Dan Rizzo on Education and Giving our Children
an Extra Leg Up
Our Schools Are Already in Great Shape
In Revere we are fortunate to have an excellent School Department, staffed by some of the best teachers and administrators in all of Massachusetts and quite possibly, New England.
As a proud father of two young adults, I have first hand experience with our excellent teachers, administrators, and coaches in the Revere Public School Department. I made a choice to bring my children up in Revere and one of the deciding factors was the school system. I could not be happier with the education my two boys have received.
When a family thinks about moving to a new community, or a family with young children thinks about staying, a major factor in that decision is the community’s ability to provide a top notch educational experience. As Mayor and ultimately Chairman of the Revere School Committee, I look forward to strongly supporting our city’s education efforts. It is our job to provide a first rate education to each of our students so they have the best chance for success in life.
What we have in the Works
In 2001, the city embarked on an ambitious new school building program. We have already built 4 state of the art schools with another on the drawing board. As Mayor, I will continue to explore all options to provide our children with a world-class education.
We understand that buildings alone will not provide a strong education. But giving students and teachers the necessary tools and facilities is a prerequisite to keeping pace with the high expectations in educating young people today.
The Revere School Department has won numerous awards over the last several years. In 2006 Revere High School was a finalist for the High School Excellence in Education Award sponsored by the National Center for Urban Transformation in San Diego, CA. Then, in 2008 Revere Public Schools were showcased at the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Conference (ELT), held in Boston. Revere Public Schools are one of just 26 school districts in Massachusetts to have attained ELT status. Finally in 2009 Revere High School was named one of three national finalists for the Intel School of Distinction Award for mathematics achievement.
Our schools and students have accomplished a lot in recent years. But with strong school leadership, top notch teachers, high parent interest, and a committed city government, I firmly believe even better days lie ahead.
Looking Forward
Though we have a significant projected budgetary gap in 2012 due to the loss of federal stimulus aid, we must do our best to avoid cutbacks in our lauded extra-educational programs, keep class sizes manageable, and avoid layoffs. If mismanaged, budget shortfalls could lead to significant layoffs of public school teachers, a reduction in course variety, art and music programs, and extracurricular activities, as well as increased class sizes. This is where real-world business experience counts. As a business owner for over 25 years, I know what it is like to meet a payroll, control expenses, and live within our means.
We must continue to expand educational opportunities and parental choices by offering early education programs and working to prevent gang involvement and youth crime. We can achieve this goal by providing our parents access to alternative school choices and by sponsoring and expanding our after school and summer programs. As Mayor, I will fight to ensure our public schools receive the funding they need to invest in Revere’s future generations and empower our youth to take advantage of Massachusetts’ top-tier higher education system.
Evaluations
As parents, we demand only the best from our teachers and administrators who are entrusted with our children’s education. Revere’s current teacher evaluation systems are in dire need of overhaul. Current evaluation methods are inextricably tied to indicators of student progress. We must collaborate with educational policy experts to develop an evaluation system that takes into account multiple measures of performance, including statistical performance, parent-teacher communication, college preparedness, and overall learning and growth.
After School Programs
As Mayor, I will work tirelessly to create new after school programs that will give all of our children a safe place to go once school gets out.
After school programs create an opportunity for students to remain engaged in learning beyond regular school hours. This is an excellent opportunity for our students, particularly those falling behind academically, to acquire additional skills needed for MCAS and related college exams. . There are several studies in child development and education that correlates after school programs with better grades, peer relations, academic equity, emotional adjustment, and conflict resolution skills. In addition, nearly 90% of Americans support funding for quality after school programs and recognize these programs as an important aspect of welfare reform.
Currently, Revere’s Youth Center is opened until 3 PM. Rather than ending the day at 3 PM, a Youth Center that stays open later with at least with one staff member could help students that are willing to participate in these programs bolster their academics, as well as provide a structure that differs from the regular school day, and offers time for social, emotional and physical skill building that students must have to achieve maximum life success.
Revere already has after school programs in every Elementary school. Each school contains at least one private organization providing after school care. They include For Kids Only, KidSmart and After School Safety and Knowledge along with a primarily publicly funded after school program from the Commonwealth. We should consider a policy initiative that unites after school programs towards more concrete, clearer, and attainable goals.
The Revere Youth Center
Currently the Revere School Department does not have its own Youth Center. All across the state, school systems are striving to provide extra supervision and mentoring after school from 2:15pm to 5:00pm. We must make efforts through grants, continued economic development, and a retooling of resources, to promote a Revere Youth Center.
The Youth Center would act as a drop-in-center, promote peer to peer mentoring, and organize service projects. The drop-in-center would give middle and high school students a place to go after school where they can hang out with their friends and participate in fun and safe activities. The Peer mentoring program would advance RHS students who would serve as role models for young children in the school system. Peer Leaders would organize service projects. They would also lead activities and supervise younger students at the after drop-in center. Peer Leaders would get the chance to strengthen their leadership skills, serve as role models, and have a positive impact on Revere (retrieved from http://www.winyc.com).
The Revere High School Banking Program
As a proud business owner on Broadway I have seen first hand the impact our business community has on our city. As Mayor, I will work with the existing financial institutions in the city to bring offsite banks into the school system in order to provide our high school junior and senior students with an opportunity to engage in real-world learning experiences by expanding their understanding of real world finance, thereby making their transition to college and/or workforce more successful. I view our youth as the future “businessowners” of our community. It is important to me that they learn at an early age, the importance of being smart shoppers, maintaining good credit, understanding financing options that will be available to them for both residential and commercial properties, and how saving money consistently at an early age can lead to comfortable retirement.
A Revere High School Bank would act as a safe and informative way for our kids to learn about investing and preparing for the future. Monthly seminars would be given by representatives from Revere’s Banks. Also, I would propose that after school on Fridays, the bank would have hours where they would be available in the high school where students could come in and speak directly with a bank staff member about investing and money management. We must work as a community to give our children a strong leg up when graduating from high school.
We all know that Revere has a school system that works. As Mayor, I will do everything I can to preserve and expand those programs that work and explore other avenues to provide our children with a quality and meaningful education in order to succeed in the 21st century!
