Friday, January 29, 2010

Board of Ed Meeting Highlights School District Dilemma

At Tuesday night's regular Board of Education meeting (1/26/10), excitement over the newly expanded summer enrichment program quickly turned to controversy over a report due on the State Commissioner's desk by Friday afternoon.

First the good news:

Last year's Summer Enrichment Program serviced approximately 80 students district-wide. Thanks to a series of grants, Title I funds, and stimulus funds, this summer Middletown will spend approximately $180,000 on a 5 week, all day Summer Enrichment Program that can accommodate up to 400 students. Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges told the BOE that she hopes to hire 31 teachers to run the program, and that children will be bused and breakfast and lunch will be served. This program will be "by invitation only" to those children identified as "at risk readers," (by virtue of their CMT scores) and it will be no cost for those children who are currently eligible for reduced cost or free lunch. The cost will be $250 for 5 weeks for those children not eligible for the reduced cost/free lunch program. Senges also told the BOE that she plans to keep class sizes to about 12 students per class, and that she's worked out a deal with the YMCA, the Circus program and the City Arts program so that children can attend both programs during the day.


This new Enrichment Program will run at Bielefield, Macdonough and Wesley Schools starting July 6 and ending Aug 5 (a total of 23 days). Park and Rec will run programs at all the other schools, so all school buildings will be used this summer. Senges thanked Ken Jackson, the Director of Facilities, for the hard work his department will have to undertake to make these spaces available for the upcoming summer.

As the meeting progressed, a few notable issues were mentioned:

  • There are lights missing as one travels from MHS to the athletic complex. BOE Chairman Ted Raczka asked Ken Jackson why those lights are still missing after two years, worrying about the potential safety issue if fans can't see icy sidewalks in the dark. Jackson replied that it was the City's responsibility to finish this part of the project, that there was a problem with the light bulbs, and that it will probably be 6-8 weeks until this is resolved. Raczka was clearly unhappy with this answer, and he commented that "someone needs to tell someone to get busy and get this done..."

  • Raczka also gave Transportation Director Mike Milardo a packet of information about New Britain getting the first hybrid bus in the State of CT, and he wanted Milardo to get busy on getting Middletown TWO buses for next year. (Note: New Britain did get State grant monies as part of this process, but it wasn't clear how much hybrid buses might cost Middletown.)

  • BOE member Corinne Gill asked the other board members to attend the PTA meetings at their sponsor schools. She handed out a list of the meeting days and times. (Note: if a BOE member shows up at your PTA meeting, please post a comment to this article and let us know!)

When it came time for discussion regarding the District Feasibility Study, a particular report due to the State Commissioner of Education by this Friday (1/29/10) caused much consternation between Superintendent Michael Frechette and various BOE members. Long story short: Middletown was notified a year ago that Macdonough Elementary School is out of compliance with Sheff v. O'Neil (with regard to racial balance compared to the District average), and was given 6 months to fill a plan with the State to correct the imbalance. A 6-month extension was given in August because of the on-going JCJ study, which accounts for tomorrow's deadline.

The problem is that JCJ submitted its final report in December, and the BOE then decided to create an Ad Hoc committee to study a number of issues: redistricting, the socio-economic implications of redistricting, Moody's overcrowding, Macdonough's racial imbalance, possible preschool consolidation, Macdonough as a magnet school, and so on. That committee just got started about two weeks ago, and for obvious reasons, no recommendations have come back to the board.

So, while the Superintendent has to file a report tomorrow, he really has nothing to report because the BOE hasn't been given any recommendations nor has it made any decisions. However, Dr. Frechette asked permission to file a report that would talk about consolidation of the preschool program, re-drawing districting lines, and research into the resulting socio-economic impacts of re-districting.

This request did not sit well with many board members: there was no draft of the report to review, and several members commented that submitting a report before the Ad Hoc committee work was finished could be perceived as a big waste of everyone's time. Board Member Renee Johnson-Thornton was especially concerned that the magnet school option for Macdonough seemed to be off the table. Frechette responded that Middletown has a 3-year District Improvement Plan on file with the State, as required by No Child Left Behind and Middletown's identification as a district needing improvement. There isn't time or money to re-train teachers at Macdonough in a magnet school model when they've already made so many changes to comply with the district improvement plan.

In the end, the board voted to allow Dr. Frechette to submit the report he described, but only with specific instructions that the report would state that should the BOE come up with a better plan later, it would have the right to re-file with the State.

