Why One Of The Largest MA School Districts Is Boycotting Old Sturbridge Village

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester Public Schools will halt field trips to Old Sturbridge Village following a school committee vote Thursday, a move that will sap funds from a museum backing a charter school that will cost the school district millions.

The school committee voted unanimously Thursday on member Tracy O'Connell Novick's proposal. The move could mean about $20,000 in lost revenue for OSV, according to reports.

OSV is sponsoring the Worcester Cultural Academy charter school, a 360-student elementary school set to open in the fall. The charter school will be funded through tuition charges assessed against Worcester Public Schools. Those fees could total an estimated $7 million in the beginning years of the new charter school.

O'Connell Novick has said OSV is behaving unethically in its sponsorship of the school. OSV CEO Jim Donahue has said the charter school would be a revenue stream for the museum, which allows visitors to experience life in a 19th Century New England Village.

"The academies will provide reliable, contractual revenue to the museum, safeguarding us against fluctuations in uncontrollable factors that impact admission revenue such as weather and public health," Donahue said in a letter in the museum's most recent annual report.

Worcester Cultural Academy will also lease space from the Archdiocese of Worcester. That has led to fears the charter school could bend its curriculum to please the Catholic church. The archdiocese has butted heads with Worcester Public Schools over its sex ed curriculum, leading to the termination of the La Familia school's lease of a former Catholic school.

In response to the school committee's vote Thursday, Donahue said Worcester students were being used as "political pawns"

"It is a shame that students would miss out on learning about local history and culture in the name of politics and students’ being used as political pawns. Worcester students would be the ones to bear the brunt of a boycott," he said in a news release.

After Thursday's vote, O'Connell Novick encouraged other districts to join Worcester in effectively boycotting the museum.

"I’d invite other committees to join us," she said in a tweet.