sending lease of space out to bid for IB school

O'Connell: space for program at Doherty
"effort not to spend dollars on buildings and grounds unless there are truly other options"
look at other options: suggests facilties we own
this would take a) more space and b) lab space that doesn't exist
"if we can save money here, let's save money here"
Petty: we had a report several months ago that went through all of this
Boone: came back a year ago in the site survey
in advance of the School Committee taking a vote, that Doherty could not house it and we did not have a facility
"I do believe Mr. O'Connell will remember this"
believe this is another attempt to create the high school academy by raising issues of costs
have recieved the support of the city
St. Spiridon has four classrooms: would not accommodate program
"have truly done our due diligence"
"don't think we should look to derail the high school academy"
O'Connell: real issue is with the program
differences of opinion about models; strong support for a gifted program
if administration has looked at the sites, then we send out the RFP

Petty: once we get the RFP, we'll have that discussion

Biancheria: is there a copy of the RFP
Allen: it is not in the backup; if authority is given to proceed, we can provide it in a Friday letter

RFP motion passes on a roll call unanimously

Report of the superintendent: alternative education

the report is here as held from the previous meeting

Boone: not just say we're doing things, but evaluate how they're put in place
last month presented information on the arts magnet pathway in the city
have done the same thing with alternative education
"should not be substandard education"
Rodrigues: received an alternative education grant for this evaluation
Education Development Center looked at Creamer Center, Challenge Academy, Reach Academy, Safety center, transition center, Woodward Day (under the collaborative)
effective alternative education programs:

• small in size
• flexible schedules and structures
• faculty adjusts approaches to meet their students needs

since this report was provided to us, already able to put recommendations into action

evaluator really saw a lot of strengths in our program

Dr. Boone

posting as we go
(and incidently, the T&G coverage is here)
Petty: would like to wish you well
judge a person with how you leave a position and how you make the schools better for the students
believe students are better off
graduation rates up , drop off rates down
building new Nelson Place
real changes in Claremont
improvement of Level 4 schools
most innovation schools in the state
known for the fairness of the allocation of resources in the city of Worcester
make sure every school got fair resources
presenting key to the City and a chair

Public comment: IAs in Kindergarten

Zalauskas, EAW president: speaking on behalf of parents at City View schools
recently experienced loss of IAs in kindergarten
what is the formula for assignment of IAs?
60 parents signed a petition about it
I should note that we have a chart on the number students in kindergarten classes, which is how IAs are assigned: larger classes get them first. City View's kindergarten are 20, 21,21; they have 1 assigned to the building. Borrowing Steve Foskett's photo:

parent: they do a great job there, but they only have one IA who goes from class to class each day
would be a very big help
parent: when we first enrolled her, we enrolled her in first grade and she had to roll back to kindergarten. IA was a huge help to assure her that she wasn't a baby and hadn't done something wrong. Why were they taken out of City View and put in a school...it's something I would like to see back.
Petty: we go through this every year; if we had our way, we'd put an IA in every kindergarten. Importance of early years
our state delegation put Kindergarten grant back in; 20 IAs
63 IAs; 90 kindergarten classes
Boone: "over time...grant has diminished"
state cut Quality K grant in March; do we lay off IAs to balance the books or do we take from elsewhere? Took from elsewhere
share concern
district would need an additional $750,000 to have an IA in every classroom (as well as keep Quality K grant)
challenge when we don't have an IA in every classroom, and try to maintain reasonable class sizes
currently five schools in same predicament with one shared IA
overall enrollment, class size, need of class
Petty offers to go over numbers with parents

Worcester School Committee meets at seven

Apologies for not doing a summary ahead of time this week.
The agenda is here; the report of the superintendent is on alternative schools.
And we should note that this is Superintendent Boone's last meeting with us.

Meeting the needs of students in poverty (MASC conference)

Margaret McKenna, who introduces herself as the daughter of two Central Falls (RI) schoolteachers.
"the first thing we should do is say the word 'poverty'"
"you don't hear it much said now...it should be the number one topic"

MASC delegates assembly

A quick summary of the actions at the MASC Delegates Assembly today (you can download our manual, which has the full text of all proposed resolutions, here)

• Resolution 1, to work for a comprehensive study on high school start times, passed.
• Resolution 2, to prioritize an agenda for support and services for children in poverty, passed.
• Resolution 3, to determine where a child's test score counts by where they are on October 1, passed.
• A "sense of the assembly" supporting a moratorium on high-stakes testing, passed 66 to 42.
• Resolution 4, to support an equitable and sustainable placement program for homeless students, passed.
• Resolution 5, to support a tax reform ballot initiative (not cited by name), failed on a counted vote.
• Resolution 6, to call for a school committee seat on the Board of Ed, passed, as did a call for an end to the MGL that bars school committee members or district employees from serving.
• Resolution 7, to call for an end of the use of TS Gold student assessment, passed.

The amendments to the bylaws passed unanimously.

Patrick Murphy of Barnstable was elected President-elect.

Beverly Hugo of Framingham was elected Vice President

Devin Sheehan of Holyoke was elected Secretary-Treasurer

...and Jake Oliveira of Ludlow becomes President in January by virtue of his election to President-elect last November.