Schools

Winchester Superintendent: 'I Dropped the Ball'

William McAlduff told Lynch parents that he failed to follow-up on a waiver request in an attempt to delay school choice.

Over a hundred Lynch parents filled the school cafeteria Wednesday night to ask questions and share concerns

The MCAS results were released earlier this fall and identified the Lynch School for

Since is a Title I school and a school that needs improvement,

Find out what's happening in Winchesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lynch parents received a form recently and have the option to transfer their children to another school within the district. Parents will not need to make a decision on school choice until January, according to Superintendent William McAlduff, after an action plan is released, which is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of December.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, , when they should have been sent out, according to NCLB.

Find out what's happening in Winchesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Wednesday, Superintendent William McAlduff told the Lynch community that he had requested a waiver from the state to avoid school choice, but failed to follow up before the start of the school year.

“I dropped the ball,” McAlduff said. “I’m embarrassed to tell you that I didn’t follow up with the [Department of Education] until late September. That’s totally out of character and it’s not representative of my work ethic. I hope we can move forward and address the issues.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Curtin said what concerns him as a parent is the student growth percentile (SGP) at Lynch (43.5 ELA, 45 Math) compared with the rest of the schools – Ambrose (70, 61), Lincoln (60.5, 59.5), Muraco (65.5, 51.5), Vinson-Owen (54.5, 62).

And on Wednesday, McAlduff said that Lynch’s struggles are a recent problem.

“In 2008 and 2009 the ELA and math for grades four and five, the data was strong compared to the other elementary schools,” McAlduff said. “But in 2010 and ’11 we see a sharp decline compared to the other four schools, and that’s a source of concern.”

However, according to Assistant Superintendent Richard Robbat, if the scores of Lynch’s high-needs (ELL, Special Education and low-income) students are removed, the school’s Composite Performance Index (CPI) is 96, ahead of the state guideline of 95.1 and comparable to the other Winchester schools.

While McAlduff couldn’t pinpoint specific problems that has led to Lynch’s recent struggles, he did say that the school’s increase in high-needs population is likely one of the issues. Lynch has 7.2 percent of its students as ELL, 13.3 are low-income and 17.5 are special education. Those numbers are higher than Ambrose (3, 3, 13.5), Vinson-Owen (4.5, 1.4, 14) and Lincoln (3.8, 1.3, 12.6). Muraco (7.7, 2.8, 10) has slightly higher percentage of ELL students than Lynch.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” McAlduff said of the low scores. “We’ve seen two years of decreasing scores. We need to get better and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

One of the changes that McAlduff and Lynch Principal, Christine Kelley will be implementing is a Pilot tutoring program that will be before and after school to help students who scored in the Needs Improvement or Warning/Failing category.  

“This Pilot program teaches kids how to take the MCAS,” said one Lynch parent. “At Lynch they don’t learn the way they do at other schools. We’re not like other schools in Winchester, and once you accept the fact that Lynch is different then we can move forward.”

McAlduff and Kelley told parents that they are also working on an action plan to improve the school’s MCAS scores, and all information will be placed on the School Department’s website.

“I would send my child to Lynch any day,” McAlduff said. “There are so many successes and achievements at Lynch, and the MCAS results are just a small part of what makes Lynch such a successful school.”


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