On the Worcester reopening plan

 I had rather a lot to say and ask last night about our plan. Some of that was captured in Scott O'Connell's coverage; here are the notes I was speaking from (I don't usually write things out in this level of detail, but I thought it was warranted). You'll note that not everything here is what I said.

from my notes

I want to start by saying publicly how much I appreciate the degree to which the School Committee has been looped in periodically (in non quorum groups) to get periodic updates and give feedback. I know of communities in which essentially no one knew anything until the plan was being presented; that is not the case here, and I think the plan is better for it, but also the governance is better for it. Overall, I support what is being proposed here, and that is in part because I feel as though I understand the basis on which decisions were made.
I also think that one of the best things we have done during this term is spend time listening to people. It is an accident of time that the SOA public meetings and the pandemic happened during the same year, and while that is tragic in many ways, it means that we have spent hours and hours as a committee in public session listening. There isn’t always a lot of that. There has been this year.

We, as a local government, be remiss to vote this evening without noting in the strongest possible terms: we have been let down by every other branch of the government.

updated Worcester plan for fall

 is here, and I am still reading it. More once I have! 

Worcester: what we know so far

Let me just say up front: this is not going to be exhaustive, it is still going to abide by the ban on direct dealing, and things may well change this week.

A path forward?

UPDATE (8/12): PROPOSAL TO SCHOOL COMMITTEE

The plan as proposed so far: Most students start the year remote for at least the first quarter (mid-November). Students with the highest amount of need have the opportunity for in-person learning. The district then shifts or phases into a hybrid model (of 1/4 students each one day a week) sometime after the first quarter.

What needs to be decided now by families: The district is asking families to fill out a form to denote if they will switch from fully remote to hybrid when that becomes available, which at the earliest will be in November, in the district proposal. That does not change what will happen on September 15. The following Connect-Ed is going out to families this week: 

This is Superintendent Binienda. I am calling this afternoon, to let you know it is time for you to select your choice of learning plan for Quarter 2 for each of your children who attend the WPS.  Although we are beginning the school year with 100% remote, we need a count of each child's selection for Quarter 2 to effectively plan for any transitions. There will be a process for you to change your response as we progress into the Fall semester.  Please go to the WPS website worcesterschools.org.  click on the yellow ribbon, then click on the Educational Model Selection Form. You will need to use your child’s WPS ID and date of birth to fill out the form. If you do not know your child’s student number, call Coralys at 774-303-9719 or Michelle at 508-799-3115.  

Please fill out this form by Monday, August 17.

Yes, the form still has what was to be the original due date of Friday. Don't let that throw you off.

What happens this week: There is a meeting for Spanish-speaking families Tuesday evening at 5:30.

The Worcester School Committee meets and votes Thursday evening starting at 5:30. Yes, this is mostly still pending Committee vote (we won’t, for example, be changing to send everyone back into buildings, as we have already made clear, but this is subject to deliberation and further amendment). Entirely unsolicited opinion? Fill the form out Friday or over the weekend. 

Will the remote learning be taught by WPS teachers? Yes, for the entire year. 

Even after the hybrid kicks in? Yes.
Can we switch our answer later? Yes (see Superintendent Binienda's Connect-ed above)

Will my child still be in the school or program they currently are in if they choose to be remote this year? Yes, they will.

This will be updated as there is more to say or things change.

Remembering Mary

Today was the funeral Mass for Mary Enyonam Xatse, and I will miss her.

Mary's husband and mine went through the Worcester Roman Catholic diocese deaconal training program together, and so we were essentially classmates. 
Whenever Mary would see me somewhere, after she gave me a hug, she would draw back, take my arm, look me in the eye, and ask, "And how are the girls." It always seemed like a statement rather than a question, but one never spoke of anything else with Mary until how the children were had been established.
I was thinking of this today at her funeral mass, as the considerations of the week weigh (as they do for so many) heavily on my mind.
The story of the traditional greeting of the Masai being "and how are the children?" of course rings in my head (it's not clear this means quite what it's been presented as, incidentally), and I am hardly the first to observe that the one thing that the United States has not done during this is put the needs of our children first. 
I was asked yesterday if parents were right to feel angry; not only are they, but students and educators, and frankly all of us should, too.
But we should be angry not at our local school committees (even mine!), but at the leadership lacks at other levels. Yesterday's example was a  scolding by Governor Baker here in Massachusetts, at the same press conference at which he both was telling folks not to have family pool parties but was refusing to roll back business openings, and was announcing that the state's major response to the higher rates was, as best as I can understand, increased policing.
We do not have widespread testing.
We do not have widespread contact tracing.
There is no statewide standards on rolling back reopening schools should we get there.
I've proposed some things he could do that would actually be useful, instead of the weekly edition of the Commissioner scares the superintendents on one of their phone calls that he'll take away district funding or cut sports for remote learning and we all have to spend the rest of the week chasing that down. This is not a good use of our time and energy.
And that goes double for the federal government, about which I highly recommend this Atlantic piece.

If the children are the priority, that means we don't take lightly what the past number of months have done to children with special needs, or to children's mental health, or to childhood hunger, or to children's wellbeing. It also means we recognize the disease's actual impacts on them, including the racial disparities within that. It even means recognizing that not having school as we have had has been good for some children.

The operations of districts are underfunded, the capital needs of districts have been underresourced for generations, and, on the federal level, it looks like funding may be falling apart.

These aren't the actions of a federal and state government that prioritizes children's well being. 

But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24

Evaluating the superintendent

Composite evaluation presented by Mayor Petty is here

UPDATE: full individual evaluations are here.

And my full individual evaluation is after the jump:

Yes, if you decide to homeschool, it will hit your district's budget (but next year, and maybe?)

I've gotten this question often enough where I thought I should put it somewhere:

A family deciding to withdraw their family from the district and homeschool their children will impact that district's budget, but for the following year. 
Each October, districts submit their enrollment to the state. It is those enrollments (by grade, but also by everything else: English learning, poverty, program) that determine the next year's foundation budget, which in turn is what is used to calculate state aid.
Thus a family withdrawing a child this August (2020) won't be counted this October (2020) which hits the FY22 budget, calculated in January 2021 (remember, we're in FY21 now!).

HOWEVER: the state has a "hold harmless" provision in Chapter 70 aid, now written into the Student Opportunity Act, which prevents a district from losing state aid due to loss of enrollment.

Would the state still do that if there were a massive exit from districts? I don't know.

Further HOWEVER, a family deciding to participate in a district's remote learning option does not have this impact. You can choose to keep your child home, have them do the district's remote learning, and you'll still count as enrolled and won't hit the budget. It is only if you are fully homeschooling your child--determining curriculum, grading, and the like--that causes a child not to count in the district enrollment.

Every district in Massachusetts is required to have a remote learning program this year.

The Worcester superintendent is evaluated this week: how does it work?

The Worcester School Committee evaluates Superintendent Binienda this week, so it seemed a good chance to talk about how this works.