Housing prices are at a dramatic low. The Commissioner of Education has notified school districts of plan for bullying intervention. And Massachusetts comes out on top in “Race to the Top” program; but Milton opts out.
Housing prices
Housing prices fell dramatically nationwide during the month of July. This is attributed in part to the expiration of the federal home buyers tax credit but the decline is worse than feared. Massachusetts has 26% fewer home sales that a year earlier. This is a 2-year low for the month. The nation as a whole saw a drop of 27.2 percent according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of single-family homes were at their lowest level since May 1995.
Bullying Policy
Yesterday the Commissioner of Education sent a letter to school administrators yesterday which was essentially a follow-up to legislation passed last May on the issue of bullying. He presents a Model Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan 
. Milton has been out in front of this issue for some time. Alan Cron, Milton High school Assistant Superintendent, directed a successful initiative to address the issue. Working with school personnel and parents his team developed Milton’s Bullying /Peer Aggression Policy (see link below.
- Milton’s Bullying/Peer Aggression Policy can be found here.
- The letter from Mitchell D. Chester, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, to school administrators can be found here.
- Resources on bullying
Race to the Top
Massachusetts was one of 9 states along with the District of Columbia, that won “Race to the Top” funding from the Department of Education. It received the highest score of winning states that included Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. More than two-thirds of the state agreed to implement the initiatives outlined in the state’s RTTT application. In all, 275 communities and schools that represent 74 percent of K-12 students across the Commonwealth and 88 percent of the state’s low-income students participated. Milton, however, did not. Town participation required buy in from the school administration, school committee, and unions. The union here in Milton declined to sign on. Much of the funding will be driven by Title 1 populations within districts. Milton’s Title 1 population is relatively small and consequently the Race to the Top Funding Milton stood to receive was modest. It was estimated to be approximately $80k over 4 years.