Wednesday, January 25, 2012
An unusually large audience attended a meeting about innovation schools, which some see as an alternative to a proposed charter school in Somerville.
As the state's Board of Education scrutinzes the application for a new charter school in Somerville, some educators have put forth an alternative for parents, teachers and staff who want to practice experimental teaching and management methods. The Somerville School Committee passed a motion last week requesting that the superintendent and assistant superintendent meet with the Somerville Teachers Association to discuss innovation schools. About 20 parents and teachers, including figures for and against the proposed Somerville Progressive Charter School, packed a small conference room in the school district's administrative office building Jan. 18 to hear from two experts on innovation schools. Innovation schools, introduced by Gov. …
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Paul Bockelman will serve as chairman, and Mary Jo Rossetti will serve as vice chairwoman.
Somerville's School Committee voted unanimously to elect two new leaders Monday during a night of inaugurations. Paul Bockelman, the former vice chairman of the committee, is now chairman, and Mary Jo Rossetti will serve as chairwoman. Bockelman, who has lived in Somerville for more than 25 years, is the director of administration and finance at the Massachusetts Municipal Association and has a master’s degree in city planning from MIT, according to his biography on the Somerville Public Schools website. He has been a member of the School Committee since 2006 and held the position of vice chairman twice and chairman once before. Bockelman said in a speech (see attached PDF) that he would like the district to expand early childhood …
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Members of the Somerville School Committee would like the city to invest more in school buildings.
School Committee members said at a meeting last week they were disappointed the mayor didn’t apportion more money to improving the city’s public school buildings. Mayor Joseph Curtatone’s Capital Investment Plan outlines how the city will pay for building construction, building upgrades, equipment and other capital projects from fiscal year 2012 to 2016. As it stands now, the plan devotes about $38.6 million to improving school buildings. Paul Bockelman, who presides over the School Committee’s finance and facilities subcommittee, said he was struck by how “skinny” the allocation was, considering the plan totals $142.7 million. Committee member Mark Niedergang, who said that the plan was “starving the schools,” said he wanted to advocate…
Friday, August 26, 2011
The one person who filed papers to run against Ward 3 representative and president Adam Sweeting pulled out of the race.
As residents seek to become public officers this year and incumbents campaign to keep their seats, one whole government body is sure to stay the same: the School Committee. Nicholas Salerno, the chairman of the city's elections commission, said that after a challenger to Ward 3 representative and committee chair Adam Sweeting dropped out early on, no challengers remained. "We have no idea why," he said. "There just weren’t any takers." But Salerno said that in Somerville, few people tend to compete for seats on the School Committee. Two years ago, Christine Rafal unseated the former representative of Ward 4, and Salerno said someone had challenged Ward 5 representative Mark Niedergang for his seat. And two years before that, there was…
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Parents and the Somerville School Committee recently questioned the Superintendent about his decision to have teachers post individual students' standardized test scores in classrooms and hallways.
At a recent meeting, parents and the Somerville School Committee raised concerns about the graphical display of students’ standardized test scores in classrooms and hallways. Committee members questioned the academic and social value of the graphs and echoed complaints from parents, saying the graphs invaded students’ privacy and demoralized them. Under the guidance of the education consulting group, Focus on Results, Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi and other school officials last year directed grade 2 through 8 teachers to mount graphs, or “data walls” in and outside their classrooms. The graphs show any progress in students’ Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) scores. Students take MAP online three times a year to measure their …
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West Somerville Neighborhood School
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Amanda Kersey
11:45 am on Thursday, November 10, 2011
Are there any specific repairs that anyone would like to see happen at the schools? more ›