As the new school year looms on the horizon, and new backpacks and shoes are being purchased, I am grateful for the fact that our school system in Waltham is so good, and that my son is so excited to be going back next week. Yesterday he received a post card, REAL MAIL, from his soon to be first grade teacher. He was THRILLED and we sat down to read it together as he was getting ready for bed.
Recently Liz Humphries-McCarthy wrote in her Waltham Patch blog about the benefits of our Waltham schools. I could not agree more with the points she made. Make sure you read it.
Like Liz, when we had our son and began talking to other parents whose children were around the same age, some of them indicated they would move to other towns before their children started kindergarten, because they didn't think the Waltham school system would be up to their standards. We would have periodic mom get togethers, and inevitably the conversation would turn to how the schools were doing educating some of the mom's older children, and people would begin talking about average SAT scores and MCAS standings. And again, there would be this general consensus that moving to a "better" school system would be the thing to do.
There were a few of us who would not express that view though. I found myself expressing what I perceived were and are the strengths of the Waltham school system. Here are two I think are important:
Diversity. I love that my son hears different languages being spoken by his peers with their families. I love that he knows there are different holidays celebrated at their homes, and they eat different foods than we do. I want him to experience as much of this diversity as possible, to understand that the whole world doesn't look exactly like him, and doesn't always see the world through the same lens as we do. And that none of that is bad or wrong, just different and unique.
Teachers. Admittedly we only have one year under our belt at Stanley, but we have been so impressed with the quality of the teaching staff, the commitment of the admininstrative staff and the fact that Cooper is so excited to go back to school next week is a testiment to their dedication. It was weird transitioning from the very immediate and constant contact we had experience with day care/pre-school to the almost complete lack of one on one interaction with the teaching staff in kindergarten. I eventually reached out to his teacher after the first week to check in and tell her she should always feel free to give me feedback on how Coop was doing, if there were issues or whatever, and that email was the best means of contacting me unless there was an emergency. That was well received and we spent the year sharing updates and information periodically. She knew we were open and receptive to ALL feedback, and when my class clown of a child pulled a few "hilarious to the kindergarten set" stunts, or acted out, she let me know so we could reinforce what proper and acceptable behavior was in the classroom. She also shared the positive progress he was making, letting me know what she was working on with him and we used that information to provide more positive reinforcement at home.
And this is what gets at the heart of why just leaving to go to a "better" school system is so problematic to me. Schools work best when we as the parents stay involved. When we are invested in how our children are doing, when we work with the teachers to make the system work. And I am not saying that the people who leave for different towns won't be just as invested and involved. But if you think a system is not working, maybe helping to make it better is a good idea. As I work with students at the college level who have come out of the Waltham system, as I see my friends whose children have been educated in the Waltham system graduating from high school and going on to do wonderful things, I see success stories. I see how being in a system that values not just the college track student, but the student who may want to study the culinary arts or cosmetology works to prepare ALL of its students for the future.
Is Waltham's school system perfect? No. I would suggest no school system is perfect. Waltham has a few challenges facing it in the near future for sure, including an increased demand on its facilities and the teachers, as well as the reaccreditation of the high school. It has been well documented we are concerned about turnover and persistence in the teaching and administrative staff. But when looked at as a whole, when you look at the work being done on a daily basis in our schools, I think we have a system to be proud of; a system worth sticking around for.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The Waltham School Committee meeting of Aug. 6...
The Waltham School Committee held a special meeting last night, Aug. 6th, to present the evaluation of the Superintendent, Dr. Susan Nicholson, among other action items. All members were present, as well as myself and three other members of the public and two members of the media.
This is the first year that Waltham is using this particular evaluation tool, one mandated by the Department of Education, so it was new to everyone. The overall result of the review of Dr. Nicholson resulted in a rating of Proficient. This is on a scale of four options, including Not Satisfactory, Making Progress, Proficient and Excels (I may not have the exact wording for each option, but the general sense is accurate). She was rated on four goals that had been established for the year, and each goal was rated on a scale of Not Met, Making Progress, Met, and Exceeds. She received a rating of Exceeds on one goal, and Met on the other three.
