A Call to Action: Parents Form Melrose Education Coalition

A new advocacy group has sprung up in Melrose recently aimed at supporting public education.

The Melrose Education Coalition (MEC) formed when two parents, Lisa Lewis and Kristin Doucette, decided to create a unified group to help accelerate the progress of Melrose Public Schools. They currently consist of over 40 members and continue to grow.

“There were many groups within individual schools doing a lot of great work,” Lewis said. “Our goal is to unite and push towards improving the school system.”

Lewis and Doucette were spurred into action by recent events involving the school system’s school assignment policy, which recently came under scrutiny when several than they went to for kindergarten.

“That is too big of a change for kids that age,” Doucette said. “It was never made clear to parent that that could happen, and the criteria for placement seems loose at best.”

Doucette also said that administrators were not communicating with parents whose first choice school was denied until after the decisions were already made.

The Melrose School Committee is scheduled to review this policy at two meetings this month. The committee has already received suggestions for the policy, including one from the MEC.

An overview of the current policy, guidelines and possible alternatives has been brought to the committee by Kristin Thorp, chairwoman of the Policy and PLanning Subcommittee. The overview lists seven possible placement procedures (PDF attached and available for download online).

“We welcome any opinion on our policies, whether its from parents, teachers, or advocacy groups,” School Committee Chairwoman Margaret Driscoll told Melrose Patch. "Certainly, the more people in our community who advocate for excellent education is a very positive thing."

MEC feels that, once a student is placed in a full-day kindergarten class, that student should remain in that school until Grade 5. Parents who wish to have their children in half-day kindergarten should enroll for that and the grade 1-5 school separately.

“Shifting to a single assignment policy should streamline the placement process, allowing for savings of time and money," the MEC said in a statement sent to the School Committee. "It will put an end to anger, hurt and stress caused by displacements, which serve to enhance negative views of our schools. It will lead to greater stability for our school system, and far more importantly, for our children."

The MEC’s focus, though, is not solely on the assignment policy. The lack of a unified curriculum is also of a great concern to the group.

“Right now, there doesn’t seem to be an overarching curriculum within grade levels in the school system,” Lewis said. For example, Doucette said that Melrose acquired high tech, , but the teachers are not required to implement them in class and, in fact, some aren’t.

Implementation of those science kits was discussed at last week's School Committee meeting, when Lincoln School Principal Brent Conway told the committee that this year is a "roll out" year for the science kits, and that the purchase of additional kits and lessons for next year should result in full implementation during the 2011-2012 school year.

Lewis acknowledged that the MEC is very much in its infancy. The coalition is currently conducting a district benchmarking report that will compare the academic performance, financial capacity, and operational efficiency of Melrose Public Schools to other Massachusetts school districts. Once this is completed, they will have a much better idea of how they want to focus their efforts.

“Our goal right now is to keep working to figure out how we can effect positive change in our community,” Lewis said.