Letter: Don't delay proposals, for students' sake

The Standard Times - April 2, 2013
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130402/OPINION/304020302/

Ken Hartnett, New Bedford


Relevant Quotes: (Please follow the link above to read the complete article.)

We can only hope that the New Bedford School Committee embraces the hard work of the dedicated professional educators who have crafted the Innovation Schools proposals, concrete symbols of an authentic commitment to education reform. The easy way out is to delay action yet again by simply tossing this imaginative and modest reform package atop the cluttered in-basket on the desk of a new superintendent.

That might be an expedient step; it would also mean more delay, more discouragement of the grass-roots impulses behind the innovation ideas and more top-down management of the school system.
But again and again in times past, we have hesitated to experiment because we hesitated to change because of political arrangements we know all too well.

Bureaucrats and politicians have all too often failed to connect the dots between the drop out rate and student reality. Here is a low-risk way to start making those connections. The clock is ticking. Mayor Mitchell ran as a champion of change. Awaiting is an opportunity to assert his credentials as a change agent.

Your View: Innovation Schools offer opportunity, not divisions

The Standard Times - April 1, 2013
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130401/OPINION/304010339/

By Kate Fentress
Kate Fentress is executive director of the Women's Fund at the Community Foundation of Southeastern Mass.


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These schools, located within public schools in the New Bedford system, were created to increase options within a district that values diversity of educational choices.

In a system that was moments away from state takeover, this argument makes no sense to me. The New Bedford Public Schools district needs more evidence-based creative approaches to education within the system, not fewer.

My understanding is that the per-pupil cost for a student in an Innovation School is exactly the same as the per-pupil cost the district receives for students in all other classrooms — the money is in the district. Teachers are union teachers who accrue the same benefits as all other teachers in the New Bedford system.

It seems to me that we owe our students more than they have gotten in the past. In the Innovation School smaller "community" with more individual attention, parents as partners, and higher expectations, the rules of the game can be changed and all students can be successful. I urge a vote in favor of the Innovation Schools as a step forward in offering positive choices within the system to maximize learning and optimize opportunity. I also hope that teachers will reconsider their position and try to see this as the beginning of a process that will empower them to do better in a system that is a wonderful work in progress.

Public Hearing - Part 1

We would like to thank our supporters who made it to the Keith Auditorium on Wednesday, March 27th.  With such a large turnout and a two hour time limit to the meeting, it unfortunately wasn't possible for everyone to speak.

We were particularly moved by one speaker who said she supported both innovation schools even though her own children wouldn't be eligible because they didn't live in the Taylor, Hannigan, or Gomes areas. 

Some Spanish-speaking parents talked about the difficulty they experience when they can't communicate with teachers and other staff their children's schools.  This is similar to the stories that were shared at a meeting for parents in July 2012.

Please join us again on Monday, April 1st at the Keith Middle School Auditorium at 6 pm for a continuation of the Public Hearing.  Only those who signed up on March 27th will be able to speak.

PowerPoint Presentation to School Committee

Last week, the New Bedford School Committee held a Special Meeting to allow both proposed innovation schools to present their school plans and answer questions.  You can view the Esperanza School PowerPoint by clicking the link below.  You can also watch the Special Meeting on New Bedford's Cable Access.

Esperanza School Presentation to the New Bedford School Committee on March 20, 2013

Please join us at the Public Hearing tonight, March 27th.  It will be in the Keith Middle School Auditorium at 6 pm.  If you will be speaking, please arrive early to sign up.  There is a 3 minute limit for each speaker.

New Bedford’s Innovative [sic] Schools Discussed

WBSM
http://wbsm.com/new-bedfords-innovative-schools-discussed/

By Jack Peterson, WBSM News Director

Relevant Quotes: (Please follow the link above to read the complete article.)

The designers of the Renaissance and Esperanza Innovation School proposals appeared before the New bedford [sic] School Committee Wednesday night to make presentations and answer questions.

It was the first of two public hearings on the innovation school plans. The designers were grilled for nearly an hour with questions from School Committee members. Their proposal would see a school that teaches its students both English and Spanish.


Note from the Esperanza Design Team:
Please read the post entitled Upcoming Meetings for a clarification regarding the meetings on March 20th and March 27th.