It has recently come to many residents' and parents' attention that Hannigan School and SeaLab Principal Arthur Dutra's contract is not going to be renewed. The circumstances and reasons don't seem to be so cut and dry, nor are they correct.
Knowing Dutra, and some of the considerations he must make, he has chosen to step aside and let the superintendent have her way. For that I can only say, "Sorry Arthur, you deserve better, and we as parents of schoolchildren, citizens of New Bedford, and advocates for you and what you stand for cannot accept this decision."
We all knew that one day Dutra would probably want to have his summers off, would not want to have to plan how to shut down one school and activate another, along with the myriad of other planning, coordination, administrative and logistical choices he goes through on a daily and weekly basis. But we all hoped those choices would be a long time away, and made by Dutra himself.
Perhaps we are being selfish. You see, since SeaLab began functioning out of the trunk of a car, in a parking lot down by the water, Dutra has been there, transitioning from one building to another, and finally resulting in what today is a state-of-the-art marine science teaching facility.
Dutra has been there, fighting for funding, asking for advocacy, but always supporting marine science education for our school kids. And we don't want that to change. I want to say to him, "Tell us different, and we will let this go away. But I think I know you, your heart and head."
SeaLab is nationally and internationally recognized. Award-winning scientists and researchers wait to be asked to speak, teach, and become part of this program. Internationally respected institutions of higher learning and research are integrated into this school, and much more is planned. Much of that is because of Dutra and what he has done over the years.
The Hannigan School will be rebuilt out of the crumbling and outdated facility the New Bedford school system allowed it to become despite Dutra's requests for repairs.
But while that happens, Dutra has run two schools from one building, packing and unpacking as the seasons change, keeping both schools at the top of their respective places both in New Bedford and in the larger world.
The work to accept SeaLab applications, review them, schedule tests and interviews, choose each new group of students, plan for activities, speakers, teachers and more is a task that no two people can do — other than the two who do it now because of their belief, their commitment, and lastly because of their love of this program. Dutra has a partner in all this, and her name is Simone Bourgeois. To think that we would lose these people is not acceptable.
I understand the current superintendent was brought in to change the school system, to begin new ways of thinking. But it was also supposed to be with intelligent choices, in collaboration and cooperation with others, not slash-and-burn at any cost. Go it alone, my way or the highway.
It doesn't work, and won't. Teachers don't want to teach here. Principals are retiring or moving on. All the while, not much has changed within the system academically, or with the dropout rate, or with core best practices. I still see kids who don't want to learn, don't want to be in school, and are biding time until that magic "age to quit" comes up. And that is beginning in middle school.
Dr. Portia Bonner has been ineffective and polarizing. At the same time, she has been alienating of staff and parents, and has lost the respect and advocacy of many around here. It is time to step down and move on to somewhere else, and good luck.
Monetary considerations aside, we're talking about our still-dysfunctional school system here. The future of New Bedford is its ability to educate our children.
I won't begin to tell Mayor Scott Lang what he must do, but I can tell him how I feel. The choice to hire Bonner was the wrong one. Many who supported her initially are now on the other side of the fence, waiting until her contract for renewal is at hand. Then Bonner will be given the same result that she has unfairly given to Dutra.
We shouldn't wait another year.
By David Babcock
Mr. Babcock lives in
New Bedford.
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