Worcester School Committee

By Rosalie Tirella

Seems like the city can’t catch a break. Just when you think WPSCommitteewoman Tracy O’Connell Novick is putting an end to her malicious scapegoating of WPSchools Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone, we see this: She and fellow Boone harasssers – Brian O’Connell and Dianna Biancheria – have put themselves on/made themselves the “Accountablity (Administration)” subcommittee of the Worcester School Committee. As chair of the WPS Committee, Mayor Joe Petty let them do this; he did not suggest another person be added to the subcommittee to counterbalance what will most surely be a group of hyper-vigilant nut jobs ready to see scandal whenever Dr. Boone does anything they disagree with.

Novick was the one who wanted to delay the school committee’s vote on renewing Dr. Boone’s contract until after election, hoping that an anti-Boone person would win and somehow help Novick and crew oust Dr. Boone.

Well, Novick never got her way and she got re-elected, but at a low #5. Voters thought she was vindictive and racist – her numbers went down.

SO: Just when she hits a nadir, Novick has the nerve to lobby for and will most likely get the VICE CHAIRMANSHIP of the Worcester school committee. Novick is seeing her numbers slipping – especially amongst minorities. One person of color I know said she would love to slap Novick around – another person says he hates her snotty attitude. So with her support in the African American/minority community hitting a new low, it is incredibly ballsy/creepy but politically astute of her to get herself the Vice Chair slot.

This Vice Chairmanship is extra FREE exposure/p.r. – especially when chairman Petty (Worcester mayor is always the Chairperson of the Worc. School committee) is away, which he may well be seeing he has a full time job in Boston. Can you imagine! All that free press for Novick! All her quotes in the T & G! Everyone in town can see her “lead” something – even if it is another witchhunt. Novick, the smarty pants, can burnish her image, which is in the crapper at this point, as Vice Chair of the WSC. And it won’t cost her a dime.

This is a cynical move by Novick who doesn’t want to lose her WPSC seat and might just run for City Council in a few years. Usually, the second highest vote getter gets the Vice Chair slot – not someone who goes behind folks’ backs to maneuver and BS and get the slot.

Mayor Petty has done nothing to stop this little creep, who beneath the veneer of super-giving West Side stay-at-home mom, is really just a competitive, nasty, conniving little worm, who will once again make Dr. Boone’s life miserable.

God help Dr. Boone. God help the minority kids of the Worcester Public Schools.

Again.

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 »

Call To Action – Call For Equity

*** We are asking all of you to Stand and be Present***

on November 17

at Worcester Technical High School, 7 PM

In addition:

Email the school committee members in one click and tell them you support the leadership of the superintendant and want her contract to be extended for at least 3 years so she can continue moving us forward. OR:

Call the committee members: Joseph O’Brien 508-799-1153; Dianna Biancheria 508-753-3440; John Foley 508-853-3593; John Monfredo 508-853-3444; Mary Mullaney 508-791-0808; Tracy Novick 508-410-3223; Brian O’Connell 508-792-6789

Send this to at least 2 of your friends or family and ask them to contact the school committee as well.

Black Legacy has been doing “upstream work” with all of you over the last couple of years. We have been working with the Worcester Public School Department and the Worcester School Committee to change the policies that are contributing to the student achievement gap: low expectations of students, under-resourced schools, high disciplinary action, lack of access to Advanced Placement and STEM programs, and more.

During this time, we have seen the current Superintendant – Dr. Melinda Boone – is exactly what we need in this community to close the achievement gap and raise expectations and opportunities for all students, and she’s already able to show results.

Currently, there is “upstream work” to be done.

The leadership of our public schools has been in the very competent hands of Dr. Boone for the past two years. During that time, she has pulled together a leadership team that committed to focusing on the academic achievement of ALL Worcester students. You can see some of her accomplishments below. She has been working on changing the system and, in fact, we can see things changing that will stop the babies from coming down the river in terms of drop-outs and achievement gaps. Click to continue »

By Rosalie Tirella

At the candidate forum at Belmont A.M.E. Zion Church, held a few days ago, in Worcester’s innercity – 55 Illinois St. – two candidates blatantly lied to the voters.

