Mayor Mitchell's opening remarks

February 07, 2012 12:00 AM

Mayor Mitchell made the following statement at Monday night's special meeting of the School Committee.

Thank you.

I have asked to convene this special meeting of the School Committee because I believe New Bedford is facing a crisis.

As all of us are aware, we meet tonight against the looming backdrop of a possible state takeover of our public schools. We are just weeks away from deadlines that might trigger a state decision.

By any measure, such an event would be serious setback to our school system.

But let me be as clear as possible:

Should it happen, a state takeover will be a devastating blow to our City with permanent and wide-reaching implications far beyond our schools.

It will significantly damage our City's reputation in the wider world. It will undermine our local economy and discourage business investment and job-creation. And it will thwart our efforts to retain a healthy, flourishing middle-class, and erode our quality of life.

Regardless of what a state receivership for our schools might look like, it is safe to say we will live with the negative consequences for a very long time.

The prospect is distressing and would be a very sad day in New Bedford's history.


We cannot allow it to happen. And I am prepared to do anything and everything in my power--as Mayor and as a Member of this Committee--to prevent it.

Everything is on the table, because, frankly, it has to be, given what is at stake.

We are here because the process for producing a turn-around plan for the school district has broken down, perhaps irretrievably. New Bedford has been working to produce a plan that will satisfy the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education since last summer. In that time, we have submitted three versions of our plan.

None have been approved. We are going on our fourth attempt. Meanwhile, three other districts have submitted similar turn-around plans to the state and have successfully gained state approval.

Moreover, thirty-five individual schools state-wide have been deemed underperforming and have therefore required the development and approval of school-focused turn-around plans. Among this group of thirty-five, New Bedford's Parker School has the dubious distinction of being the only school to which the state had to assign an outside consultant to help draft its turn-around plan.

Lastly, it has to be acknowledged that New Bedford Schools remain plagued by some of the highest drop-out rates and worst MCAS scores in the state. Many parents have lost confidence that our schools are functioning effectively. They are voting with their feet as they leave the City or send their children to the Vocational High School, charter schools, or other alternatives instead.

For its part, the School Department has often made the case that the state has not recognized the unique challenges facing our schools, or recognized our School Department's efforts to meet those challenges.

This "blame-game" is not news to anyone who has followed the strained relations that have existed between state officials and the New Bedford School Department in recent years.


The state has a point. The School Department has a point. My point is simply this:

Attributing blame is not a useful exercise at this point. Deciding who is more at fault-whether local or state officials-is not going to solve our predicament or change matters.

We are where we are.

What matters is how we decide to move forward.

My own expectation is that three things need to happen:

(1) We need to accept the reality of our current situation.

(2) We need to understand exactly what has been missing from past drafts of the turn-around plan. What is it about past drafts that left the state so unimpressed?

(3) We need to take clear and decisive action that will signal to the state that the New Bedford School Committee is not going to sit by passively while the School Department marches into a state receivership.

For my part, I am--at present--undecided as to precisely what clear decisive step is required under the circumstances. My mind is open, and my opinion is going to be informed largely by the conversation that takes place here tonight.

But I do know this: The time for half-measures is over.

In its correspondence last week the state insisted we take whatever steps necessary to signal a "new day." If that is the benchmark set by the state, then we have no choice but to meet it, regardless of where the fault lies.

That is the task before us tonight.