DESE Issues Southbridge Turnaround Plan

Southbridge Public Schools Level 5 District Turnaround Plan 
(Click on above link to view plan document)

By Brian Lee 

Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester is at Charlton Street Elementary School this morning for a press conference to unveil a turnaround plan that will guide changes in the chronically underperforming district of about 2,200 students.

The comprehensive 70-page plan includes priorities and strategies to accelerate student achievement and benchmarks connected to student outcomes.

The plan said that the district's state-appointed receiver has the right to lay off teachers and staff, and reorganize, consolidate, or abolish departments, positions or school functions, and create new ones, but does not specify how that would materialize. 

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. 

Huizenga Reshapes Central Office

Ms. Huizenga

New Southbridge schools management team bears state receiver's imprint

By Brian Lee

A leadership team with restructured roles has been named for the school district whose woeful retention of administrators - 35 transitions involving 43 people in nine central office jobs in recent years - led to the district being taken over by the state in January.

Despite the district of approximately 2,200 students being 45 percent Hispanic, it did not even have a director of English Language Learners earlier this year.

But it does now, and then some.

Jessica L. Huizenga, the state-appointed receiver for the Level 5 chronically underperforming schools, said William Marinell was appointed chief of learning & innovation, formerly known as assistant superintendent. 

Is There A Meeting?

UPDATE (11 AM):  Councilor Manna has informed me that the presentation will be at a Council Committee of the Whole meeting next Thursday, March 31, at 6 PM.

According to the DESE Commissioner's Update on Southbridge Public Schools Receivership Activities:

School Year 2016-2017 Budget 

SPS and ESE staff members will present the school year 2016-2017 budget at a Southbridge Town Council meeting on March 24. In preparation, ESE staff members are engaging in conversations with the Southbridge Town Manager and SPS principals and administrators to assess the various needs and priorities for the coming school year. The final budget will be published on the SPS website immediately following the March 24 presentation. As I explained in the February memo, Paul Dakin, former Superintendent of Revere Public Schools, continues to provide support to the district and I have asked him to be my point person on the budget development process.

There is still no meeting scheduled for today or this evening according to the town's website. 

Can anyone clarify?

Commissioner Appoints Jessica Huizenga Receiver of Southbridge Public Schools

 Jessica Huizenga

Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester today appointed Jessica L. Huizenga, Cambridge Public Schools' assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment, to be the receiver for the Southbridge Public Schools.

Dr. Huizenga has been an educator since she graduated from college and has worked in districts in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas and South Carolina. She started as a middle and high school history teacher and later served as a principal and district administrator who worked with teachers to align curriculum, target professional development and improve student achievement. 

The Real Problem With Southbridge Schools

The DESE Board's level of concern about the Southbridge Public Schools grew following the release of a recent district review that found:

• Southbridge was among the lowest performing districts in the state in terms of the percentage of students who scored Proficient or Advanced on the 2015 MCAS assessments;
• 34 percent of students at Southbridge Middle/High School failed at least one course in 2015;
• 19 percent of students at Southbridge Middle/High School were suspended at least once in 2015;
• The needs of English language learners were not being met, and the district was out of compliance with regulations regarding English language learners; and
• The district has had seven superintendents and seven high school principals since 2011. 

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." 

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. 

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 

Former Southbridge High Teacher Weighs In

Today's Worcester Telegram contained a letter to the Editor from a former teacher at Southbridge High school.

I read where Southbridge Schools are in danger of being taken over by the state. This comes as no surprise to me; someone who taught mathematics at Southbridge High School.

It is my understanding that Southbridge has had seven superintendents and seven principals since 2011 – that is almost unfathomable. I mean, that should have set off alarms at every level of government. What is the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education thinking; that the eighth principal and superintendent of schools will turn Southbridge around? What has Representative Peter Durant done to help in this regard? What about the Southbridge Board of Selectmen and School Board – they hire and fire all these people. 

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.

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.

Superintendent Search Committee Names Finalists

Brian Lee reports in the Worcester Telegram that Richard D’Agostino, a retired Warwick, Rhode Island, superintendent; George P. King Jr., the assistant superintendent of Bolton-based Nashoba Regional School District; Amy McKinstry, Northbridge director of curriculum; and Sheryl Stanton, Southbridge assistant superintendent, were announced as finalists for the position of Southbridge's Superintendent of Schools.

Also Thursday, the search committee issued a letter to state Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester explaining why it went against his recommendation to delay the search.

The commissioner is considering recommending that the Level 4 underperforming district be declared Level 5 and chronically underperforming. It would trigger the appointment of a receiver who would have the authority of superintendent and School Committee.

Earls Tenders Resignation From SMHS

Melissa Earls has submitted her resignation from Southbridge Middle/High School effective June 30^th, according to The Worcester Telegram.

Mrs. Earls said she has been hired as head of schools for Academy Hill School in Springfield, a pre-kindergarten to Grade 8 independent school for gifted and talented students. Its enrollment is approximately 107 students. Mrs. Earls said the head of schools there is leaving for a post at a similar but larger school in Virginia. "This place came after me. I didn’t send an application out," said Mrs. Earls, whose daughter, Emma, will graduate from Academy Hill School this year. 

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 

State legislators Fattman, Durant weigh in on Southbridge schools takeover

By Brian Lee
Worcester Telegram

State lawmakers from the area are taking notice of a possible takeover of the Southbridge school system. State education officials have described the system as being in disarray and a candidate for receivership.

Sen. Ryan C. Fattman, R-Webster, will meet Thursday at the Statehouse with Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester and other members of the Baker administration to discuss the troubled district.