Agenda Previews: April 4 School Committee Meeting and April 1 Finance, Operations and Governance (FOG) Standing Committee Meeting
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Before I get to the agendas, I just want to touch on some conversations happening in the newspaper and on the radio around the school committee and governance. There’s a lot of rhetoric out there that is not based in fact. I wrote a twitter thread to put it all in context and I hope you’ll give it a read.
One of the main reasons for starting WPS in Brief was to help people stay informed without being overwhelmed. We cannot have productive conversations together as a community unless we are working with accurate information.
Ok to the agendas:
April 1 Finance, Operations and Governance (FOG) Standing Committee Meeting
The next Finance, Operations and Governance meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 1 at 4:45pm at the Durkin Administration Building. There are three basic topics for the meeting:
Facilities will go over the Quarter 3 Report. Some topics in the report include Roosevelt elementary parking plan, Worcester East MIddle windows, and ADA work for Burncoat Middle School.
There is a response to a request by Member Maureen Binienda (at-large) for a report on rental costs.
An item on the OPEB report.
The full agenda is here.You can watch it via zoom or Facebook live.
April 4 School Committee Meeting
The next school committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 4. There is no Executive Session, so the general meeting should start at the scheduled 5:30 p.m. See the agenda here. You can watch it via zoom or Facebook live. Spanish translation is available on zoom. (Editors note: Or you could tune into the WCT3k Twitch stream and watch it with us!)
Here’s my preview:
Recognitions: There are five recognition requests on this agenda. So far this term there have been 21(!) recognition requests. For the same time period last year there were just 7. It feels like a lot. I’m not saying people should be recognized-I love lifting up our community!-but perhaps a little rethink of the why and what of school committee recognitions wouldn’t be a bad idea.
This month’s Report of the Superintendent is on Special Education.
Budget: There’s items requesting budgetary information around grants, school choice, and Worcester East Middle. One specifically by Member Maureen Binienda (at-large) that requests to change the budget schedule to “include a report on the proposed cuts to schools and personnel due to the FY25 budget deficit at the April 25, 2024 school committee meeting or in executive session.” This budget deficit is going to require a lot of hard conversations by the school committee, so I think the committee trying to get a gauge on what the district is planning is not a bad idea, even if it needs to be done in executive session. The proposed budget is scheduled to be released until May 10.
The Collaborative:There’s an item to approve the annual report of the Central Massachusetts Collaborative. The “Collaborative,” as it’s often referred to, is a public day school that offers 8 different programs for students. It is a collaborative of Worcester Public, Webster Public, and Oxford Public Schools and offers therapeutic day schools, an ABA based program, and alternative programs.
That’s it. Have a good week! If you have feedback you can always get in touch: aislinn.doyle@me.com