The appointment of a Middle Gate School teacher to the role of lead teacher at Head O' Meadow School has been greeted with criticism from some parents and officials, particularly because the decision was made well before several members of the Board of Education knew about it.
Board of Education Chairman Bill Hart and Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said the timing of the appointment was an oversight.
During the summer, Robinson decided to move Jen Myers, a third-grade teacher at Middle Gate School to the role of lead teacher at Head O'Meadow School, where Barbara Gasparine has been recently appointed principal.
Officials said that with several staff departures at the end of the year, there was enough wiggle room in the budget for staff salaries to make the appointment and still come in under the numbers. So Robinson went ahead and made the decision but omitted to bring the topic to the full education board for discussion.
"It was the start of the school year and so we had to move quickly," Robinson said.
The education board had put off its August meeting so she said the next chance she could bring it to the board was Sept. 7, and by then the lead teacher was already installed.
"It's not an issue of whether I have the right to do it, I have the right," Robinson said, adding that where she went wrong was not bringing it to the full board for discussion. "It was an oversight on my part. I don't have a problem with taking responsibility. But it's still my decision."
Education board chairman Bill Hart said he did discuss the possible appointment with Robinson and former board chairman Lillian Bittman but due to the timing of the meetings, his recent appointment to the leadership post and other matters, the full board did not formally discuss the topic prior to Myers' appointment.
"Janet should have talked about it a little more, but I believe it was within her authority," Hart said. "I have talked to her that she shouldn't be blindsiding us."
The appointment has perplexed some parents who said they did not understand why a lead teacher – someone they view as an administrator – was being added to the school.
"We've never had it, we don't need it," said Caren Wellman, a Head O' Meadow School parent who said she would rather have another classroom teacher or educational assistant in her child's class.
Robinson said the lead teacher would benefit all students because Myers will have more time to spend with teachers helping to improve instruction in all classes.
"The teachers need to have a lead teacher that they can talk to and get suggestions from – that's why they're important," Robinson said. "One EA in one classroom is going to affect one classroom. One lead teacher is going to impact all classrooms."
Robinson also said Gasparine requested the appointment of a lead teacher. The principal could not be reached for comment. In the past, Gasparine has said one of her goals is to provide teachers with more resources and opportunities for professional development as part of their day-to-day schedule.
Hart said despite the mistake, Robinson has excelled at making staffing decisions, such as her ability to hire a full-time Latin teacher and part-time instructor following the departure of Jennifer Huettner, a Latin teacher who resigned in order to take a position in Westport.
Hiring two instructors was possible because Huettner's seniority and other factors placed her high on the salary scale, and needed due to the burgeoning interest in Latin among students, Hart said.
"This is an executive doing the job," he said of Robinson. "They will make some mistakes and they will do some good things. Has she done everything right? No. But nobody does."
If you were involved in the discussions, you would know how much real uncertainty there was - until the last few days. The school district can't count on dipping into a reserve if they overspend - BOE members can be sued over that. Trusting that the BOF would help if they were too aggressive in budgeting is not a smart idea. The self-insurance idea was great, but it wasn't until the final LC budget meeting that the superintendent got a verbal promise that the town would work together if they "guessed" wrong on costs. I heard it - I was there. The savings on that alone was what - 20 teachers? I'm no expert on school administration, so I can't judge whether HOM needed a lead teacher. I do believe that HOM hasn't compared well to other Newtown schools, so is it possible this is an attempt to fix them? Why not pick up the phone and call people when you have questions? And if you don't get good answers, broadcast that! But you're sounding like you have very strong opinions based on hearsay.
The new principal was appointed on July 13. According to the news reports, her request was for a new lead teacher; a new position. There was plenty of time for Dr Robinson to make a few phone calls to the Board members to at least advise them of her decision and perhaps set up an emergency meeting if this was so important. The previous principal was given all kinds of awards for years, did a fantastic job for over 25 years and acknowledged by all in the Newtown educational system. What changed in a few weeks? I did not initiate the suggestion the action taken as a mistake; it was the Board Chair, Mr. Hart as quoted. I simply voiced my opinion as you have. If you have questions about this "mistake" perhaps you should speak with Mr. Hart "This is an executive doing the job," he said of Robinson. "They will make some mistakes and they will do some good things. Has she done everything right? No. But nobody does."
Do you have data to back up your statement that HOM hasn't compared well to other Newtown schools? Or is that your opinion based on hearsay?
You can find the latest CMT data for 2010 here: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/CT/schoolrank.aspx Out of the four Newtown elementary schools, in 4th grade CMTs HOM comes in 4th in Math, 4th in Reading, 4th in Writing. Worse, they are heading south. In ranking, compared with 566 schools, in 2010 HOM declined the most in all three categories: -21 places in Math (Middle Gate improved +43 places), -40 places in Reading (Sandy Hook improved +21 places), and -79 in Writing (Sandy Hook improved +70 places). In raw 4th grade CMT rankings (out of 566 in Math and Reading, 568 in Writing): Math: SHS 19th, Hawley 27th, MG 53rd, HOM 125th Reading: SHS 19th, Hawley 66th, MG 111th, HOM 131st Writing: SHS 31st, Hawley 97th, MG 106th, HOM 154th There is no reason for this kind of disparity in one town. Adding a teacher at HOM as Caren suggests won't fix this problem. I think Ms. Robinson is taking a more appropriate systemic action. Don't you think? BTW, I shouldn't have to hunt this down. I'd suggest to Ms. Robinson and the BOE that they communicate this information clearly to justify their actions. I'm convinced.
