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November 2002
Johnson gets $160,000, plus retirement
Posted Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Providence Schools Supt. Melody Johnson tells the School Board that she will not take her salary for granted and that she is happy to be in Providence.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson will be paid $160,000 in salary and $8,000 in private retirement compensation during the first year of a three-year contract approved by the School Board last night.
Board member Samuel L. Zurier said the overall financial package is about $20,000 less than the School Board had budgeted for former Schools Supt. Diana Lam, who left Providence at the end of August to become chief academic officer of the New York City Schools.
Zurier said the terms of the contract "fall squarely within the range of what superintendents typically receive to lead districts of a comparable size."
Johnson, however, recognized that the $160,000 salary "seems high" in a district such as Providence, where some employees struggle to make ends meet.
"It's not something that I take for granted," she said. "I'm grateful for what I have and happy to be here."
Johnson graduated over the weekend from an intense, 18-month training program for urban superintendents sponsored by Eli Broad, a West Coast philanthropist.
"He said the civil rights movement of the 21st century is the reform of public education, particularly urban education," Johnson told the School Board last night.
"There is no place in the world I would rather be than in this urban district," she said.
"I'm still not sure how I came to be here," she said, recalling her move from San Antonio to Providence at Lam's invitation nearly three years ago.
"But I know this is where I'm supposed to be," Johnson said.
Zurier disclosed that Johnson has been courted by one other school district, hinting that she might have left Providence for significantly more money.
Johnson, asked to name the district, merely reiterated recent statements that she could not follow Lam to New York.
"Let's leave it at that," Johnson said.
Zurier said Johnson could have taken the position that she should be paid as much as the district was prepared to offer Lam, especially because the money had already been committed. But Johnson accepted less out of recognition that millions of dollars worth of cuts had put the School Department budget under "great stress" and reorganization required the central administration to assume significant new responsibilities without commensurate increases in pay, Zurier said.
Johnson's contract, retroactive to Sept. 4, calls for an annual raise tied to the consumer price index, but not less than 3 percent. Unlike Lam, Johnson will receive no performance bonus.
The contract runs through Aug. 31, 2005, with an option to renew for one year.
The $8,000 annuity payment attempts to address a retirement gap in educators such as Johnson and Lam, who move from one state to another during their careers and never become vested in a pension system.
But Zurier said the retirement issue could be more equitably addressed if the General Assembly exempted Johnson from participating in the state pension system. That idea was floated at the State House when Lam arrived in 1999 but never went anywhere.
As it is, Zurier said, the school district is required to make a $10,000 annual payment to the state retirement system on Johnson's behalf that she probably will never see.
Johnson, 52, would have to work 10 years in Rhode Island before she would be entitled to a state pension.
The School board released only a one-page fact sheet about the contract, contending that the public is not entitled to see the document.
Superintendent's contract up for vote
Posted Monday, November 25, 2002
Provisions for retirement have been a major factor in contract negotiations.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The School Board tonight is expected to vote on a three-year contract for Supt. Melody A. Johnson, who was swiftly appointed to succeed Diana Lam after the former superintendent left for New York City as chief academic officer in late August.
School Board members declined to release details of the contract proposal on Friday.
But it is probable that Johnson, who had been making about $135,000 as deputy superintendent for teaching and learning, will receive a hefty raise.
Salaries for school superintendents and other high-level administrators have been climbing in recent years, especially in urban districts, as fewer educators reach for a job considered nigh impossible.
According to the Council of Great City Schools, the salary range for urban superintendents last year was $113,000 to $298,000. The average salary was $177,011, significantly higher than the average of $144,775 five years ago.
In the three years Lam was in Providence, her salary rose from $150,000 to about $170,000.
For both Lam and Johnson, retirement provisions have been a major factor in contract negotiations.
Lam and Johnson belong to a minority of school superintendents who move from one state to another during their careers but don't work in any state long enough to become vested in a retirement system.
Johnson said earlier this year that the lack of a retirement package is one factor pushing up salaries in superintendent's jobs.
Educators who are "not vested in a state will continue to leave for more money," salting away major chunks of their salaries for their retirement, Johnson said.
