Chester Designates Parker School As “Level Five”

TSM - Mitchell Chester (second from right) visits the Parker School earlier in October.

The John A. Parker School in New Bedford has been declared a level five school, meaning its chronically underperforming, and will be taken over by the state.

Commissioner Mitchell Chester says while educators and students in the Parker School have been working hard, the school should be doing better.

Chester will be back in New Bedford within 30 days to meet with local officials to develop a turnaround plan.

The Commissioner has three options for implementing that plan: sending in a team of experts to assist the superintendent, have the superintendent carry out the plan, or hire an outside receiver to operate the school.

The Parker School was one of four schools statewide named as level five schools. Two others are located in Boston and one in Holyoke.