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February 2002
February 2002 PROTEUN
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2002
FORTY WEEK CLUB
The following are $25.00 winners in recent Forty-Week Club drawings:
December: Deborah Pfefferle (Windmill), Melissa Silvia (Hope), Carolyn Carr (Pleasant View), Rosemary Bernston (Hope)
January: Kara O'Connor (Green), Linda Daglieri (Perry), Mary DiFlorian (West), Gina Martino (Laurel Hill)
It is not too late to join the Union's Forty Week Club!
JOB SHARING
Rita Calabro, a 5th grade teacher at Messer Elementary, wishes to job-share her position for next year. She is willing to give up the medical benefits and can be contacted at 351-6466.
Lisa Airhart, a 5th grade teacher at Kizarian (Camden) Elementary, is interested in job-sharing her position for the 2002-2003 school year. She needs to have the medical package and can be reached at 397- 5968.
Christine Brierly, a 4th grade teacher at M.L. King Elementary, would like to share her position next year. She would prefer to have the medical package and can be reached at (508) 252-5802, or at rid2739@ride.ri.net .
Heather Longo, a special education teacher at Hopkins Middle School, wishes to job-share another teacher's position next year. She needs the medical benefits and can be contacted at 398-0032.
Maria McAfee, a 4th grade ESL teacher at Pleasant View Elementary School, is seeking to job-share her position for the next school year. Maria is willing to give up the medical package and can be reached at 233-1329.
Diane West, a 3rd grade ESL teacher at Messer Elementary, would like to job-share next year. She would prefer to share her current position and needs the medical benefits. Diane may be reached at home (521-2194) or at Messer (456-9401).
PTU WEBSITE
Check out the new and improved PTU website.
Features include:
Virtual Teacher Mentor
Collective Bargaining Agreement and
Constitution and By-Laws
FAQ's Section (Retirement, Substitutes,
Parental/Adoptive Leaves)
Automated Salary Computation Worksheet
and much, much more!
www.PROTEUN.org
PTU SHIRT SALE
The PTU has a limited number of short sleeved polo shirts and long sleeved denim shirts with the PTU emblem for sale at the Union office.
$30.00 for short-sleeved polo shirt.
$40.00 for long-sleeved light-denim shirt.
$45.00 for long-sleeved heavy-denim shirt.
If you wish to purchase a shirt, see Lu at the Union office.
AMENDMENT TO THE PROVIDENCE TEACHERS UNION CONSTITUTION
A member of the Providence Teachers Union submitted to the Secretary of the Providence Teachers Union an amendment to the Providence Teachers Union Constitution. The Executive Board has considered and is recommending no position on the proposed amendment.
Proposed Amendment
Article XII -RECALL
Add: (new)
Should any member of the Executive Board of the union be recalled by a vote of the membership at a duly constituted election, said member may not hold any elected office or standing committee chair position of the Board for a period of two years.
This amendment will be voted on by the membership at the March 13, 2002 membership meeting.
ANNUAL AUDIT
The annual audit has been completed. Teachers who wish to review the audit may call the Union office to schedule an appointment.
REMINDERS
Address/Telephone Changes
Members are reminded that address and telephone changes should be reported to Ruth or Ellie at the Union office, as well as to the Office of Human Resources, which does not forward this information to the Union.
Blue Cross Representative
Our Blue Cross representative, Janice Sullivan, will be at the Union office from 2:30- 4:30 p.m. on the following dates:
March 14, 2002
May 16, 2002
June 13, 2002
Anyone wishing to meet with Janice should call Ruth or Ellie at the Union office to schedule an appointment.
JOB FAIR 2002
Any regularly-employed member who wishes to attend this year's Job Fair in July is reminded to fill out a Request for Transfer card at the Office of Human Resources by the close of business on May 15, 2002.
Members may bid on any position for which they are certified to teach. Each certification area must be listed separately on the Request for Transfer card. For Example:
1. Elementary
2. Elementary ESL
3. Guidance
For complete details regarding the Job Fair, please refer to Article 14, Transfer Policy, in the contract.
NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
3:30 p.m.