Before New York City lured Lam with a salary of $250,000 and a chance to shape the country's largest school system, the School Board had been negotiating a new contract with her.
But it could not compete with overtures from the public schools in Portland, which apparently had informally offered Lam a generous package that included a retirement plan.
In response to the pressure from Portland, an insurance executive announced a fundraising drive in the private sector to establish a pension plan for Lam.
Richard Hoag, CEO of the Providence Washington Insurance Co., said at the time he thought keeping Lam here was critical to the momentum of school improvement but said he didn't intend to set a precedent with the fundraising drive.
Yesterday, he reiterated that the idea of a privately financed retirement package for a public official was a one-time effort.
Meanwhile, board member Samuel L. Zurier indicated Friday that the retirement issue is addressed in the board's proposed contract for Johnson.
But neither he nor the board vice president, Mary E. McClure, would disclose details of the proposal, which would be retroactive to Sept. 4 and run for three years, expiring Aug. 31, 2005.
They said they believed that the contract was not a public document until it was signed.
Asked about the proposed salary and other benefits to be paid with public funds, McClure said she would ask School Board lawyer George Rinaldi whether that information could be disclosed before the vote.
She raised the possibility that some information about the contract might be made public during tonight's meeting.
Assignment plan on hold for city students
Posted Thursday, November 21, 2002
The School Board wants to increase the proportion of seats reserved for neighborhood children from 75 percent to 90 percent.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- During the first two months of the academic year, the public schools had been gearing up to change their student assignment plan to give more children a chance at attending a neighborhood school.
But those plans have been put on hold because of the uncertainty posed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which allows students in failing public schools to transfer to another public school of their choice in their district.
And at least one School Board member questions whether community pressure for changing the student assignment plan comes from a true preference for neighborhood schools or from areas where the neighborhood school is perceived to be better than others.
The proposal before the School Board last month would have increased the proportion of seats reserved for neighborhood children from 75 percent to 90 percent at elementary and middle schools.
Another change would have created an inner circle of preference for children living within a quarter-mile of a school, apparently as a result of complaints from parents who live within sight of a particular school but must send their children elsewhere, out of their neighborhood.
School Board member Mary E. McClure said yesterday, "I wonder, if we have a high-performing elementary or middle school, whether you would see a big demand for those schools whether they were in the neighborhood or not."
This doesn't "seem like a good time to make decisions about that [the neighborhood issue] anyway, with No Child Left Behind," McClure said.
The federal law would force more choice across neighborhood lines, not less, McClure said.
The law says that children in failing schools can transfer to better-performing schools and receive tutoring and other help to improve their academic achievement.
But it isn't clear yet when these changes take effect. The law says the transfer option must be offered to parents of children in schools that have shown failing results for two consecutive years.
The state Departement of Education maintains that school transfers kick in in September, after two years of ranking schools as high-, moderate-, or low-performing.
The federal government would have started the clock ticking in 1998, when the state first administered tests based on performance standards.
If federal officials have their way, Providence would be forced to offer transfers and supplemental services as early as February, the start of the second semester.
State and federal officials have scheduled a conference call tomorrow in an effort to settle the matter, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Education.
Providence, like urban districts all across the country, has virtually nothing to offer parents of children who request a transfer..
All schools except one were categorized as low-performing in the first rankings in February, and only the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School is expected to move into the moderate-performing category when the second round of rankings occurs in early December.
The only high-performing school is Classical High School, which accepts students by application only. The program for about 300 gifted students at Nathanael Greene Middle School also would be categorized as high-performing if its test scores were reported separately.
Recent reports from a task force on middle school education for gifted students exposed tension between parents of children in the special program and others who live close to Greene.
The neighborhood parents say the presence of the special program reduces the number of seats that otherwise would be available to their children.
School Board member Susan DeRita, a neighborhood parent who has had two children in the program for gifted students and one child in regular classes at Greene, recently disputed the contention by McClure and others that there is no push for neighborhood schools in the middle grades.
