WPS in Brief: February 2023
WPS in Brief: February 2023
attendance policy, extending lunch times, students with disabilities, access to menstrual products.
Welcome to WPS in Brief. This month covers some key topics from six hours of meetings: two February school committee meetings and three standing committee meetings. If you are new here, it might be helpful to learn more about this newsletter.
Let’s get to it:
Attendance Policy Update.
A doctor’s note is no longer required to excuse an absence due to illness. Now, the school can be informed of an illness or medical appointment “with written or other phone call/email communication verification from the parent/caregiver or the student’s treating physician.”
Extending Lunch Times.
The Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports (TLSS) standing committee had two items about the elementary and middle/high school (referred to as “secondary”) lunch times. During lunch blocks students must get to lunch, get food, eat it, and then get to the next thing on their schedule.
Currently, elementary lunch is either 15 or 20 minutes (see schedules for lunch and recess by school). The administration said the goal is for kids to have enough time to eat, and the recommendation is 30 minutes for lunch. But no school currently has 30 minute lunches due to logistics and time on learning constraints. School Committee Member Molly McCullough made a motion that administration work with principals so that every elementary school has at least a 20 minute lunch.
For middle/high school students the lunch block is about 30 minutes. The unanimous response from principals was that extending lunch by even ten minutes would be difficult to do given the 7 period schedules and staffing constraints. The committee asked for feedback from the student advisory council.
Both elementary and secondary lunch items will come back to the committee in April.
Students With Disabilities (SWD).
The Office of Special Education reported on the current state of students with disabilities (SWD), and gave information about the desired state of special education, strategies, and future steps. (See Telegram coverage here). Here are some stats from the presentation:
As you can see from the chart above, students with disabilities in WPS are majority male across the board. The chart below shows Hispanic students are overrepresented when compared to the overall population (50.3% of SWD/45.8% overall) as are English Learners (36.8% of SWD/30.4% overall).
Strategies and future steps to reach the desired state include: closing opportunity gaps through data driven-practices, providing teachers with the tools they need to be successful, and engaging caregivers. Specifically, the presenters mentioned working to make the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) more parent-driven (if you are interested in joining, contact the Office of Special Education). Over the next nine months the department also plans to complete an audit of the current programs.
Buildings.
In the quarterly building maintenance report there were 18 projects discussed (like boilers, gym floors, fire alarm replacement), all in various stages. A district-wide playground assessment was conducted and they will be coming forward with a funding plan for repairs soon.
Also, recommendations were given on how to use some ($22.8 million) of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds to improve the health and safety of school buildings by updating school HVAC systems, hot water systems, and installing water cooler/bottle filling stations. The work will go through 2024.
Menstrual Products.
The district has moved forward with the purchase of menstrual products and dispensers to be available at all secondary schools for easy access without students having to go to the nurse’s office. Specific locations/dispenser options will be dependent on each school’s unique situation. They are still in discussions on what to do for students in upper elementary.
Meeting Moment to Watch.
This clip from the finance and operations meeting is an important reminder of how the school committee and administration can only work with the money allocated to them. Honeywell analyzed Worcester schools’ HVAC systems and identified approximately $200 million in HVAC upgrades needed. There’s only $4 million annually for school renovations in the City’s Capital Investment Program and as Deputy Superintendent Brian Allen says, “that’s not really going to make a dent in the backlog.” WPS maintains 60 buildings. If you missed January’s newsletter read more about building maintenance funding here.
School Site Councils.
As budget season approaches it’s a great time to try to attend your school site council meeting. What is a school site council you ask? “A school council is a representative, school building-based committee composed of the principal, parents, teachers, community members and, at the secondary level, students, required to be established by each school pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 59C.” Each school should have one that meets regularly. Learn more here.
Recommended Reads.
A proposed bill would allow the use of school bus stop arm cameras for ticketing. If you happen to follow me on twitter there’s a good chance you’ve heard me scream into the void about how many people drive through the bus stop sign when my kid is getting on or off the bus, so this one is personal. Write your legislators please!
Worcester educators still don’t have a contract.
Education advocacy groups are suing the state over vocational school admissions practices. The Worcester Tech admissions policy was last updated in October of 2022.
Burncoat Dance Team placed as semi-finalists at the National Dance Team Championships.
Also.
We should hear about the application for the proposed charter school in Worcester any day now. If you haven’t heard about the proposed charter school and how it would impact WPS, read this, this, and this.
Upcoming Dates.
Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Council (CPPAC) meets March 7 at 7pm at Worcester Tech. Guest speaker Brian Allen will be presenting the budget.
School Committee Meetings are March 2 and March 16, 6pm
Teaching, Learning and Student Supports is March 14, 5:30pm
Finance and Operations is March 20, 5:30pm
Governance and Employee Issues is March 21, 5pm.
If you missed it, here’s January’s newsletter. It covers buildings, transportation, enrollment, and multilingual learners, among other stuff. If you don’t want to miss a monthly update, subscribe to get WPS in Brief right into your inbox.
If you find these helpful, please help spread the word. See you in March!