Bridgham Middle School
Cafeteria
1655 Westminster Street
Personnel office needs overhaul
Posted Friday, February 15, 2002
2.15.2002 00:25
• An outside assessment of the School Department's human resources office says it should be better organized and its employees better trained.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The School Department has hired a human resources consultant to draft a plan for reorganizing personnel work in response to a critical report that said the office was understaffed and inefficient.
In the meantime, the department plans to launch a second search for a new director of human resources, according to Susan F. Lusi, chief of staff to Schools Supt. Diana Lam.
Last spring, a professional search firm recruited two finalists, but both withdrew.
The search was still under way when a team of public school managers from Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Cleveland visited Providence under the auspices of the Council of Great City Schools, a nationwide organization of large urban districts, in May.
They found inadequate staffing and training that left human resources officials unable to handle critical functions, such as following up on disciplinary matters or maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive information.
On occasion, unfavorable criminal background checks have been overlooked in order to fill a substitute position, the human resource managers discovered during interviews they conducted last spring.
All human resources positions should be nonunionized, their report said. Lusi noted that it is common in business and the public sector to exempt human resources positions from union representation. For example, clerks in the schools' human resources department belong to a union.
The task force found a lack of written policies and procedures and recommended that a handbook be created for human resources employees.
Human resources depends on clerks who work in isolation, often performing administrative tasks without the necessary expertise or authority, the report said. For example, someone handling workers' compensation might know "paper processes" but has no medical background and lacks familiarity with the regulations, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the report said human resources relies on its director to do too many things: contract interpretation, handle assignment and reassignment of staff, grievances, insurance and risk management.
"The practice is impractical, inefficientand insufficient," according to the Council of Great City Schools.
It recommended that all the functions of human resources be studied and that the staff be properly trained to match those responsibilities.
Among other things, more human resources professionals should be hired to broaden and deepen the expertise, and greater diversity should be brought to the staff, the report said.
It noted that the staff is dissatisfied with the quality of substitute teachers, and yet most hiring occurs through the ranks of substitutes.
Human resources staff should provide training to schools in the interviewing process as more of them gain autonomous designation and involve parents in hiring, according to the report.
It also recommended that school principals become more involved in hiring teachers and that the importance of seniority be diminished as a factor in their selection and assignment.
The report anticipated that a new human resources director would not be appointed last spring, suggesting that the School Department hire a consultant to work on the details of the reorganization while another search was conducted.
The consultant, Don Zimmerman, of Willmott and Associates, began work Monday and will stay for three to six months, at a cost of up to $70,000, Lusi said.
She said the consulting firm will be paid from the administration's portion of a $13.5-million, five-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Because the grant is administered by the Rhode Island Foundation, rather than the city, the consulting fees need not be approved by the municipal Board of Contract and Supply, Lusi said.
The report was submitted in August, shortly before Lusi became Lam's chief of staff.
Since August, Lusi said, the superintendent has put two people in charge of human resources to help make up for the understaffing.
They are Ralph Campagnone, a retired principal, and Steve Provenzo, most recently principal at the Roger Williams Middle School.
Lusi said Provenzo was selected because he had demonstrated "very strong organizational skills and good people skills" at Roger Williams.
"He knows the system and the kinds of supports schools need from human resources," Lusi said.
Lusi said she has formed an advisory group on human resources from the business community to help guide Provenzo and Campagnone in the day-to-day operations of the office.
As a result, she said, the number of teacher grievances at the initial hearing stage has dropped from three or four to one or two per week.
Human resources "is also doing a nice job in working with principals, following through with employee discipline rather than things languishing," Lusi said.
Efforts were unsuccessful yesterday in reaching officials of the Providence Teachers Union, who have said school principals have become "enforcers" rather than the academic leaders Lam has touted.
State sees improvement in special ed
Posted Thursday, February 14, 2002
2.14.2002 08:12
• A state Department of Education official tells the School Board that special education has improved since Kenneth Swanson took charge two years ago.
BY GINA MACRIS Top Metro stories:
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Special education in the city schools, so inadequate that $2.1 million in federal funds were temporarily held back two years ago, is "moving in the right direction," according to an official of the state Department of Education.
