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Nancy's Newsletter
Spring
2008
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Welcome!
I would like to thank all of you who helped
me get elected to the Cambridge School Committee. I
definitely could not have done it without your support, advice,
shoulders, wisdom, money, friendship, humor and VOTES.
Now the real work has begun, and I hope
you will stay in touch with me. In order to stay in
touch with you, I will be sending out a newsletter periodically
to keep you updated and informed. Please contact me and let me know your concerns and thoughts
about our schools, questions or suggestions, and what type
of information you would like included in this newsletter. I would also like to encourage you to forward this newsletter
to your friends you think would be interested and ask them
to sign up.
It is an honor to represent the people
of Cambridge,
and I am sure that together we can make a difference and improve
the quality of our children’s education.
Sincerely,
Nancy
In this issue:
ORIENTATION
In December, Marc McGovern and I had an
orientation with Superintendent Tom Fowler-Finn and his Cabinet.
First we spent some time with the Superintendent, and
he provided us with his performance evaluation, completed
in May, 2007. He provided us with
the evaluation so that we could make an informed decision
about his contract (see SUPERINTENDENT’S CONTRACT section
below).
Then we met with Carolyn Turk (Deputy Superintendent),
MaryAnn MacDonald, (Executive Director of Student Achievement
and Curriculum) and Barbara Van Sickle (Director of Student
Achievement and Curriculum). It is amazing how many projects,
partnerships, evaluations, and data analysis go into their
jobs with the help of one full time and one part time administrative
assistant. I am the Chairperson
of the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Committee,
and I am looking forward to working with Carolyn, Maryann
and Barbara. This is a great opportunity
for the School Committee and School Department to work as
a team to better inform the community and educate our children.
When we met with Jim Maloney (Chief Operating
Officer) and Jim Conry (Chief Financial Officer) we spent
much of our time together talking about the CRLS renovation
project and the 08-09 budget (see BUDGET 2208-9 section below).
Jim Conry is retiring this Spring, and the hiring process
has begun to find a replacement.
Aida Ramos (Director of Special Education)
and Maureen MacFarlane (CPS Legal Counsel) briefed us on their
job positions. Dr. Ramos is eager to improve Special Education Services.
She wants to hire an Autism Specialist and an Applied
Behavior Analysis Specialist, create two new Autism Spectrum
Disorder/Pervasive Developmental Delay Classes and two new
Special Start classes, and add a Physical Therapist, Occupational
Therapist, Speech Therapist and a Pre-School Psychologist.
Fortunately, all of these suggestions are included
in the proposed 2008-9 CPS Budget.
Our last meeting was with Justin Martin
(Director of Public Information) and Barbara Allen (Director
of Human Resources), and they showed us the on-line application
program and the strategies put in place to increase the diversity
of CPS staff.
We finished our four hour visit with a
stack of notebooks and a great deal of information on the
Cambridge Public Schools.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MEMBERS
I also met with each of the other School
Committee members:
1. Fred Fantini
(14th term) knows many people in our community
and is eager to form partnerships between these people and
our schools. He says it is all
about relationships.
2. Joe Grassi (8th
term) has been very willing to show me the ropes. He encouraged me to go to meetings in the community, introduced
me to the crowd and made me feel welcome before I even took
“the oath".
3. Marc McGovern (2nd
term) has a strong background and commitment to issues around
bullying and special education. He
is eager to address these critical issues.
4. Patty Nolan (2nd
term) is good at researching, gathering data, and asking important
questions. In a very short time
she has provided me with a great deal of information.
5. Luc Schuster (2nd
term) is committed to meaningful learning for kids and to
civic education. He strongly believes
that we need to move away from teaching to the test and focus
more on excellent teaching and learning.
6. Mayor Denise Simmons is the
Chair of the School Committee. She
served on the School Committee for 10 years before becoming
a City Councilor in 2002. Not
only does she run an efficient meeting, she keeps us focused.
