School Committee Elections Near

On Nov. 3, the citizens of Cambridge will go to the polls and elect six members to the new Cambridge Public School Committee. The outcome could significantly change the character of the city’s public schools, which are now perched at a crossroads.

Cambridge Public Schools currently face a daunting array of issues, including a race-based achievement gap, inconsistencies in middle-grade education, a controversial policy to establish socioeconomic diversity, and looming budget concerns.

The roster of candidates includes five current committee members: Alfred B. Fantini, Joseph G. Grassi, Marc C. McGovern, Patricia M. Nolan ’80, and Nancy Tauber. Of the four remaining contenders, two—Richard N. Harding, Jr., and Alice L. Turkel—are former committee members. Charles L. Stead, Sr., and Alan R. Steinert, Jr. ’58 are the only candidates with no past school committee experience.

How and if the district solves its problems will depend on which of these individuals—whose educational philosophies range widely—gets a seat on next year’s school committee.

ACHIEVEMENT

Cambridge’s subpar standardized testing results (LINK), and its subsequent designation as “in need of improvement” by the federal government, have catapulted the issue of student achievement to the forefront of almost every candidate’s platform.

The main concern is the so-called achievement gap, the ever-persistent disparity between test scores of white and minority students—a trend that is reflected across the nation.

In Cambridge, white students consistently outperform minority students on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests. Last year, 62 percent of the district’s white seventh graders, compared to only 18 percent of black seventh graders, scored “proficient” or “advanced” in math. And while 79 percent of white seventh graders scored proficient or advanced in English language arts, only 44 percent of their black counterparts met those standards.

All of the candidates running for office said that they found this disparity completely unacceptable, but only a few have articulated specific plans to rectify the issue.

Nolan, who is currently seeking a third consecutive term on the committee, said she believes that the answer lies in establishing high standards for all students—an approach that McGovern, another current committee member, said he also supports.

“What one means by achievement varies,” Nolan said. “For me it’s making sure we have higher expectations all around. The way for us to make good on our potential as a district is to treat everybody as though they can be high achievers.”

But Stead, a newcomer to school committee politics, said he believes the key to closing the achievement gap is hiring more minority teachers, who could serve as desperately-needed mentors for students of color. Stead, who is black, has worked in the district as a principal and teacher for 34 years and considers himself to be one such role model.

“I have long contended that the city has not done enough to supplement its minority staff teaching,” he said. “I believe sincerely that the increasing of the number of minority staff members would have gone a long way to defeating the gap.”

Turkel, who previously served on the committee from 1996-2003, also advocated for expanding diversity among faculty, but she added that solving the problem of achievement would require schools to implement “a variety of approaches so that all students can access and engage with the curriculum.”

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

The second most frequently mentioned issue in the election has been the quality of the city’s middle grade education—a debate that has divided district leaders for decades.

Because Cambridge has no standalone middle schools, most students attend sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at one of the city’s 11 K-8 schools.

Critics of the current K-8 system contend that educational programs at each school vary in quality, which is in part due to an imbalanced distribution of students across the district.

Parents, teachers, and administrators have complained that the city’s smaller schools—some of which have no more than 50 pupils in a single grade—have created socially isolating environments for students and staffing challenges for faculty.

These issues were formally examined for the first time in the 2007 Blue Ribbon Commission, which called on the superintendent to propose specific solutions to settle the middle school debate.

This process was delayed by the sudden departure of then-Superintendent Thomas D. Fowler-Finn and the school committee’s resolution to table any decision-making about the issue until his successor was selected.

Current Superintendent Jeffrey M. Young, who was elected last spring, had originally committed to presenting concrete proposals to address the concern by October, but he announced last month that this would not be possible. He has since promised to solve the issue once and for all by April 2010, which leaves the fate of Cambridge’s middle school education in the hands of the newly-elected school committee.

Grassi, who co-chaired the Blue Ribbon Commission, said that the middle school debate is “the biggest issue the school committee is going to have over the next term.”

Indeed, all of the other candidates who are currently on the committee said they agree that the problem warrants ongoing discussion.

But Stead, Steinert, and Turkel, none of whom sit on the committee now, said they believe that concern about the middle grades is largely a non-issue.

Turkel said that the established K-8 system “reduces pressure to grow up too soon” and “allows for the continuity of relationships between students and faculty,” as well as “between families and school personnel.”

CONTROLLED CHOICE

Many candidates have also listed Cambridge’s Controlled Choice Policy as one of the primary concerns in their platforms.

Controlled choice, the city’s method of assigning kindergarten students to elementary schools, was initially established to create racially-balanced student populations but was later revised to address socioeconomic diversity.

The program currently allows parents to submit a ranked list of preferred schools but ultimately uses an algorithm to place students according to set demographic ratios.

Many parents have long complained about the policy, pointing out that some families face transportation difficulties—in addition to concerns about maintaining a place in their local community—when they are not assigned to one of their top choice schools.

A few of the candidates have deeper criticisms of the program, contending that controlled choice has largely failed to achieve its fundamental purpose.

“The current controlled choice policy has not desegregated Cambridge elementary schools,” Grassi said. “We have schools that are racially and socio-economically imbalanced far beyond system-wide averages and approved variances within the policy.”

Because Cambridge’s controlled choice system allows students to apply to transfer schools—and because certain schools have special programs that make them disproportionately popular—some classrooms inevitably end up imbalanced. This resulting lack of diversity, Grassi said, is partly to blame for the city-wide achievement gap.

To solve this problem, Nolan has proposed to open up more places at the most sought-after schools and to incorporate “new models for under-chosen schools to attract more families.”

Turkel suggested a similar strategy, emphasizing that “the school system must become more responsive to parent/guardian desires.”

Most of the candidates agreed that the new committee needs to reexamine the entire controlled choice process, including the algorithm itself.

But Fantini, a current committee member, said he believes that the plan can be “sustained” without significant modifications.

BUDGET

Especially in the current economic climate, the district’s budget has also emerged as a primary area of focus for the prospective school committee members.

Cambridge’s spending per pupil is unusually high, but its standardized testing scores remain low—a contrast that has prompted many of the candidates to question whether the district has been utilizing its resources wisely.

In the 2006-07 school year, Cambridge allotted $24,467 to each student, according to the Massachusetts Department of Education. On average, surrounding districts—such as Boston and Newton—spent about $10,000 less per student.

Tauber, who co-chaired the district’s budget committee last year, said that she believes this spending needs extensive review.

“We need to formally evaluate our programs to determine their continued funding,” she said.

Harding, who could not be reached for comment, wrote on his Web site that the district needs to reallocate its funding to improve math and science programs at all levels.

Due to the ongoing financial crisis, careful review of the budget will be crucial in the coming years. Last spring, the district was forced to resolve a $2 million deficit for the 2009-10 school year by reducing and allocating spending in a variety of areas.

Some of the candidates also stressed the importance of increasing the transparency of the schools’ budget process, arguing that the residents of Cambridge deserve to know how their money is being spent.

“Six years ago, no one could tell you where all the money was going,” said McGovern, who has since worked with Nolan to create the first “Citizen’s Guide to the Budget,” a booklet that outlined the district’s fiscal situation using laymen’s terms. Both McGovern and Nolan said they will remain committed to informing the public about financial developments within the city’s public schools.

Turkel also said she believes that increasing school and community involvement is a key part of in solving budget problems.

“Principals, school staff, teachers, and parents/guardians can work together to create the best learning environments for their student population,” she said.

—Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu.