Meet Kimberly Luca, Nathan Bishop’s New Principal - October 2013 East Side Monthly

As I mentioned earlier this week, I had a delightful time chatting with the principals of the East Side's public schools. Here's my October 2013 East Side Monthly piece on Kim Luca, Bishop's (not as) new (now) principal. It's online here. 

I'll note that Kim and I talked in August, right after she stepped into the position. Nearly six months later, she's holding strong as a really great force of positive leadership. All of my contact with her is as a involved-ish parent, and I'm repeatedly impressed with her ability to sort out big issues from minor concerns as well as her capacity to address problems with a maximum of competence and minimum of drama. I'll have one kid leaving Bishop this year to go onto high school and another entering it the fall as a sixth grader, and am looking forward to continuing to work with Kim.

Meet Kimberly Luca, Nathan Bishop’s New Principal

Photo by Kate Poor

If you’re feeling a blast of positive energy emanating from Sessions Street, it’s probably coming from Kimberly Luca’s office. “I wouldn’t change working in Providence,” she shares. “If I were offered twice the money to work in another district, I would refuse. I love working as an educator in this city, and feel so lucky to be at this school.”

Luca is the new principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, our neighborhood’s only public middle school. She’s the second principal of Bishop since the city reopened the school in 2009 with comprehensive renovations and revamped academic and student support programs. Luca started her career as a substitute physical science teacher at, as it happened, Bishop. Luca settled into her teaching career in her chosen subject, social studies, nearby at Hope High School.

At Hope for 14 years, Luca adored her work with students and her fellow educators, for whom she served as representative to the Providence Teachers’ Union. She was also frustrated by constant change at Hope, noting, “We were always stuck in the planning stage with no chance to implement,” and saw an opportunity to create more stability as a principal. Luca joined the Providence Public Schools’ Aspiring Principals Program, which trains district teachers for administrative positions. Upon completing the program in 2006, Luca was offered a position in the Providence Public Schools’ central office as a curriculum supervisor; her role shifted over time and was most recently the district’s Supervisor of Social Sciences, Library Media Services and Civic Engagement. Though she knew that she wanted to be a principal, Luca appreciated her time as a district administrator, which allowed her get to know all of the district’s schools. When Bishop found itself in need of a new principal this summer - the previous principal, Michael Lazzareschi, is now principal of Central High School - Luca believed that her time had come.

The committee of Bishop teachers and parents tasked with selecting the school’s next principal thought so too, and recommended Luca to Superintendent Susan Lusi as their first choice. The Providence School board approved her appointment on August 13, and with two quick weeks to open school, Luca was off to the races. We talked during this ramp-up time and I asked her about her hopes and expectations for her first year at the school. She stressed that she had faith in the work that the school was already doing, and did not intend to disrupt current programs and structures. “I want us to pull together and continue to collaborate as a faculty to make sure that all students are receiving a rigorous education at a safe and caring school. That’s what this school has been able to achieve, and we need to continue that commitment,” she says.

We talked the morning after a reception hosted by the Nathan Bishop Parent-Teacher Organization to welcome Luca that was attended by hundreds of teachers, family members, students, and district staff members. Thrilled by the community’s enthusiasm, Luca was ready to roll, noting, “I have a lot of energy, and I know I am going to need it!” Middle school students need a school that can “lead them down the right path,” she says. “It’s my moral and ethical job to give them the best education and to help them treat each other well.”

With the faculty, Luca believes that her high school background will be an asset in the work of building an academic community. “Middle school teachers don’t want to work in isolation. The teachers here care about kids as if they were their own. I’ve been able to see that now, before the kids even arrive, as I meet teachers coming in to get ready for the school year. I’ve never worked with staff and faculty as passionate as this group, and I think they’re ready for really powerful collaboration.”

Luca added that she invites community members to reach out to help maintain Bishop as a great school serving a diverse range of students. Bishop already enjoys strong neighborhood support and under Luca’s leadership, is likely to continue to build connections with the East Side.

Luca and the Bishop faculty will need to deal with challenges along the way, of course. Facing a population bulge of sixth graders in particular, the city’s middle schools need to find ways to absorb an expanding population in reduced circumstances as a result of recent school closures. As I write this, it’s the third day of the school year, too soon to determine what may be in store. Nevertheless, I’m confident that we have the leadership and other elements in place to produce amazing results. So welcome back, Ms. Luca, to the East Side! We’re thrilled you’re here.

--

This article can be found in the October 2013 edition of East Side Monthly, http://www.eastsidemonthly.com/stories/Nathan-Bishop-Middle-School-Pricipal-Kimberly-Luca-education-East-Side-Monthly,9896

Providence Public Schools 2012-2013 start and stop times

Equally useful and intriguing, here's the full schedule of Providence Public Schools' start and end times for 2012-2013, which the district posted on its Facebook page yesterday and made available on its website as well in PDF form; click here to access it in English, here in Spanish. The version below is small and hard to read, so go download the PPSD PDFs and follow along.

The utility of this is obvious, as is the intrigue once you take a look at the middle schools. I'd love to know what's behind the "later" start at all but Gilbert Stuart? For that matter, what's with the 8:04 start all of the other days? 

Presumably, this is happening in some attempt to handle 144 extra minutes per year (an extra minute a day for 4/5 of a 180 day school year). Why? I'd love to know. I suppose it doesn't really matter how that additional 2 hours and 24 minutes will be used. Parsed out as one minute per day, that time won't have any meaningful impact for most teachers and students.

With all that deserves inquiry, conversation, and energy within PPSD, this is low on the list. But it is odd.

More interesting is the longer days at some school, which strikes me as sensible. Every school should be different to accommodate its plans and goals, and I want to interpret the variety of schedules as a sign that the district is pulling back from insisting on lock-step scheduling for all and allowing flexibility, and that the PTU is in support of the same. It seems like every varied schedule will have its own story and process.

I look at the Roger Williams Middle School schedule, which creates a longer school day 4 days a week and then an earlier release time on Tuesdays, as an indication that faculty are meeting and working on Tuesday afternoons. I'll be interested to hear whether people interpret that as early release (which it isn't - kids aren't losing instructional time as was the case several years ago when middle schools released early so that faculty could meet) and/or feel inconvenienced by this. Presumably community partners who run afterschool programs will adjust.

As for my own middle school kid, who's entering seventh grade at Nathan Bishop, I hope he doesn't see this. We happen to live across the street from the school, and it takes him just about a minute to get there, and I believe that he thinks that school starts at 8:00. He's a very letter of the law guy who often is responsible for getting himself to school on time without a huge amount of parental nudging. So he gets there "on time" which really means he has a few minutes to hang with friends and deal with whatever 12 year old boys need to deal with. If he knew that school really started at 8:06 (except Tuesdays!), he'd act on that and luxuriate in his perceived extra time at home reading the heck out of the sports section or staring into space (when I catch sight of him, these appear to be his primary morning activities). So if you see him, keep this whole schedule thing under your hat, okay? Thanks so much.

PPSD Middle School Registration and Open Middle Schools

It's almost middle school registration time! Later this month, Providence middle schools will be open for prospective sixth grade students and their families as follows:

Monday, January 23, 6:00-8:00pm
Gilbert Stuart Middle School, 188 Princeton Avenue

Roger Williams Middle School, 278 Thurbers Avenue

Nathan Bishop Middle School, 101 Sessions Street 

Wednesday, January 25 

Esek Hopkins Middle School, 480 Charles Street

DelSesto Middle School, 152 Springfield Street

Nathanael Greene Middle School, 721 Chalkstone Avenue

This year, Providence Public Schools has created a useful checklist that clearly outlines the registration process. It's here, and additional info about registration can be found here at the main registration page. Student assignment is explained here; generally speaking, Providence uses a neighborhood school policy with some choice built in. Eighty percent of a school's population is drawn from its neighborhood, and twenty percent can choose to attend from outside the neighborhood. Middle school "neighborhoods" are defined as a mile and a half radius from the school. You can ask PPSD registration which is/are your neighborhood school(s).

Fifth graders at schools in Providence--public schools and private schools--will receive registration forms on January 17, according to the info I learned when I called PPSD registration (401-456-9297) and are due back to the school by February 3. I encourage you to verify this information through your child's school and/or your own call to the registration office. If you're coming in from outside Providence, you need to go to the PPSD registration center to obtain and return the middle school registration form. See the checklist for more details about that.

Our family went through this a year ago, I wrote about the process in January 2011 when we visited visited middle schools with our fifth grader and again in June 2011 when we finally found out to which middle school our kid has been assigned. Barring any disruptive events such as last year's school closures, I believe that families will find out much earlier this year about school assignment, though I don't know when. If anyone does know, please share!

Summer Learning Opportunities - Providence and Statewide

Related to my question yesterday about low- or no-cost opportunities for summer fun and learning for kids in Providence, I have three resources to share:

1. Providence After School Alliance (PASA) is offering summer opportunities for Providence middle school students during July. You can access PASA's summer AfterZone brochure here. 

2. Mt. Hope Learning Center is offering a low-cost summer camp for kids in grades K-5. Information available here - and for more on Mt. Hope Learning Center's work, you can read this from March 2011's East Side Monthly.

Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance's Summer Learning Map

3. My friends at Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance (RIASPA) reminded me of a map that they've created that provides information about summer learning opportunities statewide; you can access the map through this link on RIASPA's site.

The summer learning opportunities map is a great source of comprehensive information about summer opportunities for kids that combine fun and learning - and for more on that, RIASPA's policy brief on summer learning is well worth a read. You can download the PDF here.

I am happy to help spread the word about other opportunities for fun, meaningful summer learning in and around Providence, particularly low- and no-cost options. Thanks for these suggestions, and I welcome more! Post in the comments or email me at jill(dot)davidson(at)gmail.com.

News and no news about PPSD student assignments.

Sorry that it's been quiet around here for the past couple of days. Blogger, the host of this site, was being weird. But now all seems to be better for now.

This is old-ish news now, from Wednesday's ProJo: "Providence offers plan for schools' displaced students," which likely to be:

Asa Messer Elementary School: All students and staff will be transferred to Bridgham Middle School, which will become an elementary school.

West Broadway Elementary School: Less than a third (about 111) are going to Bridgham, and less than a third (about 101) are going to Carnevale Elementary School. The rest of the children -- 136 students -- will be sent to Fortes/Lima, West and other schools.

Windmill Elementary School: About 98 children are going to King Elementary School; about 62 are going to Veazie Elementary School; about 61 are going to Kennedy; about 51 are going to Carnevale and about 34 are going to the Fortes/Lima Elementary School complex.

Flynn Elementary School: About 110 are going to Lauro Elementary School; about 119 are going to Fortes/Lima; about 77 are going to other schools; about 32 are going to Carnevale; about 30 are going to West and about 11 are going to Bailey Elementary School.

Bridgham Middle School: About 183 are going to Del Sesto Middle School, about 71 to Bishop Middle School, about 49 are going to Greene, and about 13 are going to Hopkins Middle School.

Approximately 62 special education students will be assigned their new schools at a later date, after consultations with parents.

As far as I am aware, this news is just about the numbers. Parents of students from schools that will be closed have not yet received notification about the schools to which their kids have been assigned. I know I can speak for the Parent Teacher Organization at MLK Elementary to say that we welcome incoming students from Windmill with open arms, and we're looking forward to meeting the new families who will bring their energy and dedication to their kids' success in school to MLK. We want to do all we can to make MLK accessible to incoming families, and as soon as we are able to know which families will be sending their kids to MLK, we'll have an open house, invite new families from Windmill to our year-end PTO meetings, and do anything else that we can to support good transitions for these incoming students.

It's worth noting, too that parents of any incoming middle schoolers who submitted school choice forms in December 2010 as part of the regular process have not yet found out our kids' middle school assignments, nor have those of us with incoming kindergarten or first graders registered during March and April - though per regular PPSD practice (not good practice, but as it has happened at least since 2005), we would not yet have heard about elementary school placements.

I called PPSD registration on Monday to inquire about when we will hear about middle school placements and learned that letters should be send out next week or early the week after. In the meantime, I suggest calling the student registration office at (401) 456-9297 to try to get someone on the phone to share the info that they have about the status of your kids' registrations. In fact, I just tried to do so; no one picked up (lunchtime? Friday? who can say why?) and I was left to attempt to reach staff members there by trying their extensions (on this page - handy to have it in front of you before you call). I tried two staffers whose voice mailboxes were full, left a message for a third asking for the registration status for my incoming middle schooler and incoming kindergartener.

Providence Summerbridge - opportunities for sixth graders

Middle school teachers and parents (or middle schoolers yourselves!) -

Providence Summerbridge is looking for low-income sixth graders eager to work on the skills and habits of mind that are essential for ongoing success to participate in its summer program. Its mission: "To create a pathway to college for low-income, academically motivated middle school students in Providence Public Schools, and to encourage talented high school and college students to pursue careers in education." Sixth graders in this case means students who are in sixth grade this year, seventh next year.


