Superintendent Brian Allen’s first year at the helm of Worcester Public Schools gets its formal report card Thursday.
The Worcester School Committee is scheduled to conduct Allen’s evaluation for the 2025-26 school year, completing a process that began last month when the superintendent presented his own assessment of the district’s progress, challenges and performance during his first year in the job.
But Allen’s evaluation won’t be the only scrutiny facing the district at an unusually early 4:30 p.m. meeting (following a 4 p.m. executive session). Three public petitions filed by Worcester resident Joey Ford seek detailed information about student placement decisions at Nelson Place School, spending on outside attorneys and the district’s cybersecurity procedures. The administration is recommending that all three petitions be referred to district officials.
The committee also considers more than $121,000 in prior-year payments, accept two grants and weigh a new federal mileage reimbursement rate.
Allen faces first annual evaluation
Committee members are scheduled to conduct Allen’s evaluation for the 2025-26 school year, his first full evaluation since becoming superintendent.
Allen presented his self-assessment to the committee July 16, pointing to academic gains, efforts to improve staff collaboration and a series of district initiatives during his first year. Student performance data included in that presentation showed Worcester students making their strongest year-over-year gains on STAR assessments while still narrowly missing some district performance targets.
Thursday’s evaluation moves the process from Allen’s own assessment to the committee members charged with evaluating his performance.
Petitions seek review of Nelson Place transfers
Two petitions center on placement and transfer decisions involving Nelson Place School for the coming school year.
Ford is asking the district to produce a de-identified accounting of transfer and placement requests, broken down by grade and request type, along with the number approved, denied, reversed or still pending.
The petition alleges that some previously denied requests involving children entering later elementary grades were reconsidered while students moving from prekindergarten into kindergarten were excluded. It also says some prekindergarten families had previously been directed by district personnel to use the voluntary-transfer process.
Those claims are the petitioner’s and are not accompanied in the agenda packet by a district response.
Ford is asking for information about the criteria used in the decisions, available seats by grade, the process for children moving from prekindergarten to kindergarten and how individual circumstances involving disabilities, individualized education programs or Section 504 plans were considered.
The petition also seeks a single published procedure explaining the district’s various transfer and special-permission processes.
Because the decisions involve placement for the 2026-27 school year, Ford is asking for a district response before the first day of kindergarten “to the greatest extent practicable.”
A second petition asks the full committee to direct the administration to produce essentially the same expedited, public and de-identified report.
The administration recommends referring both petitions to district officials.
Legal spending, cybersecurity also questioned
Another Ford petition seeks three years of information about Worcester Public Schools’ use of outside attorneys, including annual spending by law firm and general type of legal work.
The requested report would separate spending for matters such as litigation, collective bargaining, special education, student issues, public records and employment matters and would examine when matters are sent to outside counsel before formal litigation or administrative proceedings begin.
Ford is also asking the committee to develop an outside-counsel policy governing when attorneys are brought into district matters and how that spending is reviewed.
Again, the agenda materials present Ford’s concerns and requests but do not include a district response to them. The administration recommends referral.
A third petition seeks a review of WPS cybersecurity practices following what Ford describes as a recently reported phishing and account-security incident involving a message sent under a district email identity and a linked webpage that raised concerns about credential harvesting and impersonation.
The petition specifically says it does not accuse any employee of knowingly participating in an incident.
Ford is requesting an independent cybersecurity review, preservation and examination of electronic records, an assessment of whether information was exposed and adoption of a written policy governing when students, families and employees must be notified about potential security incidents.
The administration also recommends referring that request for review.
More than $121,000 in old bills
The committee is being asked to authorize 27 payments totaling $101,647.57 for expenses from the previous fiscal year.
The largest is $25,733.05 owed to Van Pool for invoices received after the fiscal year ended. Other payments include $10,401.66 to NAPA Auto Parts, $9,963.17 to Big Foot Moving & Storage, $8,468.60 to William F. Lynch and $5,530.90 to the Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center.
Most of the bills either arrived after the fiscal year closed or exceeded the amount remaining on an existing purchase order.
A separate $20,000 prior-year payment is also on the agenda for what district documents describe as a “missed educational level” for a full-year employee.
Other highlights on the agenda
- Activities for legally blind students: The district is seeking approval of a $43,384.50 grant from the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The money would support Worcester’s Social Recreational Program, providing legally blind children with activities including swimming, bowling, theater, museums, music, arts and crafts and community outings intended to strengthen social skills, confidence and community engagement.
- Worcester Tech joins statewide learning initiative: Worcester Technical High School has been accepted into the One8 Foundation’s Replicating Applied Learning Instruction Everywhere, or RALIE, cohort for the 2026-27 school year. A $2,000 grant will help cover implementation and travel costs as educators participate in professional development and work on classroom practices aimed at increasing student participation and ownership of learning.
- A warehouse assist: Chacharone Properties is offering Worcester Public Schools temporary use of space at 220 Barber Ave. for district warehousing. The donated space is among several gifts awaiting committee approval Thursday.
- Science and music materials: Prospect Hill Academy Charter School has offered the district 953 Amplify Science student investigation notebooks and other printed materials for students in grades 1 through 4. Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers Digital is donating curriculum, professional development and digital resources aimed at introducing students in kindergarten through second grade to music through listening, singing and movement.
- Environmental technology equipment: The Blackstone Watershed Collaborative is donating forest management tools, equipment and supplies for students in Worcester Technical High School’s Environmental Technology program.
- Mileage reimbursement: The administration is asking the committee to increase the district mileage reimbursement rate from 72.5 cents to 76 cents per mile, effective July 1, to reflect the new IRS rate.
- Connecting students with jobs: Committee member Molly Biancheria is asking the administration to explore services available to students seeking employment or internships through MassHire Worcester Career Center and the Worcester Workforce Board. The item is recommended for referral to the administration.
- Planning 2027: Members consider approving the school committee’s 2027 meeting calendar, along with the schedule for superintendent reports during the new school year. Mayor Joseph Petty is also proposing moving the Nov. 5, 2026, committee meeting to Nov. 12.
Before the public meeting, the committee is scheduled to enter executive session at 4 p.m. for strategy discussions involving successor contract negotiations with the Educational Association of Worcester’s Units A/B and paraeducator unit, as well as a review of executive-session minutes from July 16.
The Worcester School Committee meets on Thursday, Aug. 13, at City Hall in the Esther Howland (south) Chamber at 4:30 p.m. (executive session meets at 4 p.m.) It is also live streamed on the Worcester Public Schools’ website.
