School board backs Old Sturbridge Village trip ban; OSV head calls it 'a shame'
WORCESTER — Worcester Public Schools district administrators will have to get to work on finding alternative destinations for field trips, ensuring that district money is diverted away from Old Sturbridge Village, following a vote by the School Committee.
On Thursday, the request was sent to administrators after committee members voted unanimously on the agenda item submitted by member Tracy O’Connell Novick.
“We as an organization with a substantial budget do have a responsibility to ensure that those resources are being used in means that are ethical and to support activities and activities that are ethical,” O’Connell Novick said. “This is not in any way intended as retribution.”
O’Connell Novick submitted the agenda item due to concerns about the museum’s use of state education funds being used to cover operating costs through its ties with Old Sturbridge Academy and the incoming Worcester Cultural Academy Public Charter School.
Sent to state agencies
She said that, given the committee sent a request for the state auditor, the inspector general, the state Ethics Commission and the attorney general to investigate the museum and its financial ties with the charter schools, it would not make sense for the district to allocate money to the institution through things like field trips.
The Educational Association of Worcester and the Massachusetts Teachers Associations — the local and state educators’ unions — both previously called for a boycott of the museum pending an investigation into its financial agreement with the two charter schools.
“It seems to me that if there was any place in Massachusetts that should take them up on that boycott, it should be the Worcester Public Schools,” O’Connell Novick said in a previous interview with the T&G.
District spokesman Dan O’Brien said that, between funds from the Worcester Educational Development Foundation and money from fundraising, the district has spent about $20,000 per year the last few years sending students to OSV.
In a previous statement, he said that district administrators had already planned not to send students to OSV next year “due to the many issues raised in recent months regarding Worcester Cultural Academy, which include conflict-of-interest concerns.”
O’Connell Novick said that while there have been some concerns raised about not sending students to the museum, particularly third graders who visit annually as part of the Culture Learning through Education & Partnerships trip, where they learn about Massachusetts state history, there are other places they can send students throughout the state.
O'Connell Novick: There are options
“There’s no lack of options in terms of field trips,” she said. “We could send kids in almost any direction and have a wealth of opportunities for Massachusetts history.”
But while the district looks into alternative destinations for field trips in the future, state Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton and Hampden County, which includes Sturbridge, said he would work to ensure students and their families would be able to go to the museum for free if they wish to do so following the committee’s vote.
“Families across Worcester County, particularly those families of Worcester third grade children, should know that OSV wants and welcomes you,” Fattman said. “I will ensure your complimentary admission to the village for you and your child, whether that be through the state budget process or the wonderful philanthropic efforts of the people in our area.”
Fattman could not be reached for clarification on what he meant by “the state budget process.”
OSV boss: 'It's a shame'
Jim Donahue, the president and CEO of OSV, also responded to the committee’s vote with a statement, saying that Worcester students will “be on the ones to bear the brunt of the boycott.”
“It is a shame that students would miss out on learning about local history and culture in the name of politics and students’ being used as political pawns,” Donahue said. "We very much hope to continue to host Worcester students for years to come.”
Pamela Boisvert, board chair of Worcester Cultural Academy, said that board takes its “duty to responsibly steward public funds very seriously.”
OSV will serve as the education management organization for Worcester Cultural Academy, as it currently does for Old Sturbridge Academy.
Deputy Superintendent Brian Allen previously raised concerns about the museum serving as the EMO for the charter schools, as there is no independence from the company or members of the board, he said,
They have an “apparent conflict between the financial health of Old Sturbridge Village and the appropriate management fee charged to Worcester Cultural Academy.”
But, Boisvert said, the board will “continue to exercise careful oversight to ensure our budgetary model centers student needs first and foremost.”
“This relationship saves both schools significant financial resources, because they would otherwise have to hire separate staffs for the duplicative services,” Boisvert said. “That is the sole reason for this relationship.”
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester School Committe backs Old Sturbridge Village field trip ban
