Winter Hill school makeover

With the support of teachers and administrators, School Superintendent Anthony Pierantozzi is moving to convert the Winter Hill Community School into an innovation school by fall. “Innovation schools are one method to improve performance, and I expect at least one to be in place in September 2012,’’ Pierantozzi said in a statement released by the education group Progress Together for Somerville. Pierantozzi, who presented the plan to the school board, said teachers at Winter Hill are eagerly discussing the plans to convert to the innovation model, which was established by a 2010 state education law and allows educators some of the freedoms of a charter school while keeping education dollars in the district. By law, educators at a school up for conversion must vote in favor of the switch before administrators can make overtures to the state, which then must approve the plan. The district is in the midst of making grant and program applications to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and to the Gates Foundation, Pierantozzi said.