2017 Summit on Poverty

Education and Poverty Graphic

Hosted by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents

Poverty: It isn’t just “someone else’s” problem anymore

This summit has been designed to focus on the impact of poverty on students across the Commonwealth, with “from the field” reports from school leaders, administrators, faculty, students and service providers; sessions on strategies that are working; partners in the process; district and legislative policies and practices that can provide supports and assistance; and a call to all communities that poverty isn’t just “someone else’s” problem.

School leaders have been working to improve academic outcomes of students in poverty for decades. While progress has been made, many communities are struggling with new, daunting challenges as the number of students (and families) at risk grows ahead of the availability of services, and districts where poverty has largely been invisible to the media and social support networks (small, rural communities and, more recently, solid suburban communities) are needing to address the academic, social and emotional inequities that are the wages of poverty.

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Event Details

March 10, 2017

Registration: 8:30am
Program: 9:00am - 2:30pm

Clark University
Higgins University Center
950 Main Street, Worcester MA

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The MASC mobile app is your guide to the 2017 MASC/MASS Poverty Summit. View the event schedule, session and speaker details, get information and directions, download handouts and other materials, provide feedback and bookmark/take notes on practically anything - all right from your iPhone, iPad or Android devices. You can also create a profile to connect with other attendees. To download, use the links below or search for "MASC Events" in the Google Play or Apple app stores.

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Agenda

For the full schedule and session details, download the app!

8:30 - 9:00am: Registration and Breakfast (Tilton Room)
Coffee, tea, muffins will be provided

9:00 - 9:30am: Welcome (Tilton Room)
Presenters: Patrick Murphy - Barnstable School Committee, MASC President; Mary Borque - Superintendent, Chelsea Public Schools, MASS President; Jack Foley - Vice President of Government &Community Affairs, Clark University; Maureen Binienda - Superintendent, Worcester Public Schools

9:30 - 10:15am: Keynote Session - Poverty by the Numbers: Where Poverty is in MA; Where it’s Headed (Tilton Room)
Presenter: Noah Berger - President, MassBudget & Policy Center

10:15 - 10:30am: Break

10:30 - 11:30am: Breakout Sessions I Strategies in the Field (Lurie Room) Presenters: Kathleen Kelly, Social Worker/Community Activist, Cambridge School Committee (moderator); Superintendent Mary Bourque, Chelsea; Mary Clare Higgins, Executive Director, Community Action Partners-Franklin/Hampshire Counties; Joan Wasser Gish, Member, MA Board of Early Education and Care The Three Faces of Poverty: Urban; Rural; Suburban (Tilton Room) Presenters: Beverly Hugo, MASC President Elect/Framingham School Committee (moderator); Superintendent Julie Hackett (Taunton); Superintendent Michael Buoniconti,(Mohawk Trail); Superintendent Jane Tremblay, Lynnfield; Superintendent Michael Welch (Dedham) Student Perspective: What has Helped us; What Hasn’t (Grace Room) Presenters: Jake Oliveira, MASC Immediate Past President, Ludlow School Committee (moderator); Joseph Ha; Patricia DeCarvalho; Elizabeth Oluokun; Manasseh Konadu

11:45 - 12:45pm: Box Lunch (Tilton Room) Welcome Stacey Rizzo, Revere School Committee, MASC Division IX Chair Panel Forum: “Poverty and the Social Contract” Presenters: Clive McFarlane, columnist, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (moderator); MASC President Patrick Murphy, Barnstable; Superintendent David DeRuosi, Saugus; Denise Hurst, Springfield School Committee/Chair, MASC Minority Caucus

1:00 - 1:50pm: Breakout Sessions II Local Policy Decisions: Fees and Other Issues Important to Kids (Lurie Room) Presenters: Ellen Holmes, Ashburnham-Westminster School Committee (moderator); Superintendent Eric Conti, Burlington; Superintendent Kathleen Smith, Brockton What our World Looks Like: Perspectives from School Administrators, Educators and Staff (Tilton Room) Presenters: Superintendent Andre Ravenelle (Fitchburg); Adam Renda, Principal, Crocker Elementary (Fitchburg); Christine Girard, Special Education Administrator (Fitchburg); Jorja Fahy, Guidance Counselor (Fitchburg) The Hunger Game: Getting Nutrition to the Kids Who Need It (Grace Room) Presenters: Erin Wholey, Director, Youth Wellness Programs, New England Dairy & Food Council (moderator); Donna Lombardi, Director of Nutrition, Worcester Public Schools; Robert Shaheen, Director of Food Services, Wareham Public Schools; Karen Pappa, Food Services Director, Taunton Public Schools; Ramón Borges-Méndez, PhD, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Community Development and Planning, Clark University

2:00 - 2:30pm: Legislative Panel - Next Steps: Policy and Legislative Implications (Tilton Room)
Presenters: Devin Sheehan, MASC Vice President/Holyoke School Committee (moderator); Representative Jay Kaufman, Chairman, Joint Committee on Revenue; Representative Aaron Vega, Vice Chair, Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities

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Event Sponsors

Sodexo New England Dairy Council