(from Somerville Public Schools)

More than 100 community members from across the City of Somerville gathered at the Argenziano cafeteria on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a discussion on education.  It was the first of what is expected to be a continuing series of community Forums on Education designed to engage all interested stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue about education in the Somerville Public Schools.

The Forums – a collaborative effort organized by Progress Together for Somerville, the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative, and the Somerville School Committee and sponsored by the Mayor’s Office, the Somerville Teachers Association and the Somerville Council of PTAs – are an opportunity for community members to learn about specific current topics in education and engage in a broader conversation regarding parent and family involvement in their children’s education.  The Forums are part of a City-wide initiative to increase collaborative efforts that support student success in the Somerville Public Schools.

“It was exciting to see the engagement at this first collaborative Community Forum on Education,” commented Somerville Public Schools Superintendent, Tony Pierantozzi.  “It was an unusually warm and sunny Sunday afternoon in March, yet well over 100 people spent two hours of their afternoon sharing their ideas and actively taking part in a conversation about education in our Schools.”

Community engagement in education is not a new topic in Somerville, but this weekend’s kickoff event succeeded in broadening the discussion to include both a wider range of participants and an expanded range of topics compared to more traditional school-focused events.

Attendees at Sunday’s Forum included parents and teachers from every public school in the city, School and District administrators, parents from outside of the School District, community partners and a number of elected officials.  Jane Becker, parent of a Somerville High School student noted, “It was great to see so many people from the school community and not just the usual suspects.  There is a whole new generation of families at this event!”

“This forum is a great way to improve communication between all stakeholders,” commented Adam Sweeting, School Committee member and parent of two Somerville Public Schools students.  “We need to continue these types of events so that we can get broader community input regarding our schools.”

“The forum showed a vibrant community coming together,” added School Committee Chair, Paul Bockelman.  “I was excited to hear the many great ideas that came from this important community discussion.”

Local experts presented summaries of three topics currently facing our schools.

– Dan French, Executive Director of the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE), gave an introduction to Innovation Schools.  Somerville’s Winter Hill Community School was recently awarded a planning grant to explore conversion to an Innovation School.  Other schools within the District have also expressed an interest in exploring the Innovation Schools model.

-Stephanie Hirsch provided an overview of educational data, including how it is and can be used by teachers, the district and parents to help support improved student achievement.  Stephanie is the Mayor’s Policy Advisor for Children and Youth.  She also works on performance management efforts for education and youth-related issues with both the Schools and the City.

– Emily Blitz, English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at the Healey School and a member of the Healey Instructional Leadership Team, presented on English Language Learner (ELL) programs.  Somerville Public Schools offer a range of programs to support the District’s ELL student population, including a Sheltered English Immersion Program (SEIP), and Unidos – an English/Spanish cultural and language immersion program.

There was a brief Q&A session followed by small group discussions on each of the topics.

Closing remarks were offered by Christine M. McWayne, Ph.D.  Dr. McWayne is an Associate Professor and Director of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University, where she teaches seminar courses on early and elementary education and on the relationships between families and schools in urban settings.  She currently serves on the Healey School Site Council and the SomerPromise Advisory Board in Somerville.

“The level and the spirit of collaboration that I’ve encountered in the City of Somerville are really unprecedented,” Dr. McWayne stated.  “It’s these kinds of structured conversations that can be very, very fruitful.  The good news is that we don’t have to know all the answers in advance of these dialogues.  In the Somerville community, you are in a great position to actually realize the innovation I heard you talking about.”

Christianna Morgan, a Somerville parent with students at the Kennedy School and a member of Progress Together for Somerville exclaimed, “It’s great to focus on topics beyond charter controversy.  Our goal is to help make Somerville a leader in urban, public education and with the energy in this room and resources in the City, I know that we can do this!”

While a final date has not yet been set, the next forum is expected to be held in May or June. Input from participants at this weekend’s meeting will be used to identify forum topics, and additional efforts will be explored to continue to broaden the scope of community engagement.