoat High last week. That's straightforwardly an air circulation issue: people breathing out creates CO2, and it has to go somewhere, and you want it to be circulating out of the building.
Water testing statewide has yielded some results on lead and copper in Worcester schools (that's the report at tonight's school committee). Most of those are the sort that no longer show up once the water has been running.
We've also been hearing a lot about PCBs (there are so many links that I'm struggling to choose one), which have had...varied contacts with reality (check out the EPA here). What I haven't seen get much attention--in fact, I'd missed it myself until Molly McCullough tweeted it out last week--is the history of what Worcester has done over the past seven years (which is when this issue came to anyone's attention). The link is to a January report to School Committee, which I frankly don't remember getting much of any attention at the time.
So what does it say?
The first thing is that Worcester's been talking to the EPA on this pretty much constantly since 2010, and it's the EPA's guidance that's been followed.

The second thing is that, given that PCBs were used during a period of major school construction, this is whole lot of Worcester's schools: 

Oh, but wait: 

Here's where this gets interesting: after the district removes all the light ballast--which is what's widely seen as the biggest health risk--and seals the cauking, works on the air circulation, and creates a regular round of the sort of cleaning that is needed for this, the district reworks the long-term capital plans of the district. And if you compare what schools have had new windows--and it's window caulk that's the main concern at this point--you're going to see something that looks a lot like the above list.

So where does that leave us now? Well, the EAW wants to decide who should do testing to see if there's PCBs. The district has been acting for the past seven years as if there may well be PCBs and pushing those projects through as quickly as possible. We're still only getting $65,000 in capital to spend on building repairs beyond MSBA and $1.3 million to spend on ordinary maintenance.

I'd like to suggest that it's the final sentence that's the most important one. There's a lot more to fix here, and only small parts of it are about chemicals. But we can't do any of it fast or well enough with the funding we have now.

Worcester School Committee meets tonight

in about ten minutes...sorry for the late posting! 
The agenda is here. The big thing on the agenda is the opening of school report, which is not posted.
There are several recognitions.
Governance and Employee Issues is reporting out. 
There is a substantial list of new hires and transfers.
There are four backups on the response to Miss Biancheria's request regarding a pilot at Sullivan and Burncoat Middle of the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment.
Miss Biancheria has an item on Constitution Day (the week of Sept. 12).
Mr. O'Connell wants to recognize Robert F. Pezzella for being the Columbus Day Parade grand marshal this year.
He also would like a report on the Seeds to STEM program through WPI.
There is a request that several donations be received.
There is a report on how Worcester Public Schools will be testing water for lead.
Miss McCullough is requesting that administration teach responsible social media and cell phone use.
Mr. O'Connell, doubling down on Mr. Monfredo's motion, is concerned about wifi radiation.
Mr. O'Connell would also like a list of school council dates.
He would also like enrollment class sizes and the October 1 student enrollment report (which I assume will come back together, as the two are the same).
Miss Biancheria would like a list of services available at Worcester Tech.
Mr. O'Connell would like to recognize Worcester Tech for receiving a grant.
Mr. Monfredo would like a community service committee.
Administration is requesting approval of several nurses.


There was also an executive session on negotiations with Bus Drivers and Monitors, Custodians, Nurses, Teachers, and Instructional Assistants.

Water system repaired, schools on a two hour delay

The DPW reports that the system is now repaired, that water is now flowing from the reservoirs, and that water is expected to be back citywide by 8 am.
Schools remain on a two hour delay. (Ignore Channel 11 scrolling "no school today.")
Schools do have water for children to drink and hand sanitizer for use after handwashing. If you can, pack those for your children, as well.
The city is under a boil order until water sampling can be done citywide: bring water to a rolling boil for a full minute and cool before drinking. Use this or bottled water for drinking, toothbrushing, mixing formula, or making ice cubes.

TWO HOUR DELAY

Worcester Public Schools will have a two hour delay tomorrow, Tuesday, November 13.

_____________________________
From the Superintendent:

Update:  Based on the most recent information from the City Manager, I am announcing a two-hour delay for tomorrow morning.  There will be no AM preschool. A Connect Ed message is being sent out and the information will also be on the website and local news media.

 

Donna Lombardi has taken action to adjust menus that will allow students to be fed given the water limitations.  Additionally, due to the limited water, DAB and 52 week employees will also be on a delay.  DAB will open at 9:00 am tomorrow morning.  This decision is based on restrooms not being accessible until water service is restored.

 

The pipe has been exposed and the area needing repair has been identified.  The city has also issued emergency calls to homes indicating that once water is restored early tomorrow morning that a boil water order will be in effect for 24 hours after that time.

Don't expect a call tonight

Commissioner Moylan is now hoping to have the water back on for 7 am. If we have water, we'll run school.
We can't run without it.
You'll hear in the morning if there's a cancellation.
__________________________________________________
WPS website has the following:

MAJOR WATER MAIN BREAK MAY IMPACT SCHOOL FOR TOMORROW!

A major water main break in the city this afternoon may require an extended period of low or no water pressure throughout the city.  This may impact whether we can open schools tomorrow.  At 7pm, no decision has been made about school operations for tomorrow.  It is possible and likely that a decision is not made until tomorrow morning.  The Worcester Public Schools is in close communication with city officials regarding the repair and time frame.  Once we have a better sense of the time for the repairs we will make a decision about school opening for tomorrow.  Please keep updated with local media, our website, and our Twitter feed for any announcements.  We will also send a Connect Ed message to homes if we cancel or delay schools.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we assess the impact on school operations.  

No decision as yet

We've just received the following from Superintendent Boone:

We have been in contact with the Mayor and City Manager regarding the situation created by this massive water main break. You are probably aware that in order to initiate repairs to the broken water main, water gates supplying the entire water treatment facility will be shut down this evening and most of the night.  The impact to residents and businesses will likely be low or no potable water flow at faucets, etc.  Once repairs are completed the main water lines will need to be flushed.  Residents and businesses can expect some discoloration in the water once the flow is returned and flushing is complete. We are monitoring this situation very closely with the city manager and the city's emergency operations team.  I am not making a decision to close schools at this time.  I will wait for updates during the evening before making that determination.  Obviously, we're concerned with the ability to prepare meals, flush toilets and bubblers available to students and staff.  We are in the process of posting information on the website and sending out through our twitter feed that no decision has been made at this time about school operations tomorrow and that any decision will be made later tonight or early in the morning.

Here's hoping we can be back up online for school tomorrow. We'll keep you posted!

Official city notice on water main break

A City 30" water line, directly off of a 40" main water line, on Chandler St in the vicinity of May Street, has failed.  The nature of the "break" is significant.  All options for repair have been assessed.  The size of the line and the required repair will require the City to shut the water gates off that feed the whole City at our Water Treatment facility.  These water gates will need to be shut down for this evening and most of the early morning hours as well. All DPW resources and talents have been brought to bear to make this complicated fix.  Too soon to tell when it will be repaired.

All residents and businesses will likely experience low or no potable water flow at their faucets, taps, etc.. during this period of repair.   Once repaired, DPW will flush main water lines where required.  Residents and business can expect discolored water once water gates at the Plant are reopened and water pressure and water flow are restored.

Residents and businesses should leave their faucets and taps on and observe water until it runs clear.  Do not leave faucets and taps on unattended.  Discolored water can stain laundry if done during this shut down and restoration period.

We will continue to keep City Council, WPS, Worcester State, residents and businesses updated via Twitter, Facebook, www.Worcesterma.gov, Channel 12, and through local media.  We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Note from me: no word yet on what this means for WPS. They are talking. I'll post as soon as I know.