students

By Rosalie Tirella

A few weeks ago I was back at my old high school – Burncoat Senior High on Burncoat Street. I was there for a few hours sorta on business but the rush of memories (once on the grounds) overwhelmed me. I hadn’t stepped foot in my alma mater since graduating in 1979. The old Burnocat High (recenlty built when I attended classes there) made me feel great about the Worcester I grew up in. The Burncoat High of 2012 wasn’t so reassuring.

Where to begin? The Burncoat Senior High of the late 1970s – the one in which I was an all honors and AP student, along with ton of other Worcester kids – was a place to be proud of. It was (still is!) on the wealthier side of town. When I attended, I was a poor kid living in Green Island. I wasn’t zoned to attend Burncoat, but my mom got special permission from the city to have me attend there (I think I was supposed to go to Doherty) because my Aunt “Mary” (and her family) lived a few streets away from my new high school. My Aunt Mary, whose husband my Uncle Mark was an elementary school principal in a nearby town, was a stay at home mom who would always be there in case of emergency. During the day my mom was stuck across town on Millbury Street working at a local dry cleaners. She worked from sun up to sun down it seemed, and though she was always home for us kids and did the cooking and all the other great mom stuff, during school days she couldn’t really get away from her job (no beneefits, sick days, etc).

Aunt Mary’s two boys – my cousins – atttended Burncoat and loved it. They wanted me – a smart kid – to make BHS my high school too. I would even have some of the teachers my cousins had had. My Uncle Mark had complete faith in Burncoat – he planned on having his two boys become doctors. He felt they would get the education they needed to get into the great pre-med program at Holy Cross. Well, all went according to plan: my cousins graduated from Burnocoat, got into Holy Cross, then med school and today … . Well, today, they are very wealthy doctors! Second generation Polish Americans who achieved the American dream, thanks to the WPS and Burncoat High.

In the 1960s and 1970s Burncoat was home base for the Irish Catholic middle class of the city. The school embodied honor, hard work, friendship and caring. The teachers were good to great. I had lovely (for th emost part Irish-American) gal pals (though my best friend was of French descent)! To this day I think back and marvel: In all the three years that I hung out with my smart, over achieving girlfriends, they never ever mentioned the fact or alluded to the fact that I was from Green Island (poor) and they were from places like Mary Ann Drive or King Phillips Road (middle class). They never made me feel less of a person because I lived in a three decker flat and they lived in comfy homes. In fact, I think, they were extra nice to me. They called me smart. they wanted to see my achieve. I visited their homes – got to know their parents and their si blings. And guess what? I loved them so much (and my mom was such a great mom) that they would hang out at my house, chat with my mom on a Saturday, drive across town in their used cars to pick me up on old lafayette Street so we could go to “Spider gates” cemetary, the movies or even Nantasket Beach together. Their parents were doing something right.

In a way, we were raised the same way: by strict but loving Catholic parents. Parehnts who took no crap. Parents who did not indulge their kids and let them run the household – the way tons of parents do today. We knew: We were kids and that made us second class adults compared to our parents and teachers and other adults in the community. These adults had wisdom, experience – jobs. They were running things – we needed to get out of their way. Study hard, have fun with each other – be kids. NO BS allowed.

Burncoat High back then was a gorgeous school. It is/was what is known as a “campus” high school – a string of buildings – all one level. You would walk outside to get to another building. I loved going out and in all kinds of weather to get to class! The teachers? Well, they were serious and capable. We were in honors classes – Worcester’s future, Worcester’s college applicants. We used text books (boring), we took a ton of tests, we had a ton of homework. We had a few clubs, we had great field trips to Washington DC curtesy of the great Virginia Ryan, everyone’s favorite bio teacher (except me – I was a Mr. LaBelle fan)

I was part of that world wonderful world. I graduated feeling like the world was mine … .

A few days ago, i went back to BHS on business. What I saw depressed me: cracked driveway, busted up walk ways, unpainted speed bumps, ugly side netrances where the brown paint was peeling. The building looked faded. I felt like I was walking into a ghetto school!

What happened, i asked the secretary?

Age, she said.

I will get folks to do the painting of the speed bumps I said.

