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August 2002
Fogarty School principal leaves
Posted Friday, August 30, 2002
PROVIDENCE -- Grace Coffey Clark, principal of the Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School in Providence for the last year, has been named principal of the South Road Elementary School in South Kingstown.
She will be paid $80,585 a year and has been offered a two-year contract.
"I can't find a single negative flaw," Asst. Supt. Mary E. Kelley said when she introduced Clark to the School Committee earlier this week.
Clark, who lives in Warwick, worked as a literacy coach and education coordinator in North Carolina and as a teacher for gifted students in Connecticut before becoming a principal in in Providence.
She also worked as a daycare and preschool director, and started her teaching career as a first-grade teacher in North Easton, Mass. She was a sixth-grade teacher in North Kingstown in the early 1970s.
Lam getting packed and ready for school
Posted Friday, August 30, 2002
Providence's outgoing schools superintendent says the agenda as chief academic officer for New York City schools will be no different than here.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Last Sunday morning, Diana Lam appeared focused on the start of the new school year, personally arranging for coverage of reforms that were to be unveiled to teachers when they reported for orientation the following day.
Then came the phone call from New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. He offered her the job of her dreams: chief academic officer for 1.1 million children in the largest public school district in the country.
Until then, Lam had had but a single 45-minute conversation with Klein, she said in an interview yesterday, as she packed her things in the corner office on the third floor of the school administration building that she has used for the last three years.
"I said, 'Well, I have to think about it,' " Lam recalled. "I said, 'I will have to call you back.' "
"I thought, 1.1 million students. Then I thought, 80,000 teachers, 1,000 principals, and 80 superintendents.
"I thought, how does one do that kind of work at that scale? Then I thought, It can be done." Lam gave Klein her answer on Monday.
The responsibility for more than a million urban schoolchildren seems to be a special calling for Lam, 54, who grew up in working-class Lima, Peru, with a thirst for learning that enabled her to come to the United States as a scholarship student.
She said she has agreed to serve at Klein's pleasure -- without a contract -- and has not yet negotiated a salary.
Lam said Klein has a "good mind, a good feel for people and is committed to following a children's agenda."
"He's no-nonsense in terms of excuses, and he's very committed to the team concept," Lam said.
Klein, who grew up in public housing in Queens and attended the public schools he now leads, has had a similar life trajectory as Lam.
"There was very good chemistry," Lam said, recalling her interview.
"The general feeling was, 'I think I could work for this man,' " she said.
While the scale of the job may be daunting in New York, Lam said she anticipates that the broad educational agenda there will be no different than it is in Providence, where she has put intense effort into literacy over the last three years.
"If a child is not a good reader by grade three, his or her chances of success diminish at a rapid rate," Lam said.
"Does New York have that issue? Yes it does, and like here, there will be good competing interests" for the available financial resources, Lam said.
"But you cannot do everything," she said.
"I believe that what Joel and the mayor will bring to the table will be the same relentless focus I brought to the table here," she said.
Lam said she looks forward to working "with 100 percent support from two individuals and others responsible for the success of the school district."
In New York, the lines of responsibility will be much clearer, Lam said, noting that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has streamlined the governance of the schools, eliminating the school board and making education a city agency directly accountable to his office.
Lam said she does not necessarily believe the School Board should be eliminated in Providence.
"I do believe in checks and balances, but sometimes a system of checks and balances can become micromanaging," Lam said.
The "bottom line" on a school board, whether it is elected or appointed, is "the quality and caliber of the people who serve," she said.
Lam's singular focus on the classroom during her tenure in Providence translated into a difficulty negotiating the byzantine political relationships that formed a web around the schools.
But she remains unapologetic for refusing to be distracted from her drive to improve education for society's neediest students.
Even though it was "painful at times," Lam said, she made a good choice in focusing on instruction.
That focus has given the School Department the momentum to continue without her, Lam said, hinting that Providence scores will show gains when the results of last spring's statewide tests are released in the fall.
She said the School Board made "absolutely the right choice" in selecting Deputy Supt. Melody A. Johnson as acting superintendent.
Johnson, a protégé recruited by Lam from San Antonio, has frequently run the school district for short periods of time over the last three years when Lam has been out of town.
Lam predicted the transition between her administration and Johnson's will be "almost seamless."
