Superintendent Monárrez: Proposed charter school not needed

WORCESTER — Schools Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez said at Thursday's School Committee meeting the district does not think the proposed Worcester Cultural Academy Charter School is necessary to serve the community.

After a team of administrators reviewed the proposed school’s application, Deputy Superintendent Brian Allen laid out several reasons the district was not only concerned about the impact the school may have on the public school district but also why administrators opposed its formation.

“If approved, Worcester will need to reduce the equivalent of 100 teaching positions to create only 23 teaching positions,” Allen said. “An expensive management fee, and unnecessary administrative and support costs for a school that would provide no additional options than those that are currently existing in the Worcester public schools.”

The School Committee and Educational Association of Worcester both agreed, with both groups voicing their opposition to the charter school at Thursday night's meeting as well.

Allen said that, if created, the charter school would take $7 million away from Worcester Public Schools, not only leading to a reduction in educator positions but also limiting the district’s ability to “reach fair and equitable salary agreements with our employee groups.”

School would have 360 students

The proposed charter school has filed an application with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with the hopes of serving 360 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

If approved, the school would open in August 2023 at 81 Plantation St. starting with kindergarten through fourth grade, and eventually expanding to fifth through eighth grades.

The school's website said that it hopes to provide a similar education model as the Old Sturbridge Academy Public Charter School, which provides education to students at Old Sturbridge Village through a partnership between the school and museum.

Worcester Cultural Academy, however, would be located in a more traditional school building and partner with organizations, such as the EcoTarium, Hanover Theatre and Worcester Art Museum to provide similar programming to Old Sturbridge Academy.

The partnerships would allow the school to provide students, it said on its website, project-based learning, case studies and fieldwork, granting students the ability to "connect what they are learning in classrooms to real-world applications through high-quality learning experiences."

On Dec. 9, a public hearing will be held at Quinsigamond Community College about the proposed school, allowing for public input. Members of the committee and administration, as well as the Educational Association of Worcester said they would be planning to attend the hearing to voice their opposition of the proposed school.

Commissioner Jeff C. Riley will then review all application materials before deciding whether to recommend the proposal to the state’s board of education for charter award in February 2023.

A look at the data

Following discussion about the charter school, Monárrez provided a look into behavior incidents throughout the district, dating back to school year 2017 up to school year 2023.

The data, she said, came from documented incidents throughout the time period provided, with data for school year 2021 being unavailable.

Incidents such as bullying, harassment and fighting have seen a slight upward trend, according to the data provided by the district, while incidents such as threatening a school employee and the physical assault of an employee have seen a slight downward trend.

The superintendent also provided a breakdown of law enforcement incidents in the public schools. Since Aug. 29, 2022, 135 calls were placed to 911 between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Among those, 54 were for high schools, 28 for middle schools and 53 for elementary schools. The superintendent provided a further breakdown of those numbers, showing the majority, 56, were placed for medical or assistance calls.

The remaining reasons for placing calls, including incidents of assault, missing or located persons, or a disorderly person to emergency services was below 20. Threats saw five calls, fights and harassment each saw three calls, and assault with a dangerous weapon saw two calls.

The district also went directly to students to ask about the things they were experiencing in the district, with some reporting issues such as struggling with social media influences or experiencing verbal or electronic bullying.

Monárrez went on to give an overview of how the district planned to address these issues and ensure that all behavior incidents begin to trend downward, both at the district and school levels.

This will be done through things like changing how the district approaches disciplinary action - taking a restorative versus punitive approach - and helping students develop through social emotional learning.

The superintendent announced that Anna "Annie" Azarloza had been hired as the chief academic support officer to help lead these changes.

Peggy Holloway honored

At the beginning of the meeting, the committee also took a moment to present Margaret "Peggy" Holloway, a school bus driver for 35 years, a certificate of recognition for her work in October when she helped extinguish a car on fire and get the family to safety near La Familia Dual Language School.

After seeing the car was on fire, Holloway, with the help of her bus monitor, helped evacuate the students from the bus and into the school. Given the amount of smoke and fire, Holloway said she couldn't be sure if the car was going to explode.

Despite her concern, she grabbed the fire extinguisher and "calm as can be" started putting out the fire while the bus monitor called emergency services.

She was then able to help the family out of the vehicle and on the other side of the bus, as an added precaution. Emergency services arrived soon after to take over at the scene.

Holloway also received an award from La Familia at Thursday night's meeting, saying she was "surprised" by the recognition and awards.

"What I did, I would do it all over again to save anybody's life," she said. "Getting this award means a lot to me."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Rachel Monárrez says no to Worcester Cultural Academy Charter School