I have no direct experience of Summerbridge but feel happy to help - it's been around a long time, in various forms. For many people I know, their experience as Summerbridge instructors fueled their fire to go on to have long and productive careers as educators.


Check it out and help spread the word!

Choosing Middle Schools: A Visit to Nathan Bishop - February's East Side Monthly Column

East Side Monthly's February 2011 issue is out in print and online; for this issue, I wrote about visiting Nathan Bishop Middle School, our neighborhood middle school, in preparation for my son Elias' move to sixth grade. I wanted to know more about the ways the school supported students as they grew as learners and as well-rounded people, and had a great conversation with Amy Battisti, one of Bishop's guidance counselors. I hope I did her work justice. I also touch on the decision we're making between Bishop and Nathanel Greene Middle School's advanced academic program, about which there's more to say for sure.

Here's the column as I wrote it--the version in East Side Monthly is slightly edited. You can find it online at http://www.providenceonline.com/eastsidemonthly/read.html on page 39.

Choosing Middle Schools: A Visit to Nathan Bishop

My oldest son will be entering middle school next year. While still puzzling over our alarmingly swift arrival at this stage (Weren’t you just in kindergarten, kid?) we organized ourselves to look at middle schools. Since kindergarten, he has been generally content and successful at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School on Camp Street. Given his track record, our values, and other factors (three kids, this economy, any expectation of affording college) we’re staying on the public school path.

Along with most or all other East Side addresses, we fall well within Nathan Bishop Middle School’s zone. Next year’s class of 208 sixth graders will complete Nathan Bishop’s student body, which has grown one grade per year since the school reopened in 2008. Most readers will remember that Bishop was deeply troubled. Poorly attended by East Siders of all economic strata, neighborhoods, and races, it was not serving most its students effectively. After the Providence Public Schools shuttered Bishop in 2006, the East Side Public Education Coalition led a public demand for its reopening. As a result of advocacy, historical preservation requirements, pre-recession economics, high-quality educational architects, and constructive collaboration with Providence Public Schools leadership, a thoroughly and thoughtfully renovated Nathan Bishop Middle School emerged with new leadership, staff members, and intentions.

As my son and I observed when we spent an evening in the building at an exceptionally well-attended open house, Bishop’s renovation is state of the art, utilizing technology and design to create fruitful conditions for learning. Bishop’s brand-new spiffiness also created conditions for crankiness, at least for me, because it contrasts so jarringly with the timeworn settings of most other public schools in Providence—thereby demonstrating the predominant lack of access to suitable facilities for teaching and learning. But a column devoted to educational infrastructure investment is a task for another day. Back to Bishop.

After the open house and additional conversations with Bishop’s staff members and students, my son is fired up. Many of his MLK Elementary classmates chose Bishop, and he is looking forward to joining neighborhood buddies who have attended other elementary schools. His verve seems to be adding fuel to his occasionally flickering fire to excel academically.

Still, I have questions. How will he and his peers reinforce habits of cooperation, work on his social skills, and continue to respect and reach out beyond race, class, and other differences? How will the educators at Bishop encourage him to step on the gas academically, build lifelong learning skills and habits, and take risks? What support will he receive? What challenges will he be likely to experience so that he won’t coast or settle for “good enough?”

In order to dig more deeply, I met with Amy Battisti, one of Bishop’s two guidance counselors; when Bishop gains its third class in the fall, the school will have three counselors. An East Side resident hired in 2008, Battisti works with the current seventh graders and will move with them to eighth grade. By design, she knows each of her 210 students well. Four days a week, she eats lunch with students. She meets with every student in this low-stakes way three or four times annually. “Those lunches really pay off,” she says. “When something happens, they have that person they’ve already chatted with.” Battisti and her fellow guidance counselors also serve as a bridge between home and school in order to facilitate interaction among each student’s family members and six teachers.  Through 15-20 phone calls per day, numerous emails, and before-school meetings, Bishop’s guidance staff members spend a third of their time communicating with families.

Bishop’s student population is approximately one-third Hispanic, one-third African American, and one-third white and Asian; students come from the East Side and citywide. The school serves a large group of English Language Learners; many families speak Spanish at home. A range of students receives special education services. Over 60 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Elements of the school’s culture, such as the highly visible code of conduct featured on signs in hallways and classrooms, indicate understanding of the opportunities and challenges of such multifaceted diversity, as well as the developmental needs of young adolescents to learn without fear, a fundamental precondition for success for all of us.

