Please be aware of what is being said about our students, teachers and schools.

Please be aware of what is being said about our students, teachers and schools.

Standard Times, January 14, 2011 – John K. Bullard “It’s hard to avoid the message that spending time in our school system is hazardous to one’s education.”

Standard Times, August 14, 2010 - Carolee S. Matsumoto:

“As a longtime educator and friend to teachers, I write this to officially lodge my dismay and disgust at the shortsighted, selfish, and unprofessional positions and actions of New Bedford Educators Association President Lou St. John and other NBEA union ‘leaders.’ No, I am not just reacting to the recent “vote” they bullied the teachers into, but it is their perpetuation of practices and positions that have not (ever) and will not serve our students, never mind the teachers.”

“Although there exist many people and pockets of excellence in the New Bedford schools, there also exists the power infrastructure of the loyal “old boys” who, through patronage, family relationships and unions, have protected people, practices and positions that continue obsolete thinking and hold back innovation, change and efficiencies. (I have a list.)”

“Attempts to make changes are confronted with the culture of silence and retribution that protects the incompetent (jobs), blames the victims (kids/parents), and kills off innovation and any actions that threaten to disturb the status quo of power, turf, and privileges/rewards for the empowered.”

“It is not surprising that teacher unions across the United States are suffering a backlash against their navel-gazing practices.”

“The NBEA needs to elevate its thinking and to answer the question that its national NEA organization did recently: “Does NEA stand for National ‘Education’ Association or National ‘Educators’ Association?” As the local union negotiates its contract in the coming months, I am hopeful that NBEA will change its name as well as its positions to demonstrate its willingness to be a partner in doing whatever it takes to improve learning for all.”

Standard Times, February 24, 2011 - Carolee Matsumoto:
“In New Bedford, where the current teachers’ contract expires June 30 and is being renegotiated, the time is ripe to consider changes that are in the best interests of New Bedford Public School students. If its education is ever to rise above mediocrity, or worse, New Bedford has to pay specific attention to the teachers’ union contract provisions that have historically prevented change and supported obstructionist behaviors against any attempts to focus on what is best for our students.”

“The union contract contains several areas that deserve scrutiny, with the most critical area for renegotiation being the NBEA seniority and tenure agreements.”

“It is no secret that there are teachers who should not be in our classrooms. Dennis Winn, former assistant superintendent and principal, described the situation: "Teachers with the most seniority have the right to bid into any open positions within their certification areas regardless of merit or goodness of fit. While most teachers are hardworking, conscientious, and effective; the least competent teachers use this ridiculous 'right' to move from school to school; thus avoiding principals willing to evaluate their incompetence." This has been referred to as the "Dance of the Lemons."

“The Education Roundtable hopes that in the negotiations between the School Committee and the New Bedford Educators Association, the goal of putting students first will dominate. These negotiations, so often conducted behind closed doors, should consider the concerns and aspirations of students, parents and all who have a stake in public education in New Bedford. Results of the current system prove business as usual is unacceptable. Students need good teachers who are properly rewarded. Students are harmed by poor or indifferent teachers who must find different careers. The contract must encourage both of these outcomes. The Education Roundtable is on board and will continue to use the spotlight, leverage, and support that this community group proffers to make a difference for our students.”

Standard Times, March 2, 2011 – From an article by reporter Dan McDonald:
With the current teachers’ union contract set to expire June 30, a group of community activists is pushing for more accountability in city schools, including reforms that would place emphasis on teacher evaluations instead of seniority alone.

“The last-in, first-out approach to staffing, said Jim Mathes, who serves on the roundtable and is executive director of the SMILES Mentoring Inc. in the city, "is something that should be discussed" during the negotiations for the next contract.”

“One of the central questions, said Paul Vigeant, a UMass Dartmouth assistant chancellor for economic development who sits on the roundtable, is "How do you balance seniority rights with financial stresses?"

“Vigeant said ‘the national debate about collective bargaining is calling into question a long-standing way of doing business in America’. He said the ongoing turmoil between governors and public sector unions in place like Wisconsin and New Jersey will have ‘ramifications that will filter down locally’.”

“John Bullard, a former New Bedford mayor who is Chairman of the Roundtable, said the district should consider how teachers are evaluated and how good teachers are distinguished from bad ones.”

“School Committee member Marlene Pollock did not think a teacher's mettle should be judged by test scores alone. She thought multiple types of assessment should be used to evaluate teachers.”

Tom Davis, executive director of the Greater New Bedford Industrial Foundation, says there "needs to be an annual planning and stewardship process, and right now that doesn't exist" in the schools. Davis, who sits on the roundtable and also serves on the board of the New Bedford Global Learning Charter School, also believes all schools should try to attach assessments and bonuses with tangible achievements like Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores, attendance rates and graduation rates. He said this fall the charter school will apply such provisions through a system of "merit-based evaluations and bonuses."


Standard Times, March 10, 2011 – Craig Dutra and Tom Davis: “However, to incentivize improvements, the New Bedford School Department needs to also implement a performance-based compensation and employment system for key personnel. For example, in the schools that are significantly out-performing schools in the other gateway cities on the MCAS tests, the principals, key staff and teachers should receive extra monetary rewards for their successful efforts. Conversely, the leaders of under-performing schools that don't improve over a reasonable period of time should be held accountable.


Standard Times, March 16, 2011 - Editorial:
“The question is this: How much longer are New Bedford’s moms and dads going to accept the implicit assumption their children either aren’t smart enough to do better or just aren’t worth it. Because that is the only way to explain why this community has for so long accepted such mediocrity.”

“New Bedford has a new school superintendent, Dr. Mary Louise Francis . . . . . . . . . .It will be risky for her and for all of those who will stand with her if she is willing to take on all the powerful interests that have an interest in leaving things as they are, from the teachers’ union to the powerful friends of school employees who got their jobs because they knew someone.”

Standard Times, March 18, 2011 - John K. Bullard:
“We will weigh in on current issues like the negotiations between the School Committee and the NBEA because they will impact students. We are not anti-union. We are certainly not anti-teacher. Good teachers are the most important ingredients to success. And for us as a community to succeed in delivering significant improvement in performance, teachers will need to be the heroes, not the scapegoats.”


Standard Times, March 21, 2011 – Marlene Pollock: “ In addition, reports of highly qualified teachers being let go after their first year, often for questionable reasons are very troubling. At the same time some teachers that have been given unsatisfactory evaluations are kept on by allowing them to jump from school to school. Hopefully, working with the New Bedford Educators Association during contract negotiations we can change these practices as the crisis urgently calls for these to be corrected.”