Sally Radford, of the Office of Special Needs, gave the School Board a preview Monday of the results of a recent state monitoring visit, required under provisions of the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
Radford said that since Kenneth Swanson was appointed director of special education two years ago, there has been a fundamental shift for the better in the administration's approach to serving children with special needs.
There are signs special education is no longer regarded as a place away from the mainstream, she said. Rather, special education is becoming an array of services designed to fit children's needs, often in the regular classroom, Radford said.
The full report will be made public in mid-March, she said.
Historically, she said, Providence has relied on "limited options:"
• Those with the most extensive needs have been relegated to segregated classrooms, frequently contradicting the intent of federal special education law.
• Others with less pronounced disabilities have had concentrated but isolated instruction in particular subjects at the expense of their regular classes.
Monday's presentation highlighted "pockets of excellence," where improved practices have taken hold in the last two years.
Yesterday, however, Swanson cautioned that the schools as a whole are still "miles and years" away from where he wants them to be in serving children with special needs.
"Inclusive, integrated opportunities are still minimal in comparison to the number of students in self-contained classrooms," Swanson said.
"The district still needs to move forward and move forward quickly," he said.
Swanson has introduced an "intensive resource" program in 13 elementary schools, where special education teachers work two hours a day with regular teachers in regular classrooms.
Federal special education law mandates that children with special needs be educated in the least restrictive -- or least isolated -- classroom possible, given their individual disabilities.
Monitoring reports going back at least 15 years have faulted Providence for lack of compliance with federal requirements related to educating children in as normal a setting as possible.
Meanwhile, another new program helps teach self-control to elementary school students who have behavior problems.
Swanson said a key to the success of the pilot program at the Robert L. Bailey IV Elementary School is the tone set by the principal, Denise Carpenter, who has made it clear that children with behavior problems are just as much a part of school life as others.
Kim Irons, who heads the program at Bailey, said it is successful enough that 1 out of every 4 students it serves leave special education each year.
Providence has about 5,200 students in special education, or about 15 percent of an overall enrollment of 27,000.
Most other districts in Rhode Island have a greater proportion of special education students, Swanson said at Monday's presentation. But Schools Supt. Diana Lam reminded the board that Rhode Island has the highest referral and identification rate of special education students in the nation.
613 city teachers issued layoff notices
Posted Wednesday, February 13, 2002
2.13.02
• But several officials say the chances of job loss are minimal, especially because many educators are planning to retire or resign by the end of the academic year.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer Top Metro stories:
PROVIDENCE -- Some teachers who have become literacy and instructional coaches -- key positions in the school reform plans of Schools Supt. Diana Lam -- have received formal notices they might be laid off at the end of the academic year.
But Lam and Deputy Supt. Melody A. Johnson say unequivocally that the coaches won't be laid off.
In fact, most of the 613 city teachers who have received layoff notices during February will probably be rehired, according to Ralph Campagnone, a retired school principal who serves as interim director of human resources.
He and Steve Provenzo, another human resources official, said they are confident the layoff notices won't have much impact because of a high number of teachers expected to retire or resign by the end of the school year, as well enrollment that is expected to increase next fall.
In the case of the academic coaches, the apparent contradiction between the layoff notices and Lam's explicit intention to keep them can be explained by state law and the city's contract with the Providence Teachers Union, according to Susan F. Lusi, Lam's chief of staff.
A total of 613 teachers have received notices they might be laid off at the end of the school year, an annual ritual that occurs statewide during February to head off a March 1 deadline.
Unless a district delivers a layoff notice to a teacher by March 1 of each year, it is required by state law to guarantee employment the following September.
Overall, there are nearly 20 specific reasons a teacher might receive a layoff notice in Providence this year. Many of the reasons have to do with a teacher's substitute status or a teaching certificate that is expiring.
Another reason mentions "budget constraints caused by the uncertainty of federal, state and local funding," which might lead to "program modifications and staff reductions, which may affect the named teacher's employment."
Provenzo explained how "program modifications" might affect a literacy or instructional coach.
If the coach is a certified science teacher who ranks low on the seniority scale, and somewhere in the district a school might be faced with cutting a science teacher, the coach will get a layoff notice, Provenzo said.
