Agenda Preview: June 6th School Committee Meeting
Agenda Preview: June 6th School Committee Meeting
Budget, cell phone policy reconsideration, 16 reports
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June 6 School Committee Meeting
The next school committee meeting is scheduled for June 6. The budget session starts at 4 p.m., executive session starts at 6 p.m., and the general meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Actual start time depends on how long the executive session takes. See the agenda here. You can watch it via zoom or Facebook live. Spanish translation is available on zoom.
Here’s my preview:
Budget deliberation. The first school committee deliberation of the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 school year will happen at 4 p.m. and is scheduled to last two hours. Read up on the budget highlights in the May WPS in Brief.
Cell Phone Policy Reconsideration. Member Molly McCullough (district A) filed for reconsideration of the cell phone policy approved at the May 16 school committee meeting because the 5-3 vote did not meet the two-thirds needed for ammending a policy, according to school committee rules. Reconsideration is something school committee members can do within 48 (business) hours of a vote. This means that the cell phone policy reverts to the previous policy while reconsideration takes place.
Two Namings. There is a public petition from City Councilor Khrystian King, requesting that the committee consider naming the Doherty basketball court in honor of Officer Enmanuel Familia, who died three years ago while trying to save teens from drowning. Relatedly, there is also a pending request from School Committee Member Molly McCullough (district A) to consider naming something at Doherty after fallen firefighter Jason Menard.
There is also a request from Mayor Joe Petty that the Chandler Elementary basketball court be named in memory of Antonio Rossi. According to a press release, developer Anthony Rossi donated money to help update the playspace/basketball court at Chandler Elementary. I did a cursory search of the school committee minutes for the donation amount, and could not find when the donation was approved. It is not clear if Antonio Rossi is related (I asked the district today, and will update here when I receive a response), but given the recent donation it seems likely. This is the fourth basketball court naming request this school year.
Also on this agenda are 16(!) reports from administration. Here’s the highlights:
-Special Education
Student with disability data as it compares to the state
Data by quadrant on how many students with disabilities are placed in general education classrooms and teachers assigned.
The Director of Special Education reports that the Special Education Department is now using a Google sheet to track missed IEP minutes for students and that compensatory service sites are set up across the City to ensure students receive any missed services. If you are the caretaker of a child who receives special education services it’s not a bad idea to ask for this data of how many missed sessions your child has had. Very often special education teachers and paras miss sessions because they get pulled to substitute in classrooms or there's just literally not enough minutes in a week to see all the students on their caseload.
-Worcester East Middle window project timeline.
-Information on remote learning
-A list of all the ways that schools offer attendance supports
-Out of school suspension risk ratio over the last seven years and reasons for suspensions.
-A comprehensive list of all the sports offered by middle school and high school.
That’s it. Have a good week! If you have feedback you can always get in touch: aislinn.doyle@me.com