I know school isn't until tomorrow, but....
"Madison Park headmaster wasn’t certified; Headmaster at Madison Park resigns abruptly" by James Vaznis | Globe Staff September 13, 2014
The headmaster of Boston’s only vocational high school, who came under fire last week over a scheduling problem that left many students and teachers without classes, resigned Saturday after the School Department discovered she never gained certification to lead a school in Massachusetts.
Diane Ross Gary, who worked in education for more than three decades mostly in Connecticut, applied for certification in Massachusetts last August when she took over as headmaster of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury, but never completed the paperwork, according to a Boston School Department spokesman.
That means a person without the proper credentials has been leading a school in desperate need of an academic turnaround for more than a year, even as the School Department removed 10 teachers at Madison Park this summer who lacked the appropriate state licences.
And while qualified teachers are now just sitting around.
It is unclear why the School Department had not checked on Gary’s license before Friday. Interim Superintendent John McDonough looked into it Friday morning in anticipation of a conversation with Gary later that day, said Lee McGuire, a School Department spokesman....
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Also see:
After protest, most Madison Park students get schedules
The gun helped.
Madison Park administrator placed on leave
The buses were late, too.
I know this is like comparing “apples and aardvarks,’’ but....
"Allston, Brighton neighbors consider student impact; Residents, officials seek answers" by Jennifer Smith | Globe Correspondent September 14, 2014
More than 100 residents of Allston and Brighton spent Saturday morning at a community meeting, hoping to find solutions to the strain placed on parts of their neighborhoods that are increasingly populated by transient students.
The area has “experienced a steady change,” said John Cusack, 50, who grew up in Brighton and has three children in local schools.
Saturday’s forum has been in the works for a few months, in part inspired by the Globe’s Shadow Campus series, which explored the risky and exploitative practices in Boston realty that led to the death of a Boston University student last spring.
Discussion was robust and largely positive at the event, organized by the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation at the Boston Green Academy in Brighton. Few of the attendees were college-age.
“We have so many young people here in Allston-Brighton, who are such an incredible resource,” said Carol Ridge-Martinez, executive director of the Allston-Brighton CDC.
“We want them here.”
Liza Padgett, 29, and her housemate, Liam Walsh-Mellete, 22, saw the forum as a chance to engage with their new community.
They have lived in a housing co-op in the GAP neighborhood — so named for the parallel Gardner, Ashford, and Pratt streets — for one year.
According to Padgett, young adults, particularly college students, aren't necessarily committed to their temporary neighborhoods.
“The students are there for a minute,” Padgett said. “They have no real investment.”
Allston and Brighton houses are largely investor properties occupied by temporary tenants.
According to Valerie Frias, associate director at Allston-Brighton CDC, the percentage of housing in the area occupied by someone other than the owner rose from 68 to 75 percent over the last two years.
Representatives from the mayor’s office, the Boston Police Department, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and other government bodies attended and participated in smaller group sessions.
The Walsh administration plans to release a new housing strategy within the next few weeks, according to Sheila Dillon, chief of housing and neighborhood development. It will include plans to address the need for housing that is affordable to the middle class, as well as a student housing plan, Dillon said.
Of the approximately 150,000 college students in Boston, about 36,000 live off-campus at 13,000 addresses, Dillon said. The student housing plan will include goals for additional dormitory construction and stricter enforcement on overcrowding and code violations.
Boston College was the only university to send representation to the forum.
Many wanted to ensure that privately contracted dormitories would still be paying appropriate taxes. If universities are to expand housing options, event participants said those dormitories should be regulated, supervised, affordable, and accountable to the university.
Other topics addressed in the discussion groups were neighborhood stabilization strategies, BRA processes and its role, and code enforcement and quality of life.
Absentee landlords who ignore code violations and don’t regulate tenant behavior were called a significant problem.
Sharon Cayley, 67, bought her condominium 22 years ago.
“One-quarter of the units are owner-occupied,” Cayley said.
There are at least a dozen new people a year in the building, prompting long-term owners to feel as though they juggle “baby-sitting and policing,” she said.
Noise and cleanliness issues were points of contention for many community members.
“Some of my neighbors have been sleepless for years,” said 84-year-old Louise Bonar. Bonar has lived in her home since 1963, one street away from Boston University’s campus.
Boston police have been working within the community for the past three years on a new policy for handling fallout from raucous student-hosted parties.
Parties broken up by the police used to end with arrests, arraignments, $100 fines, and permanently tarnished records for those involved, said Boston police Sergeant Michael O’Hara.
This program offers tenants the choice between a court arraignment and 30 hours of community service in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods, carried out under Boston police community service divisions.
“We don’t want their money,” said O’Hara. “We want their sweat equity.”
Actually, they want your money, too.
The new policy underscored the tone of Saturday’s forum.
College students were welcome for what they offer the community, but long-term residents are navigating the pitfalls of rising rents and louder neighborhoods.
“This is a balance,” said Commissioner William Christopher Jr. of the Inspectional Services Department. “We want the students and the residents to have a good experience here.”
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Enough with the slumming.
Welcome back, kids:
"Medford mom’s Facebook rant resonates" by Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein | Globe Staff September 11, 2014
Sometimes while she’s driving, Kim Costa will muse about whatever is on her mind, recording it on her iPhone and posting it on Facebook. The Medford mom typically gets a few “likes” for these videos. Last week, though, Costa posted a 55-second “public service announcement” aimed at college students returning to school in Boston. The rant, which is both funny and profane, eventually went viral and has now been shared over 4,100 times on Facebook. “Real quick reminder to all the college students coming back to Boston to continue their higher education. This is really important,” Costa says in a Boston accent. “This is something you are going to carry through your entire academic career in the 617 area code: nobody likes you, you’re a visitor here; an interloper.” And she goes on. “I want you to keep that in mind when you’re strutting through the crosswalk in Harvard Square with your pink popped collar and your [expletive] Banana Republic, date-rape slacks. . . . I’m sure when you graduate you’ll want to move here cause it’s so awesome — and you’re right, we’re awesome. But people like you will be contained to places like Lexington and Concord, where you can live, and wear Tevas, and recycle, and have a kid when you’re 50 years old. And you know what, we probably won’t like them either. And with that, welcome back.” Costa, 43, who runs a halfway house for women, told us she has received positive messages from people who live in college towns elsewhere, and a lot of angry comments from others. “I’m getting ripped apart. It was meant to be fun and not taken too seriously,” she said. “But it’s also true. I’ve been interacting with students my whole life. I’ve waited on them, and they’re horrible tippers.”
Hey, here's an idea.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Schools’ wait lists called a drag on the economy; Thousands seek vocational classes as skilled jobs go unfilled in state" by Megan Woolhouse | Globe Staff September 15, 2014
Many vocational and technical schools across Massachusetts have long waiting lists for students seeking admission, creating a bottleneck in worker training even as thousands of well-paying jobs go unfilled for lack of skilled labor, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by researchers at Northeastern University School of Law, found that at least 3,500 students were unable to get into public vocational schools in the past two years, with the longest waiting lists in communities with high unemployment and large minority populations....
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