Posted by Jeremy Shulkin
Worcester’s newest school, called Spirit of Knowlege, will be open next school year. At a meeting today in Malden, the MA Board of Education voted in favor of creating a new charter school here, but scrapped the plans for one in Lynn.
We haven’t gotten numbers on how the vote split, but we do know that board member Paul Reville recused himself as he is also on the board of Worcester’s All Saint’s Church, a possible site of the Spirit of Knowledge school (and past location of the Nativity School of Worcester).
The new school will serve grades 7 through 12 according to their website, but the initial lottery is for grades 7 to 9.
A Worcester delegation consisting of Mayor Joe O’Brien, School Committee members Tracy Novick (and her daughter) and John Monfredo, WPS CFO Brian Allen and WPS Superintendent Melinda Boone all carpooled together. City Councilor Kate Toomey was also at the meeting.
Daily Worcesteria 
Let’s hope for more of the same.
The state of education in Worcester, in MA, and the nation is a boondoggle for unions – a system run by unions for unions.
Disappointed to see another school passed in Worcester. The charters here have not been successful, and only hurt the efforts to make progress in the Worcester Public Schools. This works out to $4m leaving the city (in already bad times, cutting past bare bones) over the next 5 years. And tell me again how this improves education?
Will they have a true lottery, or just try to pick out the top?
The leader of this school mismanaged her last pet project charter school and got fired. And she gets another go at it? I understand second chances, but there is too much at risk here.
Nice to see a few elected faces (Toomey, Novick, O’Brien, Monfredo) showed up to the meeting – too bad the others couldn’t care.