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Norms and Protocols (Thursday, November 8, 8:45-10am)

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Sponsor the MASC/MASS Joint Conference

Show your support for public education while gaining exposure to nearly a thousand school leaders by partnering with MASC at the MASC/MASS Joint Conference. A variety of participation options are available, and we also may work with you to create an option that closely aligns with the goals of your organization.

 

For more information, contact Sam Cheesman at scheesman@masc.org or (617) 523-8454.

 

MASC/MASS Photos

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Report of the Resolutions Committee

RESOLUTION 1—Providing Greater Access for Students to Exploratory Visits to Chapter 74 Approved Vocational Education Programs
(Proposed by the Nashoba Valley Technical School Committee Cosponsored by Shawsheen, Smith, Greater Fall River, Northeast, Assabet Valley, Greater Lowell, Minuteman, Joseph P. Keefe, South Middlesex, and Tri County Regional Vocational Technical School Committees.)

WHEREAS structured time must include delivering of school services via “exploratory” visits for secondary 8th grade students to Chapter 74 vocational technical education programs, and

WHEREAS eleven school committees have voted to submit a resolution to the MASC Delegate Assembly, and

WHEREAS these school committees believe that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not provide adequate exposure of public Secondary 8th grade students to Chapter 74 programs as a viable education form, and

WHEREAS sponsoring school committees recognize that the governor, legislators and commissioner of education have demonstrated a commitment to support Chapter 74-approved vocational educational education programs, and

WHEREAS these school committees desire for the governor and legislators to engage in more proactive measures to secure as structured learning time the delivering of school services via mandated exploratory visits for secondary 8th grade students to which the district is also a member of a public Chapter 74 approved vocational technical education program,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC present to the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) the following addition to the Code of Massachusetts Regulations 27:07 language that states, “Structured Time must include delivering of school services via Exploratory visits for secondary 8th grade middle school students to which the district is also a member of a public Chapter 74 Regional Vocational Technical School district.”

That MASC assert to DESE that MA Regulations on Access to Equal Educational Opportunity (603 CMR 20.00) was promulgated in part to ensure that all students have equal rights of access and equal enjoyment of opportunities, advantages, privileges, and courses of study at public schools in the Commonwealth, and further that

MASC propose to DESE that school districts shall provide middle school students and their parents/guardians with information on vocational technical education.  Further, that MASC propose to DESE that the regulations recognize that common methods of providing information include the delivering of school services via exploratory visits for 8th grade middle school students to high schools with Vocational Technical Education programs and recruitment activities in middle schools conducted by high schools with vocational technical education.

RATIONALE: Massachusetts Regulations on Access to Equal Educational Opportunity 603 CMR 26.00 were designed to ensure that all students have equal rights of access and equal enjoyment of the opportunities, advantages, privileges, and courses of study at public schools in the Commonwealth.  However, when the commissioner updated (2/3/10) regulations in this area, he used the words "should provide" instead of “will provide” in one important part of his advisory, and left open to interpretation Massachusetts Regulation in regards to Vocational Technical Education, leaving items like access to exploratory site visits to the sole discretion of sending district superintendents, principals and local school committees.

Today Superintendents and School Committees use as their guideline Massachusetts Student Records Regulations 603 CMR 23.07 to which the school district must release middle schools student names and addresses to the vocational technical high school.  The intent of this resolution is to provide clarity to 603 CMR 27.07 by requiring Exploratory visits for 8th grade district middle school students.  Sponsors believe this should be the accepted method of providing exploration and experience in vocational technical education for all middle school district students who belong to a vocational technical school district.


RESOLUTION 2—Teacher Evaluation
(Sponsored by the Wareham School Committee)   

WHEREAS all teachers are entitled to a thorough, complete and fair evaluation of their work on an annual basis by a professional, experienced educator familiar with their work and qualified and trained to perform such an evaluation, and

WHEREAS the time required to do such an evaluation, including but not limited to pre/post observation conferences, formal observations and unscheduled classroom visits with timely feedback, the development of individual, annual goals and the documented strategies to achieve them, the review of applicable student achievement data, and the actual summative evaluation is considerable, and

WHEREAS the cost of instructional leadership in the Chapter formula is now limited to the principal and assistant principal positions or equivalent,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC supports Enhanced leadership of all teaching staff to include:

• Trained and state administratively certified instructional leaders/department heads/supervisors with the responsibility for an appropriate number of teachers such that the heretofore mentioned supervisory and evaluative tasks can be effectively performed and

• Instructional leaders/department heads/supervisors that spend a portion of their time in the classroom and the remaining time devoted to their instructional leadership duties, as determined by their school principal.

• An updated Chapter 70 formula to reflect the increased costs associated with this enhanced instructional leadership of all teachers in Massachusetts.

Rationale The MA Task Force on the Evaluation of Teachers and Administrators briefly references but does not address the tremendous burden that the implementation of its recommendations would place on the school administration.  The associated regulations proposed by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education increase that burden and still fail to address the issue.  The Wareham School Committee believes failure to do so increases the likelihood that this critical effort to improve teacher evaluation will, therefore, not succeed.  This resolution will correct that deficiency, provide an improved “career ladder” for teachers, and decrease the “trust gap” that currently exists in the evaluation of teachers.


