New Bedford Mayor Mitchell submitted a loan order to the City Council, appropriating $2,266,968.00 for Accelerated Repair Projects at the John Avery Parker Elementary School and Trinity Day Academy.
The loan order will be taken up by the City Council this evening at 7pm.
The 43-page report can be read here:
New Bedford High School’s 2018 four-year cohort graduation rate has increased to 76.0%, the highest in 12 years, based on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) recent reporting on statewide graduation rates. The 2017 four-year cohort graduation rate was 72.0%, a 4.0% increase, representing tremendous growth from the 2010 low of 61.4%.
NBHS English Language Learners (ELL) had the highest increase from 30.6% in 2017 to 53.5% in 2018 – up 22.9%. “This remarkable progress is a direct correlation to the recent budget investments made in our students’ future,” Superintendent Thomas Anderson stated. He also noted that, “This reflects the dedication to the overall teaching and learning process that is supported long before students enter high school. This progress is something that all staff can and should be proud of, from the Pre-K teachers to every staff member in the high school.” Superintendent Anderson also expressed his appreciation to the willingness of all staff to work with students to provide opportunities for them to be successful.
New Bedford High School has also experienced a sharp decline in its drop-out rate, another key metric reported by DESE. The 2010 dropout rate of 7.4% is a stark contrast to the 2.7% drop in 2017 and the new low of 1.4% in 2018, the lowest since DESE began reporting this information in 2007.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said, “It is encouraging that New Bedford High School’s graduation rate continues to improve thanks to the hard work of educators and students as we continue to focus on improving our schools. The graduation rate is more than a statistic – it means that more students are prepared for success after high school. New Bedford Public Schools have made significant strides in the past few years, and this is yet another indicator of progress.”
Headmaster Bernadette Coelho said, “The entire staff is focused on preparing every one of our students for graduation, ready for college and other opportunities. I’m proud of our hardworking students and staff; it is because of their determination and diligence that we continue to see larger and larger graduating classes. It can only happen if every student matters, and as I’ve said before, we know that with a plan, every student can and will succeed.”
Alma del Mar’s Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of New Bedford to open a new, neighborhood-enrolled charter public school that will grow over four years to serve 450 children in grades K-8.
In January, Alma received approval from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to open a new charter public school in New Bedford. Officials from Alma, the City of New Bedford and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have negotiated this unique MOU to eventually operate the new school at the former Kempton Elementary School.
“This agreement represents an incredible opportunity for New Bedford families and students. We are excited to forge ahead in collaboration with Superintendent Thomas Anderson to support great schools for all children in our city,” said Alma Board Chair Jan Baptist.
The deal is still pending various city and state approvals. If all approvals are received, Alma plans to open at the former Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception school building this August and will initially serve 200 students in grades K, 1, 2, and 6. This new school will grow over four years to serve 450 children in grades K-8 who are enrolled from the new zone drawn by NBPS around the former Horatio A. Kempton School.
The school will serve as Alma’s temporary home while the now-closed Kempton School undergoes renovations to ensure it is a safe and welcoming space for students. If city approvals are granted, the City of New Bedford would convey the Kempton to Alma del Mar later this spring.
“I am thrilled by this unique collaboration between the City in which I spent my professional career and a school that I believe in wholeheartedly,” said Martha Kay, a member of Alma’s Board of Trustees. “It is exciting to see these two working together for the good of our community and, just as importantly, the benefit of our children.”
Alma trustees are volunteers who serve three-year terms. As members of the Alma del Mar Board of Trustees, each trustee advocates on behalf of the 450 New Bedford children that we have committed to serve and put on a college trajectory.
Alma’s Board of Trustee members are: Jan Baptist (Chair), Martha Kay, Gail Fortes, Maria Rosario, Chris Arnold, Lucile Hicks, Christopher Bator, Bronwen Cunningham, David Eckert and John Polk.