She said today is not her last day at work, contrary to earlier reports. She plans to be available at least through Tuesday for any consultation the School Board feels it needs to have with her.
As Lam packed, she put aside items for Johnson that reflected the camaraderie that has developed between the two women during the last few years.
There's the nearly empty jar of cream they slathered on their hands before they went into meetings, and a video on "the toughest job in America."
So Johnson won't get lost, Lam included a directory to the Providence Public Schools, dated 1920. And finally, there was the electronic pass to the parking garage across the street from City Hall, where Lam and Johnson were summoned to countless meetings by Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
Lam wouldn't say whether she might one day ask Johnson to follow her to New York, merely tilting her head and smiling enigmatically when she was asked.
She does tell how her husband and son held off painting the expansive exterior of their Victorian house off Elmwood Avenue this summer until Lam was sure she didn't want to go to Portland, Ore., which had courted her aggressively for months.
They didn't want to go through the trouble of painting the house if Lam and her husband, Peter Plattes, were going to sell it, she said.
Lam declared her intention to stay in Providence in a Journal op-ed piece published Sunday, July 21, about a week before Bloomberg named Klein chancellor of New York City schools.
By the time Klein offered Lam the job last Sunday, Lam said, her husband, Peter, and son, Sasha, had finished painting the house.
Head of Providence's schools resigns
Posted Thursday, August 29, 2002
Most are stunned by the news that beleaguered Schools Supt. Diana Lam has accepted the second-in-command post for New York City schools.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Schools Supt. Diana Lam, who just a month ago stated her intention to remain in Providence, instead will become the chief academic officer for the New York City Schools.
As deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, Lam will become the second-in-command to New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, who named Lam and four others to his cabinet at a news conference in City Hall yesterday.
Lam told her chief of staff, Susan F. Lusi, that she viewed the deputy chancellor's job as the "chance of a lifetime," Lusi said yesterday. Efforts by The Journal to reach Lam were unsuccessful.
In New York, Klein's statement described Lam as a "true visionary with a sophisticated grasp of education policy and change" who has a "strong reputation for having an unrelenting focus on teaching and learning."
Klein, a former publishing executive and Justice Department official, followed in the path of other non-traditional school chiefs in seeking out a strong academic officer to offset his own inexperience with instructional matters.
The news stunned those who have known and worked with Lam during the last few years and had expected her to sign a new three-year contract after she turned down a bid late in July from the Portland, Ore., School Board, which had wooed her aggressively.
Most school officials, including the School Board, learned of Lam's departure only yesterday, shortly before Klein made his announcement in New York.
The School Board here acted swiftly to signal continuity, appointing Melody A. Johnson as acting superintendent in an emergency meeting in late afternoon.
Johnson was recruited by Lam from San Antonio shortly after Lam came to Providence in 1999. The pair have worked in tandem since then, with Johnson doing the heavy lifting on detailed academic issues.
Mary E. McClure, the School Board's vice president, said, "I think we're extremely well-positioned to continue the momentum of the change we've started in the last three years.
"It's a testimony of the work of Melody and Diana that we are in that position," McClure said.
Phil DeCecco, president of the Providence Teachers Union, said there is no question that Johnson is capable, but "how long is Melody going to be here?"
The possibility that "Melody will go with Diana . . . is definitely a concern," said DeCecco, who said he was surprised at Lam's abrupt departure.
Lam's resignation becomes effective tomorrow, the fourth day of the school year.
Education Commissioner Peter McWalters said he was "surprised, disconcerted, disappointed -- all of those things."
"My disappointment is that she did the classic, three-year tenure," said McWalters, referring to the fact that big-city superintendents move an average of every three years or less.
But McWalters said the new job seemed like a perfect fit for Lam because it plays to her strengths as an instructional leader.
He praised Lam for her dedication in pressing for wholesale change in the state's largest district.
"She was very, very courageous," he said, "almost naive. But very focused. That was a mark of leadership."
McWalters speculated about political factors that may have contributed to Lam's decision to leave Providence.
He said he sensed Lam felt she had lost an important ally with the impending departure of Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
And the 15-member City Council has signaled it intends to become more involved in school affairs.
When the City Council Finance Committee last month cut a $2.5-million retroactive pay raise for teachers -- threatening the viability of a contract that had taken 17 months to negotiate -- Lam, in a rare show of vulnerability, was moved to the brink of tears.
