School Committee up for grabs

Crowded field already at 18

By JOSH RESNEK

As of Tuesday, 18 men and women have taken out nomination papers for School Committee seats.

With the mayor’s effort not just to get himself re-elected, but to control the School Committee by packing it with his own slate in full swing, there is a great potential for a substantial change of representation on the board.

The School Committee Ward 6 race epitomizes the moves being made to replace an influential incumbent.

Attorney Thomas Abruzzese, the former chair of the School Committee who was instrumental in hiring Superintendent Priya Tahiliani, is being set for extinction by the mayor, sources claim.

Unbelievably enough, the mayor is said to have enlisted Councilor Mike Mc- Laughlin to run in Ward 6 in the effort to unseat Abruzzese.

Abruzzese has been beset by serious difficulties regarding two sons who both work for the school department, and who have both been involved in legal entanglements inside and outside of school.

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Money a challenge for starting schools

Everett High School. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

Many people still divided on reopening in fall

By JOSH RESNEK

With a good deal of time remaining in July for discussion about what school reopening will look like here, everyone involved, from teachers to administrators, to parents, to students reveal a convolution of meaningful concerns – all of which seem to make sense when presented, according to an Everett school official.

“Many are divided about reopening or not reopening. Some are very keen to come back. Others are not so keen. Teachers remain reserved,” said the official.

Planning continues inside the superintendent’s office.

The state has required three possible scenarios in order for reopening to take place.

Remote learning is on the table; in person learning inside buildings is being planned out; a combination of the two must be planned for as well.

These plans must be submitted by the first week in August.

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Everett Public Schools in disarray

Staff Report

Crazy and unprecedented happenings littered today’s end of year department meeting at Everett High School. Principal Erick Naumann has called a full staff meeting for Wednesday at 10AM to address sweeping budget cuts to come.

Superintendent Priya Tahiliani is making good on her promise to save teacher-to-student instruction. And teachers are saying this is the most massive budget cutting of administrators they have ever seen.

The emphasis was on making sure as many certified classroom teachers were retained in anticipation of DESE Covid-19 regulations in the fall.

The mandate calls for class sizes of 10 or less. This is a huge issue in Everett schools as classes are routinely 30-35 students. So now, instead of one teacher per 30 students, it willhave to be three teachers per 10 students.

It has become, as one department head stated, an “All hands on deck” situation with certified teachers. The sweeping changes also requires all EPS staff (outside of one building principal, one vice principal and a skeleton crew of clerical /secretary type) have a teaching certificate in some content area and will be teaching a full course load.  This includes all coaches, all substitute teachers, etc. Here’s a list of the cuts:

Outsiders need not apply to EPS

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The entrance to Everett High School. (Photos by Jim Mahoney)

By JOSH RESNEK

The School Committee voted unanimously last week not to allow outsiders, those residing outside of Everett, to gain an edge and a better education for their children by signing them up here to go to one of the city’s public schools.

School Choice will not be exercised here.

If you’re from out of the city, stay out of the city.

The city does not want your kids in our public schools.

This may come as a shock to many in the city but there is a great number of parents out there living in places like Chelsea, Revere, and Malden who believe attending school in Everett as an advantage over doing so in those other places nearby.

Obviously, refusing to allow kids from outside the city to matriculate in the Everett public schools is not a racial thing.

Such a thought is laughable given the exotic racial mix in the EPS.

On second look, however, the measure not allowing others to go to school here who come from working class backgrounds or working poor or welfare poor backgrounds is about as exclusionary as it gets.

In much wealthier towns with much higher family median incomes, School Choice is used to exclude people of race and color from entering those towns perfect social circles of nearly all-white populations.

If you live in Lynn, for instance, the nearby towns of Swampscott and Marblehead have never allowed Lynn students into their school systems for fear of reading scores.

School Choice is used to exclude students of color and ethnicity in places like those.

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