But in response to a question from a reporter, DeRita said in a recent interview that neighborhood parents also perceive the quality of education at Greene to be better than at other middle schools in the city.
According to figures presented to the School Board last month, 218 non-neighborhood children and 98 neighborhood children were on a waiting list for Greene.
Gift of instruments starts band playing
Posted Tuesday, November 19, 2002
The donation worth $25,000 gets Pleasant View grade school students practicing to perform at a conference of music educators.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- About 40 pupils at the Pleasant View Elementary School made their debut as a school band yesterday, thanks to $25,000 worth of brand-new musical instruments donated by Cox Communications and VH1 Save the Music Foundation.
Pleasant View is one of nine elementary schools in Providence that have received identical complements of musical instruments -- each worth $25,000 -- from Cox and VH1 in the last three years.
The contributions, contingent on a commitment by the school district to provide professional instruction, have been a boon to music education, according to John Goolgasian, interim head of music instruction for the district.
Last year, he said, Pleasant View had no instrumental ensemble.
This year, the district has re-arranged the schedule of one music teacher to work a day and a half a week at Pleasant View, where the young musicians are gearing up for a performance at the Rhode Island Convention Center in March to welcome a conference of music educators, Goolgasian said.
Since the Save the Music program started three years ago, he said, the number of music teachers in the district has increased from about 8 or 9 to 12.
In addition to Pleasant View, the Robert Bailey and Mary Fogarty elementary schools also received donations of musical instruments worth $25,000 each this year.
Last year, instruments were presented to the Asa Messer, Laurel Hill, West Broadway and Reservoir Avenue elementary schools.
Leigh Ann Woisard, spokeswoman for Cox, said that "people would be shocked to know that music education enhances test scores in reading and math," according to education research.
Nationwide, the VH1 Save the Music Foundation has brought instrumental music instruction to about 800 schools, Woisard said.
Eileen Biancuzzo, principal of the Reservoir Avenue Elementary School, called the program a "godsend."
Before the school received its donation a year ago, it had only a few instruments that had been repaired repeatedly but never replaced, she said.
If students wanted to learn to play an instrument, their parents usually had to rent it, she said.
The $25,000 donation bought the equipment for a full band, Biancuzzo said; eight flutes, eight clarinets, six saxophones, eight trumpets, four trombones, a bass drum, a snare drum kit and a xylophone kit.
Educator reinstated after hit-and-run
Posted Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Robert L. DiRuzzo gets his principal's job back, after hitting a 15-year-old bicyclist and trying to drive away.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Robert L. DiRuzzo, assistant principal at Nathan Bishop Middle School in Providence, whose car struck a 15-year-old bicyclist in Warwick in August, has pleaded no contest to a reduced misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.
DiRuzzo originally faced a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident with injury after witnesses saw his car strike Jenilisa Carmody, 15, of 404 Church Ave. on Aug. 9.
DiRuzzo, 37, of 24 Allen Ave., Warwick, appeared before Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel on Thursday and was sentenced to a year's probation in a plea-bargain agreement, according to a spokeswoman for Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
Vogel also ordered DiRuzzo to make restitution for the teenager's uninsured medical expenses, according to Judy Kearns, spokeswoman for Whitehouse. Carmody was treated at Hasbro Children's Hospital.
Because he was convicted of a misdemeanor, DiRuzzo will be allowed to return to his job, according to Susan F. Lusi, chief of staff to Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson. He has been on administrative leave with pay since the start of the school year.
DiRuzzo returns to work today, Lusi said.
A witness to the accident, Robert G. Fogg, said at the time that he was standing in his driveway at 468 Church Ave. when DiRuzzo's car struck the girl.
Fogg said he and his wife tried to step in front of DiRuzzo's 1983 Datsun to prevent him from leaving, but DiRuzzo swerved around them.
Fogg ran after DiRuzzo, he said, and DiRuzzo stopped about 300 feet from the accident.
Fogg said he demanded DiRuzzo's car keys and that DiRuzzo handed them over.
If DiRuzzo had been convicted of a felony, he in all likelihood would have had to forfeit his teaching and administrative certificates, granted by the state Department of Education.
