The meeting was chaired by Councilor Nelson Roman who has jumped head first into his new job as councilor. By my estimate he has done more talking at official meetings in his first month as councilor than some sitting councilors have done their entire political careers.
Dr Zrike touched on many of the school department's failings, and problems.
He remarked that there are a lot of employees who have jobs that don't interact with children. More than he's seen in any other school system.
The department doesn't need much of the space it currently occupies at the Suffolk St central office. A city of our size also doesn't need the central supply facility which is located at the former reynolds paper building on Main St.
The department loses $2M year in funding because of School Choice. The school choice program, (State Law M.G.L. 76:12), allows parents to send their children to schools in communities other than the city or town in which they reside. Tuition is paid by the sending district to the receiving district.
Transport funds ran short this year. We spend around $5M on transport. $3.5M of that on special needs students. We bus students that live 1 mile or more from school, not 2 miles like other communities. It probably contributes to strong attendance though.
Councilor Lebron mentioned transport costs for homeless children. "It's kinda an unfunded mandate" Dr Zrike said, adding that we have the same number of homeless children in Holyoke schools since the homeless hotel by the Mall closed. Although the burden has shifted from one school to another across town.
Charter Schools pay for their own bussing, but we generously pay $300K to bus Parochial school students. "I wonder how much those students parents pay in property taxes? It's probably more than $300K" Councilor Jourdain remarked, in an apparent reference to being wealthy giving them free busing privileges.
We have no Latino administrators in the school department, and the central office has never (officially) sent out communications in Spanish. Zrike, who is cuban, can speak Spanish.
Dr Zrike stated that one of the most eye opening things about the Holyoke system is that teachers don't have the tools and resources they need. We don't even give them a device (laptop, iPad).
Dr Zrike wants to expand the curriculum at Dean Tech to make it more desirable to students. There's a striking difference between Chicopee and Holyoke's Tech High Schools. Chicopee Tech is more desirable to students than the traditional high school while Holyoke students avoid Dean. Private contractors are no longer running Dean Tech. It's being administered by the receiver's team.
Dr Zrike also wants to setup a Parent University. There are currently 23 people working on parent engagement in the school system, but they're not very effective. Parent Universities usually provide training and workshops to help parents with supporting their children's education, and deal with kids. The department is looking for the right person to run the Parent U. Dr zrike also sees the need for a parent resource center because parents are easily confused when trying to navigate the system.
Councilor Greaney seemed surprisingly out of touch with what needs to be done to fix the school department. I expected him to have better ideas considering he's a former teacher. One of his concerns was that the staff at Peck be exonerated of any wrongdoing. He asked Dr Zrike to publicly exonerate them. Read more about the abuse of students by staff at Peck School here.
Greaney stated the former Lynch school should have been made into a new central office, and central supply for the school department. School Committee member Brunelle echoed his opinions. Brunelle pooh-poohed the proposed CVS at the site in an apparent jab at the Mayor's development team. He also encouraged Dr Zrike to make plans to use the building without consulting the Mayor saying that the idea of Dr Zrike talking with the Mayor "scares me".
Later in the meeting Councillor Bartley chimed in about the reuse of Lynch calling the building "a bloody disaster", mentioning the asbestos problem, and calling the idea that we could just walk in there being so unrealistic as to be disingenuous to the public. Brunelle was visibly agitated by Bartley's remark.
Bartley noted that the city council has always been supportive of the school department. They always vote for (late file) orders for the school department. He also mentioned the empty space in the city offices, in city hall and other city owned buildings nearby, as possible space for school department offices. Zrike isn't partial to any location stating that he wants to save money and put it back into the school system.
Other facts we learned at the meeting:
The School Department has been renting the central office (Suffolk St) for over 20 years.
The School department hired a new HR manager.
And a new director of finance, named Anthony Soto, (NOT the former councilor).
Charter Schools get more funding from the State then city schools because of how the funding mechanism is set up. 843 students go to charters in Holyoke.
Holyoke has a 7% drop out rate.
You can watch the 2/18/16 Joint City Council/School Committee Meeting on this web page.