She said, no! We tried that several times and the union always put the kibosh on our volunteer efforts. And never ever did the work.

Everything looked so dingy (outdoors). In doors it was a bit better. The lockers were new and I was told new bathrooms for the students were installed.

Still, things had changed.

The secretary told me: 50 percent of BHS students are poor – eligible for the federal governtment’s free lunch program. Thirty percent of the BHS students were labeled “special needs.”

I said: This wasn’t the way it was when I was 16 and a student here.

She said: Most of the kids in the neighborhood go to charter, catholic or other private schools. BHS is now filled with poorer kids … .

I felt sad. I wanted the best for these new students. I hope we as a city can nurture the new future. I so want the Burncoat Senior High School of 2012 to be the high school I so loved years ago – and still do!

From latimes.com. A mini-interview with this controversial public schools reformer.  R. T.

http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-morrison-michelle-rhee-20120211,0,6798456.column

By Rosalie Tirella

Re: Worcester Public Schools Committe “Vice Chair” Tracy O’Connell Novick: we’ve heard this from John Monfredo, fellow Worcester School Committee member: This will be the last time Novick is VICE CHAIRMAN of the Worcester Public Schools Committee.

Monfredo is head of the Worcester Public Schools Committee rules subcommittee, and he is working to make it a committee rule that after each municipal election, second-place vote getters get the vice chair of the Worcester School Committee – not people who do backroom deals with folks like Novick did. Monfredo told me he was not planning to vote for Novick getting the vice chair slot, but Mayor Joe Petty (the Chairman of the Worcester School Committee – like all Worcester mayors Petty heads the school committee) went to him and told him to do so, to make the WPSC seem cohesive and positive.

Monfredo told Petty he was againt Novick as Vice Chair because she had alientated so many minority parents of Worcester Public School students with her Dr. Boone witch-hunt. Novick tried to destroy Dr. Boone, Worcester’s first black female school superintendent. The minority community had had it with Novick. Monfredo told Petty if Novick became Vice Chair of the school committee, it would send the wrong message to so many city parents and kids.

Petty didn’t listen – and Novick doesn’t care who she offends as long as she gets all the free publicity that comes with comes with the Vice Chair slot. She gets to “speak for” the Worcester School Committee via the papers, TV, etc.

So now the City of Worcester must live with this mistake – a slap in the face to minority WPSchools students and their families. Remember, Worcester is a majority minority school district, meaning there are more minority kids than white kids in our public schools.

But, thanks to John Monfredo, the WPSC rules will soon be changed – he is having a meeting of his subcommittee soon – to make this Novick’s first and last stint as Vice Chair. The process will be fair – the vice chair slot will be awarded to the second highest vote getter – just like the way it’s done with the Worcester City Council. Top vote getter mayor, second top vote getter City Council vice-chair.

Below is a statement from Jason Williams, Executive Director of Stand for Children in Massachusetts, following the recent announcement from the Massachusetts  Secretary of State that 81,117 certified signatures of registered voters to quality An Act to Promote Excellence in Public Schools´were allowed, and that the initiative will be submitted on January 4, 2012, to the state legislature for consideration:

“We are pleased that, with today’s announcement, lawmakers will now have a chance to weigh in on An Act to Promote Excellence in Public Schools when they return in January. The proposed changes to state law in the Act will bring Massachusetts one step closer to creating great schools statewide, where all students, regardless of their background or zip code have a chance to do well. As a former classroom teacher in one of our nation’s toughest school districts, I’ve seen firsthand the impact the achievement gap is having on so many of our children. Having been born and raised in Fall River, I find it alarming that the achievement gap remains wide in Massachusetts. One of the best things we can do to make sure no child is short-changed is to ensure there is a teacher who gets results in every classroom. This initiative does this by putting performance first when deciding which teachers to retain, which, according to a UMASS Amherst poll released last week, 85% of registered Massachusetts voters support.  Massachusetts is a state that values education and together we can live up to that value for all of our students.  I invite teachers, parents, school leaders and community members to get involved in the Great Teachers Great Schools campaign at www.greatteachersgreatschools.org so no child spends another minute in a classroom where they are not learning. “

Sam Castañeda Holdren, MSW

Stand for Children

By Parlee Jones

I am not a political person by nature, but that has been changing over the last couple of years. I have come to see that attention to Worcester’s elected officials is needed if I hope to offer the best opportunities for my children. Most would consider me to be a very active parent. You can find me at parent’s night and PTO’s.

