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Date: 1/31/2023
CHICOPEE – At a time when the staff, students and parents of the Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School have a lot of questions, an open Zoom meeting concentrated on the next steps for the students after the board of trustees voted on Jan. 17 to dissolve the school.
Board President Phyliss Gedeon made it clear at the start of the meeting on Jan. 25 negative remarks would not be tolerated. She said the focus of the meeting was to “provide clear information” about the timeline for the end of the school and that process.
“With our heads held high, we’ll close out our school year,” she said.
Reminder Publishing had requested the answers to questions concerning the number of students currently enrolled and the financial status of the school, but no answers were offered by school administrators or the board of trustees.
Gil Traverso, the executive director of the school, stressed the school is working with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and noted the goal is to get every student into a school where they will feel “comfortable.”
Parents were urged to attend the ongoing Parents Academy meetings to learn more about making the transition to another school as well to follow a link on the school website to a list of schools provided by DESE.
It was also noted there would be no summer program and no credit recovery effort, so students were urged to work hard this year.
June 16 will be the last day of classes and June 26 will be the last day for teachers and administrators.
The administration will work with the teaching staff to define their benefits and Diana Landry said the staff will be paid for their work, although she didn’t have at the time of press definite answers about other benefits, such as health insurance. One teacher who spoke during the meeting brought up the subject of layoffs before the end of the school year. He was told information would be forthcoming.
In a press release, the board of trustees noted, “This was a difficult decision, but one necessitated by the school’s financial condition, based on low enrollment which no longer supports the school’s academic and social justice mission.”
According to the DESE website, the current enrollment was 261 students from grades 9 through 12. The capacity was listed as 320 on the school’s website.
The release addressed reports about concerns at the school. It read, “The board of trustees of Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School remain committed to the Executive Director Gil Traverso and the entire leadership team. They have answered to who they are and their efforts to fight a troubled school. Furthermore, the executive director and the executive leadership team have remained focused on their commitment to students, families, and necessary change. Never has the team engaged in any of the false and unfounded narratives by disgruntled individuals. The selfless efforts by the executive team to create a school that was truly based on the Paulo Freire’s philosophy of social justice and education is clearly visible throughout the school. This leadership team never allowed the distractions and agendas to negatively impact the service delivery of a student-centered educational experience.”
In February 2012, the Massachusetts’ Board of Elementary and Secondary Education announced Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School was one of four schools that was granted permission to operate and allowed the naming after Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. The school opened in September 2013 in Holyoke and moved to the former Pope Francis Catholic High School building in Chicopee in 2019. Students from Holyoke, West Springfield, Chicopee, and South Hadley were accepted.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Springfield confirmed to Reminder Publishing it still owns the building. “Our real estate team is well prepared to look into new opportunities for this location,” noted Carolee McGrath, the assistant director of communications and media relations manager.