She appointed Lenora Jennings and Bridget Rodriguez to be
her Education Liaisons. Both Lenora and Bridget have a great
deal of experience in education and the Cambridge Public Schools.
7. Marilyn Bradshaw and Pat Berry
run the School Committee office and take care of EVERY detail.
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INAUGURATION
January 6th was the Inauguration,
and it was really amazing to be there with so many of my family,
friends and supporters in the audience.
The highlights for me were walking in with my boys,
Isaac and Jonah and having them stand by me while I took the
Oath of Office, and then watching Isaac and his classmates
sing.
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VISITS
So far I have visited the following schools:
Amigos, Baldwin, CRLS, Graham and Parks, Haggerty, Kennedy-Longfellow,
King, King Open, Morse, and Peabody. During those visits I had a chance to talk with the principals
and take a tour of the school. Each school has its own strengths
and challenges, but everyone has been welcoming and eager
to share their thoughts and concerns.
Since Literacy Collaborative is something that all
have in common, it was interesting to see how it is implemented
in all the different classrooms. There are many of the same elements, but each classroom
has their own personality.
I am in the process of planning visits
to the rest of the schools (Cambridgeport, Fletcher
Maynard Academy, Tobin, and the Extension
School).
I have also had the opportunity to visit
a Citizenship class and ESL class at the Cambridge
Community Learning Center
(for more information: http://www.cambridgema.gov/DHSP2/clc.cfm).
I observed a lesson with a first grader at the King Open Reading
Recovery Lab (for more information: http://www.readingrecovery.org/index.asp
).
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SUPERINTENDENT’S
CONTRACT
The first big issue for the 2008-2009 School
Committee was to decide whether to enter into negotiations
with the Superintendent. The previous
School Committee determined that the 2008-9 School Committee
should vote whether to extend Dr. Fowler-Finn’s contract
since we would be working with him. His
current contract extension was set to expire on July 31st
2008, unless either party (the School Committee or the Superintendent)
wanted to extend it in writing no later than January 31st
2008. The members of the School
Committee voted to go into negotiations with Dr. Fowler-Finn. There were some delays getting the negotiations going
due to weather and such, but the contract is due to be finalized
by mid-April.
As many of you know, I voted to extend
the Superintendent’s contract because we have made steady
progress over the last 5 years, and I believe we need to stay
the course. My hope is that School
Committee and Administration can move forward together and
focus our attention on accelerating student achievement by
supporting excellent teaching, authentic assessment, and enriching
programs.
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BUDGET 2008-2009
The proposed budget is $130,704,170, and we face a budgetary
gap of almost $3,000,000. There
have been several budget sub-committee meetings since January.
At these meetings we decided on 5 Guiding Principles
for the budget:
·
School program structure and small class size are maintained;
·
Special Education Services are supported and improved;
·
Effectiveness of program will drive funding decisions;
·
The importance of collaboration among community partners in
raising achievement for all is recognized;
·
Continuation of effective summer programs is maintained.
All the meetings have been open to the public and the next
scheduled budget sub-committee meeting is on April 1st,
which is a public hearing. The School Committee will vote
on whether to adopt the budget on April 15th.
If you would like to learn more about the proposed
budget for 2008-9, please go to http://www.cpsd.us/cpsdir/school_budget.cfm.
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CRLS RENOVATION UPDATE
Since November a team headed by Chris Saheed
(Principal of CRLS) and Bobby Tynes (Assistant Principal)
has been meeting several times a week with representatives
of HMFH Architects, various consultants employed by HMFH and
City and School Staff. The design development, which is the
final stage of planning before construction drawing begins,
is very close to completion. The
architects have retained a logistics consultant for pre-construction
services, specifically to review the architects’ proposed
construction phasing plan. According
to the architects that review should be completed by the end
of April. The project needs to
begin by July 1, 2009 in order to receive state funding.
There are two phasing plans. The first is the construction phasing plan developed by
the architects and followed by the contractor.
The second phasing plan which is being developed concurrently
by the high school, will match high school operations with
the demands of the construction phasing plan.
