Special Education Parent Advisory Council seeks new members

The Special Education Parent Advisory Council is seeking new members.

If you are interested in joining the Worcester Special Education Parent Advisory Council
please send your:  
Name
School your child attends
phone number
email address

send to the PAC at: worcspedpac@worcesterspedpac.org

They will receive requests to join the board until May 1st. All parents interested will be sent an email to attend a board meeting for official nominations and voting.

Joint meeting: UPDATED 2x

I didn't liveblog last night partly because they were both presentations we'd seen before (with the differences I note below), and also because it was pretty close quarters up at that long table. Somewhat annoyingly, the presentations are not attachments on the Council agenda or the School Committee agenda, nor are they on the respective budgetary pages. I'll have to see if we can work on that. UPDATE: WPS has it up now. You can find it in the Finance and Operations department under FY12.


On the presentations:

• The Manager's presentation (notes from previous presentation here) had two changes from previously: he acknowledged that the increase in school funding is due to state law (thank you!), and he also went into the greatest amount of detail I've yet seen on the new insurance plans (and this is why it's a shame that it isn't up anywhere, because that chart is really important; but Worcester Magazine now has it posted.). The plan(s) he's put together are much better than we previously had seen (all we'd gotten before was news of a big, scary deductible), and that puts negotiating those in a very different light.
• The Superintendent's presentation (notes from previous presentation here) had a few new charts: one that mirrored the city's cut history (for the city, 581 positions since FY01; for the schools, 461 since FY02...I should find out what happens if WPS adds the previous year...), and two that demonstrated that the increase in school funding has reflected an increase in funds the city has available (that's how the foundation budget is calculated, after all!), so at the end of the day, the schools are still being funded at precisely the same percentage of city wealth--29.2-- they have been, below the 30.7% recommended by the state.

On the comments:

• It's time we had the Mass School Building Authority come in and talk to the City Council. I understand that it's an election year and that the west side votes heavily, but I promise you: there's no way that the state is going to think that Doherty is Worcester's highest priority for state funding for rehab. It just isn't going to happen. So long as Worcester wants state funding to help out with rehab and replacement, we have to go by their list, and Doherty's not that high up.
• Having Councilors talk about adding an exam school whilst voting for the lowest amount of legally allowed school funding = irony.
• Much conversation about GIC, GIC-like, what the Legislature may or may not do.

• And I asked, understanding that this was not the year, but also seeing good years which apparently also were not the year: Under what circumstances would the city propose a budget that funded the schools at something over foundation? I was met with silence.

• 
  

Hmmmm...

Hayes, a vocal critic of Sheffield, is a founding member of the Watchdogs for Ethics in Education, or WEE.
She and other members of WEE have filed several requests for information from the district under the Freedom of Information Act. If Hayes is elected to the board, she doesn’t want to have to continue that practice. Saudargas and board member Jude Makulec have resorted to FOIA requests in recent months to obtain information...

From the Rockford Register Star, Rockford, IL, where the superintendent is  LaVonne Sheffield, yes, Broad class of 2002 and where they not incidentally are having a school board election today that in part has been focused on her tenure there.

And speaking of FOIAs, no, I haven't forgotten ours. I'm reviewing the WPS documents around Goddard, and I'll post on them later this week.

Reminders

There will be a joint meeting of the Worcester School Committee and the Worcester City Council tonight at 7 pm at City Hall (in the Levi Lincoln room; turn RIGHT at the top of the stairs). FY12 budget is the agenda.
So as to allow for attendance at that meeting, CPPAC will be holding their monthly meeting at the library at 6pm: an update on parental involvement in the budget (by survey and by advocacy) is on the agenda, as is an update on their parental expo later this spring.

Tying teacher evaluation to student test scores?

You might be interested in the choices made by our national education "deciders" on tying teacher evaluation to student test scores. If this is a great idea, then, surely, it's something they've chosen for their own children?
As you probably know, President Obama's daughters go to Sidwell Friends. Their answer:

“We don't tie teacher pay to test scores because we don't believe them to be a reliable indicator of teacher effectiveness.”

(Sidwell Friends faculty member, April 1, 2011)

Secretary Duncan's children go to Arlington, Virginia public schools. Their answer:

“We do not tie teacher evaluations to scores in the Arlington public school system.” 

            (Arlington school district teacher, March 31, 2011)

So, President Obama and Secretary Duncan: when do we get this sort of school system for all our children?

Here it comes

Remember Secretary Duncan's 82% not meeting AYP?
In Vermont, 72 percent of their schools aren't making AYP this year.

Meetings next week

While the agenda (plural) won't be out until later today, mark your calendar now for:

• Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports subcommittee meets on Monday at 6pm on the fourth floor of the Durkin Administration Building. I have not seen the entire agenda as yet, but I know that it includes computer gaming, IEP's, and RECESS (this time for sure!). Please come or weigh in ahead of time if you have thoughts!
• The Worcester School Committee and the Worcester City Council will have a joint meeting on Tuesday at 7pm. There will be budget presentations by both administrations (expect dueling PowerPoints). I've been told that this will be in the Levi Lincoln room (so there's no fighting over desks. You think I'm kidding?).
• The Worcester School Committee will have its regularly scheduled meeting next Thursday, also at City Hall, also at 7pm. The presentations by the innovation schools will be the bulk of the agenda. This brings me to my light reading for the week:

 

Yes, those are the plans!
Superintendent Boone will not be at the Thursday School Committee meeting, as there is a Promise Neighborhood meeting she is attending in New York City.