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Nancy's Newsletter
Winter 2009
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Introduction
The
School Committee has three major responsibilities: approve the budget,
hire and
evaluate the Superintendent, and set policy for the Cambridge Public
Schools. Over the next couple of months,
the School Committee will be approving a budget and hiring the next
Superintendent. During this time, we are
also in collective bargaining negotiations with all of our union
employees. It is a busy time.
Luc
Schuster and I are the Budget co-Chairs, and we have been working with
Carolyn Turk
(Interim Superintendent), Claire Spinner (Chief Financial Officer) and
Jim
Maloney (Chief Operating Officer) on the FY2009-2010 Budget. The focus is on resolving our projected
budget shortfall as well as taking this opportunity to prioritize and
improve our
school system. I have been impressed with the CPS leadership, and the
thoughtful, transparent and inclusive way in which they are dealing
with the
current economic challenges while protecting the educational integrity
of the
classroom.
On
March 3rd, the administration will be presenting a draft of
the
budget to the School Committee, and then on March 24th there
will be
a public hearing on the budget. The
School Committee will be voting on the budget on April 7th. Dr. Turk and her team have been very open to
input by the community, so I would encourage you to speak up. You can attend the Public Hearing on the 24th
or call or write Dr. Turk (superintendent@cpsd.us)
or the entire School Committee (http://www.cpsd.us/schcomm/school_committee.cfm).
Also,
the search for a permanent Superintendent is gearing up in the next
month. The deadline for applications was
February 26th,
and the search firm, Ray and Associates, will present the School
Committee with
all the applications on March 11th. The
search firm will provide us with some
recommendations, but we will
also review all the applications. By the
end of March we hope to have conducted interviews and narrowed down the
pool of
candidates. In the interests of
protecting the privacy of the applicants, their names
will
remain confidential until the semi-final round of consideration. There
will be
opportunities for public input, and I will let you know when the
process and
schedule has been set.
As
you can see, there is a great deal going on these days.
Below are some other interesting events and
updates. Please fell free to call or
email me if you have any comments, suggestions or questions. Also, if you think this information is useful
to others, please forward it as you see fit.
Thank
you.
Nancy
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In this issue:
UPCOMING
EVENTS
-
BUDGET MEETINGS
- Regular School Committee Meeting
- Administration presents the proposed Budget
- Tues, March 3rd
at 6 pm CRLS, Media Cafeteria
- Public Hearing on the FY2009-2010 Budget
- Tues., March. 24th at
6 pm CRLS, Media Cafeteria
- Regular School Committee Meeting
- Adoption of the FY 2009-2010 Budget
- Tues, April 7th at 6 pm CRLS, Media
Cafeteria
-
SCHOOL CLIMATE PUBLIC FORUM
One of the CPS/School
Committee goals is to ensure a safe, nurturing and healthy school
environment,
and we are having a Public Forum so families can share their thoughts
on what
is working and what is not working when it comes to school
climate. Many
communities are dealing with bullying and behavior issues, and
hopefully we can
work together as a community to address those challenges.
- Tuesday,
March 10th at 6 pm CRLS, Media Cafeteria
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JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MEETING
The
School Committee and City Council periodically meet to discuss issues
that we
have in common; such as, the budget, school space, and updates on work
being
done by the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Youth Services, early
childhood
education, after school programs, summer programming, and services for
children
with special needs.
-
MATH ROUNDTABLE MEETING
The School Committee,
administration, district staff, and math professionals will discuss
current trends in math instruction and how we can make sure that we are
meeting
the math education needs of all students, including adequately
challenging all
students.
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MAYOR'S
BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON YOUTH SERVICES
City Councilor Sam
Seidel
and I are the co-Chairs of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Youth
Services. This committee was established
by Mayor Simmons after a roundtable discussion between the School
Committee and
City Council last May. Everyone agreed
that there are many services available to the children of Cambridge;
however,
there is a need for more collaboration, coordination, communication and
program
evaluation between the School Department and Department of Human
Services, as
well as the many other service providers throughout the city.
After meeting with
many
folks from the Cambridge
Public Schools
and the
Department of Human Services, it was clear that we needed to focus our
efforts
on improving services to middle school
youth (6th - 8th graders). The great
news is that once we began our
work, we received funding from the Nellie Mae Foundation to develop a
strategic
plan to enhance middle school learning opportunities and supports. Now we have the opportunity and resources to
develop a
strategic plan and take action. Our
committee consists of over 30 leaders from the Cambridge Public
Schools,
Department of Human Services, the Cambridge Police Department and
community members
who have expertise in working with this age group.
Also, School Committee member Joe Grassi, who
is the Chair of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Middle Schools, has
joined our
committee along with City Councillor David Maher.
I would also like
to take
this opportunity to give a special thanks to Khari Milner (Director of
CPSD and
After Schools Partnership) Susan Richards (Out of School Time
Coordinator,
Agenda for Children), Ellen Semonoff (Assistant City Manager,
Department of
Human Services) and Jake Murray (Director of Wheelock College’s Aspire
Institute/Strategic Planner) for the many hours they have put into this
project
so far.