Battisti’s collaborates with teachers to assess student progress and provide intervention as needed, and she walked me through the academic support strategies that Providence’s middle school curriculum provides for struggling learners. Clearly, it’s too soon to use long-term indicators such as high school graduation rates to determine whether the district’s newly implemented curriculum—which is the same at all of Providence public middle schools except for Nathanael Greene Middle School’s Advanced Academics program—will produce the results needed to close existing achievement gaps and propel all students to success in high school and beyond.

We also discussed the ways Bishop’s educators provide challenges for students who exceed expectations and crave additional challenge. Some of Bishop’s teachers have opted to innovate within science, math, and English courses for those students who demonstrate aptitude and effort. This approach differs from Greene’s program in two ways: it’s implemented within the school as a result of educator initiative rather than as a policy-driven district program, and its “a la carte” approach provides opportunities for student-specific differentiation.

I took careful note of these differences, as we will be deciding between Bishop and Greene’s Advanced Academic program, should my son be accepted. We visited Greene as well; my son was able to visualize success there, though he feels strongly that he would prefer to stay in the neighborhood—or, as he puts it, sleep until 7:00am rather than get on the bus then. I’ll let you know where he ends up. Either way, I am grateful that through the efforts of Battisti and her colleagues, Bishop has become a place for teaching and learning for young people within and beyond the East Side.

Update: Please see this post for a correction from Bishop teacher Theresa Fox that points out that my assertion that Greene has a different curriculum from the other Providence middle schools is not accurate.

Providence Public Schools Middle School Open Houses/Registration

File under better late than never! Here's the basic information about PPSD Middle School Open Houses and registration for next year's 6th graders (and 7th graders coming from any elementary schools that still have 6th grade). In order to choose a middle school, families must complete and return a middle school choice form, which--for students already in a district school--was sent home just after Thanksgiving break. It's due back to your child's school by 12/20. Click here for a link to PPSD's school choice/student assignment policy.

Open Houses already have or will soon take place at all PPSD middle schools, as follows (I've included the dates that already happened this week for your info; if you want to see these schools, give them a call and see if it's possible to visit):

Monday, December 6
Gilbert Stuart Middle School
188 Princeton Avenue
456-9340 or 456-9341

Tuesday, December 7
Roger Williams Middle School
278 Thurbers Avenue
456-9355 or 456-9357

Wednesday, December 8
Nathan Bishop Middle School
101 Sessions Street
456-9344
 
Thursday, December 9
Esek Hopkins Middle School
480 Charles Street
456-9203 or 456-9459

Tuesday, December 14
DelSesto Middle School
152 Springfield Street
278-0557 or 278-0558

Wednesday, December 15
Samuel W. Bridgham Middle School
1655 Westminster Street
456-9360 or 456-9361

Thursday, December 16
Nathanael Greene Middle School
721 Chalkstone Avenue
456-9347 or 456-9348

For more information, you can visit www.providenceschools.org/registration or call the Student Registration Center at 456-9297. Note to those who call: have this page handy on your web browser in case you get the automated voice mail that asks you to dial an extension. My experience is that it takes quite a while to get an actual live human on the line. Keep trying. Try them all if the person you think you want isn't reachable. Don't give up. Good luck. And here's hoping that next year, it's easier for families to make a simple phone call to get basic information about school registration and assignment.

New Year, New Start, New Nathan Bishop

Yes, the Parents Talk about Providence Schools blogs still lives! As a busy parent myself, I didn't allocate much time for blogging in 2008, but it's a new year, and time for a new start.

And it's time to let you know that on Wednesday, January 7, at 7:00pm in the library at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, 35 Camp Street in Providence, the Providence Public Schools will be holding another information session for families interested in the possibility of attending Nathan Bishop Middle School, which will be reopening for 6th graders for the 2008-9 school year. This information session will be hosted by Mr. Lazzareschi, who will be moving to Bishop as principal, and Providence Public Schools Superintendent Tom Brady.

If you have any interest in Bishop for the fall for your 6th grader or for your younger children in later years, please attend to find out more. And please know that the deadline for middle school registration has been extended to give families an opportunity to enroll in Bishop if they have not done so already. The deadline will be at some point in January 2009 and we will share specifics when we know them.

This is a great time to find out more about what teaching and learning will be like at Bishop. We hope to see you there!

Want more recent news about Bishop's reopening? Click here for a recent ProJo article on Michael Lazzareschi's selection as principal. And here's a nice piece from the Brown Daily Herald on Bishop's fall 2008 groundbreaking.