BESE Meeting Feb 23: Charters & Licensure

In possibly the first two-day BESE meeting under Commissioner Riley, DESE takes up approving a new charter school and licensure changes, including a new Military Spouse license.

Watch the live stream here: livestream.com/accounts/22459134

The agenda and documents are also available here. www.doe.mass.edu/bese/docs/fy2023/2023-02/

Monday, February 27, 2023, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education members will hear a recommendation on the approval of a new charter school in Worcester from Commissioner Jeff Riley. This will be the first charter school discussion and vote for Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler.

The meeting will only be held remotely and there is no opportunity for public comment.

We will update our FY 23 Charter School mega post with the documents related to the recommendations for the charter school in Worcester and the expansion of the region for an existing charter school. Even the documents too big for the DESE internet machines. **

BESE Agenda

1. Charter Schools: Recommendation for New Charter School: Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School  — Initial Discussion
   Attachment:
   • Motion for Board Action on Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School
   • Memorandum detailing the charter application review process  and the criteria for review 
   • List of the external and internal reviewers who reviewed the initial and final charter applications.
   • Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School
     • Executive summary of the proposal, written by the applicant group
     • List of the proposed members of the school’s board of trustees, proposed employees, and representatives of EL Education and OSV, written by the applicant group
     • Summary of the interview with the applicant group
   • Summary of the final application review, including the evidence identified during the Department’s application review process)
     • Written public comment **

Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Back to the usual business on BESE. Today they will actually cast the vote on the proposed charter school issues. There will be public comment and we expect strong opinions to be shared.

Also of note are a final vote on regulations for academic educator licenses (no movement on the proposed changes to the Vocational licensure regulations). The changes include the creation of a Military Spouse license, an new PreK-6 Digital Literacy/Computer Science License and an extension to the MTEL alternatives pilot. We will have more detail on the licensure changes here soon.

Statements from the Public*
Comments from the Chair
Comments from the Secretary
Comments from the Commissioner

Briefing 

Routine Business:

Approval of the Minutes of the January 24, 2023 Regular Meeting — Vote

Agenda Items:

1. Charter Schools: Recommendation for New Charter School: Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School  — Discussion and Vote
   Attachments:
   • Motion for Board Action on Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School
   • Memorandum detailing the charter application review process  and the criteria for review 
   • List of the external and internal reviewers who reviewed the initial and final charter applications.
   • Worcester Cultural Academy Charter Public School
     • Executive summary of the proposal, written by the applicant group
     • List of the proposed members of the school’s board of trustees, proposed employees, and representatives of EL Education and OSV, written by the applicant group
     • Summary of the interview with the applicant group
     • Summary of the final application review, including the evidence identified during the Department’s application review process)
     • Written public comment **
2. Charter Schools: Amendment Request for Map Academy Charter School (Charter Region)  — Discussion and Vote
   Attachments:
   The following documents are public records and are available upon request.**
   • Correspondence from Map Academy Charter School
   • Motion for Board Action on Map Academy Charter School
3. Boston Public Schools Update: EY Parthenon Report  — Discussion
4. Amendments to Educator Licensure Regulations, 603 CMR 7.00  — Discussion and Vote
   Attachments:
   • Summary of Public Comments Received and Department Response
   • 603 CMR 7.00 — Redlined regulation showing amendments and changes based on public comments
   • Motion
5. Report on Grants Approved by the Commissioner 
6. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Annual Report for FY2022 
7. Legislative Report: Education-Related Laws Enacted in 192^nd Legislative Session 

**

From the footnotes on the BESE agenda:

**The following documents are public records and are available upon request. Due to the volume of documents, limited web server space, and the Department’s commitment to achieving meaningful accessibility to this online environment for all users, but most particularly for users with disabilities (we follow specific Commonwealth Enterprise Standards designed to meet the needs of our citizens with disabilities), we are unable to post this document on our webpage. Please send an email to BoardofEducation@mass.gov  to request the document and we will respond promptly. Thank you.