RESOLUTION 3—Charter School Funding
(Submitted by the Gloucester School Committee)

WHEREAS Massachusetts funds charter schools by withholding aid to cities and towns that send students to charter schools, and

WHEREAS the amount of such aid withheld for each student leaving to attend a charter school exceeds by a large factor the amount of per pupil aid that the district receives from the state, and
WHEREAS the loss of monies to a district results in either reducing programs in the local public schools, or raising local taxes, thus shifting additional costs onto local taxpayers without their approval,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC reaffirms its position to change the funding mechanism so that Commonwealth Charter Schools, which are approved and supervised solely by the state, be funded directly out of a line item in the state budget.


Resolution 4—Enactment of a Freeze on Federal Regulations Pending the Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind
(Submitted by the MASC Resolutions Committee)

WHEREAS the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or the No Child Left Behind Act – so called – was renewed as a deeply flawed statute in 2002, and

WHEREAS there is a near universal call for either rescission or substantial revision of many of the key portions of the law by educators and critics across the political spectrum, and

WHEREAS among the reasons for criticism is the misuse of the statute, through an abusive regulatory process, that led to the creation of measures of student achievement and the requirement that all students make “adequate yearly progress” toward those standards of accountability that are:
• not based on credible research,
• intellectually dishonest,
• overreaching in their impact,
• unworkable in their implementation, and
• unfair to more than 80% of nation’s public schools who will suffer sanctions provided by regulations enacted to implement the law, and

WHEREAS among the other criticisms of the law is that it represents an excessive intrusion by the federal government and unelected bureaucrats in usurping local control of public schools, and

WHEREAS Massachusetts students, teacher and school administrators suffer an especially disproportionate burden because state regulators have chosen to impose the nation’s highest standard for proficiency and, thus, created the greatest likelihood that Massachusetts schools will fall into some form of NCLB  sanction, and

WHEREAS under this unreasonable standard, MA has the nation’s highest performing students in most key areas of assessment, yet has among the nation’s highest proportion of schools in some form of NCLB sanction, and

WHEREAS in light of the political stalemate in Congress over the best strategies for reauthorizing or rescinding NCLB, the United States Secretary of Education has claimed the authority to exempt by regulation and by waiver the current system of sanctions against districts as well as other provisions of NCLB, and

WHEREAS Secretary Duncan has indicated that, should waivers be granted, they would be provided selectively based on the degree to which states meet criteria and goals he has set himself, and

WHEREAS according to the National School Boards Association, many states may not be able financially or policy-wise to meet or agree with the US Education Secretary’s demands for adherence to his criteria or goals, and

WHEREAS America’s public schools, in general, and Massachusetts public schools in particular, are already straining from mandates and bearing a crushing burden of federal and state regulations,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC urge its member districts and, as an association, act independently to call upon Secretary Duncan to deregulate the No Child Left Behind law, its including the supplemental services set-aside and the unreasonable system of sanctions for failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards, and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that MASC urge the Congress to enact a thorough revision to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that precludes unfunded federal mandates, and that establishes standards and assessments that are reasonable, workable, and fully funded.


Resolution 5—State Educator Evaluation Process
(Submitted by the MASC Resolutions Committee)

WHEREAS the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has approved a broad and sweeping set of standards for educator evaluations in Massachusetts, and

WHEREAS these standards incorporate student achievement data into the evaluation measures for all educators, and

WHEREAS these regulations apply to all educators, including superintendents of schools whose evaluations are, by law, generally, with limited exceptions, public documents, and

WHEREAS these regulations will require extensive effort by school committees as the employers of record for collective bargaining, and by superintendents and principals who will oversee other educator evaluations, and

WHEREAS there will be considerable cost of compensable professional educator and administrator time, legal expense for negotiations, and other costs in order to comply with these regulations,  

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC petition the legislature to fund in full the cost of implementing these regulations, and, further, that

MASC petition the legislature to enact by statute requirements that these regulations be reviewed not later than every two years in order to ensure that unelected state bureaucrats will not have the authority to impose by regulation additional mandates that carry unreimbursed costs to the local public school districts.

Save the Date: Protecting the Role of School Committees in American Public Education

On Tuesday, May 31 (3-4pm), MASC in collaboration with the National School Boards Association will be conducting a webinar on the importance of school committees, local control and how best to counter those who would take decision-making control away from school committees.

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Open Meeting Law Update: Invitation from AG's Office

Join staff from the Attorney General's Division of Open Government Office at a series of seven regional programs on the recently revised Open Meeting Law. Don't miss this valuable opportunity to hear from the experts—open to all and free of charge. Click here for dates, locations and registration information.

Prior Years

2011 Joint Conference

The 2011 conference was held Wednesday, November 9 through Saturday, November 12.

Report on Resolutions Voted at the 2011 Delegate Assembly

2011 Conference Presentation Handouts.

2011 Nominating Committee Report


2010 Joint Conference

The 2010 conference was held Wednesday, November 3 through Saturday, November 6.

2010 Conference Presentations

2009 Joint Conference

The 2009 conference was held Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21.

See the 2009 schedule and sessions.

2009 Conference Handouts

Find the Delegate Manuals (PDF) for prior conference years here. See this year's Joint Conference information.

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