I wish you had done a little more digging, if you had you would have seen that Head O'Meadow's 3rd graders had moved up 60 points over the previous third grade class. Head O'Meadow's 3rd graders ranked 7th in the State and 2nd in the district. Not exactly a school that is on the decline or in need of fixing.
My "hearsay" was from parents noticing a difference when their kids got to Reed. A few HOM parents felt their kids weren't as prepared. The 4th grade CMTs seem to back that up. I don't know how to analyze this data - maybe it's just an issue at the 4th grade level at HOM? Are you saying there is no need to be concerned, that HOM is fine?
If I may suggest, please check the site: cmtreports.com. This is the state's site, and it allows the user to examine scores by district and by individual school for the past 5 years. (Ignore the ".com" extension, it's not a commercial site.) If you're really up for some digging, captreports.com will give you the high school's data as well. I apologize in advance, but I'd like to put on my "geek" hat for a minute. One thing I discovered was that last year's Grade 4 also struggled the prior year in Grade 3. In other words, that particular group of students had its particular growth areas, and it was specific to HOM. We all appreciate that every child is different, so it stands to reason that each grade will have its great strengths and areas for improvement. Sandy Hook, by contrast, was "all world" last year, but weaker the year before. I doubt anyone thinks either group of hard-working teachers and administrators got that much better or worse in the course of one year. Our district is smart to keep our elementary schools relatively small, so the "sample group" will be smaller. Therefore, we are likely to see sharper variations in the scores from class to class, and this will stabilize a bit when the class homogenizes at Reed. I'm inclined to agree with Tom that systemic change is the better route. As to who should get the new lead teacher and in what order, those positions are put in place, I'm sure the Board will get into that in a meeting.
As to those that misuse figures the danger is that you pass on these same qualities to the next generation. Instead of the country becoming stronger, addressing issues with facts and dealing with reality we create a paradigm that is ineffective. We also mislead the uneducated with "arguments" rather then knowledge. For those with many talents much is expected. To those that have misused numbers to justify decisions please stop as those of us that understand numbers, facts and figures could consider several possibilities for your position: "Shrill, poorly educated or factually challenged."
A slightly separate question: Does the $ for EA's at the elementary level come from the Special Education budget? If so, the money recovered from reducing their hours probably wouldn't have gone to the lead teacher's salary.
2) Douglas: Information doesn't tell us what to do, and certainly it can be misused. We analyze it, make decisions, and act. I certainly don't have all of the info on what is or is not happening at HOM. Elaine asked if there was any data. I investigated and found data. I don't believe that constitutes misusing figures, creating an ineffective paradigm, damaging the next generation, or whatever. It's just data. We can ignore it, explain it, find more data, understand context better, whatever. But hand-waving is not a strategy, nor is saying that someone understands these numbers better, so please ignore the scores. 3) Concerned focused on the sample size. Agree that one year does not a trend make. But I do think CMTs from the final year of elementary school (4th grade) is a useful metric (NOT the only metric!) for the end result of the school. So let's look at the last five years combined (2006-2010): In Math CMTs, HOM has averaged fourth. In Reading, it's close but HOM has averaged fourth. In Writing it's also close but HOM has averaged second. In total CMT score, compared to all four schools, HOM has trended down four years in a row (ending in fourth for two years). Is this a problem? Too shrill? Not sure. Does a lead teacher affect this? Not sure. It's just data. But it is interesting.
There is a big difference between causation and correlation. Many confuse the two. The scientific method and the teachings of Dr. Demming and others seek to avoid this to seek real learning and real improvement. Doing so is hard work. It oftens leads us to "conclusions that are disconcerting." By way of example: It is often cited that home schooled children do better on standardized tests then those that go to public schools. This would logically mean that the number of hours spent in public schools is inversely related to doing well on standardized tests. Does this mean that we should reduce the number of hours that children attend public school and expect results to improve? Obviously not but significanly correlated. As the late Dr. Demming used to say: "Don't check your brains at the door"
I've had shildren in SHS under Page's leadership for 14 years, and I saw very distinct results from her administration philosophy. She was tough. Teachers didn't always like it, but the results were good. I feel my kids all left Sandy Hook very prepared. Teachers loved the administration at HOM. The hearsay was that the teachers had flexibility to run their classes as they saw fit, and friends of mine had concerns about the results. My impression prior to looking for data was that SHS and HOM were run in nearly an opposite manner. And then we discover that the average 4th grade CMT results for 2006-2010 combined put HOM in fourth among our schools, and the comparative trend has been consistently down for the last four years. Is it conceivable that there is a causal relationship between administration styles and CMT scores? Of course. Do we have enough data to be certain of a causal relationship? No. In the real world, you almost never have enough information, but good leaders don't wait before they make adjustments. HOM now has a lead teacher. Whether you agree with it or not, it appears to me that there is an attempt to tighten up the ship.