Although Lam never hinted at the New York City offer, McWalters said, she did convey her frustration with difficulties in settling the teachers' contract.
Last fall, the Providence Teachers Union demonized Lam as a would-be dictator in an ad campaign aimed at putting political pressure on elected officials to throw her out of office.
The union urged members to perform only basic teaching and other activities required by the extended terms of its most recent labor agreement, foregoing the voluntary professional development that was key to advancing Lam's educational reforms.
The contract, which gives teachers a total of 11 percent in raises over three years, was rejected twice by teachers before a settlement was finally hammered out in mediation and approved in April.
But the ultimate fate of the contract rested with the City Council, which had the power to reject it and make labor and management start all over again.
The Council ratified the pact last week -- only a few days before the start of the new school year.
Lam, who has had up-and-down relationships with members of the City Council and the School Board, had long chafed under the layers of accountability to which she had to answer.
McWalters said that building coalitions among large groups wasn't Lam's strong suit:
"Her early outreach was great, but building bigger coalitions with the school committee and the City Council was a problem."
Lam had had similar problems in San Antonio, where a School Board elected with the votes of angry teachers ousted Lam from the superintendent's office in her fourth year there, buying out the remainder of her contract.
In Providence, Lam's superintendency was in trouble in the second year over her choice of a new principal to turn around Central High School -- then the most troubled building in the district -- and a move to consolidate and reorganize two small alternative high schools.
But Lam's choice for Central, Debra DeCarlo, quickly proved the critics wrong. And a new model high school program at Feinstein High School has won praise from students, parents and even the city councilwoman who at first denounced it.
In her third year in Providence, Lam showed solid gains in elementary school reading and writing scores on statewide tests and pulled in a total of $13 million in private grants within a few months.
A 52-percent gain in elementary schools over the last four years, as well as an $8-million grant for high school redesign and a $5-million award for transforming school principals from building managers into academic leaders, made Cianci look good at a time he had little to cheer about.
And he returned the favor when he replaced troublesome School Board members.
Lam, who made $170,430.75 during the past year, was on the verge of signing a new contract in Providence when she was approached by Klein less than a month ago. Her salary in New York was not immediately available.
Candidates speak out on Lam's departure
Posted Thursday, August 29, 2002
The four Democratic candidates for mayor have differing ideas on how to replace the superintendent.
PROVIDENCE -- The Providence schools superintendent's job should be left vacant until a newly elected mayor takes office, say two of the Democratic candidates for mayor in the Sept. 10 primary.
While all candidates thanked Diana Lam and wished her well in her new position as New York City's deputy chancelor of teaching and learning, they offered different ideas on how to fill her job.
Former Mayor Joseph Paolino Jr. and Keven A. McKenna said the choice of a new superintendent should be left to the newly elected mayor.
"It is disappointing to the children of the Providence school system that, during a time when the city will not have an elected mayor, Diana Lam would announce her departure from the Providence school system the day after school starts," said Paolino. "I was looking forward to working with her in the next few months."
McKenna credited Lam for establishing a foundation for change in the school system.
"Her resignation now presents an opportunity for the Providence school system to be reorganized from top to bottom to meet state standards under a new superintendent," McKenna said.
David Igliozzi said the city needs to set up a diverse search committee -- with teachers, administrators, parents, business political and community leaders -- to begin the process of hiring a new superintendent.
"Her departure underscores the need for a new superintendent who is committed to restoring the quality of education in Providence schools," Igliozzi said.
David Cicilline credited Lam for beginning a turnaround of the schools, including bringing in more than $43 million in new funding for school improvements.
"We cannot lose the momentum that she has begun. The city cannot move backwards in its education," Cicilline said. " . . . While we will miss the talent and energy of Ms. Lam, I am confident with the proper foundation that has been laid, our hardworking and dedicated teachers and new, honest leadership, we will make the changes necessary for excellent schools tomorrow."
School year starts on a quieter note
Posted Wednesday, August 28, 2002
At this time last year, teachers went back to work under the the angry cloud of an unresolved contract.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The novelty of the first day of school appeared to wear off quickly yesterday as teachers and students in some 50 buildings across the city quickly picked up on academic routines.
The relatively calm beginning -- punctuated by a couple of minor school bus accidents, predictable complaints about students lacking bus passes, and computer problems at the registration center -- contrasted sharply with last year's tensions over an unresolved teacher's contract.
