Agenda Preview: August 14 School Committee Meeting
Gene Haas Donation Round Two, Brian Allen's Entry Plan, Mastery Based Grading
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August 14 School Committee Meeting
The next school committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 14; executive session starts at 4 p.m. and the regular session starts at 5 p.m., or later depending on when executive session ends. See the full agenda here. You can watch it via Zoom or YouTube live. Spanish translation is available on Zoom and the YouTube recordings have translated closed captions in tons of languages (the automatic translations are hit or miss).
I know it’s August, but this meeting is not a sleepy one! There’s a lot on this agenda, so much that I couldn’t cover it all here. In order to be as brief as possible I tried to focus on the most relevant items that are up for approval (versus the ones going to committee to be discussed.) Here’s my preview:
Executive Session. Tons of collective bargaining agreements on the docket. A strong reminder that one of the biggest issues for the next school committee term is negotiations of contracts, including the teachers’ contract. Unlike city council, the school committee negotiates directly with unions.
And while we’re on the topic, other issues I think are the most important for the next elected school committee:
Starting the process for a new five year strategic plan. The current plan runs until June 2028, which means the process for the next one needs to start in 2027.
Approving the redistricting of school boundaries to balance enrollment (will we also talk about the opportunity here to work towards desegregating our schools?)
Searching for the next superintendent. Superintendent Brian Allen’s contract ends in June 2028, so the committee would ideally start the conversations about the search process for the next Superintendent in the summer/early fall of 2027. Or they also have the power to extend his contract.
Just some things to consider as you are learning more about the candidates and their platforms.
Approval of naming the advanced manufacturing program at Worcester Tech after convicted criminal Gene Haas.
It’s back! The Gene Haas naming at Worcester Tech was first considered by the school committee in October 2023 when the Gene Haas Foundation offered to donate $350,000 for upgrades to Worcester Tech, but with naming rights attached. The debate on the school committee floor at the time was around the ethics of naming something in a school after a convicted criminal (Haas was convicted of tax fraud in 2006). The naming did not move forward, and you should read the excellent coverage from Kiernan Dunlap on this for context. Now up for approval is “A substantial financial grant ($500,000) offered in exchange for naming rights to the Advanced Manufacturing program.”
This is also the first test of the new naming policy, which states, “Naming a school facility is an important and meaningful action that must be approached with transparency, consistency, and respect for Worcester Public Schools’ educational mission, civic values, and community identity.” This item is up for approval as part of the “consent agenda” as accepting a donation, but according to the naming policy a new name must be “reviewed by the FOG Subcommittee. Following FOG review, proposals may be referred to the Naming Committee for evaluation and recommendation.” Then “The full School Committee must vote to approve or deny any dedication proposal.” It appears it would be a violation of that policy to approve this naming without it going to FOG first.
Mastery Based Grading Approval.
You might remember from last month’s brief that the Finance, Operations and Governance subcommittee had “Mastery Based Grading Practices” as its sole item for a special meeting on July 8. The item did not make it out of subcommittee due to a 2-2 vote (Kathi Roy and Jermaine Johnson voted against), and so it was back on the agenda for a special August 5 FOG meeting for more discussion. At that August 5 meeting Magdalena Ganias, Director of Compliance & School Improvement, gave an overview of the steps taken over the last two years come up with this new grading system, and that the goal is about changing high school and middle school grading practices to reflect “understanding over task completion, encouraging deeper engagement and skill development” and to “ensure grades reflect learning, not external challenges.” She emphasized that the goal is to “prevent inconsistencies across classrooms.” This will be a big cultural shift for teachers, students, and families alike.
Some key changes include:
Students will have a chance to do revisions to work to show mastery.
Teachers will need to classify assignments as major and minor.
That students will get no lower than a 40 if they do not submit work.
Ganias emphasized that this does not mean teachers lose the right to give a zero. Teachers can do so when students don’t show up to a class or haven’t done any work. The change applies to students actively trying. A 0 is really hard to recover from. A 40 makes it easier for struggling students to bring their grades up to passing.
Other school districts that use this system are Boston, Concord-Carlisle, Lincoln-Sudbury, Needham, Newton, Shrewsbury, Wayland, Wellesley, Weston and Westwood (interestingly, these are some of the wealthiest school districts in Massachusetts with very high college-going rates).
The FOG subcommittee approved implementation in all the high schools for this school year and asked for a few reports back on how it's going (including feedback from teachers and students). It is up for full committee approval at this August 14 meeting.
Superintendent’s Report. The Superintendent report is on the results of previous superintendent Dr. Monárrez’s goals from the 2023-2024 school year, as well as current Superintendent Brian Allen’s entry plan. As a reminder here are the goals from 2023-2024
100 percent completion of highest priority emergency projects identified in the safety audit
narrowing the gap between overall student and staff demographics by 10 percent
increasing Grade 3 reading performance demonstrated by the STAR assessment
increasing the percentage of secondary (grades 7-12) students who self-report that they are engaged in school
The Superintendent's entry plan is ambitious and extensive, including the goal of visiting every single school by the end of September.
Update on student liaison officer model.
A request from Alex Guardiola (district D) for an update on the student liaison officer (SLO) model. In the last update from the district in September 2024, the administration wrote that the SLO MOU has been replaced with an “Operating Agreement” and that “The elements of the operating agreement continue the collaboration between the WPS and WPD, continue communication protocols between the WPS and WPD, and establish a police scholar engagement program (for sixth-grade students).” Police eliminated The SLO model, saying they couldn’t staff it.
Other items:
To review and approve the Administrator Injuries from Student Encounters policy. (Not sure why this isn’t going to the FOG subcommittee first.)
A progress report on the DESE special education audit.
A request from the district to have an ongoing review of the student handbook throughout the school year in order to “provide a structured opportunity for timely updates as needed throughout the year.”
Have a great week! If you have feedback you can always get in touch: aislinn.doyle@me.com
Is the union backing mastery grading?