We have obtained a copy of the ad that was placed in the Malden Observer that people have taken issue with and while a reader has asked us to include a copy of it, we do not feel it would serve any purpose other than lower ourselves to the standards of those responsible at MVRCS. We felt that MVRCS demonstrated their lack of consideration and character by including the portion related to Malden Public Schools as it served no purpose. The portion of the ad that related to MPS was contained to the lower left hand corner of the ad. The gist of it identifies Malden Public Schools ranking among Massachusetts schools and the implication of that ranking which is that the number of Malden students that the school MAY be able to accept for the 2011-2012 school MAY increase. Interestingly enough, Martin Gately has said that they have not yet applied to have the cap listed for the City of Malden which causes us to question why they felt the need to even mention it.
It should be stressed that the schools are have very different populations and approaches to educating children. What also is not mentioned is that MVRCS has a lower number of Special Education Students and no English Language students compared to Malden. It was also not mentioned that MPS must follow the laws and regulations the govern them while MVRCS feels that they can follow only those that are convenient to them. As we've said before, SO SAD and SO BAD on the part of MVRCS.
We do have a copy of the ad, so should anyone want to see the actual ad we would be happy to email you a copy of it.
MVRCS has responded to the letter. The response is below Open House Announcement and the letter but link is MVRCS Response to Letter.
This may be similar although without the Malden statistics that were included in the Malden ad. Interesting side note is that this was posted by Martin Gately ON October 15th yet the open house was on October 15th....? What Mr. Gately said is correct, they HAD to do this to meet a requirement of the DESE. Funny, they do this to appease the DESE yet refuse to release financial records, meeting minutes, and set term limits.
The school was also supposed to submit plans regarding Anti-Bullying (as were all schools) and a Teacher Retention plan.
Mystic Valley Regional Charter School Open House
This year's fall admission lottery is scheduled for Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:00 in the multipurpose room in the annex building located at 30 Laurel Street, Malden. The lottery is open to the public. The deadline for submitting lottery applications is Friday, November 19th at 4:00pm. An application for admission can be obtained by clicking here.
Letter: Taking exception with Mystic Valley ad - Malden - Your Town - Boston.comLetter: Taking exception with Mystic Valley ad
(Editor's note: Suzanne Tynemouth, librarian at the Salemwood School, challenges information contained in an advertisement run by the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in a Malden newspaper. The following is her letter:)
The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School recently ran an advertisement in local newspapers and distributed a flyer to attract potential students who may be interested in entering their lottery. In their attempt to attract students, the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School administration publicly demeans the Malden Public Schools.
This type of thinking sets up a dichotomy between the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School and the Malden Public Schools. Both schools are publically funded although the Malden Public Schools do not have a lottery. They accept all students. Students from Mystic Valley Regional Charter School come from six sending communities with demographics that are very different from the Malden Public Schools. The Malden Public Schools has a diverse population, a high number of low income students, and a significantly higher number of special needs and new English Language Learner (ELL) students.
Despite those challenges, the Malden Public Schools sends its graduates to Ivy league schools every year; students are recognized by the National Merit program and the Harvard Book Club. Malden High School has a first place competitive marching band, and the list goes on.
Despite the challenges, and we recognize there are many, a group of dedicated teachers educate the students of Malden each day and challenge them to overcome adversity and to reach for the top.
“Got Grit” is our theme this year in the Malden Public Schools. Grit is defined as
1. The pursuit of a goal through unrelenting energy, perspective, courage, focus, poise, determination, and resilience.
2. Firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship.
Grit is the description given to the students of the Malden Public Schools and the staff who teaches, encourages, and challenges these students of Malden on a daily basis. They are making progress and finding successes.
Here are the facts to compare the two schools; All information is taken directly from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education/School Profiles collected data.The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School recently ran an advertisement in local newspapers and distributed a flyer to attract potential students who may be interested in entering their lottery. In their attempt to attract students, the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School administration publicly demeans the Malden Public Schools.
