By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Wakefield has 62 students it the METCO program this year, according to local program director Glavia Smith, who provided an update at last night’s School Committee meeting. Twenty-four METCO students attend Wakefield Memorial High School. Twenty-two students attend the Galvin Middle School and 16 METCO students are spread among the elementary schools.
Smith said that she would like to get the number of METCO students in Wakefield up to about 68-70 next year, especially focusing on increasing the elementary numbers.
In addition to Smith as director, Wakefield’s METCO staff includes a support staff of Dewayne Clachar, who works at the Galvin Middle School, and Angela Driggers, who serves the local program as a bus monitor and paraprofessional. Smith said that she would like to pursue adding an elementary coordinator to better support METCO students in the lower grades.
A number of METCO students have been participating in WMHS sports, Smith said, especially on the football and basketball teams. It was noted that the addition of a later METCO bus, which leaves Wakefield at about 8 p.m., has allowed more METCO students to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities, or just to spend more time with friends in Wakefield.
Smith said that plans are in the works for a METCO “community picnic” to celebrate Juneteenth.
School Superintendent Doug Lyons praised the work that Smith has been doing as METCO coordinator.
“We’re really fortunate to have Glavia here,” Lyons said.
METCO, Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, was incorporated in 1966 as a voluntary desegregation program under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. METCO promotes the integration of suburban schools while affording the opportunity to Boston resident youth a suburban public education. There are more than 37 communities in Massachusetts that participate in the METCO Program. Currently, there are over 3,300 students enrolled in METCO. The central administrative office is located in Roxbury, (Boston), Mass.
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Lyons also provided an update on Wakefield Public Schools’ participation in the SEEM Collaborative. The SEEM Collaborative provides educational programs and services to students with moderate to severe disabilities.
SEEM rents the Yeuell School in Greenwood as one of its eight regional sites serving students. Lyons said that Wakefield is one of 11 participating SEEM districts. Wakefield currently has three students enrolled at SEEM at a cost of about $85,000, which comes from the out-of-district special education budget.
SEEM provides intensive special education programs that would be difficult for any one school district to provide on its own, Lyons noted. Having a SEEM location in Wakefield allows Wakefield to send students needing services to a more nearby location.
The SEEM Collaborative serves more than 375 students annually in programs for students in grades Pre-K through age 22. All SEEM Collaborative programs are approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Founded in 1968, the SEEM Collaborative is comprised of eleven School Districts (Lynnfield, Melrose, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield, Wilmington, Winchester and Woburn) and provides educational services to students, parents, educators and specialists.
The Collaborative exists to conduct educational programs and services which compliment and strengthen the school programs of member school committees and increase educational opportunities for children when it is determined that such programs and services can most effectively and economically be provided on a collaborative basis.
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Members of the Wakefield Education Association Unit C paraprofessionals union appeared and several spoke during public participation at last night’s School Committee meeting in support of a salary increase for members of the bargaining unit. The union is currently in contract negotiations with the School Committee’s Labor Relations Subcommittee.
