By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
The Oct. 23 School Committee meeting took on a somber tone as committee members heard the state’s most recent analysis of Waltham High School’s academics. The analysis, done yearly by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, painted a grim picture of the city’s high school, placing it in the bottom 10% (374 out of 406) of all Massachusetts public high schools.
“I think right now we are not doing a good enough job in meeting the needs of different groups of kids in our classrooms,” said Assistant Superintendent Sarah Kent, who presented the DESE’s findings.
Committee members’ comments highlighted their disappointment in and concerns about the findings and the school’s performance.
“We knew years ago we were not doing well, and then we still were not doing well, and now we’re going down. It’s real concerning to me that we’ve been at a critical point for quite some time and we haven’t really acted aggressively enough, because it’s really the students that we’re failing. I mean, I look at this and I don’t see kids failing, I see us failing them,” said committee member Elizabeth AlJammal.
AlJammal continued: “We keep trying to support and change schedules and add ‘hawk blocks’ and add common planning time … and doing all of these things that are supposed to be making a difference, but we’re not really seeing any outcomes that support all of these changes that we’ve been making. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement, because these kids deserve better.”
Committee member Edmund Tarallo cited a lack of leadership continuity in recent years as a contributing factor for the school’s poor ranking, saying, “We’ve had many different principals, several different superintendents, so there’s been no consistency.”
Tarallo also said he thought the DESE numbers were arbitrary and not a good representation of Waltham students or teachers.
Committee member James Zanghi spoke against certain classifications used in the DESE analysis. The report lists “Low student group performance: Low income – High needs” and “Low participation rate: EL and former EL” as reasons for the school’s classification as “requiring assistance or intervention.” “EL” stands for English learner.
“I think that’s a completely wrong reason to classify a city and a community such as us as a No. 8,” said Zanghi, referencing the high school’s place in the 8th percentile.
Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, who chairs the School Committee, voiced both concern and optimism for improvement.
“I feel sad tonight. I do. But I have faith. I have faith in this school system, and I have faith in the people here, because I know you’re sad, too,” said McCarthy.