Comments that were read at the end of the evaluation suggested Dr. Nicholson is well liked and respected by her coworkers and staff, and is doing a good job overall with moving the district forward and making good progress on student outcomes. Among the items suggested for improvement were working on conflict resolution and focusing on the positives within the district as well as the negatives.
Dr. Nicholson questioned one of the Met ratings on her goal of 70% of all 2nd graders reading at or above grade level. The actual number came out at 72%. She felt that warranted an Exceeds rating. Robert Cincotta responded that as he was working through how to rate that goal, he asked himself what he would rate her if the result had been 68%. He felt that a variance of 2% in either direction still warranted a Met rating. Susan Burstein added that this was the one goal which she did not have direct control over. The teaching staff and the students impacted the end result and as such, it seemed fair to consider it having been met. There was a suggestion that in the future if a goal like this was being established, using a range instead of a hard number would make more sense.
So the end result was a good evaluation with an overall rating of Proficient for the Superintendent.
The meeting did not end there though. The committee went on to discuss what, if anything, the subcommittee looking at redistricting, for the lack of a better word, should be doing. After much discussion, the committee agreed that until the enrollment data for this fall is in, and Dr. Nicholson can get three years of data analysed, and the consultant who is going to be hired to look at our facility use and enrollment information is on board, the only thing that really can be done is to get to the Mayor the data she needs for the RFI that will be issued as part of the consultant hiring process. All other discussions around redistricting, including whether moving students around should happen by geography or based on programs (ELL, Special Education and Pre K) should not be ongoing at this time.
The next item was a motion to move the school committee more into the electronic age, and begin disseminating items for the meetings electronically instead of hard copy. Currently the administrative assistance spends 4-5 hours preparing materials and delivering them to the members. Going electronic would cut that time in half, and save trees and other resources. As part of this motion the Superintendent will research and identify electronic devices, such as an iPad, that would be purchased for the school committee members so they may access these items easily and use during meetings. A request for training on using whatever device is provided was requested and approved. This will go into action for the next meeting.
This discussion was followed by Lisa Limonciello making a motion to put an item on the agenda under new business. There was a brief discussion regarding if this was allowable in a special meeting but ultimately it was approved. The item was to ask about a meeting that will happen between the Mayor and any interested parents from the Fitzgerald Elementary school. The intial question was why was this meeting happening, and was followed up with a discussion regarding whether it was appropriate for the Mayor, as a member of the school committee to take such a meeting.
The Mayor explained that this meeting came out of a concern on her part that she had been hearing rumblings in social media, and from contact from parents to her directly that suggested there were "issues" at Fitzgerald. In her role as Mayor, she feels it is her duty to find out if there is a problem at a school, consequently she reached out to a parent and eventually asked if the parents would like to have a meeting. When pressed on what the topic of the meeting would be, the Mayor indicated she didn't know for sure, but she ultimately indicated the parents feel disenfranchised and she would like to better understand this.
Things got a little heated when Robert Cincotta indicated that he felt it was inappropriate for her to have this meeting. Both he and others felt that protocol and policy within the school committee would have parents go to the Superintendent before an issue is addressed by any other member of the committee or by the committee as a whole. The Mayor replied that it is her duty as Mayor to understand what is going on at any school if there is a perception there is a problem, and then stated that previously Mr. Cincotta had told her he feels it is inappropriate for her to respond to and interact with parents who reach out to her, but that it is OK for him to do so. Mr. Cincotta rejected that statement outright. When the Mayor persisted in stating this he demanded that she stop lying and eventually left the meeting. The issue continued to be discussed, with both Ms. Burstein and Ms. Limonciello stating that their concern was that A) parents who have issues first try to bring the issue to the Superintendent, and B) no member of the school committee discuss the performance of any employee of the school district in public with anyone. The Mayor responded that she had asked if the parents had reached out to Dr. Nicholson and that the response was yes, so she felt that issue had been addressed. She also stated she had no intention of discussing the performance of any individual including the Superintendent with this group of parents, but was concerned about issues around process.
