For years, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston has been part of a stubborn small cohort of abysmally performing voc-tech schools that have stood as laggards in a world of Massachusetts vocational schools that have performed so well President Obama came to deliver the commencement address at one last month.  

While Obama touted Worcester Technical High School as a model for the nation in showing the impact of high-performing voc-tech schools, Madison Park has suffered from high dropout rates, low MCAS scores, and the lack of a focused plan for its curriculum or its students, many of whom arrive with no particular interest in its career-centered offerings.

 

The school has been so impervious to change that a Boston school department review reported in today’s Globe says it should either show rapid improvement or be closed down or replaced by an independent regional voc-tech school. The June 8 report had been kept under wraps by school department officials but was released under pressure from the Globe, though with some sections on personnel issues and school safety redacted.

The report urges that the school be given three years to show dramatic improvement. It also recommends that all administrators at the school be replaced and that it only admit students with a clear interest in vocational education.

A year ago, then-Mayor Tom Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick announced a partnership between the struggling school and nearby Roxbury Community College. Many questioned at the time the idea of joining together a horribly performing vocational high school and a long-troubled community college that has the lowest graduation rate of any two-year school in the state.

The new report shares that skepticism, calling the initiative a “huge distraction,” according to the Globe. “There are concerns about pairing a failing high school with a failing community college and whether the outcomes are positive for students,” says the report.

A 2008 report by Pioneer Institute, a Boston think tank, highlighted the generally high quality of the state’s voc-tech sector, and a 2013 follow-up report looked specifically at its low dropout rates.

The voc-tech schools’ “academic results are due to many factors,” the 2008 report said. “They reflect a combination of high expectations by educators and the completion of challenging, rigorous coursework by students. The academic skills necessary for career or college entry and success are gained along with practical knowledge that elevates [vocational] students to the ranks of experts in their fields.”

None of that, however, pertains to Madison Park.

Jim Stergios , Pioneer’s executive director, tells the Globe separating Madison Park from the Boston schools might be the best move, pointing to the good results at many voc-tech schools that operate independently of local school districts.

Boston Teachers Union president Richard Stutman tells the paper he thinks three years is too little time to give the school to improve. After years of failed reform efforts, however, it may be worth asking instead whether it’s too much.

— MICHAEL JONAS

 

BEACON HILL

The Globe‘s Milton Valencia explores a question that has hung over the entire federal probe and trial involving patronage in the state Probation Department: If there was illegal dealmaking going on between Probation officials and lawmakers, why have no legislators been charged in the case? CommonWealth asked how federal prosecutors could only charge one side of a bribe last spring. And if you think this is a face-off between prosecutors and defense attorneys, think again. The judge and jury are not-so-silent players, CommonWealth reports.

Attorneys for the three Probation defendants, John O’Brien, Elizabeth Tavares, and William Burke III, rest their case by calling no witnesses, CommonWealth reports. The final witness at the trial provided some fireworks, however. And House Speaker Robert DeLeo tried to get the last word in late on Friday by calling his former budget chief illogical and untruthful. Lawyers for O’Brien are hoping to end the case before it reaches a jury.

CASINOS

Casino developers and Massachusetts communities are trying to adjust to the relatively new concept of surrounding community mitigation payments. In other states, only the host community receives funds, WBUR reports. Jim Braude and CommonWealth editor Bruce Mohl discuss Mohegan Sun’s surrounding community deal with Boston on Broadside.

In the latest warning sign of an oversaturated casino market, Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City appears to be preparing to shut its doors.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The Peabody City Council approves a digital billboard on city-owned land off of Route 128. The billboard firm agreed to pay $250,000 a year in rent, with two years in advance, the Salem News reports.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Is there a conservative take on LeBron James‘s return to Cleveland, one that draws on, among others,  Edmund Burke, T.S. Eliot, and Walker Percy? Why yes.  Meanwhile, Tufts’ Peniel Joseph points out that, despite the endless hyping of the boost this gives to Cleveland, James does not constitute an urban renewal plan.

ELECTIONS

Republican Richard Tisei and Democrat Seth Moulton are both raising significant sums in their effort to unseat John Tierney, the Democratic North Shore congressman. Democrat Marisa deFranco, an immigration lawyer also running against Tierney, wants to know more about flights coming into Hanscom Field holding immigration detainees, the Sun reports.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be in West Virginia on Monday, campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Natalie Tennant, the Associated Press reports.

The New York Times goes deep on Republican efforts to make big state house gains nationwide, and Charlie Baker doesn’t get a single mention.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The Globe profiles Jim Rooney, executive director of Boston’s convention center — and the mastermind behind its proposed $1 billion expansion.

Ever wonder what happens to old Friendly’s locations? Wonder no more.

HEALTH CARE

A new startup aims to help medical offices know which patients are likely to skip out on scheduled appointments, valuable information that can boost the efficiency of health care scheduling.

The Patriot Ledger ponders the Partners-South Shore Hospital merger.

TRANSPORTATION

Firearms, grenades, bear repellant, knives, stun guns, and other weapons too numerous to mention are still being regularly confiscated by airport security.

Governors from both parties slam Congress over dwindling highway funds.