I can sit with my children every day after school and help them with their homework, meet with the teachers to discuss teaching strategy and plans for next year, but I continue to find road blocks along the way.

I joined a community organizing group called Black Legacy almost two years ago. The group was just starting. We came together to talk about the health of the community, and the disparities that exist. We wondered why members of Worcester’s Black community were becoming sicker, more often, and more severely than our White counter parts in so many areas including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, various cancers, and infant mortality. What was going on? What we realized is that all of these health issues are related to socio-economic income, which is largely dependent on the quality of education someone has. When we looked at the data, we found that there was a major income gap in the city of Worcester by race and ethnicity, and indeed this gap is found in our public education. So, as folks committed to making as big an impact as possible, we decided to focus on closing the academic achievement gap knowing this will help close the gaps in income and finally overall health. Click to continue »

By Michael Moore, filmmaker

October 27, 2011

Friends,

Twenty-two years ago this coming Tuesday, I stood with a group of factory workers, students and the unemployed in the middle of the downtown of my birthplace, Flint, Michigan, to announce that the Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., had purchased the world rights to distribute my first movie, ‘Roger & Me.’ A reporter asked me, “How much did you sell it for?”

“Three million dollars!” I proudly exclaimed. A cheer went up from the union guys surrounding me. It was absolutely unheard of for one of us in the working class of Flint (or anywhere) to receive such a sum of money unless one of us had either robbed a bank or, by luck, won the Michigan lottery. On that sunny November day in 1989, it was like I had won the lottery — and the people I had lived and struggled with in Michigan were thrilled with my success. It was like, one of us had made it, one of us finally had good fortune smile upon us. The day was filled with high-fives and “Way-ta-go Mike!”s. When you are from the working class you root for each other, and when one of you does well, the others are beaming with pride — not just for that one person’s success, but for the fact that the team had somehow won, beating the system that was brutal and unforgiving and which ran a game that was rigged against us. We knew the rules, and those rules said that we factory town rats do not get to make movies or be on TV talk shows or have our voice heard on any national stage. We were to shut up, keep our heads down, and get back to work. Click to continue »

By Parlee Jones

Peace and blessings to all the mom’s and dad’s, grandparents and caregivers who got their children off to a new school year. I know quite a few friends who brought their “children” who have become young adults on to college. My sister was one of them as she drives our first to college out in the Berkshires. She just keeps saying I can’t believe that this initial journey with my Son is over. Well, you did a great job, sister, and WPS because he is a product of yours. Thank you to Mr. Monfredo and his incredible staff at Belmont Street Community School for giving Jahnoy and all the Jones children strong, solid foundations. Congratulations to all parents who have completed that first leg of the journey with their children. You are not able to be there with them and can only take solace in the values you instilled and the dreams that they have!

Being an active participant in your child’s school life is one of the most important activities we have as parents. Making sure they make it through elementary, junior and high school years. Our goal is to get them that High School Diploma and be successful in whatever they choose to do. Be it college, the workforce, armed services, or whatever path they choose, you have kept your part of the bargain. The rest is on them.

For those parents that are just starting the journey with their children entering Head Start, Pre-school and Kindergarten, be well prepared to help them receive the education they need, deserve and are promised to come out on the other side with tools and skills they need to survive and thrive in a world that is ever changing.

I dream a school … I dream a school where the bus is able to pick up the child Click to continue »

By Michael True

Twenty elementary and secondary teachers from Worcester Public Schools recently participated in a Professional Development Institute at Clark University’s Hiatt Center for Urban Education. Instructors for the course on Nonviolent Movements in the Modern World include faculty from Clark, Holy Cross, and Assumption, and local organizers.

Sponsored by the Center for Nonviolent Solutions, with support from the Massachusetts Humanities, the Institute meets weekly, offering instruction as well as resources for units and courses in various academic disciplines. In addition to carrying graduate credit, the program offers a stipend for each teacher to buy materials, books, and films for the classroom.

