Worcester Arts Magnet School (WAMS) will stay as a magnet school, school start times will be altered, and there could be a lottery system for specialized middle and high school programs, according to the second draft of plans to realign the quadrants within Worcester Public Schools.
Presented as an information session by the Standing Committee on Operations and Governance on Sept. 16 at Worcester Tech, the adjustments were made in response to public concerns about several initial recommendations, including WAMS. In the first draft presented in August, WAMS was to be converted into a neighborhood school, with arts programs possibly moving to McGrath Elementary.
“We did receive a lot of feedback” on that proposal, said Nicholas Stellitano, managing director and co-founder of Dillinger Research and Applied Data; that feedback included concerns that “the proposed facility McGrath would not be suitable,” along with highlighting WAMS’ “unique identity” as both a neighborhood and magnet school…