Worcester School Committee meets Thursday, January 5

The agenda is here.
The report of the superintendent is on MCAC college application day.
There are a few resignations and appointments.
The ongoing saga of there no longer being civil service exams for custodians continues.
Administration is back with a neat little spreadsheet comparing the cost of legal services; the Worcester Public Schools' amount is average (by percent of district spending). It may be worth noting here that Worcester doesn't charge back an amount for use of the city solicitor's office for legal services. Also, I'm curious about Boston's revolving fund.
Worcester won't be submitting an application to the MSBA Information Technology Loan program, as the district has maxed out its Erate amount and so isn't eligible.
In response to Miss Biancheria's request for an update on window projects, the committee has a full update on summer/fall facilities work. 
There is a response on the evaluation of principals (not a lot of detail; mostly who does it).
Mr. O'Connell is looking for information regarding the "successor agreement," which I'm assuming is the updated settlement with the Department of Justice; I'd heard there was one, but I haven't seen it or any mention of it anywhere. 
He's also looking for updated school websites.
There are a series of recognitions (someone may want to make a call about who gets music played during committee meetings and who doesn't...?) and requests for acceptance of a series of donations.
Mr. Monfredo would like to raise substitute pay to $85 a day in the next fiscal year.

There is also an executive session on PCBs (again) and a grievance.

Worcester School Committee meets tonight, November 17

Falling way behind on these, I fear...
The Worcester School Committee meets tonight at 7 pm. You can find the agenda here.
The main item on the agenda--pursuing a lawsuit against Monsanto regarding PCB use--has not only already been previewed by Scott O'Connell, but we already know it's going to pass: yes, a quorum of the School Committee indicated in the article that they plan to vote in favor of the item, thus violating the Open Meeting Law. While there are plenty of lawsuits against Monsanto, the ones that have been successful, as far as I can tell, were individuals suing Monsanto for cases of cancer. There isn't a clear trail of cases that show this could work.

The student representative is bringing forward something about the cell phone policy (cheers!)

The report of the Superintendent is on the revamped Office of Curriculum and Professional Learning.

There are some retirements, resignations, and appointments.

There is a response regarding services for Deaf students.
There is a response regarding recess equipment.
There is a response regarding school accountability levels  and what is being done in response to them.

Mr. O'Connell is concerned about the accessibility of the website.
He also wants Worcester to be part of DESE's "Planning for Success"
He also wants WPS to have net metering (which would be up to the city).

There are a number of donations that the administration is asking the School Committee to accept.

Miss Biancheria would like a report on manufacturing options.

There is also an executive session at 6 pm, for negotiations with plumbers and pipefitters, computer technicians, tradesmen, instructional assistants; for three workers compension cases; and for the lawsuit with the union regarding PCB testing. I wouldn't expect the meeting to start on time.

and no liveblog from me 

Good post on district use of social media!

I just want to highlight this post on district use of social media in communicating with families:

Anderson advises schools and districts to survey parents about their social media access, habits and preferences. Then, he suggests they start small. “Maybe you’re already publishing a few stories a week on your school website about a new technology initiative or kids winning awards,” he said. “All we’re going to do is post that link in one more place, like Twitter. I’m looking for quick and easy ways that fit into the workflow, and aren’t a burden to teachers.”

A few summer operational updates

A few updates on WPS operations (largely gleaned from emails and conversations; sorry to be link-less!):

• Regarding the website: yes, I know, I miss it, too...here's what's going on: Because Erate is no longer funding webhosting, we either had to spend significant money to continue to have the site where it was or start to host it in house. To save money, it's being hosted in house, but that means migrating all information over. And it isn't just being migrated over; it's being checked for accuracy as we go. IT started that July 1, so we could fully finish the school year before anything came down; the last estimate I had was that we should have it all over by the end of the month. In the meantime, last year's bus schedules were something parents were looking for and now are back up; I'd expect this year's the week before school starts, as usual. And while right now, information is just being moved, the website will be changed and updated once that's done.
• We have windows going in! If you've gone by West Tatnuck, Clark Street, Goddard, or Union Hill, you've seen the windows come out, the plywood go up, and now new windows going in! I've been told that the windows themselves are all expected to be in at West Tatnuck, Goddard, and Clark Street; we expect that there will be remaining trim work to be done once school is back in session (I'd expect second shift). Goddard, which is the biggest project, may take some time into the school year to get all the new windows in. And it wouldn't surprise me to have an official update on this sometime before school starts; the above is the unofficial version that comes from asking questions.

Happy back to school!

