MEANINGFUL MEDIA WCCA TV
WCCA TV is a regional leader serving Worcester’s community media public access needs and an anchor institution that stands for Media Democracy, Media Literacy and Creative Innovation. Learn Create and Connect at WCCA TV
For more information browse this website, watch our programming on cable channel 194 or here ( at wccatv.com) , streaming live or “On-Demand”, and or contact Mauro DePasquale our Executive Director. We offer community volunteer memberships, special sponsor membership plans for businesses, Workshops and training for ALL ages, and whole lot more. Get involved, create, network, share your story, opinions, and fresh ideas on “THE PEOPLE’s CHANNEL” WCCA TV
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NOTE this blog may be updated
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Worcester Rotary Meeting
The Worcester Rotary will meet Thursday August 13 at Leo’s Restaurant at noon. A buffet lunch will be served costing $20. Raffle tickets can be purchased one for $2 and three for $5.
Their speaker will be Lynn Thomas author of WOW! Your Way to Profit – Learn How 5% of WOW! Can Boost Profits By Up To 85%!
In this country (USA), we lose 180 million customers a year!
Go Rotarty !
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Worcester schools see big boost in Title 1 funds
By Scott O’Connell
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Aug. 11, 2015 at 7:13 PM
Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 7:15 PM
WORCESTER – The city’s school system has received a major bump in federal funding this year, because of a recent increase in the number of low-income students enrolled in the district.
According to the state’s records, Worcester was scheduled to receive last month slightly more than $12.3 million in Title 1 money for fiscal 2016 – a nearly $2 million increase over the $10.5 million the district got a year ago.
The School Department also budgeted roughly $10.5 million in Title 1 funding for the current fiscal year, which means that extra $2 million is effectively a surplus.
“There are strings attached to Title 1 programming,” however, said the district’s chief financial and operations officer, Brian E. Allen, who said the School Department is presently working to find out how they might apply and preparing a recommendation to the School Committee on how to use the money at either the committee’s meeting next week or in early September.
Currently, 30 of the district’s 33 elementary schools are Title 1 schools, and therefore eligible to use Title 1 money, Mr. Allen said. About a quarter of Worcester’s fiscal 2016 allocation is specifically intended to support low-achieving students in the district’s lowest-performing Title 1 schools, for example.
But the School Department could also shift some funds around in this year’s budget to make the additional funds have an impact beyond those schools, Mr. Allen said.
The district is grappling with an approximately $600,000 hole in the fiscal 2016 budget caused by a lower than expected charter school reimbursement from the state budget, for instance.
“We are balancing all of these factors and evaluating district class size and other needs and will incorporate these in that report that is forthcoming,” Mr. Allen said.
A federal program intended to help districts with large numbers of low-income students, Title 1’s fiscal 2016 allocations are calculated based on 2013 Census estimates provided by the U.S. Department of Education. According to the latest Title 1 allocation sheet released by the state, Worcester had 8,040 students who fell within the federal poverty definition – roughly one-third of the district’s entire student enrollment.
The city schools’ low-income population has grown the past few years, Title 1 data shows; five years ago, for instance, the district had 6,803 students in poverty, according to 2010 Census estimates, accounting for slightly more than one-fourth of the school system’s population.
The Worcester schools’ budget-makers had expected some sort of increase in Title 1 funding this year, Mr. Allen said, based on other metrics showing an upward trend in low-income students in the city. The state’s calculations determined Worcester saw the biggest jump in Massachusetts in low-income students between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, for example, he said.
But the district’s final Title 1 amount was above even the School Department’s projections, Mr. Allen added.
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KNIGHT’s Tale
The Knight in shining armor conjures a thousand images and captures the imagination. What were the strengths of armor? What were its weaknesses? Learn about all the different kinds of arms and armor that were used by knights and soldiers of the past in this interactive program at the Worcester Art Museum on Wednesdays, August 12th-26th from 2:30-3:30pm. Follow this with a visit to the Knights! exhibition and immerse yourself in the world of chivalry!
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City Manager orders Crompton Park Pool open an extra week
WORCESTER – Summer has been extended! By order of City Manager Edward Augustus, the Crompton Park Pool will be open an extra week. The pool will be open every day this week, from noon to 7 p.m., until Sunday, Aug. 16.
The pool had been scheduled to close Aug. 9. The pool typically closes in early August because of the difficulty in retaining certified lifeguards as young people get ready to head back to college. With hot weather expected to continue this week, the city will keep the pool open an extra week.
The city’s two spray parks – at East Park and Greenwood Park – will remain open until Labor Day. The city’s beaches shut down for the summer Aug. 9.
For information on the state-run pools in Worcester, visit: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/recreational-activities/swimming-pools-wading-pools-and-spray-deck.html
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