"In that case, we would have to dismiss the individual," said Lusi.
She said that in the past, school employees who have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors have returned to their jobs. Lusi also said she was not aware of any School Department policy that addressed a case such as DiRuzzo's.
Lusi was asked whether DiRuzzo should be reinstated in a position in which he is expected to be a positive role model for youth.
"This individual has clearly made a serious error in judgment," she said.
"How he is viewed as a role model will be determined on his behavior going forward and how he handles himself with regard to this issue," Lusi said.
Schools facing challenge over gifted classes
Posted Monday, November 18, 2002
Parents and school administrators disagree on the best way to expand education for high-performing students.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Test scores show only one bright spot in the city's middle schools -- the program for 300 students designated "gifted" at Nathanael Greene.
If the eighth grade scores from that program were reported separately, it would qualify as a high-performing school, where at least half the students meet or exceed state standards.
The possible expansion of the program to serve more students has sparked passionate debate -- and five differing reports from members of a task force that grew like Topsy out of a School Board subcommittee.
The fundamental disagreement concerns the best way to expand education for high-performing students, with some parents adamant that the configuration be left alone, and others concerned that the gifted program is preventing some neighborhood children from attending Greene.
A dozen parents and three School Board members presented a range of opinion at last Monday's School Board meeting.
And the passion they brought to the task reflects differing viewpoints, shaped by differing experiences, as parents of children in the public schools.
There is general consensus that the schools should provide a challenging education for all high-performing middle school students.
But Heather Butler, a mother who has had children in regular classes at Greene, pointed to a broader imperative: raising the academic bar for all children.
School Board member Susan DeRita put it this way: "Every child is gifted."
"What bothers me about having a specialized program is when a child excels in math and yet does not do so well in English, " DeRita said in an interview.
The schools should recognize the ability in one subject and "take the child further."
"But the way we're structured, it doesn't happen," she said.
A comprehensive review of all middle-level education was launched earlier this fall with the express aim of improving the quality of education across the board.
In the meantime, the administration of Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson seems loathe to tamper with what's perceived by parents to be already working.
Last February, Johnson, then deputy superintendent, presented a proposal for expanding the "gifted" program by sending half the classes to the Bridgham Middle School. Parents of students in the program angrily objected.
Those protests led to a a public forum on "gifted" education at Greene and to the formation of the task force.
Although some task force members believed the program at Greene is serving everyone who qualifies, according to a majority report, others believe the numbers exceed the 104 seats available for incoming sixth graders every year.
The deadline for applications was Nov. 1, but school officials could not say how many were received.
At least 320 applicants are being tested this month as part of the screening process, according to Michael Sorum, director of assessment.
The school district actively recruited candidates this year by publicizing the program at Green on its Website and sending letters to the parents of all fifth graders who scored at the 75th percentile or above in standardized tests administered annually.
School officials also made an effort to reach out to parents of private school students by rolling back the decision deadline to Feb. 1 to correspond with those of area private schools.
A survey of parents of private school students last year indicated that some of them might have chosen the program at Greene if they had known whether their children had been accepted at the same time they received decisions from private schools.
School officials say they hope that enough children will be accepted to enable the program to expand to a second site. There are now four classes of 26 children at sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
School Board member Mary E. McClure, who served on the task force, said the district hopes to "get enough students to skip over the thorniest issue, which would be reduction of the program at Greene" to help start a second site.
According to the majority report from the task force, cutting back the number of classes at each grade from four to three would address the concerns of parents in the neighborhood and enable the program to expand to a new site.
But David Comerford and Jonathan Howard, parents of students in the program who wrote one dissenting report, said the number of classes at Greene should not be reduced.
A smaller number of classes might not ensure the "critical mass" the program needs to retain its identity at Greene. Students in the "gifted" program number about 300, or one third of a student body of about 900.
"We know that the four classes at Greene are successful," Comerford said.
"We don't want to damage the program at Greene and have nothing to fall back on," he said.
Howard said the "three-two scenario threatens the quality and reputation of our only middle school program."
He presented a petition he said was signed by more than 100 people who also opposed any reduction in the number of classes of gifted students at Greene.