School committee incumbent Tracy O’Connell Novick has made it her mantra to not renew the contract of Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Melinda Boone. Her criticism of Dr. Boone at school committee meeetings has bordered on racism. At the black church, where Novick (along with two other school committee incumbents Brian O’Connell and Dianna Biancheria) was specifically asked about her feelings about Dr. Boone.

From the T and G: “The first issue Mr. Perry raised was the future of School Superintendent Melinda J. Boone, whose initial three-year contract expires next year. Specifically, he addressed the issue to School Committee incumbents Dianna L. Biancheria, Brian A. O’Connell and Tracy O’Connell Novick … Mr. O’Connell said he would favor giving Ms. Boone a two-year contract extension, while Ms. Novick and Ms. Biancheria said the matter was an ongoing issue in School Committee executive session and not a public matter at this point.”

How insulting! Ol’ Dianna and Tracy have been nothing but threatening to NOT renew Dr. Boone’s contract – at school comittee meetings, at other candidate forums, etc. But they blatantly lied to the people at this inner-city black church – mostly minority folks.

Then the T & G reported that city council candidate Stephen S. Buchalter spoke in favor of LOWERING homeowners tax bills when he has gone on public record saying he will DEFINITELY NOTE VOTE FOR THE LOWEST RESIDENTIAL TAX RATE.

Stephen was lying to the people at this inner-ctiy forum too – the last folks who want their property taxes raised.

This is why people hate politicians.

Hilda Ramirez is working to earn a seat on the Worcester School Committee.

With her ivy league education, running the Worcester Youth Center and her business background, this savvy Latina may be just what Worcester kids need!

By Mara Sindoni

While articles in other papers debate the lack of diversity in spite of district representation in the Worcester City Council and resistance by current Worcester School Committee members to adding district representation to the Worcester School Committee – all eyes should focus on the exceptional candidacy for School Committee of Hilda Ramirez.

Hilda is just what the kids of Worcester need! Ramirez’s background includes a B.A. in Business from Lesley College and a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University. After 16 years in the financial industry in Boston, Ramirez became a home-owner in Worcester and, in 2003, founded Ritmos Academy, a Dance, Art and Music School with fully-licensed Preschool and Afterschool programs. Hilda is presently the Executive Director of the Worcester Youth Center.

Ramirez’s recommendations on ways to improve Worcester’s schools are based on her personal experience and professional expertise. While our cities flounder and our international educational rankings plunge when compared to 70 other countries – the USA kids are 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading – blame is unfairly set on the influx of foreigners.

How can it be, then, that a Spanish-speaking Hilda Ramirez could enter an English-only New York City 3rd grade and by 5th grade be advanced to 6th grade math and 8th grade English classes?

What was the magic here?

Hilda Ramirez knows from personal experience what Worcester’s two thirds Asian/Black/Hispanic student population needs to succeed academically.

Hilda’s first teacher in New York City was Latina. She went to Hilda’s home, shared experiences with Hilda’s mother, and made three specific recommendations on how to help Hilda succeed in America: (1) no Spanish TV, (2) complete homework daily and (3) go to the library.

Hilda’s Spanish-speaking mother did all three!

A disgruntled older brother chaperoned 10-year-old Hilda to the library every day. As a result, HILDA GOT HOOKED ON BOOKS – books in English! She and her brother won all the spelling bees. Hilda now emphasizes the need for teacher/parent communication and rapport. She proposes PARENT ACADEMIES. Studies have shown that consistent parental involvement is a major factor in determining a student’s academic success.

