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Date: 10/20/2021
SPRINGFIELD – Conversation on data from the 2020-2021 school year occurred during the Springfield School Committee meeting on Oct. 14.
Superintendent Daniel Warwick showcased a presentation that delved into each facet of the district’s operation. He revealed that the district ranks as the second largest in New England with 24,232 students located across 70 school programs. The superintendent also spoke about Springfield’s sufficient staffing for its student base, as the 4,632 staff create a 12 to 1 student to staff ratio for the district.
Still, Warwick said he would like to work toward improving diversity for the staff. “Our staff doesn’t reflect our student population. We’ve done a lot of work on that, but obviously we have a lot more work to do,” said Warwick, who revealed that 67 percent of staff are white despite the school having a 68 percent Hispanic populous. While he works to improve the numbers, the superintendent revealed that the district’s diversity is wider than most regions.
The superintendent then delved into the district’s MCAS data. With testing occurring around the district’s return to in-person learning, Warwick said pandemic conditions caused testing participation percentages to decline. For the critical grade 10 MCAS, 69 percent of students participated in the English Language Arts test and 68 percent participated in the math test, according to Warwick.
Test results were also impacted by the pandemic, with the superintendent revealing that 2021 average test scores dropped for each grade compared to 2019. In contrast, Warwick shared that the district continues to close the gap toward the state’s average test scores. “We really tightened that gap up with the state, we were way behind the state at one point,” said Warwick.
Another area of growth for the district is the graduation rate. The superintendent said the number has seen steady increases over the years, with 2020’s 77 percent graduation rate improving from the 73.8 graduation rate of 2019. “That jump makes for the best improvement across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Warwick in reference to the massive increase from 2006’s 51.6 percentage.
Nursing Director Jeanne Clancy presented a health service update about the ongoing school year. She revealed that the number of COVID-19 cases is dropping, with 148 people from the 20 and under populous testing positive compared to 197 people from the week of Sept. 19 through 25. “As you can see, the rates are trending down like the city,” said Clancy. The nursing director shared that the school has gathered a steady supply of COVID-19 tests, receiving a pool testing pallet order last week as well as expecting a delivery the week after the meeting.
Clancy further explained that the district has integrated 43 Cambridge Innovation Center Health employees, which allows each school to fully integrate their pool and test-and-stay testing programs. She said 59 schools have begun pool testing, while seven schools will rollout testing starting the week following the meeting. All schools currently have test-and-stay and symptomatic testing in place, according to Clancy.
Chief Communication Officer of Springfield Public Schools Azell Cavaan also discussed the district’s extensive effort to advocate about the school’s vaccination clinics. Posters, radio advertisements and banners are among the tools the district is utilizing to promote the vaccination clinics.
School Committee members Denise Hurst, Barbra Gresham and Maria Perez issued concern that parents aren’t being fully informed about the school’s COVID-19 policies, including not being aware of students testing themselves when in pool testing. “I have got numerous calls of parents being upset about students testing themselves,” said Gresham. While the district can only submit suggestions for the state-run program, Cavaan said the district will continue to proactively market the parameters of COVID-19 testing.
The School Committee will meet again on Oct 28.