By Christopher Del Monte
With recent information shedding light on the Arlington Community Day School’s “relaxation room,” a pen-like setting where disruptive students were housed for a predetermined amount of time, the goal of addressing concerns on behalf of the community and its newly-elected school committee was to be set in motion during this forum.
Ashley Martinez posted on Facebook the picture of the “relaxation room” where her daughter has been placed more than once getting the attention of Superintendent Jeff Riley and the media. This is a windowless pen-like setting with concrete flooring and a broken chair with the hygienic consistencies of an abandoned basement. Receiver Riley’s response was to shut down the use of that room and investigate how it was being used since he had no knowledge of its existence.
The goal of this forum which was schedule in advance to the posting, was to address concerns presented to the panelists on behalf of the city’s parents, school committee members, and the concerned citizenry yet, there was no discussion of the “relaxation room” even though Mrs. Martinez was present.
Among the panelists were Dr. Mary Toomey, Assistant Superintendent of the Lawrence Public Schools, Acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson, current School Committee member and City Councilor at-Large-Elect Pavel Payano, Rep. Juana Matias, among other distinguished guests, to address the current state of the receivership, accomplishments under the receivership, and the future of the Lawrence Public Schools moving forward with the Commonwealth’s partnership board acting as the Receiver due to current Receiver Jeff Riley departing from Lawrence Public Schools.
With questions surrounding school-parent collaborations, transparency on all fronts, why the credentials of the local school committee do not suffice in giving them the role in governing local schools again, who writes the MCAS, to the necessity of student feedback and transparency on behalf of the Commonwealth to Lawrencian families and children—the audience received “answers” that contradicted the nature of there being an opportunity for them to be heard (and understood, apparently) in the first place.
The forum’s panelists applauded themselves in the many partnerships they’ve established on writing the MCAS, the dropout rates being cut in half since taking over in 2011, and the hiring of more Hispanics in their own city’s schools.
Yet, despite their arguments pointing to improvements made under the receivership, the attendees were not satisfied with responses from the panelists. Given the lack of clarity in, mainly, allowing the school committee to collaborate with the Commonwealth on how to better handle the schools and their woes and collaborate with parents to maintain community engagement, one can see why frustration was abundant and ongoing.
If the City of Lawrence is to progress in any way, we must all recognize the failures of the current administration handling our schools. By not allowing school committee members to participate in the partnership board, state administrators are in limbo as to how to truly create change in a city in desperate need of it.
Our elected officials are not calling for an amendment of Chapter 69, Sec. 1K, which allows for the board of elementary and secondary education to “designate a receiver for the district with all the powers of the superintendent and school committee.” Why are we not hearing our elected officials collaborating with the school committee to get a better sense of what’s really going on in our community and its schools? If they care so much, why not advocate for an amendment in the law?
For the last six years, Lawrence Public Schools, has been on level 5, or “chronically underperforming,” according to DESE. After more than half a decade of state intervention, Lawrence Public Schools, overall, remains chronically underperforming.
The question is: Is the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education truly invested in maximizing the wellbeing of our schools, its faculty and students, or do they want to keep us underperforming so they can continue justifying their indefinite intervention?
The answers will manifest themselves outside of Lawrence. It looks like we will not be hearing from anybody other than the vocal uproar of our community.
This education forum was held at the auditorium of the Lawrence Public Library this Tuesday, December 12.