Perhaps most surprisingly, a union that had publicly attacked Schools Supt. Diana Lam a year ago as someone trying to take "dictatorial control" over the classroom reported that teachers generally welcomed Lam's latest reforms.
Susan F. Lusi, Lam's chief of staff, said she believed attendance was light yesterday because the first day of school came before Labor Day.
Attendance figures were not available yesterday. Enrollment, which is expected to grow through the next month, stood at 26,390.
Lusi said Providence begins classes the week before Labor Day to fit in four days of professional development without pushing the end of the school year much beyond that of other districts in June.
Children attend school for 182 days and teachers work 187 days, including the orientation day Monday.
Administrators used part of the orientation to unveil guides in key subjects that tell teachers what should be taught, and when and how it should be taught, linking required knowledge and skills to performance standards tested by the state.
The guides, one for English, math and science from kindergarten through grade 12, aim to bring consistently high academic standards to classrooms throughout the city.
Complaints from teachers have not materialized.
On the contrary, the guides have been generally "well received," according to initial reports received at the Providence Teachers Union, said its executive director, Joseph A. Almagno.
"Nobody can say it's not quality stuff that's long overdue," Almagno said, explaining that teachers have wanted concrete guidance in working with students to improve academic performance.
Lam, apparently concerned that Monday's presentation be made in a way that was true to her vision, asked administrators to read from a script.
Almagno said there were a few problems, but union officials were working with the administration to correct them. For example, he said, the presentation was not made in a few schools.
At Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School, teachers were erroneously told they would be responsible for using the guides from the start of the school year, Almagno said.
He said Lam accepted a union recommendation that only key teachers in each building work with the new methods for the first quarter of the school year, leading their colleagues by example.
Only after teachers have had a chance to receive professional development in using the guides, from now until Nov. 4, will they be required to use them.
Meanwhile, frozen screens and computer crashes delayed operations at the center at the B. Jae Clanton Elementary School Complex off Prairie Avenue, while parents waited an hour or more to register their children.
Such computer problems are a common occurrence when there is high demand on a system, according to Maria Tocco, the school district's Web master.
For workers trying to compensate for the faltering technology, the registration process became an exercise in frustration.
Ka Kue struggled to unlock a frozen computer screen for several minutes, calling on Victor Capellan, director of the registration center, to help her.
When both of them gave up, at least for the moment, Kue announced that she had lost all the information she had recorded.
She pulled out a paper form and started over again, asking questions of Andy Cadet, the mother of Sammy and Donald Doricent.
Sammy, who was entering third grade, and Donald, a kindergartener, nudged each other playfully in their chairs, ignoring the adults. They had been on their best behavior for an hour.
Although passes were mailed last week to elementary and middle school children eligible for bus transportation, some were returned as undeliverable, primarily because parents had not included apartment numbers on their street addresses, Tocco said.
One bus making a morning run on Prairie Avenue lost a mirror when another vehicle came too close.
Another bus en route to the Springfield Middle School had a minor accident at Chapin and Messer Streets. No one was injured in either incident, school officials said.
A record 170 buses pulled out of the First Student facilities off Union Avenue yesterday morning, but their departure was delayed by road construction, Tocco said.
Transporation officials hope to prevent similar problems today, Tocco said.
Providence puts teaching guides to test
Posted Tuesday, August 27, 2002
School officials hope the written instructions, which propose how language arts, math, and science should be presented in the classroom, will raise academic standards.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- New teachers looking for guidance will probably get more of it this year than in the past.
And chances are that old hands who already have bought into the reform measures of Schools Supt. Diana Lam will have a good year in the classroom.
Left unspoken yesterday in upbeat presentations of Lam's newest wave of change is the fact that there will be few places to hide for teachers who put little effort into their work.
Providence is one of a few public school districts in Rhode Island that begin their academic year the week before Labor Day. Classes begin today.
Yesterday, about 2,000 permanent teachers reported for orientation to some 50 public schools, where administrators gave teachers their first exposure to written guides in three key subject areas that spell out not only what should be taught, but how it should be presented.
The guides cover language arts, math, and science, building on changes Lam has introduced during the first three years of her tenure in Providence, particularly in reading and writing.
According to identical presentations made in each school, several lead teachers will bring the curriculum guides to life in their own classrooms during the first quarter of the school year as models for their colleagues.