Mona Delgado, another parent, said the real issue is to raise academic standards at middle schools across the city and not tinker with the one thing that is working well.
Harlan Rich, a member of the task force, noted that the bulk of school reform efforts is dedicated to helping students attain academic standards, but "the commitment doesn't end there."
One of the district's goals is to have all children reading at grade level by the end of the third grade.
But if they surpass that goal, "we can't say to these kids, 'you are now proficient. You can go home until the start of the fourth grade,' " Rich said. "These kids still need the challenge."
Meanwhile, a minority report written by DeRita, the School Board member, as well as Heather Butler and Rebecca Bateson, raised questions about the degree to which the program for "gifted" students differs from that for children in regular classes.
It is not clear that the curriculum for students in the "gifted" program is different than that taught in regular classes, DeRita said .
In fact a teacher in the "gifted" program told parents at a recent open house that she teaches students the same material that she taught regular classes last year, according to DeRita's report.
In her original presentation last February, Johnson, then deputy superintendent, said the program for "gifted" students differed from the rest of the classes at Greene in that the pace of instruction was accelerated.
She proposed altering the curriculum to tap into the academic strengths of its students in greater depth.
Schools borrow $1.2 million for libraries, labs
Posted Thursday, November 14, 2002
Mayor John J. Lombardi put the plan on a fast track after learning that it had fallen through the cracks during the administration of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- But for a chance conversation two months ago, the opportunity almost slipped away for the city to float $1.2 million in interest-free bonds to automate school libraries and install modern science laboratories in middle schools.
In September, bond counsel Karen Grande happened to mention QZABs during a meeting with city officials about something else, according to Paul V. Jabour, chief of staff to Mayor John J. Lombardi.
As it turns out, the state Department of Education approved an application from the School Department two years ago for federally subsidized Qualified Zone Academy Bonds for school improvements.
But the bonds had never been issued and the clock was running out on the money, Jabour said. The deadline for issuing the bonds is Dec. 31.
"The School Department did everything it was supposed to do," Jabour said, and school officials were under the mistaken impression that the money was on the way.
Jabour concluded that the matter had "fallen through the cracks" during the administration of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who had failed to take the action needed to obtain the bond money.
Lombardi put the issue on a fast track, Jabour said, asking the City Council to approve a resolution authorizing the Providence Public Buildings Authority to float the bonds.
At the same time he sent the authority a letter asking it to issue the bonds as soon as the City Council approves the action.
The council resolution, introduced last week by City Council members Rita Williams, Kevin Jackson, and Ronald Allen, is on a "fast track," Jabour said.
The QZAB program, established by the federal government in 1998, pays interest to bond holders in the form of tax credits, allowing local governments to avoid interest payments.
Schools eligible for the funds must be located in neighborhoods where at least 35 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch programs, a qualification met by all the city's schools.
In addition, the recipient of the bonds must secure a matching contribution, either cash or in-kind services, valued at a minimum of 10 percent of the bond proceeds.
The School Department has obtained an agreement from the private, nonprofit Public Education Fund to provide $121,000 worth of services through its Partners in Education program, which matches businesses and other organizations with individual schools.
Partners in Education sponsors a variety of initiatives, including a "Power Lunch" program in which business professionals read to an elementary school student once a week during the child's lunch period.
The bonds will aim to automate school libraries at all grade levels to provide computer access to Internet resources as well as improve internal circulation of materials, according to a statement from Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson.
"Because literacy is a top priority in the educational reforms of the Providence School Department the automation project figures prominently in library programs that contribute significantly to literacy," Johnson's statement said.
It also said the bonds will be spent to update middle school science labs to "ensure that students have the tools they need" to draw conclusions based on evidence, a key element of a quality science program.
Impersonal schools one reason students choose to drop out
Posted Friday, November 8, 2002
A task force studying dropout rates in Providence hears youngsters' comments on why school does not appeal to them.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A citizen task force studying the vexing problem of high school dropouts says schools have a better chance of keeping youngsters in classes by building solid relationships between them and their teachers.