A few reminders:

• While most students went back today, our kindergarten and preschool students don't start until next Tuesday (sorry, typo earlier!). All kindergarten students should have a screening appointment with their teachers this week; if your child doesn't have one, please contact your school.
• Among the myriad of things that will be heading home for a parent signature this week is the Student Policy manual. You can find it online here in multiple languages. Signing it means that you've read it, so do give it a read and keep it around!
• Remember that you can pay for school lunches online through the Parent Portal (YIKES! Which is down right now! I'll check it out and get back to you.).The price of school lunch for all students who pay full price is $1.65 this year; reduced price lunch remains 40 cents.
• The WPS bus schedules are here. If you have a difficulty with your child's bus, CALL THE SCHOOL FIRST! There's a decent chance that whatever the issue is, it isn't just your child, and the school can turn it all in together. 
• All schools have websites, 'though they vary WIDELY in how much is done with them. I've already today gotten some "I wish this was on there" type of comments; let me know if you have some to pass along!
• If you text "follow @worcesterpublic" to 40404 on your phone, you will get the district's Twitter feed as text messages (just be sure you know your rate plan). What does this mean? School cancellations and postponements as a text message! 

As always, know that you can get in touch with the School Committee if you get stuck. 

It appears that I will have to post this here

I wasn't going to post on today's T&G editorial, which largely repeats much of what was said in earlier editorials, as well as repeats some of last Tuesday's confusion. It also continues the "math is hard" attitude that the budget is far too complicated for mere humans.
This last is simply not true.
As is my habit, 'though, I read the comments, because it's not uncommon for legitimate questions from citizens to show up in response to such a column. Thus this evening, I responded to a series of questions regarding the WPS budget with a post much like the following:

It does not take 'significant expertise' to understand the Worcester Public Schools budget, which is a straightforward document (and intentionally so).
  You can find the WPS administration budget--which includes both central and school-based administration--on page 99 of the FY13 budget here:
 http://cfo.worcesterschools.org/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?gid=943960&fid=17332251&sessionid=a62bf2ebbfda610d15bae218dcfba743&#page=109
For this fiscal year, the Worcester Public Schools have budgeted $11.4 million for administration, of which $2.5 million is for central administration; the remainder is school-based administration, which includes principals and assistant principals.
If you are interested in the positions within central administration, you can find that in the Durkin building budget on page 288 of the FY13 here:
 http://cfo.worcesterschools.org/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?gid=943960&fid=17332251&sessionid=a62bf2ebbfda610d15bae218dcfba743&#page=298
This includes every position that works in the Durkin Administration Building, including all secretaries and support staff. Salaries are specified by position. 
Over the past several years, we have had a smaller number of central administrators than previously.  

The comment was posted at about 6:20 this evening.
It appears, however, that this comment displeased someone, for it was 'removed' at 6:26.

I will only add that for those who have confusion regarding the WPS budget, there are many of us who would be more than happy to answer your questions.
When we are given the chance.

Colorio suggestion on partnerships

asking if we can put something on our website where schools can post needs
Superintendent speaking here of WEC and "the community responsibility report"
suggests updating the School Committee on that
concerned that any such spot on the website would rapidly be out of date

Worcester School Committee meeting tonight

There are other reasons to be downtown this evening, but there is a regular meeting of the Worcester School Committee tonight. You'll find the agenda is a bit brief this evening; we did just meet last week.
In addition to the aforementioned reconsideration of the gym/sports item,  there's a report back on the hiring of principals, the RTTT grant item that we held from last week (I assume we're getting an oral response on that, as the backup is the same), and the quarterly report on how our automatic email system is doing (apparently the vendors have found it).

Useful links

Among the useful links now topping the Worcester Public Schools' main page is a master list of Know Your School Nights by quadrant. Helpful if your school hasn't let you know when your child's is!

More useful things on the WPS website

There is a list of all street addresses in the city in alphabetical order, giving the neighborhood elementary, middle, and high school. I'm told a map is in the works.

There is also a new RSS feed for the main page of the site. So far, it appears specific school RSS feeds are limited to those working for the district (I'll try to find out more about that).
The most useful thing? If you sign up, you'll get a the "school is delayed/canceled" message as soon as it's posted!

Two things from yesterday

Sorry, off for the primary yesterday...

While I was off, two things of educational import happened:

• the President gave his start-of-school address to students. You can watch it here or read the text. (Note that you can also watch it on the Worcester Public Schools website: nice one!) Note that the choice of location of Masterman was not without controversy. Obama was very directly speaking to students this year about working hard in school. I wish he were a bit less focused on the "America is going to succeed in the 21st century" message..once in awhile, it would be nice to acknowledge these students as the future citizens of America, not just the future workers.
  
