Proposed new charter school

[klauspood.livejournal.com]

There is a proposal for a new charter school in Somerville. The state (DESE) will be reviewing the application for the next few weeks and will possibly grant the charter on February 28th. If granted this charter school will undermine the existing Somerville Public Schools by reducing school funding by nearly $5 million a year, which is almost 10% of the current school budget. This cut in funding will lead to devastating cuts in public school programs, loss of 60 -75 teachers, and potentially closure of an entire school. This would represent a huge set back for public education in Somerville, setting back much of the progress that has been made in our schools in the last 25 years.

There will be a public hearing by the DESE on this on December 14 2011 at Somerville High School. More info can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/progresstogetherforsomerville

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/21168

http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=6532

Comments

Re: Not sure why the name calling, but...

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you feel like SPS is doing well by your kids, however, it's clearly failing many (http://www.boston.com/news/special/education/mcas/scores11/10th_top_districts.htm) (you'll have to scroll down quite a ways to find Somerville). There are quite a few charter schools near the top of that list, and not all in tony suburbs.

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

Oh good, we needed to branch off into a flame war about how low standardized testing scores are necessarily the district's fault. =)

Re: Not sure why the name calling, but...

[ron_newman]

This presumes that standardized test scores are a valid measure of the quality of education. Maybe we'd be better off without these tests entirely?

Somerville's MCAS scores

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

I don't know. This (a sample from the 2011 10th grade MCAS) seems like something a high school graduate ought to be able to do (more here (http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2011/release/default.html)). It doesn't seem to be asking too much. Some sample responses are here (http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/student/2011/question.aspx?GradeID=10&SubjectCode=ela&QuestionID=15454#). A 4 for topic development and a 3 for English put kids on the road to pass. I'm not an expert, but these are certainly things I'd expect MY kids to be able to do before graduating high school. Shouldn't we expect a minimum from all graduates?


WRITING PROMPT

Often in works of literature, a character stands up for something he or she believes in.
From a work of literature you have read in or out of school, select a character who stands up for something he or she believes in. In a well-developed composition, identify the character, describe how the character stands up for something he or she believes in, and explain how the character’s actions relate to the work as a whole.