Teacher-coaches in literacy and math will provide professional development in the new methods during the nine weeks of the first quarter.
After that, everyone teaching language arts, math, and science will be expected to use the printed guides in their day-to-day work as well as offer suggestions on ways to improve the guides.
Barbara Dennis, newly appointed as coordinator of high school literacy coaches, says there is a sense that "things can and will change," especially at Hope High School, where she taught for 10 years.
"The state will help it to happen" at Hope High School, said Dennis, calling the state's intervention at the school, announced in June, "a gift."
In the face of poor student test scores, discipline problems and a high dropout rate, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ordered that the school's four assistant principals be replaced and said a school reorganization must be completed by next September. It marked the first time the department has become so directly involved in a school, Commissioner Peter McWalters said.
Dennis said she plans to focus her first week's efforts at Hope High School, where she told teachers yesterday that she was glad she didn't retire when she became old enough, so that "I could be here to see this."
Dennis said she has worked on three such comprehensive curriculum efforts during the last 10 years, and said "this is the first one that has seen the light of day."
"This is extremely exciting," Dennis said.
The guides aim to bring consistency and high academic standards to teaching everywhere in the city, linking specific classroom activities to performance standards tested in statewide exams.
Dennis said there has been "too much talk . . . that our kids can't do it."
They are just as smart as a cross section of schoolchildren elsewhere, she said, but they test "terribly" because they have not been challenged.
Dennis alluded to abysmal scores that figured in the state intervention at Hope, in which the state expects that each teacher will volunteer for at least 20 hours of professional development this year.
Dennis said teachers who want demonstrations of ways to develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving -- prerequisites for success in any endeavor -- need but ask a coach to come into their classrooms.
Herman Webster, who will teach English to 9th and 10th graders this year, said that Dennis's enthusiasm is infectuous.
It's hard to resist her recommendations, he said, because teachers know that Dennis will back them up if they run into problems as they try new approaches with their students.
Dennis said the new guides mean that teachers cannot lecture or hand out ditto sheets.
They cannot demonstrate the solution to one algebra problem and then correct papers while students are left on their own to tackle similar equations, Dennis said.
Instead, she said, this year's effort will aim to build a constant, positive interaction between teachers and children that will be reflected in high quality student work -- essays, lab reports, and the like.
And administrators made it clear they will pore over those student results.
Carrie Glenn, an administrator at Hope High School, called the roll-out of the curriculum guides a "field test," saying the "field test year is very important."
"You have to give us the feedback so we can give you what you need," she said.
And she reminded them that "we'll be knocking on the lead team teachers' doors, looking for student work."
Fogarty Memorial is turned into school
Posted Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Even though the need for the Fogarty Building is temporary, school administrator Robert DeRobbio said officials are making plans to use it for the entire school year.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The three-story building that had for years been the downtown locale where residents came to apply for government assistance has been reincarnated to provide a different public service.
Today, the first day of class for the Providence school district, the John Fogarty Memorial building at 111 Fountain St. will serve as a school for as many as 375 high school students.
Contractors have spent the last six weeks cleaning out the first and second floors and installing new sprinkler and alarm systems, said Alan Sepe, the city's acting director of public property.
Contractors have removed asbestos and lead paint, replaced floor tiles, cleaned up the staircases and replastered walls.
In addition, they have added walls to create classrooms on the first and second floors and have repaired holes in the heating system.
Each classroom and the lobby will have a 7-foot window for ventilation. Other windows in the building are sealed.
The renovations cost the city about $100,000, Sepe said.
For the past several years, the School Department has used only the third floor, initially as extra space for middle school students who will attend the new Springfield Middle School. Then last year, the School Department began using the third floor for about 200 ninth-grade students who were awaiting completion of two high schools off Prairie Avenue near Thurbers Avenue.
Preliminary construction work on the Providence Academy of International Studies and the Health and Science Technology High School -- two schools in the same building -- began earlier this month. Slowed by budget delays and environmental concerns, it is not expected to be completed until March, Sepe said.
Meanwhile, the enrollment at the International and Health academies now includes ninth and 10th grades, school officials have said.
And the Fogarty Building will continue to be home to more than 50 ninth and 10th grade students at the Providence Place Academy. Juniors and seniors attend classes in the basement of the mall; underclass pupils have been housed in temporary locations, including Johnson & Wales University.
