Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Thank you for joining us this evening at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Worcester Education Collaborative. Special thanks to our sponsors —particularly UniBank, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and United Way of Central Massachusetts.
“We are at an inflection point with respect to education in our city, our state, and our nation.”
Recently I have heard the term inflection point a lot. I must admit, I had to look it up. According to one source, it is a term used in differential calculus and differential geometry to refer to a point on a smooth plane curve at which the curvature changes sign. Who knew? There is reason why I didn’t major in math. I continued scrolling and found another source that makes more sense for our purposes. An inflection point is a time of significant change in a situation. An inflection point is a turning point. We are at an inflection point with respect to education in our city, our state, and our nation. Here in Worcester, we are at this turning point as a result of a significant infusion of temporary dollars from the federal government into state and district coffers from the COVID Elementary and Secondary Education Relief Fund, a change in the state school funding formula, a consent decree that will change the composition of our School Committee, and a change in district leadership as Superintendent Binienda closes her memorable, notable, forty-year tenure in the Worcester Schools.
This infusion of funding creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our state to not only mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, but to confront and address long-standing inequities that have for years undermined learning experiences and outcomes for students of color, students from economically disadvantaged families, English learners, and students with disabilities in Massachusetts. For Worcester alone, this will mean over $120M in funds to be expended over the next several years. As plans are refined, beyond COVID mitigation, we hope that the following needs will remain a priority: building affirming learning environments, helping kids to thrive academically, increasing educator diversity, engaging families and communities, and strengthening post-secondary pathways.
“We will need to use the dollars available to build, buttress, and expand the systems and infrastructure that allows us to do this essential work.”
The past 20 plus months have affected kids in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. With measurable learning loss across all student populations and profound challenges to kids’ social development and mental health, it is time for us all to remember as we proceed with our work that education is the work of the full community and that it is best if it focuses on cultivating the gifts of the head, the heart, and the hand. The fall-out from this terrible disease has firmly reminded us of these things. We will need to use the dollars available to build, buttress, and expand the systems and infrastructure that allows us to do this essential work.
“Research is unequivocal that all students benefit from teachers who bring to the classroom diverse insights, life experiences, and world views.”
Demographic realities, the "Great COVID Quit," and career re-assessment have also impacted the teaching force. As we work to stabilize and re-build the ranks of educators, it will be important to keep diversity and equity at the forefront. Research is unequivocal that all students benefit from teachers who bring to the classroom diverse insights, life experiences, and world views. It is one way to prepare young people for the increasingly globalized world that awaits them.
The resolution to a suit focusing on the intent of the Voting Rights Act has the potential to create a governing body with more equitable representation, more responsive to the voice and needs of the community. As the parties negotiate a settlement, it is our hope that they balance those critical needs with the equally important need for Worcester to advance as a School District—not just an aggregation of voting districts and neighborhood schools but as a system of schools that meets the needs of all kids seeking a sound and challenging education.
“While the pandemic has taught us and continues to teach us many hard lessons, one valuable lesson that we have learned is the power of our education ecosystem.”
Soon Worcester will begin the work to select a new Superintendent of Schools. This person will by necessity not only need to be skilled in the tools of urban school leadership, but to be a visionary to see what is possible for our schools, for our kids, and for our community. Part of that work, I believe, will entail nurturing and sustaining the partnerships—school and community, school and family and so forth—that add so much value by amplifying the work of teaching and learning. While the pandemic has taught us and continues to teach us many hard lessons, one valuable lesson that we have learned is the power of our education ecosystem. We are blessed in Worcester to not only have a network of schools, each with its own distinct assets and culture, but a companion network—no—ecosystem of youth serving organizations, local cultural organizations, ethnic cultural organizations, and a growing municipal population that reflects the diversity of our globe.
Yes, we are at an inflection point, we are ready to continue to work together, really together, on behalf of our kids.
Sincerely,