This type of thinking sets up a dichotomy between the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School and the Malden Public Schools. Both schools are publically funded although the Malden Public Schools do not have a lottery. They accept all students. Students from Mystic Valley Regional Charter School come from six sending communities with demographics that are very different from the Malden Public Schools. The Malden Public Schools has a diverse population, a high number of low income students, and a significantly higher number of special needs and new English Language Learner (ELL) students.
Despite those challenges, the Malden Public Schools sends its graduates to Ivy league schools every year; students are recognized by the National Merit program and the Harvard Book Club. Malden High School has a first place competitive marching band, and the list goes on.
Despite the challenges, and we recognize there are many, a group of dedicated teachers educate the students of Malden each day and challenge them to overcome adversity and to reach for the top.
“Got Grit” is our theme this year in the Malden Public Schools. Grit is defined as
1. The pursuit of a goal through unrelenting energy, perspective, courage, focus, poise, determination, and resilience.
2. Firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship.
Grit is the description given to the students of the Malden Public Schools and the staff who teaches, encourages, and challenges these students of Malden on a daily basis. They are making progress and finding successes.
# of teachers qualified in their subject area:
Malden Public Schools | Mystic Valley |
100% | 54.7% |
# of highly qualified teachers
Malden Public Schools | Mystic Valley |
99.1% | 71.3% |
Diversity
Malden Publics Schools | Mystic Valley |
African American 19.7% | African American 15.4% |
Asian 21.3% | Asian 12.2% |
Hispanic 19.1% | Hispanic 4.1% |
Native American .6% | Native American .4% |
White 35.6% | White 65.6% |
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander .1% | Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander .1% |
Multi Race Non-Hispanic 3.6% | Multi Race Non-Hispanic 2.1% |
Low Income
Malden Publics Schools | Mystic Valley |
Low Income students attending 58.8 % | Low Income students attending 19.5% |
Limited English Proficient
Malden Publics Schools | Mystic Valley |
Limited English Proficient (New English Language Learners) 11.1% | Limited English Proficient (New English Language Learners) 0% |
First Language Not English 40.6% | First Language Not English 14.5 % |
Special Education
Malden Publics Schools | Mystic Valley |
Special Education students 14.8% | Special Education students 7.4% |
Click on the links to view the data on the Department of Education website:
Malden Public Schools
Malden Public Schools
Mystic Valley Regional Charter School
TeachersEnrollment
Selected populations
MVRCS Responds to Letter
Posted by Matt Byrne October 20, 2010 04:33 PM
By Matt Byrne, Town Correspondent
At least one educator in the Malden public schools system has publicly taken issue with the text of an advertisement placed in a local newspaper by the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School that asserts the Malden schools rank in the bottom 10 percent of districts statewide.
In a letter, Suzanne Tynemouth, librarian at the Salemwood School, accuses Mystic Valley of demeaning the public school system.
"This type of thinking sets up a dichotomy between the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School and the Malden Public Schools," Tynemouth wrote in the letter, adding: "The Malden Public Schools has a diverse population, a high number oflow income students, and a significantly higher number of special needs and new English Language Learner students."
In the ad, which aims to draw prospective students to the school's annual lottery set to be held Nov. 23, the charter school says that because the Malden public schools system has been ranked in the bottom 10 percent statewide by the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mystic Valley may soon be able to accept moreapplicants from Malden thanks to a new state law.
Martin Gately, spokesman for the Mystic Valley schools, defended the ad, and said that the state placed Malden schools in the bottom 10 percent, not the charter school. Gately added that Mystic Valley is advertising to comply with legislation signed into law Jan. 21 that places new requirements on recruiting tactics.
"We're supposed to show recruitment and retention plans for minorities in particular," Gately said. "The ads are part of it. We have to do that for a year-to-year basis. We get evaluated by the [state] like everybody else."
Tynemouth does not directly challenge the validity of the asserted ranking, which was verified independently by Jonathan Palumbo, spokesman for the state Executive Office of Education.
Malden Superintendent Sidney Smith was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
In a letter, Suzanne Tynemouth, librarian at the Salemwood School, accuses Mystic Valley of demeaning the public school system.