Educators need development not only in teaching but in communication skills that would help them work better with each other and relate better to their students, according to the Dropout Prevention Task Force.
Development of interpersonal skills was one of four short-term recommendations made by the task force, which produced a preliminary report after several months spent studying the enormity of the dropout problem.
More than one in three Providence students drops out of school before graduation, according to the latest statistics from the state Department of Education.
Task force members were impressed with comments from youth who said that the "negative attitudes of the teachers and administrators were a major cause of their school problems," according to the report.
About 20 young people told the task force that teachers and administrators had low expectations of their students' abilities, failed to get to know them as individuals, showed bias, and made half-hearted efforts in teaching.
They also described the curriculum as repetitious and boring. Furthermore, disciplinary policies are often inconsistent or unfair and counterproductive, the young people said.
The students did not come across as complainers. Rather, the task force found they "understood the importance of an education and wanted to learn," the report said.
The task force recognized that it did not speak to enough students to make generalizations and said it intended to broaden its reach to include more youngsters. It still has to speak to teachers, parents, central administrators, and members of the School Board about their perceptions of the complex drop-out problem.
But the initial comments from young people echoed the same notes of alienation between generations and across cultures that teenagers sounded last spring during an art competitition in which students were asked to express their ideas for improving the high schools.
The proportion of students representing minority groups has grown in recent years to more than 80 percent, with more than half the district's 27,000 schoolchildren coming from Hispanic families.
But the teaching force is predominantly white, and about half the city's 2200 2,200 teachers live outside the city.
Meanwhile, eight building-level administrators reinforced some of the teenagers' remarks to the task force, saying that teachers need to "become more involved and concerned with the students . . . respect and challenge the students, learn more of their cultures and environment. "
The administrators said there are multiple reasons for the dropout problem, which can begin as early as elementary school.
They said the dropout phenomenon is difficult to change at the high school level and recommended that interventions start at in earlier grades.
And the administrators endorsed the idea of professional development dealing with communication, discrimination and racism, and professional conduct and ethics.
The group of eight administrators said:
Communication among school personnel at all levels is lacking.
Educators need more connection with parents and students.
Schools must become less impersonal, especially in the higher grades, perhaps by the use of advisors.
Students should be more involved in the process of making decisions and evaluating their education.
New ways of addressing problem behaviors that don't involve punishment should be developed.
The observations of both students and administrators feeds into plans already under way to address students' social and emotional needs, according to a spokeswoman for Schools Supt. Melody A. Johnson.
"Obviously we need high-quality academics, but we also need welcoming and nurturing school climates and environments, and that includes relationships between adults and students," said Chief of Staff Susan F. Lusi. She said the district has taken one step to improve relationships between youth and adults by breaking down large comprehensive high schools into small learning communities that are separate entities in the same building.
"Size doesn't mandate or require improved relationships," Lusi said. "But smaller size does seem to facilitate them."
She said a great deal of research has shown that meaningful connections with adults increase the likelihood that youngsters attend school and apply themselves.
Professional development to guide teachers and administrators in building those relationships will be incorporated into the district's overall training plans, according to Lusi.
The task force analyzed information about 365 students who dropped out during the last school year and found their departure had been preceded by academic failure and high absenteeism. Of the 365 students:
Nearly 70 percent had failed more than half their classes during the three years before they dropped out.
Almost 75 percent had missed more than half the school days during the previous three years.
About 75 percent had repeated at least one grade. Ninth grade was most often repeated, followed by 10th and 7th.
Almost 70 percent had changed addresses at least once while attending Providence schools.
The task force recommended that the district improve its computer system for student data to flag warning signs such as absenteeism and failing grades to better identify potential dropouts before they reach high school.
That work has already begun, with a meeting between Harry Potter, the district's director of dropout prevention, and the private contractor that runs the data operation, Lusi said.
The task force also recommended that school officials identify and evaluate school programs aimed at dropout prevention and continue researching approaches effective at keeping students in school.
reading and math -- key skills for success in all academic areas -- as well as the multi-faceted effort to reinvent the high school experience, Lusi said.
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