Hopefully, the architects’ construction phasing
plan will be completed by the end of April, and the high school’s
operational phasing plan will be completed by the end of May. The original date for a phasing plan is this summer, so
we shall see.
The War Memorial renovation is currently
on schedule and is expected to be completed in early September,
2008.
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MIDDLE SCHOOLS
The Blue Ribbon Commission
on Middle School Education has been charged to study middle
school education in Cambridge and I’ve
been appointed to join Joe Grassi (co-Chair) and Luc Schuster
to represent the School Committee. The work of the Commission
involves seeking input from a variety of constituencies; including
teachers, administrators, parents, and others.
A survey was distributed to Key Communicators, members
of School Councils, and those who attended the Middle School
Forum in December. Members of
the Blue Ribbon Commission have been gathering data and studying
the current state of the CPS Middle Schools, as well as visiting
other schools around the state.
The Commission is expected to present
the strengths and weaknesses of the current programming as
well as an array of alternative structures and programs in
order to educate the School Committee and the rest of the
community. The Commission’s goal is to conclude
this work by May so that the School Committee can use this
work as a resource in making decisions as to the next step
in advancing middle school education in Cambridge.
For more information on the Blue Ribbon
Middle School Commission, you can visit the website:
http://www.cpsd.us/cpsdir/BlueRibbonComm.cfm
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KINDERGARTEN
LOTTERY RESULTS
In the past few years, the SES profile
of the Kindergarten applicant pool has differed
substantially from the profile of those students who actually
enrolled in Kindergarten. As a result,
the administration predicted that mandatory assignments would
increase if the School Committee voted to use the SES distribution
of the average Kindergarten enrollment for
the past 3 school years with a +/- 10%
variance. In December 2007, the administration asked the previous
School Committee to consider one of the following options:
A. Use a +/-
15% variance using the average Kindergarten enrollment
(approximately 45% Free/Reduced Lunch : 55% non-Free/Reduced
Lunch) for the past 3 years. This
approach was used for last year’s Kindergarten assignments.
B. Use a +/-
10% variance using the average Kindergarten applicant
pool (approximately 35% F/R : 65% non-F/R) for the past
3 years.
At that time, the School Committee voted
to run the lottery using the average Kindergarten enrollment
using a +/- 10% variance.
Kindergarten assignments for 2008-2009
have been sent to families, and there were 431 applicants
for the first round with an SES distribution of 32% F/R and
68% non-F/R. There were 70 mandatory
assignments (16% of the total). The
current School Committee voted to refer all matters related
to the District’s Controlled Choice Policy to the Community
Relations Sub-Committee, and this sub-committee’s first
meeting is March 26th.
For more information on Kindergarten Registration
and the Controlled Choice Policy for the CPS, you can visit
the website: http://www.cpsd.us/FRC/K_reg.cfm
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HEALTHY CHILDREN TASK FORCE
Exciting news
for the Healthy Children Task Force:
In December,
the Healthy Children Task Force’s Healthy Living Cambridge
Kids program won a national Innovation in Prevention Award
winner by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
for its efforts in promoting healthy lifestyles in schools
and communities. The award was presented by the Surgeon
General to City Councilor Henrietta Davis and Dr. Tom Fowler-Finn
during the Innovation in Prevention Awards Luncheon in Washington,
DC.
The Healthy Living Cambridge Kids
programs have seen many results. There has been a decrease in the proportion of overweight
students in the Cambridge
public schools and an increase in the proportion of students
who are passing physical fitness tests and reporting more
physical activity. In addition to this prestigious award, the HCTF has
been instrumental in the dental screening program in
the public elementary schools, the creation of a Violence
Prevention Coordinator position, Cambridge school food service
reform, and the Healthy Weight Program that includes school-based
weight and height screening, as well as parent feedback and
school nurse follow-up
For more information on the Healthy
Children’s Task Force go to http://www.icommunityhealth.org/ichprojectshealthychildren.shtml
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