school district

By Rosalie Tirella

Just read the Telegram and Gazette’s editorial slamming the creation of a Worcester School Committee comprised of – just like the Worcester City Council is – members elected from districts, from places like Worcester’s inner-city or East Side, South Side, etc.

This is just another way for the assholes at the Telegram and Gazette to say (albeit very euphemistically): We don’t want Peurto Ricans on the Worcester School Committee. We don’t want poor people on the Worcester School Committee either! We just want the same ol’ middle/upper middle class bozos (primarily from the wealthy West Side) who have been calling the shots for decades in this city to continue to call the shots – to control the WPS Committee. To control a committee that is deciding school policy for a minority/majority school district (meaning the WPS have more kids of color than white kids)

To the T & G’s chief (totally conservative Republican) editorial writer Chris Sinicola: YOU SUCK! You don’t want new voices to be heard! You don’t want people in our older neighborhoods to feel empowerd and possibly gain the self-confidence and votes to run for city council in the future.

The dickheads at the T & G try to squelch everything new and exciting when it comes to real electoral power for Worcester’s minorities/new voices. How condescending to state that only West Siders can speak for all the students of the WPS system – as if they are the only ones who can think, extrapolate, etc. As if they are the only ones qualified to decide the fate of WPS students!

But: THE VOTERS WILL DECIDE, seeing Mayor Joe O’Brien already has the votes on the city counil to put the question of WPS district members to the voters this November.

Kudos, Joe and company!

By John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

“I just want the bullying to stop. That is all I ever wanted. I used to love going to school. Now I hate it.”
(9-year-old Verity Ward quoted in the Sunday Telegraph, 12 March 2000)

Throughout my career as a former principal and teacher I have witnessed bullying take place in and out of school. “Bullying is unfair and one-sided. It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose.”

The issue of bullying and its effect on children has finally been recognized. As a principal, year ago, I saw bullying first hand and saw how it affected students. I remember seeing a little girl crying in the corner of the school yard because she was told by one of her classmates that she wasn’t allowed to play with them and other classmates because they didn’t like the way she dressed. Then there was a boy who wasn’t picked to play with the other boys on their football team at recess time because he couldn’t speak English.

The effects of bullying don’t stop there, – bullying can hurt children other than the victims. Studies have shown that children who witness bullying may be afraid to go to school, too. They worry that a minor mistake may make them the bully’s focus. Or they may start bullying others, figuring that siding with the aggressor will keep them safer. Click to continue »