A war of words and actions has erupted among the teachers union, school superintendent, and mayor of the fair city of New Bedford over education policy.
In response to what it feels is unfair treatment by the media and other organizations, including The United Way, the teachers union has urged boycotts. The membership has taken toattending school meetings wearing crimson, one of New Bedford High School’s team colors, as a symbol of solidarity.
The mayor of NB, Jon Mitchell, has thrown down the gauntlet, castigating the teacher’s union for what he deemed a “new low”in union conduct upon hearing of The United Way boycott.
During his inaugural address, Mayor Mitchell made education a central theme as he launched a fusillade of thinly veiled code words at his audience. He included pledges for “a culture of achievement, urban school transformation, change, and need for reforms.” As those of us in the battle for real educational reform know, Mayor Mitchell’s comments smack of charter school,“privatization-speak.”
And there is a connection between the mayor’s rhetoric and the ongoing skirmish. At the nexus of the debate is the proposed reorganization of New Bedford High School. Because of its Level 4 status, relating to chronically low state- mandated test scores, Superintendent of Schools, Pia Durkin, enlisted a private agency, Schoolworks, to perform an “outside review” on NBHS. Based upon the results, Ms.Durkin recommended and the School Committee supported the mandate that NBHS undergo a “re-organization”. Given the devastating consequences of the new plan, the teachers’ union, not surprisingly, is opposed to massive firings that could result. It wants its voice heard in seeking better alternatives for students and staff.
In layman’s terms, what Supt. Durkin and her School Committee minions have ordered are mass firings: potentially the members of NBHS’s administrative team and up to half of the current teachers. The raging question in education circles about how valid test scores are in evaluating a school or its teachers seems to have reached a fever pitch in New Bedford.
But the larger question in this imbroglio is: Who is Schoolworksand what are its qualifications to determine the future of NBHS?
Schoolworks’ Chief Executive Officer, Spencer Blasdale is a former founding teacher and director of the Boston charter school Academy of the Pacific Rim. He was also a founding member of the Massachusetts Charter School Association. Like any strong leader’s team, Blasdale’s colleagues’ views are a reflection of his own and charters are his area of expertise.
So where does the “charter-speak” from the mayor, the re-organization decision by the Superintendent / School Committee, and the apparent exclusion of the teachers’ union, leave the future of NBHS? Hopefully, not in the same straits asBlasdale’s former Academy of the Pacific Rim.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Education’swebsite, the attrition rate for the Academy of the Pacific Rimcharter school is astronomical. From an original 81 5th grade students enrolled during the 2005-06 school year, only 26 of that group remained in 12th grade, less than one third making it all the way to graduation day.
What happened to the remainder , the other 68% of the students who did not have success at APR Charter School? The answer is the same wherever most charters leave their footprint. Their success is in their public relations and the pandering media outlets because it’s not in their staying power. Charters , simply, return these kids to the public schools, places like NBHS, where dedicated teachers, lacking social services, programming and funding do their best to offer a solid education.
Isn’t it a better scenario to return appropriate services, programming, and inclusive empowerment to current NBHSstaff ? Such a course has a much better chance of taking flight, rather than on the gossamer wings of flimsy charter schools. And there are the numbers to prove it.
Sincerely yours:
Bruce C. Ditata
5 comments:
Thank you for your enlightening post. It's interesting how Schoolworks had any input in creating a plan for the New Bedford Public School System.
Newspapers lie. Schools die.
Educated people from the SouthCoast are by far the best. Teachers are being desecrated by novices who believe they are leaders. We are the salt-of-the-earth! Great post. Mayor Mitchell and the rest of the SC has forgotten their roots. "They" all should show the character that has been a staple of our area.
Once again. ,I say the common denominator in the last six years and four superintendents has been the school committee- newly elected members excused. I say turn them around.... and shove this plan up their respective a$$$s!
Privatization will wipe the slate clean. The status is removed. They'll have absolute autonomy.
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