Ending the year and the term

 I had every intention of writing you at least two blog posts this week--one for what happened December 21, and one for what to know and consider in the next Worcester School Committee term--but COVID knocked me flat this week. 

As the year and term ends, then, I'll leave you with how I closed with the Committee on the 21st.

Some things to read today

•  I was struck by this piece in The Nation on student voices being ignored. It's short, but it's food for thought. 
  
  
• In a similar vein, Governing has this piece on public officials listening to their communities.
  
  
• The dangerous anti-vaccine movement that we saw grow so much during the height of the pandemic is growing in influence in statehouses.
  
  
• Every time I see another "parents outraged" on Satan after school clubs and schools panicking, I want to rant about people NEEDING TO GOOGLE, but this piece in The New Republic spells out where this is coming from, and why you should blame Clarence Thomas.

Secretary Tutwiler gets it

 He's more than the face on the attendance billboards:

As I often say, absenteeism is really a manifestation of a need being unmet. We need to think carefully about questions like, is there a mental health challenge the student is experiencing? Do they have stable housing and enough food? Those are the kinds of things that we're having deep conversations about. In our first fiscal year, we really were thoughtful about investing in mental health strategies and universal [mental health] screeners. I think we're going to see improvements over the coming years. But it is a big issue and we're paying close attention to it.

This is not, of course, how the Commissioner has been approaching this issue at all.  

This may get interesting in the new year. 

Tuesday's Board of Ed meeting agenda: UPDATED

...squeaked in on the legal posting with fifteen minutes to spare this morning. You can find it here.

It's a two item agenda:

• Boston Public Schools
• "Chronic Absenteeism and Proposed Changes to 2024 District and School Accountability Reporting" with that tagged as "Continuing Discussion and Vote to Solicit Public Comment"

The first, of course, is Boston finally getting to be at the table when they're discussed, as opposed to the Board discussing them in their absence when it's not a posted agenda topic. We will, no doubt, hear about bathrooms and buses, as well as English learners and special education. 
And gosh, watch the gender dynamics on this one.

The second is, of course, the continuation of the "these kids need to get in school, districts!" that we've seen at two meetings now. At the last meeting, the Board was reminded that this is not a matter of state regulation, so there are not requirements around time for public comment of a particular length. However, this is, I'll be honest, not the direction I thought we'd see at this meeting. 
There is, as yet, no backup, so we don't have any idea what is being proposed. Don't you love a surprise?

The meeting is also being held at the McCormick Building in Boston, which requires photo identification and scanning of a metal detector to enter. There appears to continue to be no provision for public comment remotely. 

But if you have thoughts on the above, you should get in touch with the Board. 

UPDATE: The meeting was cancelled this morning, but you should still get in touch with the Board. 

BURNCOAT IS IN!

 Burncoat High School was accepted into the Mass School Building Authority pipeline today, entering the Eligibility Period.

Burncoat's the oldest of our comprehensive high schools, being built in 1964. It serves 1174 students, and is home of both the arts magnet program and the dual language program. 

YAY!!

In which the Globe misses the plot on education funding

 ...I feel as if the above title should continue "Part X of a continuing series"

Yesterday, the Boston Globe posted an article with the following headline: 

Globe headline reads:
"Pandemic funding for Mass. schools is going away, but state funding should soften the blow"

The crux of the piece is:

In Massachusetts at least, schools will probably be much better off than those in neighboring states for the next school year, according to a recent analysis from Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. The research center found that while the end of federal aid could mean, on average, a 3 percent reduction in funding in Massachusetts, most districts will probably see that loss mitigated by increased state aid.

aka: It's going to be less money everywhere, but it's going to be a smaller loss in Massachusetts. 

Burncoat's on the MSBA agenda to be invited into Eligibility!

 The Mass School Building Authority has their final Board meeting on Wednesday, and their agenda (which I've shared here) includes an proposed (subject to Board vote) invitation to Eligibility which will be of local interest (last in alphabetical order): 

The meeting starts at 10 am. 
While I never count out a public body, let me also share that I have never known the Board to vote against such a recommendation. 
I'll have my Burncoat green on Wednesday, and I'll update as we have news! 

LET'S BE SUPER CLEAR HERE, incidentally, that the work that we and others did on raising the MSBA cap, both in SOA and in the last budget, and on setting accelerated repair outside the cap was what enabled that list you've seen above! GOOD WORK, all!