"This type of thinking sets up a dichotomy between the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School and the Malden Public Schools," Tynemouth wrote in the letter, adding: "The Malden Public Schools has a diverse population, a high number of
In the ad, which aims to draw prospective students to the school's annual lottery set to be held Nov. 23, the charter school says that because the Malden public schools system has been ranked in the bottom 10 percent statewide by the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mystic Valley may soon be able to accept more
Martin Gately, spokesman for the Mystic Valley schools, defended the ad, and said that the state placed Malden schools in the bottom 10 percent, not the charter school. Gately added that Mystic Valley is advertising to comply with legislation signed into law Jan. 21 that places new requirements on recruiting tactics.
"We're supposed to show recruitment and retention plans for minorities in particular," Gately said. "The ads are part of it. We have to do that for a year-to-year basis. We get evaluated by the [state] like everybody else."
Tynemouth does not directly challenge the validity of the asserted ranking, which was verified independently by Jonathan Palumbo, spokesman for the state Executive Office of Education.
Malden Superintendent Sidney Smith was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ranked schools across the state based on a complex formula that averages performance across all tested grade levels in English and math, said Palumbo.
According to Department of Education statistics Tynemouth cited, the two school systems have drastically different populations. Malden public schools enroll almost double the number of non-white students and pupils requiring special education, and serves nearly three times the number of low-income students, according to the statistics.
While Mystic Valley lists zero percent of their student population as possessing limited English proficiency, slightly more than 11 percent of Malden public students fall into the category.
The new law, called the Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, allows charter schools that serve districts ranked in the lowest 10 percent to apply to the state to raise the cap on the percentage of public education dollars that may be funneled to a charter school from that district.
Palumbo said that Mystic Valley has not applied for the status, called proven provider status.
In the past, most charter schools were capped at receiving 9 percent of a public district's totaltuition cost, to pay for students from that district to attend the charter school. The new law raises that cap this year to 12 percent, with higher caps for the lowest ranked districts planned for future years, until the new cap limit of 18 percent is reached.
According to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mystic Valley currently serves about 663 students from Malden, each of whom garner the charter school $9,600 in public education money. Students from Medford, Melrose, Everett, Stoneham, and Wakefield bring the total enrollment to about 1,400.
The new law could allow Mystic Valley to increase the number of Malden students attending by about 263, if the charter school enrolled to the maximum amount the cap would allow.
Gately said Mystic Valley administrators have no intention of approaching that limit, and said that the upcoming lottery will select 125 incoming kindergarten students from the six districts, including Malden, that feed the school, a class size that he said will not increase in the near future.
"We're not going to be taking 263 new Malden kids next year," Gately said, but added: "It could be more than the 9 percent we're capped at now. That's a function of the lottery."
Based on the state's determination of Malden as a "12 percent community," Gately said the new law would allow more Malden students to attend Mystic Valley if after the lottery the total number of Malden students attending the school exceeded about 694, the most allowed by funding limits under the 9 percent cap.
The higher cap would increase that figure to about 950 Malden students who would eventually be allowed to attend Mystic Valley at one time.
According to Department of Education statistics Tynemouth cited, the two school systems have drastically different populations. Malden public schools enroll almost double the number of non-white students and pupils requiring special education, and serves nearly three times the number of low-income students, according to the statistics.
While Mystic Valley lists zero percent of their student population as possessing limited English proficiency, slightly more than 11 percent of Malden public students fall into the category.
The new law, called the Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, allows charter schools that serve districts ranked in the lowest 10 percent to apply to the state to raise the cap on the percentage of public education dollars that may be funneled to a charter school from that district.
Palumbo said that Mystic Valley has not applied for the status, called proven provider status.
In the past, most charter schools were capped at receiving 9 percent of a public district's total
According to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mystic Valley currently serves about 663 students from Malden, each of whom garner the charter school $9,600 in public education money. Students from Medford, Melrose, Everett, Stoneham, and Wakefield bring the total enrollment to about 1,400.
The new law could allow Mystic Valley to increase the number of Malden students attending by about 263, if the charter school enrolled to the maximum amount the cap would allow.
Gately said Mystic Valley administrators have no intention of approaching that limit, and said that the upcoming lottery will select 125 incoming kindergarten students from the six districts, including Malden, that feed the school, a class size that he said will not increase in the near future.