FULL-DAY PRESCHOOL WOULD BE IDEAL. Hilda had certain advantages that some Worcester school children lack. The daughter of garment-workers in NYC who wanted the best for their children, she had a happy, structured home-life. There was a rich culture left behind in the Dominican Republic and Hilda hopes newcomers to the US will retain the languages, arts and family and social values of their parents’ country of origin. But at the same time SCHOOL READINESS IS ESSENTIAL!

And that includes, not only intellectual and language readiness, but also patterns of behaviour, cooperativeness, structure, responsibility and expectations. Ramirez is hopeful that Worcester might zero-in on funding from President Obama’s ini-tiative for pre-schools.

In the meantime, she recommends that all early education teachers, including Worcester providers such as Edward Street Child Services, Guild of St. Agnes, Rainbow Child Development and the Head Start program be required to use the Core Curriculum used by Worcester Public Schools.

Her version of “no child left behind” is to move students forward when they are ready and be GROUPED BY ABILITY NOT GRADE, just as she was as a child in New York City. High school students should be pushed into Advanced Placement courses. As many as are ready should substitute college courses for high school classes, not just at Quinsigamond but also at Worcester State, Holy Cross and Clark.

In addition to college-readiness students need hands-on experience in the work-a-day world. We have many resources here. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS with Worcester’s businesses, health industry, scientific, academic and cultural community should provide job experiences and internships. This too comes from Hilda Ramirez’s personal experience. At the age of 14, she was paid $8 an hour to work in the School Superin-tendent’s office doing chores such as filing, one evening a week during the school year and full-time summers.

Young Hilda knew how to work. Do Worcester’s school children know how to work?

On her first day as Executive Director of the Worcester Youth Center, Ramirez’s first action was to get the kids off the sofa and dump it! An old upright piano with keys that looked like someone had walked on or taken a hammer to them also got dumped. There is a new recording studio with a programmable keyboard. The place is spotless. The walls are decorated with recent student artwork. There is pride and a pleasant, cooperative atmosphere.

“When we were kids we were busy!” says Hilda. “We didn’t ‘hang.’ WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT IT WAS TO HANG OUT!”

Hilda hired a tutor at the Youth Center to help teens get their diplomas. The tutor is a lot more than a tutor. She is a teen-talking teenager herself, not an authority figure but a role-model with good grades, She is herself being helped at a young age with a JOB, as Hilda was helped by working during high school in the school superintendent’s office. Hilda Ramirez wants Worcester high school students to graduate on time, fully prepared for college or a job.

IN THIS 21ST CENTURY GLOBAL ECONOMY A YOUNG AND DIVERSE POPULATION IS AN ASSET, provided that those that get an education work and stay here. Unlike Worcester, many American cities are on a downturn due to an increasingly elderly population and a declining tax base. Worcester, on the other hand, has fine colleges full of young people.

We have, in the WPS, a majority minority school system: Asian/Black (some African)/Hispanic school population, plus Albanians, Middle Easterners, Russians, with languages and a diaspora that amount to a significant POTENTIAL IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS! We could and should have a downtown more like Harvard Square, with great restaurants on Main Street and things to do, books, films, music, clothing, crafts, art and more performances in our theatres of music and dance from other countries. Our location in the center of New England, with CSX and an underused airport is propitious. If Worcester educates its diverse public school population as it can and should, and retains these and our college graduates, Worcester will prosper.

We need someone on the Worcester School Committee who knows how to make that happen.

Hilda Ramirez is that person!

By Rosalie Tirella

I’ve thought about it and often wondered: How did Tracy O’Connell Novick, someone so anti-innercity students/families get elected to the Worcester School Committee? Most likely the reason: Irish surname and church ladies/their ilk who liked someone white – a white, young stay-at-home mother, etc. Someone who just loves children.

Bull shit. Novick is the last thing the Worcester Public Schools needs. She should be jettisoned (by the voters this Novemeber) fro the Worcester School Committee. And move to Weston where she would be a much better fit.