Five Bishop Stang High School students have received awards 2018-19 Knights of Columbus for their submissions to the Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest. Elizabeth Golden of New Bedford, Chloe Katz of Tiverton, Eric Payette of Dartmouth, and Laurenne Wilkinson of Marion were each presented awards from the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus in the Chapel of the Annunciation at the school by Mr. Philip Martin, the Chair of the Theology Department as Bishop Stang. Quinn Sullivan of Westport, received special recognition as the 11th Grade Essay Contest winner for the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Essays were judged on grammar, style, and how clearly they present this year’s theme, “How does your family live out their Catholic faith?” Mr. Martin invites students to participate in the contest each year, and is “encouraged by the number of students who take the time to do so.” According to contest guidelines, the contest “encourages today’s youth to be more connected to their community and their faith”. The goal of their writing contest is to involve young Catholics in 8th through 12th grade (public, private, parochial or home schools) in “civic discourse and instill in them religious and life-affirming values.”
New Bedford Public Schools has reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which will accommodate a new, state-mandated Commonwealth charter school in the City of New Bedford as authorized by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on January 22, 2019. The MOU will go into effect once it is approved by the New Bedford School Committee and the Alma del Mar Trustees, which is expected to take place next week.
The new school, Alma del Mar II Charter School, would operate differently from other Commonwealth charter schools in that it will enroll students exclusively from a newly designated neighborhood school attendance zone.
The unique compromise outlined in the MOU was negotiated by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, New Bedford Public Schools, and Alma del Mar. An initial opening is planned for fall 2019 with a total of 200 seats in Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 6. Only students who currently live within the newly designated neighborhood school attendance zone as determined by NBPS would be enrolled.
The former Horatio A. Kempton School building, located at 135 Shawmut Avenue, would be the Alma del Mar II new charter school location. The boundaries are being determined based on the proximity to this school location.
In making the announcement, Superintendent Thomas Anderson emphasized that the decision to increase the number of charter seats in the city rests with the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education based on current law. “The proposed adjusted boundaries were carefully considered in order to mitigate the impact on the district’s neighborhood schools.”
Parents of students assigned to the new school at Kempton and who wish to remain in their current school will be able to apply to do so.
“Since the beginning of our discussions about establishing a neighborhood charter school instead of a traditional charter that would draw from a citywide lottery, it has been clear that this arrangement contemplates a fairer way to do charter schools for the first time in Massachusetts – fairer to the City, fairer to taxpayers, and fairer to students in district schools,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell. “While the threat of expansion is an unfortunate reality under the Commonwealth’s charter school law, which heavily favors expansion, the impacts on the city’s finances will be about half of the alternative of 594 charter school seats. As I’ve said before, the legislature needs to fix the charter school law so that cities with seats available under the charter school ‘cap’ are not faced with such financially untenable choices.”
New Bedford School Committee Vice-Chair, Bruce Oliveira, noted “this has been a difficult and time consuming process to get to this point. I want to commend the Superintendent and his staff for the countless hours they have had to dedicate to this MOU. I do believe the result makes the best of a difficult financial situation for the City and the School District. We will continue to follow all aspects of the agreement closely as we attempt to achieve the best possible opportunities and results for all students.”
According to financial projections, at full build-out (school year 2024-2025) of 450 neighborhood based seats under the arrangement laid out in this agreement, the direct cost to New Bedford Public Schools would be $4,407,975 . Under the alternative of 594 lottery charter school seats, the cost to the school district would be $8,184,839. City and school leaders have expressed the serious financial toll that the 594 lottery charter seats would take on school finances, and this cost-saving agreement was reached in order to ease the burden on New Bedford – resulting in a net savings of more than $4 million.
In addressing the fiscal impact on the district, Superintendent Anderson noted, “There may be a very small number of NBPS staff reassignments, which is consistent with the yearly process when we review individual school enrollment trends and projections. Layoffs are not anticipated and no public schools will close due to this mandate.”
Notification letters have been sent and phone calls are in process to all families which may potentially be impacted. During the last two weeks of March 2019, schools will hold Family Information Sessions for those families affected by the new charter school. In addition to the letters and phone calls, students will bring home flyers with more information regarding their school’s meeting date and time.
The Immigrants’ Assistance Center, Inc. (IAC) received a capital grant in the amount of $23,000 from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation to establish a technology-based learning environment for English language, citizenship classes, and workplace readiness training.
