WHS MCAS scores improve slightly
The 10th grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results were released yesterday by the Massachusetts Department of Education, showing a slight improvement at Wakefield High School.
On the English exam, 79 percent of WHS 10th graders scored in either the “advanced/above proficient” or “proficient” categories. Sixteen percent scored in the “needs improvement” category. Five percent received a “warning/failing” score.
On the math exam, 74 percent of WHS sophomores scored either advanced/above proficient or proficient. Twenty-two percent scored under needs improvement and four percent received warning/failing grades.
The scores are up slightly from last year. In 2005, 78 percent of WHS sophomores received an advanced/above proficient or proficient in English and 74 percent received advanced/above proficient or proficient in math.
WHS sophomores fared better than the rest of the state. Statewide, 69 percent of 10th grade test takers scored advanced/above proficient or proficient on English. Twenty-four percent of grade 10 students statewide were classified as needing improvement and seven percent received warning/failing grades in English.
Parents reach $5 million settlement with hospital
The New Hampshire parents of a brain-damaged 5-year-old boy have reached a $5 million settlement with a doctor and nurse at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital.
Michelle and Kendall Turner of Bedford claimed that critical mistakes were made during the delivery of their son, Dustin, in 2001. The Turners contend that Dustin should have been delivered by emergency C-section, and that if he had would not have sustained the severe cerebral palsy that left him unable to walk, talk or eat on his own.
A lawyer for Dr. Mitchell Zagor said his client agreed to settle the case through mediation, although the exact cause of Dustin’s brain damage was never determined. The settlement is believed to be one of the largest pretrial medical malpractice settlements in Massachusetts history.
Gang leader sentenced to life in witness killing
The leader of a North Shore gang was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for ordering the murder of a 19-year-old woman to stop her from talking to police about the gang's criminal activities.
Paul A. DeCologero, 47, was convicted in March for ordering the November 1996 killing of Aislin Silva.
Prosecutors said Silva ordered members of his gang, the "DeCologero Crew," to kill Silva after police found some guns her boyfriend, Stephen DiCenso, a member of the gang, had stored in her apartment. When DiCenso told DeCologero that Silva was nervous and would probably cooperate with police, he ordered her killed, according to testimony at his trial.
DeCologero, moments after listening to heart-wrenching statements from the teenager's mother, father and sister, gave a statement of his own, insisting he is innocent and blaming "corrupt" federal agents for his conviction.
"I never had anything to do with hurting Aislin, and my heart goes out to Aislin's family," he said. "I was denied the right to a fair trial."
Silva's father, Joe Silva, later dismissed DeCologero's remarks.
"Paul DeCologero just got life in prison -- what he deserves for what he did," Joe Silva said. "Everything coming out of him was just lies."
Cement storm delays trip home for thousands of kids
An explosion from a cement silo next to a Charlestown school bus yard dumped dust on one-third of Boston’s school bus fleet today, sending 61 school bus drivers to the hospital and delaying the trip home for thousands of Boston school children.
“As a result of this emergency, no school buses are leaving the Charlestown bus yard this afternoon,” said Michael Contompasis, interim superintendent of Boston Public Schools. “Therefore, BPS families should be prepared for significant delays in yellow bus transportation.”
The bus company said it would be impossible to compensate for the number of employees incapacitated by the explosion.
“We won’t have enough bus drivers to cover all our routes,” said Carey Paster, the president of First Student, the school bus company.
Late buses from around the city have been called in to help transport students home.
(Sources: Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Observer, Boston Globe, Boston Herald)
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