• the 2010 MCAS results by district were released. The WPS site is linking to a useful tutorial for parents from the state. Note that individual student results will be out in a few weeks.
  

Foley on Boone

work of the superintendent reflects the work of the administration, cites Allen by name
"school district does not have the luxury of time"
"laser-like on performance based results"
"school committee needs to have confidence in the professional experience of Dr. Boone"
"much work remains to bring the members of the school committee and superintendent" together
suggests individual meetings with SC members
"significant realignment of administrative support"
"talented external hires"
schools "held more accountability"
cites innovation schools as "an exciting opportunity"
cites "zero-based budget"
grades student achievement as "incomplete" as we won't know for some years
public communication "started talking...before she came and has not stopped talking since!"
stated that schools should be school of choice
"really bring parents to the table as partners"
"cautious and strategic about these sessions" (community sessions)
cultivating relationship with legislative delegation
"accountability by all at the forefront of the plan"
"limited tools much more creatively" (in communicating) (Foley jokes that spring rating sweeps were down)
cites Boone as "the district's best marketing tool"
"outstanding professional"

Schools by street

And in case you've ever wondered how the schools are organized (and a handy tool for those moving to town), you can find the schools by street here.

Weighing in

You can now send feedback of various kinds on the Worcester Public Schools to citizensfeedback@worc.k12.ma.us
(Thanks, T!)

Worcester Public Schools budget is UP

You will find the Worcester Public Schools budget here.
(caution: that is the whole thing, so it's a biggie)
The executive summary is here.
You can also find it by going to the Worcester Public Schools webpage, clicking on Departments, then Chief Financial and Operations Officer, then FY11 budget documents. I assume it'll be moved to the front page next week.

Comments, as you read, welcome! I just got my copy this afternoon, and I haven't looked through it yet.

H1N1 shots and the snowstorm

So I was pleased to see, over on the WPS website, that the possibility of school being cancelled or delayed by snow and how this would wrangle with the H1N1 clinics is being dealt with.

If school is on, the clinic is on.
If school is cancelled, the clinic gets moved to Thursday.

Here's the part that confused me, and so I called to figure it out: if school is delayed, what happens? It says the clinic goes on "as scheduled."

Well, it means just what it says. If your child is scheduled to go at 8 or 9, and school is delayed, the clinic still starts at 8 or 9.

THERE IS NO DELAY ON THE CLINIC.
I wish this were a bit clearer.

UPDATE: Then we got a phone call saying that the clinic is postponed to next Tuesday.

Website presentation at CPPAC

...is going to be tech-free tonight, without the PowerPoint presentation.
Karen Norton is going to talk through what she was talking about.
Web people met with parents, students, principals, administration, EAW...compiled a wishlist.
The part that's up now is the main piece of it, but more will be added.
"worcesterschools.org" is the new address, "thought it was a bit more catchy"
Each school has their own site: ex: north.worcesterschools.org
School fusion is the system being used: "allows to share resources"
Principals can update their own sites, have passwords, 'though many haven't done much with it yet. Flagg Street (flagg.worcesterschools.org) has, updating calendar ('though I'm noticing that it is loading s-l-o-w-l-y).
Each site has some differences (between elementary and middle and high schools) in design.
Guidance section is being built now, college planning section. Announcements feature is working for all sites.
There's an archive of news and announcements, too.

On each site there's a staff directory link and a classroom link (as asked for by CPPAC).
Teachers can create a classroom website, if they choose.

Worcester education channel streaming online.

Right now, teachers are being given access to their sites (not mandated by contract, so it can't be mandated as yet, but offered).
Any group that wants to use space (CPPAC, PTO sites)

The website CAN do grades but will not do grades as yet.
webmaster@worc.k12.ma.us

Question on a community calendar added? Eventually.
How are we letting people know about this? There is administrative report.
Signed on with School Fusion in February, site up on August 31.
Is there a way of helping teachers who aren't as up-to-speed on technology? Two sections in the professional development catalog, not enough teachers to fill the second section.
Some of the computers in the schools just don't work. How can we help you make it work in the buildings? We got computers after the census last time...hmmm...the census is next year.

CPPAC for October

Tonight's main presenter is Karen Norton, who will be presenting on the Worcester Public Schools website.

Apparently, there are some technical difficulties on that...intro's first tonight.

This time for sure

WPS bus routes really are now up!

And just in time...

It also appears that some of the holdup was that the administration was loading their new website, with the new address worcesterschools.org

Kudos also to new superintendent Melinda Boone for recording the welcome Connect-ED message that went out to all parents last night herself.

And for all of you in education: Best wishes for your new year!