In a unique partnership, the IAC and Mass Hire Greater New Bedford Career Center, have formed the first-ever Citizenship and Workforce Readiness program. This program will offer new U.S. citizens the opportunity to develop job-based computer skills, contribute to the workforce and increase economic mobility.
At the core of the IAC’s services is citizenship. The IAC encourages everyone who is eligible to apply for citizenship as the only permanent protection for immigrants, as well as the key to securing employment and self-sufficiency. Since 2016, citizenship applications at the IAC have grown 350%.
The IAC’s multi-lingual team of teachers, case managers, tutors, and volunteers will take students through all levels of learning. The computer classroom will enable students to take advantage of online tools for learning English and U.S. civics and to practice test-taking in an online environment, as the citizenship test is no longer administered on paper. MassHire will provide computer-based job training in the IAC’s computer classroom.
The Immigrants’ Assistance Center is determined to respond to the current human services crisis around immigration by stepping up to meet the increased demand in low-income clients seeking U.S. citizenship. Computers in the classroom will not just put more immigrants in New Bedford on the pathway to citizenship, but will reduce barriers to economic mobility for these new U.S. citizens, with repercussions that will positively impact the City’s workforce development for years to come.
The New Bedford Chapter of the Prince Henry Society is accepting applications for this year’s scholarship program. Eligible candidates are all graduating seniors seeking an undergraduate or associate’s degree from an accredited college/university, a resident of the Greater New Bedford area, with an emphasis on students of Portuguese descent and with interest in Portuguese culture.
“We once again encourage local high school seniors to apply for our annual scholarship, which we are proud to offer to Greater New Bedford students,” said Robert Gaspar, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee. “Since 1980, the Prince Henry Society has awarded more than $945,000 in scholarships to more than 900 deserving high school graduates, and we are pleased to continue our longstanding commitment to education in our community.”
Applications are available in the guidance offices of New Bedford High School, Dartmouth High School, Wareham High School, Apponequet Regional High School, Old Rochester Regional High School, Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, Fairhaven High School, Old Colony Vocational High School, and Bishop Stang High School.
Applications are also available online at www.princehenrysociety.org.
Deadline for return of all applications is April 1, 2019. The scholarships will be presented at the annual scholarship brunch to take place on Sunday, June 16, 2019 at the Century House in Acushnet.
The student-run group will introduce young students to basic concepts of engineering through interactive activities
To celebrate National Engineers Week (Feb. 17-23) the UMass Dartmouth Society of Women Engineers are hosting a movie screening and hands-on engineering activities for middle school students at UMass Dartmouth’s Claire T. Carney Library Living Room on Thursday, February 21, from 1-4:30 p.m.
Students in grades 5-8 will watch Disney’s “Big Hero 6” and learn to design and test armor for Baymax, a large robot, who plays the film’s central character. Students will create Baymax balloon animals and design ways to protect Baymax by creating armor with aluminum foil and cardboard. These designs will be tested for their effectiveness.
“This event will engage students in an activity that promotes interest in engineering,” said Abigail R. Keith, Society of Women Engineers president. “It takes fundamental principles of engineering, designing, and testing, and ties them to a popular kids movie to connect with middle school students in a fun and creative way.”
The event is free and will be supervised by members of the Society of Women Engineers. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.
Registration is required by Thursday, February 14, please send the names of students who will be participating and any questions to swe@umassd.edu.
Parking is recommended in Lots 13 and 14 near the Claire T. Carney Library at UMass Dartmouth.
The Society of Women Engineers empowers women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expands the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving quality of life, and demonstrates the value of diversity
“My name is Nivaldo Rocha I’m a senior at NBHS and I made a school app and would like to share with the NBG because I really like the page and the work that you guys do.
I was the first student to create an app for NBHS. I started the concept when I was in my sophomore year – the school had only the website by the time I was a junior so I started designing and prototyping the project without knowing much.
I had to learn most of the things by my own like coding & basics of prototype U. I/U. X, I also took as many classes as I could that involve technology, i.e. hardware, software. I remember that I would go to sleep at 5 am, sleep for an hour and then get ready to go back again.
