Vassal Lane brings together the communities of Graham and Parks, Haggerty, and Tobin
Notes about meetings connected to the Vassal Lane Upper School appear here, with NEWEST at the TOP
November 22: Second Meeting, Transitional Parent Group
This group includes the three principals from G and P, Haggerty and Tobin, and parents from each of the three schools. Parents hope the group will function as a supportive infrastructure for this new school, as a functional group to get things done. Goals include: building community for the future Upper Schoolers during the 2011-12 School Year; providing information to parents regarding development of the school; organizing parents to participate in hiring of teachers and Head of Upper School; creating core values and a new culture for the Upper School; stay focused on goals that are reachable.
Next Meeting: November 16th (tentative). Contact Nancy Campbell from Haggerty (ncampbell@cpsd.us); Martha Mosman from Tobin (mmosman@cpsd.us); or Sarah Fiarman at G and P (sfiarman@cpsd.us) to find out who is on this group from your school.
Next Meeting: November 16th (tentative). Contact Nancy Campbell from Haggerty (ncampbell@cpsd.us); Martha Mosman from Tobin (mmosman@cpsd.us); or Sarah Fiarman at G and P (sfiarman@cpsd.us) to find out who is on this group from your school.
March 15th School Committee discussion about upper school structure
One of the many issues facing the Vassal Lane Upper School communities (G and P, Tobin, and Haggerty) is how best to structure the upper school. At the March 15th meeting of the School Committee, one of the 14 points passed by the SC for the Superintendent's Innovation Agenda was the following:
Ms. Tauber: "Whereas the feeder pattern to the Vassal Lane upper school
campus is a unique situation due to the leadership requirements
necessary for a Montessori program, and the expertise needed to be an
effective 6th through 8th grade educational leader, the Superintendent
should meet as soon as possible with the three feeder schools -- Graham
& Parks, Haggerty and Tobin, to develop a leadership model and review
the recommended facilities configuration to insure that it will, in
fact, work as intended."
Dr. Young: "I think Ms. Tauber in this motion has hit on a very unique
circumstance within the Innovation Agenda, particularly the piece about
how neither the Tobin Montessori, nor the Haggerty, has, really, a
strong middle school program or upper grade program, that we can build
on, in the way that Graham & Parks does, it sets this triad up in a way
that is different and distinct from the others, and so I want to thank
her for bringing this to our attention, and for requesting that we pay
special and rapid attention to this matter, to rectifiy this particular
challenge."
Ms. Tauber: "Whereas the feeder pattern to the Vassal Lane upper school
campus is a unique situation due to the leadership requirements
necessary for a Montessori program, and the expertise needed to be an
effective 6th through 8th grade educational leader, the Superintendent
should meet as soon as possible with the three feeder schools -- Graham
& Parks, Haggerty and Tobin, to develop a leadership model and review
the recommended facilities configuration to insure that it will, in
fact, work as intended."
Dr. Young: "I think Ms. Tauber in this motion has hit on a very unique
circumstance within the Innovation Agenda, particularly the piece about
how neither the Tobin Montessori, nor the Haggerty, has, really, a
strong middle school program or upper grade program, that we can build
on, in the way that Graham & Parks does, it sets this triad up in a way
that is different and distinct from the others, and so I want to thank
her for bringing this to our attention, and for requesting that we pay
special and rapid attention to this matter, to rectifiy this particular
challenge."
Concerns raised about environmental issues at Vassal Lane building
There has been some discussion on G and P and cpsparents list servs about the environmental issues, past and possibly present, at the Vassal Lane site. G and P parent Freedom Baird has created this summary report and says, by way of introduction: " I work for Children's Hospital Boston, writing and illustrating health information for patients and families, so I'm experienced in presenting technical information for all readers. I've gone through dozens of documents and articles I found on city, state, federal, and university websites, and worked to extract and present key points of information from hundreds of pages. I've condensed the information to about 6 printed pages of bullet points, plus three maps and a list of references and glossary-style definitions. Thank you to friends and my husband who gave me feedback on earlier versions of this!"
Click here to read Freedom's updated version: http://plaidbathtub.net/tobin/
Click here to read Freedom's updated version: http://plaidbathtub.net/tobin/
Resources: Best practices for school sites with environmental concerns
Hi everyone, just posted this to CPS, and wanted to post it here too --
Best practices for long-term stewardship of a school built over a remediated hazard site include keeping the community informed about it's history and current status.
A great example of this is here:
http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/McCoy/2010/Final_LTMMIP_Fact%20Sheet_9.21.10.pdf
Another best practice is for the city and school district to prepare a long-term monitoring and maintenance plan, and post that publicly as well. Here's a great example of that:
http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/Environmental/Long%20Term%20MMIP%20Rev4.pdf
If Cambridge and the CPSD had this type of information posted and kept up-to-date on the Tobin School and city of Cambridge website, there would be less anxiety and "drama" around this issue.
I'm hopeful that the timeline I wrote could be a pre-cursor to these kinds of documents being developed and posted by the city and CPSD.
Also, here's an excellent paper on this issue, titled "Long-Term Stewardship of Schools Built on Remediated Sites", with a clear description of the roles and responsibilities involved.
http://tinyurl.com/long-term-stewardship
Freedom Baird
Best practices for long-term stewardship of a school built over a remediated hazard site include keeping the community informed about it's history and current status.
A great example of this is here:
http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/McCoy/2010/Final_LTMMIP_Fact%20Sheet_9.21.10.pdf
Another best practice is for the city and school district to prepare a long-term monitoring and maintenance plan, and post that publicly as well. Here's a great example of that:
http://www.newbedford-ma.gov/Environmental/Long%20Term%20MMIP%20Rev4.pdf
If Cambridge and the CPSD had this type of information posted and kept up-to-date on the Tobin School and city of Cambridge website, there would be less anxiety and "drama" around this issue.
I'm hopeful that the timeline I wrote could be a pre-cursor to these kinds of documents being developed and posted by the city and CPSD.
Also, here's an excellent paper on this issue, titled "Long-Term Stewardship of Schools Built on Remediated Sites", with a clear description of the roles and responsibilities involved.
http://tinyurl.com/long-term-stewardship
Freedom Baird
