Commissioner's Update
February 3, 2010

Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have five announcements and seven items for your review.

February Vacation Activities

The Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism has posted a list of family activities and events in various parts of Massachusetts during the February school vacation week at: http://www.mass-vacation.com/february_vacation.php. This information may be of interest to your school community, and I urge you to make it available to parents and teachers.

Access to Vocational Technical Education

Massachusetts Regulations on Access to Equal Educational Opportunity 603 CMR 26.00 was promulgated in part to ensure that all students have equal rights of access and equal enjoyment of the opportunities, advantages, privileges, and courses of study at public schools in the Commonwealth.

School districts should provide middle school students and their parents/guardians with information on vocational technical education. Common methods of providing information include visits to high schools with vocational technical education programs, and recruitment activities in middle schools conducted by high schools with vocational technical education programs. Middle schools release student names and addresses to the vocational technical high school subject to the Massachusetts Student Records Regulations 603 CMR 23.07.

General questions concerning admission to vocational technical high schools should be directed to Lisa Sandler in the Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education at 781-338-3956 or lsandler@doe.mass.edu.

Questions concerning nonresident tuition for enrollment in vocational technical high schools should be directed to Marnie Jain in the Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education at 781-338-3908 or mjain@doe.mass.edu.

Census in Schools

The 2010 Census is quickly approaching, and Census questionnaires will be sent to every household in the country in early March. This national effort directly impacts federal grant amounts for Massachusetts schools, as well as our congressional representation. To raise awareness and understanding of this effort I urge you to designate the week of March 1-5 as Census in Schools Week.

The primary goal of the Census in Schools initiative is to help students learn about the importance of the Census so they can encourage their families to complete and return the 2010 Census questionnaire. It is essential that we raise student awareness of the Census statewide, but particularly in language-minority, low income and other hard-to-count communities to help increase questionnaire return rates.

The Census Bureau has developed a range of 2010 Census learning materials for K-12 schools. In August 2009, the Census Bureau mailed complimentary kits to superintendents and K-8 principals throughout the state that included wall maps and quick-start resource guides. In October 2009, wall maps and mini teaching guides were mailed to social studies chairs in all high schools.

These materials and others are available online at www.census.gov/schools. With them, K-8 students will be able to sharpen their skills in critical thinking, reading comprehension, history, math, geography, and data and map analysis. High school students will have opportunities to deepen their knowledge about the history of the Census, demographics, apportionment, redistricting, and other topics. The standards, lesson plans, and resources prepared by the Census Bureau are consistent with the standards in the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks.

I hope you will plan with the teachers in your schools to use these materials in educating students about the Census and its importance to Massachusetts residents, particularly during the week of March 1-5.

Association Scholarship

The Massachusetts Flower Growers' Association announces the 2010 MFGA Scholarship Award Program. Applicant must major in a course of study in Floriculture, Horticulture or related agricultural sciences.

The scholarship is $1,000.00 annually to a maximum of $4,000.00 depending on the number of years enrolled in college.

A completed application must be submitted by May 15th. For an application and/or more information contact the Association office at 781-275-4811 or http://www.massflowergrowers.com/scholarships.php. Applications are on file at most high schools guidance offices in Massachusetts.

Guidance on Students Displaced by the Earthquake in Haiti

As a result of the destruction wrought by the earthquake in Haiti, some residents of Haiti are seeking refuge with family members and friends throughout the United States, including Massachusetts. Parents may come to Massachusetts with their children or they may send their children here to live temporarily with other responsible adults.

A school-aged child or youth displaced by the earthquake in Haiti and who is now residing in the USA as a doubled-up or homeless unaccompanied youth has the right to enroll immediately in the district of residence. A district would follow the same procedures in implementing McKinney-Vento in this situation as the district would do with a child displaced by a domestic natural disaster. Therefore, we urge districts to review the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Advisories posted at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mv/haa/.

ESE is working with the Department of Public Health on health-related issues potentially facing these students and will keep you updated accordingly.

If you have any questions related to McKinney-Vento, please contact Peter Cirioni pcirioni@doe.mass.edu or Sarah Slautterback, sslautterback@doe.mass.edu.

Items Posted at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. Reporting Scaled Scores for Grade 3 Students
2. Options for Early Return of MCAS Spring 2010 Test Materials
3. Requirements for the Participation of Students with Limited English Proficiency in MCAS and MEPA   
4. Requirements for the Participation of Students with Disabilities in MCAS   
5. MCAS Alternate Assessment Training Opportunities-March 9-12, 2010
   [ No longer available ]
6. Professional Development Opportunities in the Humanities
   [ No longer available ]
7. Your Plan for College - Get Ready for Life after High School

Sincerely,

Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D.
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education