This all came home a few days ago when I was at the Worcester Public Library on Salem Square and saw ol’ Tracy Novick with her kids walking from the library parking lot to the entrance of the library. There she was:

Like something out of a 1950s Leave it to Beaver show – only this one filmed in Weston or Wellsley – certainly not in Worcester. Novick was wearing a long skirt – and yellow Izzody shirt and little yellow shoes to match her little yellow shirt. And BIG sunglasses. Sort of a June Cleaver for Worcester – without the great looks of the actress who played June (who in real life was actually divorced and raising her kids on her own – a working single mom).

As Novick – who lives on Olean Street – stopped her kids to let the car go she seemed so fake. The Queen of Olean Street (in a west side neighborhood). Waiting for the car to crawl by, looking so concerned, I thought: what a little performance. Her actions, telling her kids to wait, were so “Watch me! I am the perfect mom! I am a star in Worcester and a role model for the community!” Watch me!

And that was the problem. 1.: Novick was all show, wanted to be stared at, recognized 2. and when no one milling about outside the library (there were several folks) gave a damn, Novick began looking around for the attention -to her left, the guy on the cell phone. Didn’t he recognize her, God damn it?!

No, Tracy, no one gives a shit about you – least of all you school committee votes/stands.

Which is why you shouldn’t be in office. You don’t represent the kids and families of Worcester – most of whom are poor and people of color. You whacked away at Dr. Boone – Worcester’s first female, black school superintendent. You basically said “shove your feelings” to the Goddard School parents who testified at a winter school committee meeting on behalf of Goddard School and its principal. You heard the pleas of these Latino families and you still went on with your MCAS witch hunt. Earlier in the year, you voted against the government funds that were given to (without your vote) some of our inner city schools so our kids’ education would get a boost.

You vote against everything that will help our inner city kids because you claim all these federal/state funds come with strings, and you want our school committee and school system to be autonomous.

Just like folks in Wellsley or Weston.

In those Mass suburbs everyone is rich and highly privileged; even if all their schools were dynamited away, the kids in those towns would still get a great education, courtesy of their highly educated/successful parents and all the extracurricular enrichment programs parents can afford to send their kids to.

That is not the case in Worcester, Tracy. We depend, like Blanch Debois, on the “kindness of strangers” – the feds and the state.

You have stood on what you think is principal, but you’ve actually stood in the way of Hispanic student acheivement and low-income kid achievement. Our school system is a majority minority system – and filled with lots of low-income kids. You do them no good – maybe even harm.

Get the fuck off our school committee – move to Weston you belong, where your kind of ideas, votes and leadership will be appreciated.

It’s not here.

HAVE YOU DONATED ANY CHILDREN’S BOOKS TO WORCESTER’S BOOK DRIVE?

Worcester School Committee member John Monfredo and his wife (former Nelson Place teacher) Anne-Marie Monfredo, co-chairs of Worcester: the City that Reads, have a goal: to collect 25,000 books for city kids. The books will be given to low-income children, social service agencies, Head Start, the A.C.E. summer program, and a host of other groups for summer reading.

Studies clearly indicate that children in homes that have books are more likely to succeed in school, while children who don’t have adequate reading skills are much more likely to drop out of school. A recent study found that the ability to read well is the single best indicator of future economic success – regardless of family background.

Books can donated by May 15 at the following sites:

• People’s United People’s Bank (Flagship Bank) (all six city branches) including the town of Shrewsbury, Marlboro and Leominster
• Commerce Bank (all four city branches) including Holden
• Bay State Savings Bank (all branches)
• Bank of America ( all Worcester branches)
• Barnes and Noble Book Store on Lincoln Street
• Worcester Public Library
• Stop and Shop on Lincoln Street
• Stop and Shop on Grafton Street
• Stop and Shop on West Boylston Street
• Shaws Market on West Boylston Street
• Shaws Market at Webster Square
• RSVP and the Senior Center on Vernon Street
• Worcester Credit Union
• Starbucks Coffee on one West Boylston Street
• Panera’s on West Boylston Street
• Ben Franklin Book Store on Salem Street
• Light Labs on Shrewsbury Street
• Flying Rhino Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street
• DCU Center
• Jewish Community Center on Salisbury Street
• Worcester East Side CDC at 409 Shrewsbury Street
• Leader’s Way – Kung Fu Academy on Burncoat Street
• Greendale YMCA

Thank you!

