“The union president is not my legal counsel as a school committee member.” — SC member Mary Kelly
“Here is a labor relations tip: when you have the union, the leadership team, management – all lined up . . . you take the deal.” — SC member Leroy Walker
The above statements were made in reference to a motion by Mr. Walker to approve a recommendation from the collaborative time committee. It came at the tail end of a two hour presentation and discussion from the committee regarding how to address NEASC concerns. NEASC cited that faculty at the high school did not have a sufficient amount of time to work together on curriculum and student development issues.
The committee, which consisted of Principal Jette, Vice Principals Beech & Kreuzer, and teachers Queally, Shaw, and Crowley, presented options for addressing NEASC’s overall concerns. These concerns included but were not limited to: developing and implementing a school-wide format for curriculum, developing a uniformly high-quality curriculum, establishing a formal process for collecting and reporting data, collaboration on formative and summative assessments. All require teachers spend time together. This is time that the current school schedule does not allow for. The deadline for responding to NEASC regarding these issues is February 2013.
The option favored was early release. Students would be dismissed at 1116AM. Teachers would meet from 11:45- 2:45 on 7 days between October and May for a total of 21 hours. This time would come from restructuring the current Advisory period. It would not have an impact on instructional time.
No school committee member questioned the merit of the proposal or the need. however Mr. Walker expressed a broader concern that the school committee was not sufficiently involved in the reviewing the NEASC recommendations and how they were prioritized. His concerns go back to the initial presentation of NEASC findings. He wants to know what the school will do, how, why and what it will take. Despite this overarching concern he did make the motion of approve the early release option;. It was seconded and eventually passed with Ms. Kelly dissenting. Her dissent stemmed from her opinion that the reallocation of the faculties time was a contract issue and that it should not be discussed in public. The other members did not agree. Ms Gibbos, school nurse and union president was at the meeting but was not one of the presenters. She did speak on the issue. She said it was not a union issue as the change did not impact the overall time commitment that had be contractually agreed to. She also voiced the willingness to sign a MOA.
Town Counsel may review the decision. If he rules that the discussion was about a contract issue, the committee will need to revisit the issue. The change in schedule will not begin until January.
The committee also heard from a few residents during citizen speak requesting they support the Superintendent’s recommendation to cap the French Immersion program commencing fall of 2013. The committee discussed the issue and again there was disagreement on moving forward. Wlaker advocated for a decision soon. Others felt that it was premature and that they did not have all the information they needed. Walker said, “This has gone on much too long – need to vote on the 3rd – if we do not have info we need – we are doing everyone a disservice at this point.” He was referring to this week’s meeting on October 3rd. That vote will not happen. The committee has asked Superintendent Gormley to “give us your best plan” for how the cap could be implemented.
Ms. Kelly asked what the capping plan was intended to do. ” If we think it is that too many people are choosing one program over another we are totally missing the point.” She believes there needs to be balance and that French Immersion is currently “like a different educational environment”. She eventually went on to say that “we have parents choosing not teachers” Here concern specifically was that classes lacked balance in terms of demographics and class size and that we should not have an language immersion until after 2nd grade and students all have “a great base.” walker acknowledge the classes needed balance but also assessment that gauges equivalent achievement.
The committee will hear the superintendent’s plan on the 3rd with a target date to vote on the 17th.