Agenda Preview: April 2 School Committee Meeting
Autism Program Updates, Proposed New Math Curriculum Approval, Middle School Recess
Before we get to the agenda preview, I want to make sure you mark your calendar for April 9 for a forum called: State Funding and Worcester Schools: What You Need to Know. It will focus on Worcester and the state education budget with guest Anthony Clough of Mass Budget (and previously of WRRB). Ninety percent of understanding the WPS budget is understanding the state budget. I hope to see you there!
April 2 School Committee Meeting
The next school committee meeting is scheduled for April 2. Executive session starts at 5 p.m. and the regular meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. The actual start time depends on how long the executive session takes. See the agenda here. You can watch it via zoom or Youtube Live. Spanish translation is available on zoom.
Here’s my preview:
Executive Session consists of discussing collective bargaining strategy, as well as strategy with respect to negotiations for Tammy Murray, Director of Special Education (and husband of Tim Murray).
Adding Recess to the Middle Schools.
There is a public petition from Sullivan Middle School students requesting that recess be added back to the middle schools.
Report of the Superintendent
This month’s Report of the Superintendent is on Autism program updates. The focus is on the SAIL program, which stands for Specialized Approaches to Individual Learning.
New Elementary Math Curriculum Approval.
There’s an item requesting the school committee authorize the purchase of a six-year contract for a new elementary math curriculum, Reveal Math, not to exceed $3.2 million. The backup does not include the contract up for authorization.
For some background, the district says the new curriulum would provide more consistent instruction across schools, stronger supports for multilingual learners, more opportunities for discourse and problem solving, and better alignment with grades 7–12, which have been using Reveal since last fall. District leaders feel that because teachers have been heavily supplementing the current curriculum, students are not receiving the same learning experience across classrooms. They have also pointed to the fact that Reveal is already being used in grades 7 through Algebra 2, saying a K–6 adoption would improve K–12 “vertical alignment.” (I was not able to find examples of other Massachusetts districts using the same curriculum across K–12.)
At the Teaching, Learning, and Student Success subcommittee discussion on March 23, math curriculum liaison Heather Farrington described Reveal as offering stronger language supports, more structured problem solving, more opportunities for student discourse and collaboration, built-in differentiation, better digital tools, and a clearer lesson structure. The district also outlined a yearlong implementation plan intended to support the transition. Farrington said elementary curriculum maps would be updated by mid-May, followed by district onboarding in early June and several days of training for teachers. If some of that training takes place during the school day, it could also mean teachers are pulled from classrooms, raising concern about substitute coverage and lost instructional time for students during the transition.
Questions remain about both the process and the timing of the change. Elementary teachers did not pilot the curriculum, and it was not clear how they were involved in the selection process. The teachers’ union was also not informed until the proposal appeared on the School Committee agenda. At the same time, district data reportedly shows that midyear math performance across grades 1–9 is currently the highest it has been since Worcester began using the Star assessment.
Other Items.
Sue Mailman (at-large) has an item requesting the implementation of a formal process for logging race-related complaints across all sports.
There is a report on the progress of the high school grading change to “mastery based grading” and an update on the roll out for middle school which is planned for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
An update on programs that address cyber bullying and social media
Proposed Policy Updates.
A bunch of proposed policy updates are up for approval, including:
The removal of the third party service opt-out form as related to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
A policy update that due to electronic messages between public officials potentially being considered public records, “the district shall provide district e-mail addresses, cellular telephones, and laptop or iPad to members of the School Committee, which are archived” and the school committee members must use these for all district business
A policy clarification that schools cannot host raffles or games of chance as the sponsoring organization, and that students and student groups are also barred from hosting raffles and games of chance, and from participating in sales or buying tickets.
That’s it. Have a good week! If you have feedback you can always get in touch: aislinn.doyle@me.com
Immediately saved the date for WEJA's budget meeting, thank you! The student petition for recess is so well done!!