Vote Medford 2007

Full Text: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

During the 2005 school-committee election season, most candidates stated that they believed the quality of education in Medford was good and that there were few lessons to be learned from other communities' school systems. Yet as many as 1 in 5 Medford students attend private institutions, and our schools consistently place in the middle of state school rankings. How can the school committee improve the quality of education in Medford and what leadership role are you prepared to assume? Please be specific.

Attenazio: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

The SC needs to set concrete goals and objectives each year that move the district forward in key educational matters and report on that progress each year. MCAS scores need to be reviewed to determine where relative weaknesses may be and assign Task Forces to more fully determine where things could be improved and strengthened. Graduation and drop out rates need to be evaluated, with perhaps exit interviews with Guidance to ask key questions on the student and parent perspective of what could be improved. The SC needs to acquire real data that pinpoints where any efforts should be expended.

Brady: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

Medford is a good school system. That doesn’t mean that we can’t do better. We have demographics, which require both an urban and suburban approach. We offer more courses and learning opportunities than many area schools. Parents and student have the right to make choices. Medford has traditionally sent students to parochial and private schools. The Medford Public Schools offer good class size, a highly educated faculty and excellent facilities. We provide a wide range of extracurricular and special services. Our improvement efforts are based upon analyzing student performance data and targeting interventions to meet the determined needs. We will emphasize good hiring and professional development as a way to strengthen our ability to help students learn. It is the responsibility of the school Committee to fight for a good budget, provide feedback from the community, and hold our administrators accountable for results. Also we must encourage families throughout our city to make sure that students come to school daily prepared to learn.

Cugno: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

I believe that the quality of education in the city of Medford is good, but good does not mean we should accept the level of education and not try to achieve better. No matter how well we believe our education level is the room for improving should always be our next goal. Unlike, some of our communities Medford has many parochial schools in our city and parents have the opportunity of choice. Most of the time the decision is based on religion, however our public school numbers are increasing and the students are transferring into our school system. In observing our school ranking we need to dissect the information. When looking at our MCAS scores we need to know what we are comparing. Some communities do not have the same challenges as we do. For instance, let’s look at children that transfer into our system that do not speak English they still have to take the test. The amount of children that are on IEP’s which might not be the same as other districts. When comparing these statistics we need to know what we are comparing. Are we comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges? The role I am prepared to take and have taken is to investigate our options. I’ve taken the initiative to speak and be willing to assist Representative Carl Sciortino who is working on the reforming of the MCAS test.

D'aveta: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

It has been widely stated by school department officials that the rate of public school attendance increased citywide at the point when all of the new elementary schools were on line. Yet, I wonder about the rate of departure for students who reach the ninth grade and decide that Medford High is not the place they want to attend, for a variety of reasons. As a school committee member, I plan to investigate the reasons for this and what can be done to prevent our students from abandoning the public schools at such a critical time in their educational lives.

DiGiantommaso: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

I am very proud of our Senior Class 2007:

• 68% went to 4 year Colleges
• 25% went to 2 year Colleges
• 5% went into the Military

As a School Committee member I have worked hard to provide the resources to support our educational programs

Kulik: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

There are always lessons to be learned from people who are in situations that are not like yours! We should seek out and listen to why people choose not to send their child to Medford Public Schools. In some cases it is for religious reasons. Others may not be able to reconcile some of the diversity issues mentioned in Question 7 with their religious beliefs, and feel they must send their child to a private school. Others simply feel that the quality of education is better at a private school or in another community. Those are the people we must reach to determine what we are doing that has scared them away. We will not always be able to address their concerns, but in many cases we can.

We need to explore what are we measuring? Test scores are not enough alone.We need anecdotal information. We have succeeded when almost all say "Why wouldn't I send my kids to Medford Public Schools" rather than "Should I send them". This commitment to Educational Excellence must start with the school committee, and be transmitted down to administration and staff. The culture must be changed from "good enough" to "excellent". We need school committee members who will do that.

We also must be willing to recognize where we fall short. Currently the Medford school committee and administration take a defensive stand toward criticism of the school. Instead of constantly presenting everything in the best light possible, we must recognize when we are not doing the best we can, and set aggressive goals toward betterment.

O'Keefe: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

Where a child attends school is not reflective of anything other than a rich environment that this community must embrace and collaborate around. Many positive things are occurring at Medford Public Schools and as a school committee representative, I would look to expand on many of these positive aspects of education in Medford. How we market our school and programs is important both inside Medford and outside Medford. Education is about learning from your mistakes. Medford, as with anyone, can learn from others in their educational practices and in the vision for a successful and manageable central administration and operations function. The recent DOE Coordinated Review indicated that Medford School Administration must look to expand its data collection on targeted sub-groups. MCAS testing is the focal point but as statistics provided by both the DOE and SPEDWATCH showed troubled data and missed data must be better collected and maintained. Medford teachers and staff work very hard and ensuring our children are receiving the best education as a means to be successful. By ensuring that faculty and staff have the appropriate tools to educate and prepare for the school curriculum would be my short term and long range goals. As a teacher, you must prepare a speech and coursework five (5) days a week, six (6) hours a day for 180 days. Sometimes the audience isn't interested or is not motivated by the topic or presentation. We must not only motivate the child into understanding that they have the ability to learn, but we must continue to motivate teachers with the understanding that they can also teach every child. Education is about learning and teamwork. We will do better.

Pompeo: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

That 1 in 5 Medford students attend a private institution is not evidence that Medford Schools are not good. The quality of education in Medford is good. I think it’s a matter of personal preference. State school rankings fail to reflect the diversity of school populations that impact rankings. Medford does as well if not better than most of its neighbors.

Skerry: (Q8) Leadership to Improve Quality of Education

Medford has a long history of students attending parochial schools. There are five Situated in Medford. There are also several parochial high schools in the area. Many families have a long tradition of attending parochial schools. We are not in Competition with them. We support parent choice and concentrate on the Students who elect to come to the public schools.

State rankings are based upon MCAS results. There is a very strong correlation Between population demographics and performance on standardized test. This is Especially true when the average score is the main comparative factor. Medford Is an Urban Run community. We have a school population that mixes students From diverse socio-economic backgrounds. When compared with like Communities we do well. We are making very good strides when we look at Students who stay with us for more than four years. We like many other Communities are challenged by large numbers of non-native English language Speakers and severe special education students. In most instances we out perform Our urban neighbors.

Education is the business of improvement and we must always strive to do better

We use data from the test to give feedback to teachers and to improve our Professional practices.

We provide extensive professional development to staff so that they are better Prepared.

We work with families to help them encourage their children to do better in School.

We provide good overall class size and a rich offering of courses given the Economic constraint. We offer more AP courses than many of the very wealthy towns.

School Committee members encourage our educators to make the necessary Adjustments that will lead to improvement.

School Committee members fight hard to provide the resources to support the Educational programs.

School Committee members provide feedback to the schools on what the public Perceives and what problems need to be addressed.

School Committee members hold our Administrators accountable for the results.