Patricia Benner's Comments to the New Bedford School Committee Regarding Innovation Schools

I am coming before the school committee today to represent the faculty and staff of Roosevelt Middle School, who are outraged at the thought of an innovation school slated to be initiated in our building by September of 2013. Not only were we not notified of this project in advance so that we could weigh in on the prospectus and voice our opinions, our principal, Darcy Fernandes is listed on page 12 of the prospectus for the Esperanza School of Language and Culture as an “established partner” in the venture. Not at any time has Ms. Fernandes come forward to state this fact to her faculty, and when questioned about the proposal this summer, feigned ignorance of the project altogether, stating “I don’t know anything about it; downtown never tells me anything.” In fact, the only reason anyone at Roosevelt knows about the proposal is because myself, along with a colleague, decided to attend the first meeting held by the United Interfaith Action this summer regarding the unveiling of the proposals. This is when we learned about the Esperanza School being slated for Roosevelt. We were shocked, to say the least. Despite this so-called launching of the proposals that night, on the following day, the Standard Times failed to report the location of the proposed Esperanza School, stating only that the school would be located in the “neighborhood of the Taylor and Hannigan schools.” Clearly, this has been an underhanded and undemocratic venture from its commencement.

The problem with this is that proper information regarding the possible implementation of this school is not being disseminated, and parents and other community members are being duped into believing that this school will be a cure for all of the ills currently reported regarding ELL students in the NBPS district. This is simply not so. First off, by denying ELL students the right to attend their neighborhood schools, and by having the entire population of the ELL middle school students be forcibly bussed to Roosevelt each day regardless of where they live in the city, we are supporting segregation. Yes, I said segregation – of which the definition according to the Encarta dictionary is as follows: the practice of keeping ethnic, racial, religious, or gender groups separate, especially by enforcing the use of separate schools, transportation, housing, and other facilities, and usually discriminating against a minority group. Secondly, the Esperanza school prospectus makes the claim that the majority of ELL students live in the south end of New Bedford.  I can attest to the fact that the majority of ELL students attending Roosevelt Middle School (57%) currently live outside of the South End district and are bussed in each day. As of Friday, October 12, 2012, there are 122 ELL students attending Roosevelt (not including all of the FLEPs in the building), and according to the prospectus for the Esperanza school, only 60 of these students at any given time in grades 6-8 will be served by the proposed school. The questions are:

• ·         What will happen with the rest of the ELL middle school population?
• ·         And if the Esperanza school co-locates in the Roosevelt building, what will become of the students who attend their neighborhood middle school when 18 of their classrooms will be taken over by the proposed school?
• ·         And what will happen to the teachers who now have no classrooms to teach in?
• ·         For those teachers who are allowed to remain at Roosevelt, will they now be forced to teach class sizes of between 35 and 45 students to accommodate the displaced students whose right it is to attend that school?
• ·         Where will the funding come from to support the overhaul of Roosevelt to accommodate K-5 students?  This funding should come from capital funds in the district, but are there any to support the likelihood of restructuring Roosevelt?

Another reason given for Roosevelt being chosen as the ELL middle school and the site for the proposed Esperanza school is because its population numbers are lower than both Keith and Normandin Middle Schools. This is true; however, a simple solution exists to remedy this problem. REDISTRICT the city in order to allow for more feeder elementary schools to Roosevelt. This would provide the school with its capacity number of students, all ELL students would be able to attend their neighborhood middle schools, and the money that would be spent on bussing students to and from Roosevelt and/or for the restructure of Roosevelt to accommodate K-5 students could be used toward hiring ELL teachers for those buildings that require them. Consistency across the board in utilizing an ELL program that has been researched extensively and has been proven to be effective in other urban school districts should be implemented, especially at the high school level.

All this having been said, I would like to respectfully submit a petition against the implementation of an innovation school being implemented at Roosevelt Middle School, signed by the majority of the faculty and staff that currently are employed by the district in that building.