Amidst Rancor, City Initiative Continues

In the aftermath of this week's heated City Council meeting, in which councillors accused Harvard of turning its back on Cambridge, relations between the University and city officials have cooled but not frozen.

City councillors blasted the University on Monday night for pledging $5 million to afterschool programs in Boston, while committing just $100,000 to develop a Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) this year.

Since that night, officials for both sides say that plans are still going forward for Harvard to participate in the Summer Academy project.

But while such community initiatives are usually greeted with fanfare at unveiling ceremonies that highlight cooperation between the University and the city, plans for the Summer Academy are going forward quietly.

A public announcement has been put on hold indefinitely and University administrators say they are now waiting for city officials to take the initiative.

"I think what we're looking for is interest from the schools and the mayor for a public announcement," said Mary H. Power, Harvard's senior director of community relations.

The new Summer Academy program essentially means Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) will offer an extended summer school program this year, an increase paid for in part by Harvard. While Harvard pays $100,000 this summer, the city will contribute $50,500 to the project.

But not all of the money will go towards teaching CRLS students. The program will also train student-teachers at the Graduate School of Education (GSE), who will work with veteran Cambridge teachers to teach the CRLS students.

The Summer Academy program has been in the planning stage for several months and many details have yet to be worked out, such as what classes will be taught at the summer program and who will teach them.

But Katherine K. Merseth, a senior lecturer on education who runs the GSE's Teacher Education Program, said she hopes to begin selecting Cambridge public school teachers to participate in the Summer Academy soon.

Merseth said student-teachers will teach for two hours each morning, working in teams of four with an experienced Cambridge teacher. Then they will review with the teacher how that morning's class went and, later in the day, will take coursework at GSE.

"It's a morning of on-the-line, doing the work and then an opportunity to reflect on that work and then an afternoon of taking classes that make the morning more effective," she said.

The Cambridge teachers--10 of whom Merseth will hire to participate in the Summer Academy--will be paid equally for their work with CRLS students and for their training time with the GSE students, with money for both parts coming from Harvard's share of the financing.

Cambridge school officials said the plan, which was developed jointly by Merseth at the GSE and administrators at CRLS, is targeted at students who had low scores on the battery of Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests last year, as well as students who simply want to take more classes.

The Harvard-Cambridge Summer Academy would also extend the existing four-week CRLS summer school program by adding an extra week and by holding classes five days a week, not four.

"I think it's much more intensive," said Superintendent of Schools Bobbie J. D'Alessandro. "There's going to be rigor in terms of helping students who did not do well on the MCAS."

On Monday, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing "extreme disappointment" with the University for not matching its $5 million gift to Boston in Cambridge.

Many councillors said the difference in money between the Boston and Cambridge initiatives shows the University has ignored the needs of local schools.

"The people of Cambridge don't understand how Harvard, which lives in Cambridge, can turn its back on Cambridge's children," said Councillor Henrietta Davis.

But, though Cambridge Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio sponsored the resolution, he called the Summer Academy program "an important step."

"This is obviously a good step at getting the school of education involved with our frontline education people," he said in an interview last week. "It's a concrete program with concrete goals and direct accountability to Harvard."