27 Southbridge Teachers Given Walking Papers

Southbridge school district cuts 27 teachers

By Brian Lee

Twenty-seven teachers with fewer than three years' experience in the district have been told not to come back next year; the number is high, but not a surprise, given the state takeover of the Southbridge public schools earlier this year, the teachers union president said this week.

School districts aren't required to give teachers who haven’t held their positions for three years a reason for not being renewed. 

Members of the Southbridge Local Stakeholder Group Announced

Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester today announced the members of the Southbridge Local Stakeholder Group, a temporary advisory body that will create recommendations for a district turnaround plan that will be drawn up in the coming months.

On January 26, 2016, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education declared the Southbridge Public Schools to be a chronically underperforming (Level 5) district. Under state law, that designation triggered the creation of a Local Stakeholder Group with representatives from specific constituencies.

DESE Meeting On Southbridge Underperforming Schools - January 26, 2016

The Tip Of An Iceberg?

The Worcester Telegram Editorial about the state takeover of Southbridge schools ended by noting, “While the state now has the power to do what’s necessary in running the schools, it can’t do this alone. Just as Southbridge’s problems didn’t occur in isolation, neither will its solutions. It’s up to the entire community, both in the schools and outside the schools, to collaborate in making this work.”

In thinking about this, I can’t help but recall the words of Lisa Rousseau, a Southbridge central office worker at the public hearing on making Southbridge a level 5 district. "We need a huge, huge change in the business office…a lot of our staff have been hired because of WHO THEY KNOW and not because they're qualified." 

Special BESE Meeting - Southbridge Level 5 Public Hearing - January 25, 2016

Telegram Editorial On State Takeover Of Southbridge Schools

EDITORIAL: A reset in Southbridge – School takeover will help Southbridge turn around its failing schools

It’s not a death sentence, except for the wrong way to run a school system. Think of it as a reset, not just for the Southbridge Public Schools but for the community as a whole.

The Southbridge Public Schools did more than fail its students; it also inadequately prepared students who represent a new generation of Southbridge’s future. This didn’t happen in isolation, however. Southbridge, a town of nearly 17,000 and which has a city form of government, failed its schools. 

Letter From Commissioner Chester

DESE Press Release On Receivership For Southbridge

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Declares Southbridge Public Schools Chronically Underperforming

Vote authorizes the education commissioner to appoint a receiver for the district to dramatically improve outcomes for all students

BOSTON - The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today voted 9-0 with one abstention to designate Southbridge Public Schools a chronically underperforming ("Level 5") district, thereby authorizing Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester to appoint a receiver for the district.

DESE Board Votes Receivership For Southbridge Schools

Mitchell Chester

At its meeting this morning the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education voted with only one abstention to classify the Southbridge school system as Level 5.

This designation as a chronically underperforming district will result in the appointment of a receiver by Commissioner Mitchell Chester. In the meantime Chester will serve as interim receiver until a permanent choice is made, effective immediately.

The receiver will assume the responsibilities of the superintendent as well as the school committee.

Southbridge Schools Hearing - January 25, 2016

At emotional hearing on Southbridge schools, some urge state takeover

By Brian Lee 
Telegram & Gazette Staff 

A Couple Of Notable Quotes From Tonight's Hearing

Lisa Rousseau, Southbridge central office worker, "We need a huge, huge change in the business office…a lot of our staff have been hired because of WHO THEY KNOW and not because they're qualified"

Paul Sagan, Board member,  "I have to say that this is an unusual meeting for us...I don't know what else to say."

Mitchell Chester, I have recommended that "we do vote to take receivership"

Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace

The time has come to do something about the educational system in Southbridge.

For almost thirteen years the district has been identified by the state as performing well below acceptable standards.

Residents know that the problems with the system have persisted even longer than that. 

For a period, under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Dale Hanley, the district was making progress in improving its performance.

DESE Board Changes Agenda For January 26 Meeting

The Board of Directors of the DESE has changed the agenda for its January 26 meeting since yesterday.

Previously the agenda called for merely holding a discussion of the possibility of receivership for Southbridge. Any vote on the matter had been planned for February 23rd's meeting.

The agenda item now reads:

1. Southbridge Public Schools: Commissioner's Recommendation on Level 5 District Status - Discussion and Possible Vote

Why The Delay?

Mitchell Chester

The DESE will hold a public hearing on whether or not the public school district in Southbridge will be taken over by the state. It will hold that meeting next Monday starting at 4:30 in the auditorium at the old high school.

The following day the Board of Directors of the DESE will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at Roxbury Community College. On the agenda is a discussion  of the Southbridge case. However, Commissioner Chester has indicated that he does not expect a vote to be held until the Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on February 23^rd. 

Selective Memory At Work

Today’s Worcester Telegram contains an article titled “Southbridge superintendent interviews planned Wednesday”.

In that article Southbridge School Committee Chairman Scott Lazo lashes out at the State DESE, local legislators and the previous school committee.

We have criticized Mr. Lazo and others in the past for overlooking the fact that in 2010 as members of the school committee they dissolved the search committee and went ahead without them. The “process” resulted in the selection of Eric Ely as Superintendent whose troubled term ended with his dismissal.

What’s The Point?

Shortly after the DESE Commissioner announced his recommendation that the Southbridge School District be placed in receivership the Southbridge School Committee's agenda to interview candidates for Superintendent appeared on the town's website.

One has to ask in all earnestness, what’s the point?

On January 12^th the Worcester Telegram reported that George P. King Jr., the assistant superintendent of the Bolton-based Nashoba Regional School District, withdrew his candidacy for superintendent. 

Lazo, Connors Comment On State Action

Speaking to WBUR radio, the Chairman of the Southbridge School Committee as well as the district’s interim Superintendent gave their views on the proposed state takeover of local schools.

Scott F. Lazo, chairman of the Southbridge School Committee, called the December district review “a cherry-picked report of various deficiencies.” He said it ignores the work a new school committee has been doing since it was elected in July.

“We inherited a disastrous atmosphere and a district under siege,” Lazo said Friday. “It seems like the commissioner has not seen the new school committee and the good things that are happening.” 

Commissioner Recommends Receivership For Southbridge Schools

As many expected, Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended that the State take over the Southbridge school system and place it in receivership.

The exact details of how that action will occur still require that several steps be played out. The first is a public hearing here in Southbridge on January 25^th followed by a vote of the Board of Directors of the DESE on January 26^th or February 23^rd.

Assuming the Board votes to support the Commissioner a Turnaround Plan will be worked out between the DESE,  the group or individual chosen as receiver and local stakeholders. Until this plan is issued all the details of the receivership remain speculative.

The Commissioner’s  press release follows:

The Receivership Experience In Lawrence

Tomorrow State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester is scheduled to announce his decision on receivership for Southbridge schools.

If he decides to recommend that such an action be taken, the Board of Education will vote on the issue at its meeting on January 26^th.

Prior to such a vote a public hearing will be held in Southbridge at the old high school auditorium on January 25^th.

In consideration of what I think is the likely event that such action is taken, I am reprinting an article from Education Week that recounts the experience of such a program in 
                                                      Lawrence.

DESE Commissioner: “No comment” On Southbridge School Committee Action

Mitchell Chester

Ken O'Brien

On December 28 the Southbridge School Committee held an emergency special meeting to discuss a letter from DESE Commissioner Mitchell Chester. In his letter the Commissioner advised that the committee suspend its search for a permanent Superintendent pending the Board of Education’s decision on receivership for the district.

After emerging from executive session, the committee voted five to zero to continue its search.

The following day I contacted the Commissioner’s office to determine if he had any response to that action