"We're not going to be taking 263 new Malden kids next year," Gately said, but added: "It could be more than the 9 percent we're capped at now. That's a function of the lottery."
Based on the state's determination of Malden as a "12 percent community," Gately said the new law would allow more Malden students to attend Mystic Valley if after the lottery the total number of Malden students attending the school exceeded about 694, the most allowed by funding limits under the 9 percent cap.
The higher cap would increase that figure to about 950 Malden students who would eventually be allowed to attend Mystic Valley at one time.
Can someone from the blog find the ad in question, scan it and post it here? I'd like to see what the writer is talking about. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I always suspected it was MVRCS behind Malden Public's terrible school system! Now it's all out in the open for the world to see. There's a woman from a couple of posts ago that says she has some critical information so if you just put her in touch with me I'll end all these shenanagins once and for all!
ReplyDeleteOh Andy, promises, promises. I don't get it, why do these 'shenanigins' offend you so? It's one thing to be a loyal parent of a student at the school but you are incredibly loyal and take it very personally. I can't figure out what the connection is but I KNOW you are somehow connected. Please tell...
ReplyDeleteAs for the article, the school does have to ensure that the lottery process and recruitment efforts reach minorities, specifically non-english speaking potential students. I'm surprised they're not required to post the ad in a language other than english to really attract ELL students. I'm curious what Malden, Everett & Medford papers they took it out in. Just look at the number of white students compared to other races yet it isn't due to the other sending districts as the majority of students still come from Malden.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a riot that they posted the ad ON the 15 of October and HAD the open house ON the 15th. I bet they had a HUGE turnout!
I read something somewhere about them getting into trouble for some lottery 'shenanigan' a few years back. Anyone know what that one was about? I think it was from a user comment attached to the letter that was written. Anyone have any info?
It's one thing for them to have to make the effort, it's another to compare themselves to Malden who has so much more diversity. Why do they always have to make themselves sound better, why not just say we use a different approach and explain it. They don't say, 'we do horrible at educating special ed students' or 'we are hoping not to get any students who do not speak english cause we wouldn't know what to do with them'. Why point out the weaknesses of Malden when parents who aren't lucky or connected enough to get in, may not have an alternative. Their attitude does nothing towards mending fences or keeping communication open between the two schools.
ReplyDeleteI do have an inside "konnection" that slips me information to post here. He's been a mentor to me my whole life. His name is Captain Obvious! I'll introduce you and the bloggers to him sometime so you won't have to issue so many apologies.
ReplyDeleteWe may have to issue an apology here and there but at least WE are willing to admit that we made a mistake or do not know everything.
ReplyDeleteGlad you have Captain Obvious but too bad Chief Integrity doesn't have any say in the development of your character.
Just kidding, we'd love to meet your mentor some time....
MV-Race baiting is for the ignorant. You should leave it out of your posts. It doesn't suit you.
ReplyDeleteYes Mr. Gately, the state requires you to demonstrate recruitment efforts but they don't require you to be classless and take on a superior attitude.
ReplyDeleteThe state also has a few other requirements that your school REFUSES to follow,like remember that Freedom of Information law that requires you to release your payroll? Still won't give that up will you though?
It seems like one way the school 'rigs' the lottery or admissions policy is to take friends and family from the waitlist (regardless of what number they are). I wonder if the raise in cap would be something that would allow them to take more Malden students from the waitlist (specifically friends & family who they have not been able to get in yet?) and not just admit a higher percentage in upcoming lotteries.
ReplyDeleteWager anyone?
ReplyDeleteA facebook friend of Neil Kinnon's has an incoming Kindergartner AND his wife is currently employed at the school (Action Service). Who wants to bet that the child gets admitted? Those who go to the lottery drawing, listen for the name.
What are the odds a child will get in?
ReplyDeleteWill the Boston Globe be at the Lottery? I hope so!
ReplyDeleteI am currently a student at MVRCS and I have to say that what all of you are stating is incorrect. Just because your child was not picked doesn't mean you can take it out on them. MVRCS has a much better education system than Malden public. DEAL WITH IT!
ReplyDelete