With regard to the layoff notices, it doesn't matter that the coach is not teaching science, or that the academic coaches applied for their positions and did not rely on seniority to obtain them, Provenzo explained.
Layoff notices are sent according to complex calculations based on the contract that determines a teacher's district-wide seniority in his or her area of certification, according to Provenzo and Sharon Gleckman, another human resources official.
Lusi said she addressed about about 20 to 30 teachers who attended an informational meeting on layoff notices yesterday.
"I said that we understand [the notice] had to add to their uncertainty, but this is a process driven by seniority, and it in no way reflects their value to the system," Lusi said.
She said there were no questions from literacy or instructional coaches.
Teacher negotiation session set for today
Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2002
2.12.2002 09:12
• This is the second bargaining session that the union, management and mediator have held since teachers rejected the last offer on Jan. 22.
BY GINA MACRIS
PROVIDENCE -- Since members of the Providence Teachers Union rejected a new contract Jan. 22 -- marking the second such vote of the school year -- the state mediator has convened one negotiating session and will meet again with both sides tomorrow.
Last month, teachers rebuffed the recommendation of their own leadership in turning down the contract proposal, which had undergone changes in tone and substance since the first negative vote last October.
Then, teachers turned down a 12.5-percent wage increase over three years because of a combination of changes in language that added up to an effort to expand management rights.
In January, the School Board dropped a key demand that teachers attend 10 mandatory one-hour faculty meetings and abandoned its effort to reduce health insurance costs, at the same time scaling back the wage offer to 11.5 percent.
Both times, the union leadership has blamed the rejection of the contract on the rank and file's lack of trust in Schools Supt. Diana Lam, although supporters of the superintendent say she has been blamed unfairly for trying to change a contract that has been a long-standing impediment to school improvement.
After the most recent vote, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. called mediator Donald Driscoll and both negotiating teams to his office, saying he wants them to try to find a balance between management's priorities and the concerns of the rank and file who rejected the contract.
High schools labeled low-performing
Posted Friday, February 8, 2002
2.8.2002 07:59
Lam: Providence middle schools next on list for classroom reform
BY GINA MACRIS
PROVIDENCE -- While all the city's schools except for Classical High were categorized as low-performing in yesterday's announcement by the commissioner of education, Schools Supt. Diana Lam says the "good news" is that most elementary schools are improving.
Lam said she was expecting the dismal results at the high school level, where all but Classical were ranked low and non-improving.
The secondary school data lent urgency to a decision to tackle high school reform, which hit ninth-grade classrooms throughout the city last fall.
The results of those efforts won't be seen on statewide tests until the spring of 2003, when this year's crop of freshmen take 10th-grade exams.
Classical, meanwhile, stands out as the only high school in the city that takes students by application, selecting those with a record of achievement and motivation.
Deputy Supt. Melody A. Johnson credits the caliber of the students and the hard work of teachers in achieving high-performing status for Classical. It was categorized as improving in mathematics.
Lam said that middle schools are next on the docket for change, because of data that shows them to be low-performing without improvement.
She said an initial draft is under way on a plan for middle schools that will be "not unlike what we have done at the high school level."
High schools say they have divided their freshman classes into small learning communities of a little more than 100 students who are assigned to the same teachers.
Communities are organized around different themes of study, but they all are supposed to feature extra time for teaching reading, writing, and mathematics.
Middle school to be named for former governor
Posted Tuesday, February 5, 2002
2.5.2002 00:25
Middle school to be named for former governor
• The Springfield Middle School will carry the name of Christopher Del Sesto, the first Republican governor of Italian-American descent in the United States, and his wife, Lola.
PROVIDENCE -- The Springfield Middle School will be dedicated tomorrow in the name of former Gov. Christopher Del Sesto and his wife, Lola, in a ceremony at 10 a.m. at the school, 152 Springfield St.
Del Sesto, who served as governor from 1959 to 1961, was the first Republican governor of Italian-American descent in the United States. He was the first certified public accountant elected as governor and was also the state's first Republican governor in the post-war period.
He was appointed to state Superior Court in 1966 by then-Gov. John Chafee, where he served until his death in 1973, according to the School Department.
