In a Press Conference, held November 15th, 2017 at the South Lawrence East Elementary School, Superintendent/Receiver Jeffrey C. Riley announced that a State appointed board, that will include community members, will take over the receivership when his contract ends in June, 2018.
The Lawrence Public Schools has been in state receivership since 2011 and will enter a new phase of receivership with a local and state partnership governance structure, announced at the press conference, acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson.
The new governance structure will consist of a partnership board that oversee the district starting July 1st and the selection of a new superintendent to be hired by them. The board will report to Commissioner Wulfson.
There is no question in our minds the significant improvements Superintendent/Receiver Riley has brought to our schools, such as an increased percentage of 10th grade students scoring Proficient or Advanced on the MCAS, between 2011 and 2016.
In the same time span, the district’s graduation rate improved 19 percentage points and the annual dropout rate fell by more than half. Also during that time, the schools created more opportunities for students to participate in the arts and other activities.
However, according to the information rendered, much work remains: While Lawrence’s annual dropout rate has improved is still more than double the state-wide rate and the four-year graduation rate is still substantially below the state-wide rate. With that in mind, the district needs to develop the capacity to sustain improvements that have already been made and make additional improvements.
At the press conference we were told that in the coming months, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) will announce the members in the partnership board. We don’t know if the members of the School Committee will be included in the partnership or if they will remain without a voice.
During the last political campaign, much was said about how important it was for the city to be able to control de schools, and for that reason, how important it is to have an educated, competent school committee ready to do so, but two of the seasoned School Committee members decided to run for City Council while two others decided not to run at all.
In fact, two of the members were re-elected and one district ended without a candidate. With that lack of community interest, how can we pretend to get the schools back?
We sincerely hope that the promised new Partnership will be as good as the actual Superintendent/Receiver Jeffrey C. Riley. It doesn’t have to be better, just as good as he was!