Dr. Nicholson stated she was aware of an email that went from the Fitzgerald PTO to the parents regarding this meeting and that it was specifically relating to the Superintendent. She has no interest in having to defend herself in public, nor would that be appropriate. The Mayor again stated she would be having this meeting, which any member of the public and the school committee would be welcome to attend, to find out what the issues are.
Margaret Donnelly brought the discussion to a close by suggesting that part of the problem might come from the fact that in previous meetings parents had been told that they should not reach out directly to the school committee if they had questions or concerns, and thus there might be the perception that the school committee as a whole is not open to hearing issues. She suggested that while that had been corrected, if there is any question of the public feeling comfortable sharing concerns, if there are questions of transparency, that falls to the school committee to resolve.
The remaining items were standard items and then I left.
My impression of the meeting overall is that the Superintendent is viewed as doing a good job and moving the district forward in a positive manner. It was also clear that there are some concerns around the meeting with the Fitzgerald parents. It would be my expectation that the Mayor acts in accordance with school committee protocol and policies, while also doing her due diligence with her constituents. That is the job of Mayor after all. This speaks loudly to some existing issues at the parent level, concern about the turnover of staff, specifically principals and is obviously something Dr. Nicholson should be adding to her list of objectives for the coming year. Being Superintendent is a very hard job, and no one will ever make everyone happy. It is impossible. But if parents feel they are not being listened to, if they feel disenfranchised, there are probably steps that can be taken to address THAT issue. It also became apparent that members of the school committee had not been aware of the previous meeting the Superintendent held with the Fiztgerald parents regarding the hiring process of a new principal, which may be why none of them were present at the meeting. Add this to the fact that apparently the teaching staff at Fitzgerald did not get the message regarding the Superintendent also holding a meeting for them, and so none of them showed up for it, I would also suggest that communication might be something that needs to be focused on.
This is the first year that Waltham is using this particular evaluation tool, one mandated by the Department of Education, so it was new to everyone. The overall result of the review of Dr. Nicholson resulted in a rating of Proficient. This is on a scale of four options, including Not Satisfactory, Making Progress, Proficient and Excels (I may not have the exact wording for each option, but the general sense is accurate). She was rated on four goals that had been established for the year, and each goal was rated on a scale of Not Met, Making Progress, Met, and Exceeds. She received a rating of Exceeds on one goal, and Met on the other three.
Comments that were read at the end of the evaluation suggested Dr. Nicholson is well liked and respected by her coworkers and staff, and is doing a good job overall with moving the district forward and making good progress on student outcomes. Among the items suggested for improvement were working on conflict resolution and focusing on the positives within the district as well as the negatives.
Dr. Nicholson questioned one of the Met ratings on her goal of 70% of all 2nd graders reading at or above grade level. The actual number came out at 72%. She felt that warranted an Exceeds rating. Robert Cincotta responded that as he was working through how to rate that goal, he asked himself what he would rate her if the result had been 68%. He felt that a variance of 2% in either direction still warranted a Met rating. Susan Burstein added that this was the one goal which she did not have direct control over. The teaching staff and the students impacted the end result and as such, it seemed fair to consider it having been met. There was a suggestion that in the future if a goal like this was being established, using a range instead of a hard number would make more sense.
So the end result was a good evaluation with an overall rating of Proficient for the Superintendent.
The meeting did not end there though. The committee went on to discuss what, if anything, the subcommittee looking at redistricting, for the lack of a better word, should be doing. After much discussion, the committee agreed that until the enrollment data for this fall is in, and Dr. Nicholson can get three years of data analysed, and the consultant who is going to be hired to look at our facility use and enrollment information is on board, the only thing that really can be done is to get to the Mayor the data she needs for the RFI that will be issued as part of the consultant hiring process. All other discussions around redistricting, including whether moving students around should happen by geography or based on programs (ELL, Special Education and Pre K) should not be ongoing at this time.
