YOUR LOCAL NEWS & SPORTS ONLINE! SCAN & SUBSCRIBE HERE! Vol. 34, No.17 -FREEwww.advocatenews.net Free Every Friday City Councillors Supporting Wounded Vet Run 781-286-8500 Friday, April 26, 2024 Revere awarded $223.8M Grant for new High School Special to Th e Advocate O n April 24, 2024, State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, who is Chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), and MSBA Executive Director/Deputy CEO Mary Pichetti announced that the MSBA Board of Directors voted to approve a grant of up to $233,889,807 for a new Revere High School. One of the next steps is for the district and the MSBA to enter into a Project Funding Agreement, which will detail the project’s scope and budget, along with the conditions under which the district will receive its MSBA grant. AWARDED | SEE Page 17 IN SUPPORT: City Councillors Juan Jaramillo and Marc Silvestri, shown at left, are shown with Wounded Vet Run organizer and author Andy Biggio (holding hockey tourney trophy) at the Wounded Vet Run Hockey Fundraiser last Saturday at the Larsen Hockey Rink in Winthrop where the Revere Police hockey team participated to raise funds for the Annual Wounded Vet Motorcycle Run happening on May 19th . (Courtesy photo) School Committee accepts grants totaling $502K By Barbara Taormina T he School Committee, this week, announced the acceptance of four new grants that refl ect changing trends in education. The first is a $334,000 state grant for teacher diversifi cation. “It’s a good chunk of money,” said Superintendent Dianne Kelly, who explained the grant, which will be used all of next year. It “will improve the pipeline of teachers going into the profession and allow us to work with our own high school kids with internships opportunities at elementary and middle schools to increase the diversity of our staff ,” said Kelly. Committee Chair Patrick Keefe noted that the last time Revere received a teacher diversifi cation grant there was backlash in the community, mostly on social media. “I don’t understand why,” said Keefe, who added that he thought there was a lot of misinformation about the program. “It’s great the city can get this grant to make sure the teacher population reflects the student population,” said Keefe. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Revere’s student population is 3.4 percent African American, 64.2 percent Hispanic, 3.7 percent Asian and 27 percent white. But the Revere teaching staff includes 27 African American teachers, 88 Hispanic teachers and 858 white teachers. CityLab will receive a $25,000 Innovation Pathways design grant for work involving green energy. The grants are meant to give students experience in high-demand industries. The district will also receive an $18,000 English as a Second Language certifi cation grant that will allow content teachers to obtain a second license in ESL and better serve students. Revere also received a $125,000 early college support grant that will pay the tuition of Revere High students taking early college courses. Honors program debate continues for Middle School Earlier this year, students and parents made the case for reinstating the honors program in Revere schools. This week, the School Committee learned that was easier said than done. Superintendent Diane Kelly updated the committee on the challenges and needs involved in bringing back honors at the middle schools, which include hiring four new teachers at each school and spending $30,000 on a PowerSchool consultant. There are also challenges anticipated with maintaining the middle school team model and with ensuring students are able to select their choice of electives, such as art and music. COMMITTEE | SEE Page 5 Councillor Jaramillo thinking beyond new High School budget By Barbara Taormina ith the $493,217,901 bond vote for the new high school looming, many elected offi cials and residents are thinking about the project in terms of dollars and cents and wondering if the city can manage the costs. But Councillor-at-Large Juan Pablo Jaramillo, chairman of the City Council’s new Climate, Sustainability, and Workforce Subcommittee, has been thinking beyond the budget and what the enormous, multiyear construction project will mean to the city. Jaramillo recently filed a motion for an ordinance to create stronger jobs for Revere residents and improve the well-being of Revere’s working families. It’s an ambitious ordinance and Jaramillo calls it a “proposal in the works.” “We want to make sure we’re protecting workers in Revere,” W Juan Pable Jaramillo Councillor At-Large said Jaramillo, adding that with the new Revere High School project, the city should make sure that “Revere workers are top of mind.” The ordinance would cover public construction projects going up in the city that are paid for in part or in full COUNCILLOR | SEE Page 5
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