The BOE then went into Executive Session to discuss litigation and the Superintendent's Mid-Year Evaluation.

NOTE: The full Ad Hoc committee was meeting this evening, so more specific details will be covered in a separate EYE posting.

Commentary: I found it most peculiar that the State is requiring a plan that outlines how Middletown plans to address the racial imbalance issues at Macdonough, but the BOE and Superintendent talked about everything else OTHER than that simple issue. Of course nothing is simple, so I don't mean it in that way...I guess I'm just puzzled that there doesn't seem to be a clear list of priorities that defines what action we take when. I know for sure that the BOE was highly disappointed that the $138,000 they paid JCJ Architecture DIDN'T get them a solution they could implement immediately (and this probably explains our deadline problems...). Yes, we have racial balance issues and we have attendance boundary issues and when you start changing something in one place it messes with something somewhere else. However, we have to start SOMEWHERE at SOMETIME, and we are required to comply with Sheff v. O'Neil, and attendance boundary can't be drawn without regard to racial balance considerations, so I guess we have to start there. It would be lovely to draw lines to minimize transportation costs, but we already know we can't do it that way. I don't think a Saturday Magnet program at Macdonough is going to relieve the State's requirements, so we have to settle down and start the hard work of drawing lines and working from there.

12 comments:

Jen Alexander said...

Dear JAM,

Great job in reporting on the meeting -- I was there and I know it was not an easy thing to summarize.

Thanks for doing it,

-Jen Alexander

Tree Fanatic said...

It's Sheff, not Scheff. Great article, though!

JAM said...

I'm sorry. Thank you for catching that. I'll make the corrections.

Anonymous said...

Summer Enrichment Program, a program that promotes discrimination. Some of the children get a free ride (free tuition, free breakfast and lunch) while others have to pay $250. What ever happen to the parents being responsible for feeding their child. Why is it society's responsibility to assume the duties of a parent.

Gramps

Not Marie Antoinette said...

Gramps Asks:
"Why is it society's responsibility to assume the duties of a parent."

My answer: because that the whole point of being a society! It takes a village to raise a child, and if, at some point, a parent is not able to provide sufficient food for their child, it is incumbent on us all to make sure that child is still fed, so they can grow, and learn, and help out in their turn.

The earlier we can level the playing field, the better for us all. (Except, I suppose, for some of those of greatest privilege, who can't bear to let go of any shreds of their unfair advantage.)

Anonymous said...

Both are true statements. Family should take care of children and Society, AKA gGovernment Agency, should take care of children.

Anonymous said...

We lament the fact that the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians are surpassing us the science and technology fields, yet we adopt the mantra of "leveling the playing field." How, may I ask , is this "better for all of us?"

Not Marie Antoinette said...

By "leveling the playing field," I meant bringing all children UP to their potential, despite extra stumbling blocks some might find in their way (e.g. poverty). Certainly not bringing down everyone's expectations.

How is this NOT "better for us all?"

Does school funding in China depend on what neighborhood one lives in?

Anonymous said...

Ms. Antoinette-
Highways are designed with more than one lane to allow vehicles that can travel at the speed limit to pass vehicles that cannot (or won't).Leveling the playing field intersperses slower cars into the passing lanes which, in effect, slows everybody down. If it is a teacher problem, fix the system at the source. If it is a pupil problem, all the integration in the world won't fix it.
Sorry, but that is REAL LIFE.

Anonymous said...

Bringing out the best in every student is an ideal worth striving for.How exactly to achieve this ideal is open to discussion. Frequently, solutions are considered too expensive. Creative educators and excellent teachers can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. This doe not mean that equitable solutions are not possible.

Not Marie Antoinette said...

Dear REAL LIFE on the highways:

You seem to imply that I would disagree with you. I do not. Leveling the playing field does not mean holding some back so others can catch up! The goal is to let every child achieve their maximum potential.

I think the worst part of NCLB is the way the brightest/highest achieving kids, those most likely to get bored, are left to fend for themselves while $$ and energy are focussed disproportionately on the bottom 10%.

It should not be a zero-sum game, pitting one subset of kids against another. All kids are special needs kids, and deserve to have their individual needs met, both in learning and being pushed to give their all. We should invest in giving ALL of the children the best possible education.

This discussion seems to have grown, since I decided I couldn't let the anti-feed-the-hungry grump's comments go unanswered.
Should we start a new thread, debating educational policy?

Anonymous said...

Sure, if you care to.