Time for Mr. Monfredo to Separate from the Worcester School Committee

TIME JOHN MONFEDO SEPARATED FROM  WORCESTER SCHOOL COMMITTEE

John Monfredo was the principal of Belmont Community School for at leat 20 years before he became a member of the Worcester School Committee. I have known him since the 1990s. He is a good man and principal.

Until recently I felt, because of his experience, he was a good school committee member. I began to have my doubts during the time that the Worcester School Committee chose a new superintendent of schools.

The acting superintendent then  was Dr. Rodrigues, who knew the job and had the advantage of speaking Spanish. Worcester has a growing Latino school population.

The candidate chosen was Mrs. Binienda, the principal at South High School. She did not have any experience as superintendent and she did not speak Spanish well.  Mr. Monfredo voted for Mrs. Binienda.

The doubt arose when I said to Mr. Monfredo that a doctorate is a requirement for being superintendent. He corrected me and said it was not a requirement. He said the Mrs. Boone, the previous superintendent, was working on her doctorate when she assumed the superintendent position. What Mr. Monfredo and other failed to inform us was that Mrs. Binienda did not have a doctorate nor was she in the process of getting one. She still does not have one.

This year 2019, several community groups concerned with education grew frustrated with the lack of transparency in the release of data about disparate suspension and expulsion rates. Worcester Schools had sixty percent of the so called emergency removals. An emergency removal of a student is done without due process.The numbers for Worcester were higher than Boston.

In frustration some in these groups called for Mrs. Binienda’s contract not to be renewed.

The School District was called “crazy racist” in a Face book post. In response Mr. Monfredo went on the radio and said that his policies were “colorblind. He also resigned from a Latino Education group that advised the School Committee. He was in the group to listen and enact policy. He was not there to advise the Latino about his point of views on colorblindness and the non-existence of school to jail policies.

Mr. Monfredo views on colorblind policies and school to jail perception are a form of White privilege. Colorblindness was a good thing when the racist segregationists ran the schools. It is not so good when we want to end racially adverse disparate impact policies.

It does not seem that Mr. Monfredo will be open to change. The Worcester School Committee has no Black or Latino members. The election cycle may be a good time for Mr. Monfredo to separate from the School Committee.

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