THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, OCTObER 13, 2023 Page 11 PROJECTS | FROM PAGE 1 $1,334,000 for a boathouse at Riverside Playground along the Malden River, approved by the Ways and Means Subcommittee on September 25; $1,000,000 for sidewalk and street repairs; $850,000 for Main Street improvements; $650,000 for a Parlin School exterior wall; $500,000 for High School elevators; another $500,000 for tot lot improvements, including the one at the Whittier School; $250,000 for locker room renovation at the Lafayette School and $200,000 to replace the Devens School gym fl oor. The Mayor’s Chief of Staff , Erin Deveney, called the projects “consistent with the city’s commitment to invest in education and infrastructure.” She called the various street and sidewalk improvements eff orts “to make sure Everett is a safe multi-modal community to accommodate motor vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and others so everyone can share the streets and sidewalks in a safe manner.” The $1,663,800 includes $500,000 for painting in schools; $360,000 for repairs to the roof of the old High School, 548 Broadway, which is being used to house a preschool, among other things; $245,000 for police vehicles and $99,000 for inspectional services vehicles. Deveney said these items are being funded through the Capital Improvements program rather than the city operating budget. In School Committee news, the board unanimously voted to support the Thrive Act, pending State House legislation, to end use of the state Comprehensive Assessment System test (MCAS) as a graduation requirement for High School and develop an alternative method of assessment, at their meeting Monday, October 3. The matter was sponsored by member-at-large Samantha Lambert, who said the MCAS limits teaching because teachers teach-tothe-test and it discriminates against students from marginalized groups. The legislation is sponsored by the Mass. Teachers Association. “High stakes testing and the associated accountability measures have undermined our public education system for far too long,” their briefing on the matter reads. “Massachusetts is one of only eight states that ties its standardized testing to graduation, but there is no correlation between having a standardized graduation exam requirement and academic achievement. The punitive aspects of MCAS are especially detrimental to students with Individualized Education Plans, students learning English as a second language, students of color and students from groups that have been historically marginalized from an equitable and supportive education. “The bill would address these issues by replacing the MCAS graduation requirement with one that allows districts to certify they have satisfactorily completed coursework showing mastery of the skills, competencies and knowledge required by state standards and establishing a commission to create a new, whole-child system of assessing our schools, building on important experiments in our For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 617-387-2200 or Info@advocatenews.net state and nation, which can be implemented in the coming years. “Passing An Act Empowering Students and Schools to Thrive means school and district evaluation and accountability requirements will focus on supporting locally led school improvement plans while still aligning with federal law; student learning and assessment will be re-oriented in a developmentally appropriate way that educates and supports the whole-child and the 30-year experiment with test, punish and privatize will end and students, communities and true learning will be front and center.”
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