The City Council approved the dedication of the school in the name of the Del Sestos on a resolution introduced by Councilman John J. Igliozzi, D-Ward 7. The councilman was also instrumental in the council's approval of the renaming last week of the former Springfield Elementary School for the late legislator and Superior Court Magistrate Anthony Carnevale.
Del Sesto was a founder-trustee of Johnson & Wales University when it became a college and served on the board of trustees. The university named its clock tower on Weybosset Street in his memory, the School Department said.
A 1924 honors graduate of the former Commercial High School, he graduated cum laude in 1927 from Boston University and cum laude from Georgetown University Law School.
He served as chief accountant to the general treasurer and designed the plan that was the basis of the reorganization of state government in 1935 and became state budget director that year, the department said.
Del Sesto also worked in Washington, D.C., where he served in the legal department of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also a special assistant to the Attorney General in the anti-trust division, where he specialized in prosecuting anti-trust cases, the department said.
Mrs. Del Sesto was a board member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, and the Chopin Club. Fluent in Italian, she was president of the literary group Circolo Petrarca, and president of the Dantesca Society. She was chairwoman of the Italian Heritage Festival and the Florentine Relief Fund, which raised money to restore art in Florence that had been destroyed in a devastating flood. She was named an honorary trustee of Johnson & Wales University, the department said.
Teacher contract talks resume
Posted Friday, February 1, 2002
2.1.2002 00:49
State mediator to hold first session on Tuesday
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Called together by Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., negotiators for the Providence Teachers Union and the School Board met earlier this week for the first time since teachers rejected a contract proposal in a raucous 900-to-600 vote.
Cianci said that with the help of the state mediator, Donald Driscoll, he is trying to find a balance between management's priorities and the concerns of the rank-and-file that rejected the contract.
Driscoll has arranged a mediation session with the two negotiating teams for Tuesday.
"The union leadership knows the need to back members," Cianci said.
He said that "we can certainly make living conditions for teachers more acceptable, but we're not changing reform."
As an example, he talked about proposed changes that would require teachers to document bereavement leave.
No one is trying to remove this legitimate benefit, Cianci said, but "bereavement leave has to be monitored."
The School Board contends that bereavement leave has been abused, Cianci said, and the union "kind of agreed" that was the case.
Without being specific, Cianci indicated that changes in the tone of the contract language could be just as important as substance in winning the approval of a majority of the membership.
Many teachers bristled at a phrase in the preamble that reminds them of a state law prohibiting them from going on strike. That reminder is insulting and serves no practical purpose, they say.
Although teachers cited various objections in rejecting the contract, in general the vote reflected an underlying poor labor-management relationship.
They are especially suspicious of a new management-rights clause that explicitly reserves administrative prerogatives not negotiated in the agreement or spelled out in state law.
Such clauses are commonplace in teacher contracts, but the proposal's opponents say they do not trust Schools Supt. Diana Lam to fairly administer her increased authority.
Cianci said he is pleased with Driscoll as the mediator. "He knows his stuff, he's personable, and he knows the law. I appreciate having him in the mix."
Meanwhile, the Public Education Fund yesterday issued a statement saying it will ask the mediator to seek a secret ballot for any future votes by the union.
Teachers voted publicly at the meeting Jan. 22, which was marred by a small group of strident opponents shouting catcalls and epithets at those who wanted to approve the contract.
The union's charter calls for a voice vote unless the membership votes otherwise, according to Phil DeCecco, union president.
DeCecco has said there was enough doubt about the outcome on a voice vote that he asked teachers to separate themselves.
He asked teachers opposed to the contract to stay on one side of the room and those in favor of approval to move to the other side.
One teacher, Charles Gormley, said he heard a motion made and seconded for a vote by paper ballot, but DeCecco said he could not recognize it because it was not made from one of two microphones set up for speakers from the floor.
Gormley said those most adamant about rejecting the contract surrounded both microphones and refused to give them up.
Driscoll declined comment about the PEF statement, saying, "I'll respond when they ask me."
Asked to what degree the negotiations will be a linguistic exercise, Driscoll was typically cryptic.
"Sometimes it's not necessary to state things exactly the way they have," he said.
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