The next item was a motion to move the school committee more into the electronic age, and begin disseminating items for the meetings electronically instead of hard copy. Currently the administrative assistance spends 4-5 hours preparing materials and delivering them to the members. Going electronic would cut that time in half, and save trees and other resources. As part of this motion the Superintendent will research and identify electronic devices, such as an iPad, that would be purchased for the school committee members so they may access these items easily and use during meetings. A request for training on using whatever device is provided was requested and approved. This will go into action for the next meeting.
This discussion was followed by Lisa Limonciello making a motion to put an item on the agenda under new business. There was a brief discussion regarding if this was allowable in a special meeting but ultimately it was approved. The item was to ask about a meeting that will happen between the Mayor and any interested parents from the Fitzgerald Elementary school. The intial question was why was this meeting happening, and was followed up with a discussion regarding whether it was appropriate for the Mayor, as a member of the school committee to take such a meeting.
The Mayor explained that this meeting came out of a concern on her part that she had been hearing rumblings in social media, and from contact from parents to her directly that suggested there were "issues" at Fitzgerald. In her role as Mayor, she feels it is her duty to find out if there is a problem at a school, consequently she reached out to a parent and eventually asked if the parents would like to have a meeting. When pressed on what the topic of the meeting would be, the Mayor indicated she didn't know for sure, but she ultimately indicated the parents feel disenfranchised and she would like to better understand this.
Things got a little heated when Robert Cincotta indicated that he felt it was inappropriate for her to have this meeting. Both he and others felt that protocol and policy within the school committee would have parents go to the Superintendent before an issue is addressed by any other member of the committee or by the committee as a whole. The Mayor replied that it is her duty as Mayor to understand what is going on at any school if there is a perception there is a problem, and then stated that previously Mr. Cincotta had told her he feels it is inappropriate for her to respond to and interact with parents who reach out to her, but that it is OK for him to do so. Mr. Cincotta rejected that statement outright. When the Mayor persisted in stating this he demanded that she stop lying and eventually left the meeting. The issue continued to be discussed, with both Ms. Burstein and Ms. Limonciello stating that their concern was that A) parents who have issues first try to bring the issue to the Superintendent, and B) no member of the school committee discuss the performance of any employee of the school district in public with anyone. The Mayor responded that she had asked if the parents had reached out to Dr. Nicholson and that the response was yes, so she felt that issue had been addressed. She also stated she had no intention of discussing the performance of any individual including the Superintendent with this group of parents, but was concerned about issues around process.
Dr. Nicholson stated she was aware of an email that went from the Fitzgerald PTO to the parents regarding this meeting and that it was specifically relating to the Superintendent. She has no interest in having to defend herself in public, nor would that be appropriate. The Mayor again stated she would be having this meeting, which any member of the public and the school committee would be welcome to attend, to find out what the issues are.
Margaret Donnelly brought the discussion to a close by suggesting that part of the problem might come from the fact that in previous meetings parents had been told that they should not reach out directly to the school committee if they had questions or concerns, and thus there might be the perception that the school committee as a whole is not open to hearing issues. She suggested that while that had been corrected, if there is any question of the public feeling comfortable sharing concerns, if there are questions of transparency, that falls to the school committee to resolve.
The remaining items were standard items and then I left.
My impression of the meeting overall is that the Superintendent is viewed as doing a good job and moving the district forward in a positive manner. It was also clear that there are some concerns around the meeting with the Fitzgerald parents. It would be my expectation that the Mayor acts in accordance with school committee protocol and policies, while also doing her due diligence with her constituents. That is the job of Mayor after all. This speaks loudly to some existing issues at the parent level, concern about the turnover of staff, specifically principals and is obviously something Dr. Nicholson should be adding to her list of objectives for the coming year. Being Superintendent is a very hard job, and no one will ever make everyone happy. It is impossible. But if parents feel they are not being listened to, if they feel disenfranchised, there are probably steps that can be taken to address THAT issue. It also became apparent that members of the school committee had not been aware of the previous meeting the Superintendent held with the Fiztgerald parents regarding the hiring process of a new principal, which may be why none of them were present at the meeting. Add this to the fact that apparently the teaching staff at Fitzgerald did not get the message regarding the Superintendent also holding a meeting for them, and so none of them showed up for it, I would also suggest that communication might be something that needs to be focused on.
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