By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD — The School Committee voted to participate in School Choice for high school grades, not grades 2-12 as originally proposed by Superintendent Doug Lyons, at their meeting Tuesday, May 27. “Class size could be an issue,” member Kevin Fontanella said. “The high school has space, but the elementary schools are more compressed.”
The vote was 5-1, with Chairman Stephen Ingalls dissenting and Kevin Piskadlo absent. (Reorganization of the committee was also delayed again due to his absence.) Peter Davis made a motion for participation at the high school level only after a vote on more widespread participation ended up in a tie and, therefore, did not pass. Davis, Tom Markham and Melissa Quinn voted yes while Fontanella, Ingalls and Alexander Naumann voted no.
“There are more open seats at the high school,” Lyons conceded. Nevertheless the decision is in line with his concept of “starting small and learning” and allowing staff members to enter a lottery for their children to go to school in Wakefield, which he first brought up a the April 29 meeting.
He also mentioned students will be “tuitioned in. A stipend would come in with them.” It’s about $5,000 for each regular education student.
The meeting agenda included a Public Hearing on the matter, but no one spoke at the meeting or through a video-conference hookup.
In discussion, Ingalls read a letter from Piskadlo opposing School Choice. “As long as I can remember it’s been recommended we not,” he wrote. “I’ve voted against it ten times.”
He also feels the financial benefits are speculative and “not guaranteed to cover long-term costs.”
He calculated the stipends for 22 students totaling $110,000 would be less than one-fourth of 1 percent of the budget.
The letter also refers to only two out of the other 11 school systems in the Middlesex League participating in School Choice, with Burlington doing so for high school only and the situation in Reading not publicized and only three out of the 10 other communities in Wakefield’s state Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test District Analysis and Review (DART) cohort participating, specifically Grafton, Holliston and Nashoba, but not nearby North Andover and Wilmington.
He also wrote other nearby communities like North Reading and Saugus don’t participate. North Reading’s School Committee voted not to participate April 28. “It’s not a common path in comparable districts,” Piskadlo concluded.
“It’s difficult to compare where we are and they are because they’re in a different place financially,” Lyons said of other districts. “I think this will be the norm in five years. I worked in Reading and didn’t think Reading would ever have School Choice, but it’s benefitted Reading.”
Markham related he voted against School Choice 15 times, but now feels “we’re in a new place and have to look at things in a different way.”
He also feels the new students can be absorbed into the school system and the numbers in Lyons’ proposal do not require any new teachers to be hired, but the school system “would receive something in return, however modest.”
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In other business, the members heard from Wakefield Memorial High School Guidance Director David Robinson and three students about the Senior Internship program that was initiated on a trial basis this year.
It’s a way of avoiding what is called “senioritis” during the last term of a senior year when little seems to get done. “Instead of going to school for the last quarter they went to an internship and wrote weekly reports,” Robinson said. “They all did a great job.”
Emma Waldeck reported she worked at Beth Israel Hospital working with nurses and even got a chance to scrub for surgery. “It was a cool experience,” she said. “I learned to deal with different types of patients in different circumstances. Now I know I want to go into nursing.”
Daisy Cassesso worked at the Doyle Early Education Center in various classrooms and with various staff members, including Social and Emotional Learning Counselors. “It’s been very eye-opening,” she feels.
Ben Hickey interned at the Wakefield Item. “It was fun to write articles and they were in the paper,” he said. “Everybody got to see them. It was fun for someone who likes to write and is pursuing journalism.”