State Education Department Reviewing Revere Schools this Week

By Seth Daniel

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is doing a full review of the Revere Public School District this week – an exercise that happens about once every 10 years.

Supt. Dianne Kelly said a seven-person team will be visiting the district’s schools this week for the 10-year annual state review. She said it is similar to the accreditation process for the high school, but it focuses on the entire district, instead of just Revere High.

“We are taking it very seriously,” she said. “The program is for the DESE to guide us and identify areas for us to improve. It’s going to be helpful because sometimes we have blinders on. The team travels to schools all over the state and sees good ways of doing things that we might not know. They have that added lens.”

The review isn’t as strenuous or high-stakes as the accreditation process for the high school,  but it is a way for the state to keep tabs on each district. The review is a very in-depth look at the curriculum and the physical classroom environments.

• In other news, there has been very little happening in the schools since before Christmas break due to the two snow days last Thursday and Friday.

While some surrounding schools did not go on Tuesday, Jan. 2, Revere opted to begin school. The district also went on Wednesday, but didn’t finish out the week due to the snowstorm.

“Obviously the storm on Thursday prevented us from going to school, but we also felt it was just too cold on Friday,” she said. “We knew everything would be a sheet of ice, and we didn’t want kids waiting for the bus in those temperatures.”

Meanwhile, there were some issues over the weekend with burst pipes – with one incident at Revere High School and another at the Garfield.

Kelly said the Garfield was more serious, and wasn’t discovered until Monday morning at 6:15 a.m. – which presented quite a challenge for cleaning up the mess.

There were no estimates on how long the burst pipe had been spewing water, but there was significant flooding.

“Our maintenance team was right on both of them,” she said. “In the Garfield, that wasn’t discovered until Monday morning. It was pretty extensive, but our cleaning company came in and they were there all day.”

In a unique turn of events, Kelly said the water cleanup presented an opportunity to turn back the clock – with older students in the same rooms as younger students for part of the day.

“You got to see the big kids working with and helping the younger kids,” she said. “In a way, it created a little community for the day that isn’t usually there.”