- John and Anne Marie Monfredo

By John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

Worcester Technical High School two weeks before the MCAS, as they have done the past two years, brought in a motivational speaker to talk to the students. The event was held at the Hanover Theater in Worcester and the entire school was bused to the event.

This year’s speaker was Erin Gruwell, a former teacher, who has the distinction of having a movie made about her making a difference in the lives of her students. The movie is entitled, The Freedom Writers. A week before Ms. Gruwell’s presentation the students had the opportunity to watch the movie and discuss it with their teachers.

Erin Gruwell, a most dynamic speaker with an outgoing personality, had the students’ attention within a minute. She spoke about her first day at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California for as a recent college graduate she landed her first job in Room 203, only to discover many of her students had been written off by the education system and deemed “unteachable.” Her students lived in a racially divided urban community; they were already hardened by first-hand exposure to gang violence, juvenile detention, and drugs. Click to continue »

By John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

The jewel on the top of Sky Line Drive, better known as Worcester Technical School, has continued to receive award after award since opening in 2006. This year they were selected by the MetLife Foundation and the National Association of Secondary School Principals as one of the Breakthrough Schools. In announcing the award, the MetLife Foundation-NASSP stated that Worcester Technical High School is one of just ten schools selected for this prestigious national honor in recognition of its best practices and outstanding student results.

The MetLife Foundation’s Breakthrough Schools program recognizes middle level and high school schools that are high achieving or are dramatically improving student achievement and serve large numbers of students living in poverty.

The magnificence of this structure is matched by its equally impressive record of student performance. According to Principal Shelia Harrity, the school has reached the Annual Yearly Progress benchmarks for No Child Left Behind in English, Math and every subgroup four years in a row. “One should also consider this, 59% of all schools in Massachusetts have not reached their benchmarks,” she stated in an interview this week.

In 2009, Worcester Technical High School was one of 15 public schools nationally recognized for outstanding student gains in MCAS by the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University. When you look at the MCAS scores at Worcester Technical High School (WTHS) you see a steady progress being attained. 

This is demonstrated in the impressive numbers it has put up over the past few years. In mathematics, 70% of students scored in the advanced/proficient category, with a 6% failure rate. In English, 70% of students scored in the advanced/proficient category, with a 1% failure rate. In grades 10-12, 96% of students have passed the science portion of the MCAS test. Click to continue »

By John Monfredo, Worcester School Committee

Worcester: the City that Reads will kick off its fifth annual drive to collect books for summer reading on March 2 (It’s Read Across America Day sponsored by the National Education Association and the birthday of the famous author, Dr. Seuss). This Committee was founded by my wife Anne-Marie and me in an attempt to promote literacy in our community and promote the importance of being a life-time reader. This is the fifth year of collecting new and gently used books for Worcester children in grades pre-kindergarten to grade eight. In four years we have given out over 60,000 books to the children in this community!

During the last two years the Committee collected over 20,000 books each year. We were able to put a book into the hands of every child in the Worcester Public Schools. The books will be given out to the schools during “Reading in our City Week” in June. Books last year were also given to Head Start, Rainbow Child Development, African Education Institute, the Y.W.C.A., the summer program at St. Bernard’s Church, United Way programs and many other social service agencies.

This year we hope to give some of the hard covered books collected to schools who are starting their own school library. We also would like the schools to conduct a book swap when they return from their summer break, as a way of continuing the importance of reading throughout the year. Click to continue »