The Center for Nonviolent Solutions, initiated in 2009, provides education and resources for people in the Worcester Area to increase understanding of nonviolence as a way of life and an effective means of resolving conflict. For two years, it has offered a 10-week course on Peacemaking and Nonviolence for students at the University Park Campus School and Claremont Academy, as well as brief courses in nonviolent communication for junior high school students. The Center maintains an office and resource center at 901 Pleasant Street, Worcester, a website (nonviolentsolution.org), and curricular materials and DVDs for use by teachers, parents, and the general public.

Topics for the class meetings include the Origins of Nonviolence; Mahatma Gandhi; citizens’ resistance to the Nazi occupation of Denmark; the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the ending of apartheid in South Africa; the democratic uprising in China, 1989; the Protestant-Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland; and the history of nonviolence in Central Massachusetts.

The Institute emphasizes the history of successful nonviolent movements that demonstrate how crises and conflicts provide opportunities to build a civic culture of inclusion. It reslies upon informed discourse, including recent research and scholarship, that fosters community solidarity among people of different races, classes, and political ideologies

Teachers for the course include Co-directors, Paul Ropp, Research Professor of History, and Tom Del Prete, Director, Hiatt Center for Urban education, Clark University, as well as Predrag Cicovacki, Professor of Philosophy, Holy Cross College; Sam Diener, Education Director, Center for Nonviolent Solution; Michael Langa, Specialist in Cross-cultural Conflict Resolution; Janette Greenwood, Professor of History, Clark University; Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, St. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker; and Michael True, Emeritus Professor, Assumption College.

Public Information:

Worcester Public Schools 2011 – 2012 School Year and Days Off/Holidays
STUDENTS REPORT FOR SCHOOL AS FOLLOWS:

PRE-SCHOOLS
PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS will report on September 6, 2011, as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS will begin school on September 6, 2011. The Worcester Public Schools will be screening Kindergarten children by appointment on August 31st, September 1st and September 2nd. If your child does not have an appointment for screening, contact the school your child is registered at after August 22nd.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 1-6
(all students)

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 7 &8
(all students)

HIGH SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 9-12 (all students) Click to continue »

By John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

Only kidding! But now that I have your attention, let’s look at why we should be concerned about students losing academic growth in the summer because literacy activities are not taking place. Yes, this is referred to by many as the “SUMMER SLIDE.” Deprived of healthy learning, millions of low-income students lose a considerable amount of what they learned during the school year.

A study by Johns Hopkins University adds to the mounting evidence of the “Summer Slide.” Inner-city or low-income students start out behind their more middle-class students and fall behind each year with most of that loss occurring when school is out. By the end of the elementary school years, Hopkins researchers found low-income children trail middle-income classmates, in some cases, by three grade levels.

“Children whose parents are college-educated continue to build their reading skills during the summer months,” said Karl Alexander, a Hopkins sociology professor involved in the research. “You go to a museum or you to a library or you go to the science center, and through osmosis you make some headway there.”

Professor Alexander, in his 2007 study at Johns Hopkins University, stated that two thirds of the reading achievement gap between 9th graders of low-and high-socioeconomic standing in Baltimore public schools can be traced to what they learned or failed to learn over their childhood summers. The study, which tracked data from about 325 Baltimore students from 1’st grade to age 22, points out that various characteristics that depend heavily on reading ability, such as students’ curriculum tract in high school, their risk of dropping out, and their probability of pursing higher education and landing higher paying jobs, all diverge widely according to socioeconomic levels. Does this happen in other advanced industrial countries? According to Mr. Alexander, the answer is NO, for those countries go to school 230 to 240 days a year as compared to 180 in the United States.

Low-income children actually keep pace with more affluent students during the academic year but slip behind during the summer. Researchers feel that during the school year, children in both affluent and lower–income communities benefit from the “faucet theory.” Learning resources are “turned on” for ALL CHILDREN during the school year, but in the summertime the faucet is turned off. Middle-class parents can make up the loss with their own resources, but working class and poor parents have a difficult time creating enriched learning experiences for their children over the summer months. All parents want the same things for their children, but low-income parents do not have the same access to opportunities for their children. Click to continue »