Brockton school system has a lot to (re)learn
The pathway back to excellence is grounded in practical experience of what’s worked before
I am sure there will be some who read Susan Szachowicz’s “How to transform Brockton High School back to a national model” (Opinion, March 9) who will maintain that what worked when she was principal of Brockton High School cannot work today. People forget, however, that the school became a national model by doing something no one thought possible: turning a high school with 3,000 students into a success when conventional wisdom suggested that only schools with no more than 700 students could work.
What Szachowicz, who retired in 2013, details about how BHS lost its way and how it can find its way back runs counter to the educational mantra of “best practice informed by research.” Indeed, what she calls for is grounded in practical experience in what it takes to make a school system work, how to develop the kind of teamwork that can overcome individual agendas at every level of the educational process, and the reality that, in the end, the salvation of a school can only be achieved from within. To her proposals, I would add only one: Engage the students in the leadership process necessary to turn the school around.
The models for doing this are out there. This approach can only increase the chance that BHS teachers, students, and staff, along with district leadership, can turn the tide together. DONALD FRANKE Chatham
The writer retired in 2017 after 32 years as a teacher of history and social science at Sandwich High School.
Don’t count on DESE to enforce education laws — look at its record with special ed
In their op-ed “Brockton students need support, not the National Guard” (Opinion, March 8), Michaela Lauture, Leon Smith, and Marlies Spanjaard rightly point out that students’ dysregulated behavior often arises from unmet mental health needs, including supports around the effects of trauma. However, the assumption that guidance and oversight by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will quell the fallout from this fact is misguided.
DESE does not effectively enforce education laws in our schools. In fact, the agency is currently under federal investigation into whether it is failing to properly enforce the laws governing special education. DESE has just introduced a new Individualized Educational Program form that schools use to document the needs of students with disabilities. The terms “trauma” and “mental health” are not included in this form, although our nonprofit watchdog group SPEDWatch asked the agency several times to do so.
While we pressure DESE to effectively enforce special education laws, we might as well add enforcement of school-based physical restraint regulations to our focus. Maybe then the 3-year-old special education student who was horrifically restrained at the James F. Condon K-8 School in South Boston can hope that his trauma, caused by that restraint, will be properly supported in his future school years.
ELLEN M. CHAMBERS Pepperell The writer is the founder of SPEDWatch.
A strong school library program can be a life-changer
Michaela Lauture, Leon Smith, and Marlies Spanjaard and Susan Szachowicz are correct that putting blame on Brockton High School students and dismantling systems that worked is wrong. Yes, creating a climate of support, putting student-focused systems in place, and implementing developmental models are the keys to a safe and vibrant school for students to thrive and for staff to grow professionally. A life-changing element is to provide equitable access to an effective school library program: one with a licensed school library teacher, an adequate budget for a robust collection, and a schedule that meets the needs of each student.
Access to this empowering form of learning is a civil right. Rudine Sims Bishop’s research on children’s books describes how library collections are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. When children find their voice with choice through a school library program — their race, national origin, gender, disability, and religion — they become independent learners and thinkers.
After years of cuts, Brockton should bring back a robust, districtwide library program. Years of extensive school library impact studies show that students with access to a strong school library program garner higher achievement, meet academic standards, and have lower dropout rates. Boston and Springfield are doing just that with K-12 school library programs, where licensed school library teachers know each student well and work with school faculty to bring a culture of reading and academic success in each school.
DEBORAH LANG FROGGATT Old Lyme, Conn.
The writer is outreach director of the Massachusetts School Library Association and former director of library services for the Boston Public Schools.