The
current
working mission statement of the Middle School Youth Services Committee
states
that “all middle school youth in Cambridge
need to be engaged in meaningful afterschool and summer
experiences.” Our goal is to leverage resources and public
attention more efficiently and creatively across major city
departments,
private non-profit organizations and the Cambridge Public Schools so
that no
middle school child in Cambridge
will fall through the cracks. We are
committed to ensuring that each one of them is guided to success so
that their
lives are enriched with purpose, joy and learning.
I also
believe this work will help us inform our decisions for how to improve
CPS programming
for this age group working off some of the findings from the Blue
Ribbon
Commission on Middle Schools. Creating
opportunities for kids from different schools to get together during
the school
day, after school and/or the summer are some of the possibilities that
are
being addressed. Currently, there are 3 programs where the
schools and
the youth centers are working as a partnership – Peabody/Gately, King
Open/Frisoli and Kennedy-Longfellow/East End House. There is more
work to
be done, and the good news is that this work is well underway.
Having taught eighth grade in the public schools for
a dozen years, I know how much kids at this age can do when they are
provided
with support and encouragement.
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MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Last June, the Blue
Ribbon
Commission on Middle Schools presented the final report to the School
Committee. I would encourage you to read
the document (http://www.cpsd.us/cpsdir/BlueRibbonComm.cfm). It provides a very good overview of the
current state of the middle school structure in Cambridge, as well as a detailed
explanation
of its strengths and challenges. In
order to understand the challenges facing the district, members of the
Blue
Ribbon Commission visited and examined middle schools within CPS and in
surrounding communities to see how programs were positively or
adversely
affected by school structure (K-8, 7-12 and 6-8 school models).
Before Dr.
Fowler-Finn left Cambridge,
there were two
public forums in early October, for which
about 100 people attended. At these
meetings the Superintendent presented various options and the
pros and
cons of each of those options, and the public had the opportunity to
respond.
On November 25th,
Interim Superintendent, Dr. Turk, and the School Committee had a round
table
discussion about the middle schools. Given
that Dr. Fowler-Finn left earlier than expected and that we are engaged
in a
nation-wide search for a new Superintendent, it does not appear that
any decision
about school structure will be imminent.
Nonetheless, there
is a
great deal of work being done to improve the education for our 6th
–
8th graders. Middle School teachers are meeting with High
School
teachers; Developmental Design is being used in most of the schools to
integrate social and academic learning so that students are connected,
responsible, safe and engaged in learning;
there is a
stronger coordination between out of school time programs and school
day
programs; and the Cambridge Leadership Network is focusing their work
on middle
school instruction.
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ENERGY EFFICIENCY
My
neighbor and friend,
Audrey Schulman, is one of the founders of HEET (Home Energy Efficiency
Team),
a group of volunteers who organize weatherization “barn-raising” style
events. First a team from HEET assesses
the home and
discusses what needs to be done with the homeowners.
HEET organizers provide the homeowners with a
list of supplies, and the homeowners are responsible for purchasing
materials
and food. HEET arranges for volunteers
to weatherize the house, and afterward they eat, enjoy listening to
live
music, and celebrate their accomplishments. They teach weatherization
skills, increase community
involvement, fight
climate change and help decrease energy bills all at the same time.
A
few months back Audrey and
I were waiting for our kids at the bus stop, and she told me about HEET
and
their “barn-raisings.” Here
is an
article about the “barn-raising” that took place at our house in
November:
While
Audrey was telling me about the work HEET does in people’s homes, we
came up
with the idea to try weatherizing a school in Cambridge. Jim
Maloney (Chief Operating Officer) and Dana
Hamm (Director of
Facilities) worked with Audrey to make it possible.
The Cambridgeport
School
weatherization “barn-raising”
took place on January 18th; however, the work did not end
there. Another idea developed: an energy
savings pilot program at the Cambridgeport School
where 50% of any
energy savings will be shared equally between the school and the
district and
that, if feasible, the pilot program will be expanded to other schools
as
well. At our last School Committee my
colleagues approved my motion to ask the Superintendent to support this
pilot
program.
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21st CENTURY SKILLS
One
of the goals for
CPS/School Committee is that students will demonstrate skills in
critical
thinking, collaboration, problem solving, global awareness and
communication—
part of what are being called 21st Century Skills. (Check
out www.21stcenturyskills.org
for more
information.)
We are committed to
reviewing and evaluating what is currently being done in this area. The
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment sub-committee that I chair met
to
discuss this particular goal. In order
to ensure that these skills are being taught, the committee agreed that
all
these skills must be incorporated into each subject area. When our
children are
learning how to read, write, multiply and divide, they should also be
learning
how to think critically, collaborate, communicate, and problem solve.
It is exciting to see a push for higher level
thinking and enrichment versus a mentality of “teaching to the test.”
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