One day I remembered to laugh at myself – I said to myself “You’ve got to be crazy! Why are you taking on all this responsibility, instead of partying with the boys or something else?” I had the opportunity to be with the top principal of the school for meetings about the project and also able to participate in “Hackathon” where you compete for the best app – I won second place in the 2° as “Education Project” and also won “Top App” in my class of intro programming.
I was just a normal kid who had a big goal in mind to solve a problem that students, parents and teachers had at the time. That’s why I addressed the problem. Things like academics, virtual pass & ID in case you forgot at home or you lost it. You could also get quick facts about a specific teacher like their email, subject, classroom number, teacher name just by scanning a bar code. Another big feature was getting notifications about sports, events, storms, days off, et al, all in one app plus other features.
I never gave up on what I had in mind. It all started as a concept to a project. Dedication and motivation were all I had, that is why I’m here now, but this time as a senior. Unfortunately after months of meetings with the “IT department“ and I am still trying hard to get a “Yes” approval from the company that services NBHS.
The company then created a trash app and released it to the Play Store instead of notifying me, but it is what it is. I keep moving forward because life isn’t over this – it is just the beginning of what I had set in mind. It’s a privilege to be where I was at and I thank God, friends, teachers, NBHS who believed in me. Big things are to come!
I have another big project coming up where I want to teach kids, homeless people everyone who is interested to learn to code at NBHS. That’s my goal. I feel like I have to share my story because I like to incentive others to do better than me!”
State Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley has rolled a proverbial Trojan horse into New Bedford with his plan to allow expansion of the Alma del Mar charter school. This scheme hands over public assets at no charge to a private company and carves out a neighborhood district that will automatically feed students into the charter school.
Mr. Riley’s deal is not only bad for New Bedford, but it is also bad for public schools across the state. They will become the targets of this new approach to aid and abet the growth of charter schools, even though voters overwhelmingly defeated a 2016 ballot question that sought a massive charter school expansion in Massachusetts.
The arguments and issues raised in 2016 have not changed. Charter schools are private businesses with no oversight by democratically elected officials — even though they take away public funds from the public schools that educate all children. Proponents of the Alma del Mar plan are calling it a compromise. In reality, it is extortion.
Alma del Mar wanted to expand by 1,188 seats. Swift and loud community outcry followed. From parents to elected leaders, the community’s message was clear: Such an expansion would drain $15 million annually from the New Bedford Public Schools, causing catastrophic harm to the city.
Mr. Riley and Alma del Mar CEO Will Gardner concocted a plan that, if implemented, would allow the charter school to expand by 450 seats. The city must hand over the closed Kempton school building plus the land adjacent to it and create a “neighborhood zone” from which students are automatically enrolled in the school, thus doing away with the citywide admissions lottery.
At the Jan. 22 meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mr. Riley set a 45-day timeline for ironing out the details of this plan. If this fails, he will take it off the table and grant Alma del Mar an additional 594 seats.
So is this about providing educational opportunities for the children of New Bedford or threatening a community into bending to the will of the charter school industry, which has the robust support of the administration of Governor Charlie Baker.
Mr. Gardner, who has always based his desire to expand his business empire on the claim that he has a long waiting list of applicants, seems quite willing to ignore those families if given the proper economic enticements of a free building and a guaranteed pool of students.
And what does New Bedford gain from this deal? Nothing, unless you consider losing less money than originally feared a victory. And we should not.
Here are some facts:
• Roughly one-third of the teachers currently at Alma del Mar are not licensed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
• Alma del Mar has a very high suspension rate. Many of its students, primarily those with a high level of needs, are sent back to the New Bedford Public Schools.
• There is no transparency about what is happening in the school, even though it takes public funds for its operation.
This plan still needs the approval of state legislators and local officials. The New Bedford Educators Association urges our locally elected leaders to reject any charter school expansion and encourages them to speak out against any form of extortion from the DESE.
As Massachusetts embarks on its first serious effort in more than 25 years to improve funding for public education, let’s honor the will of the voters and put an end to the practice of propping up the charter school model. Let’s instead focus on creating public schools across the state that meet the needs of every student and family.
– Lou St. John, New Bedford Educators Association President
Have an opinion on this topic? A different topic? e-mail your essay to mike@newbedofrdguide.com.