Even though Sepe believes the need for the Fogarty Building is temporary, pending completion of a new high school building next spring, school administrator Robert DeRobbio said officials are making plans to use it for the entire school year.
In renovating the first and second floors, DeRobbio said, officials took into consideration the complaints of students and staff who had be housed on the third floor. Those students disliked being "crammed into" small classrooms; Sepe said the classrooms on the first and second floors were made larger.
Former students also complained about the lack of ventilation, which was cited in a city fire marshal's report; the new windows were included to address that concern.
Sepe said city officials decided against trying to repair the air conditioning system in a building that might have a limited future. Developers have talked about tearing down the building for construction of a hotel.
DeRobbio, the school department's director of facilities and transportation, said the first floor of the Fogarty building will contain four special education classrooms, office space for five specialist instructors and a reception area. The first floor also contains an office for Bernard Lough, a school administrator.
The building, which has one elevator, has cafeteria space on each floor and computer rooms on the second and third floors.
Contractors have cleared out 30 parking spaces under the building for staff or students.
Council approves teachers' contract
Posted Friday, August 23, 2002
The panel and the School Department cut $2.8 million from the school and city budgets to spend on retroactive pay.
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A near-capacity crowd of educators breathed a metaphoric sign of relief yesterday as the City Council voted unanimously to ratify contracts with the teachers and administrators unions.
The vote, taken at a special council meeting, means school will start on time. Teachers will attend orientation on Monday and doors will open to students on Tuesday.
But the vote is certain to spur more debate among the School Board and the council's Finance Committee about exactly what will be cut to pay for the $2.8 million in retroactive pay for teachers and administrators, as required by the contracts.
Finance Committee chairman Kevin Jackson gave fellow council members a rough outline of where cuts will be made. The one-page list of cuts was drawn up after Jackson, Council President John J. Lombardi, school administrators and union officials met in an eleventh-hour marathon session yesterday to find the $2.8 million. At a public hearing Monday night, nearly two dozen speakers asked the council to ratify the contracts, which were approved by union members and the School Department last spring after months of negotiation.
Finance Committee members said that the city could not afford the retroactive pay.
Lombardi said that because of "hard work" by Providence Teachers Union officials Phillip DeCecco and Joseph Almagno; Schools Supt. Diana Lam; school administrators Susan Lusi and Mark Dunham; school board member Mary McClure; Jackson and himself, the tentative plan for cuts was reached.
According to the outline, compiled by Dunham, the School Department's finance director, the retroactive pay will be gleaned by cutting $500,000 from the pay of substitute teachers; $500,000 from the elimination of city and school jobs; $381,585 from custodial services and $302,020 from school and city budgets that would come by cutting equipment and "tools of the trade."
The city will also take $250,000 of its dwindling fiscal year 2002 budget surplus; $188,895 from classroom furniture; $175,000 from an adjustment of middle school bell times; $135,000 from overtime; $104,500 in payments to outside agencies and $115,000 from after-school programs.
The proposed budget amendment would also cut $65,000 in other fees; $27,000 in postage; $25,000 from workers compensation attorney funds; $11,000 from advertising and $10,000 each from printing and police details.
The cuts must be approved by the School Board and the Providence Teachers Union. The Finance Committee must also approve the amendment before it can can be considered by the full council.
In addition to agreeing on cuts, school officials also agreed to begin meeting monthly with city council members to keep them apprised of school issues and finances.
The bottom line is that the vote ensures that school will start on time, union members said.
"We're relieved," said Marianne West, a union board member. "All sides worked hard for it."
"I don't want to mislead anyone . . . it's not going to be an easy year," Lusi, the School Department's chief of staff, said after the meeting. No programs will be eliminated, she said.
Having a contract and a smooth opening of school is crucial for the success of school reform, she said.
While Lombardi thanked and praised school and union officials who agreed to the marathon session to find a solution, other council members criticized the fact that such a last-ditch effort was needed.
"I'm pleased with the fact that we're able to get together and come up with additional cuts and savings," said Councilman John Igliozzi, "but I'm concerned about how it happens."
Igliozzi implored Lam to stop talking about improving communication within her department and begin more dialogue with "the very individuals you're asking to implement your reform."
Igliozzi said he is tired of hearing about lack of communication being the culprit "everytime something blows up in the School Department."
Councilman Joseph DeLuca said he believes the city and school officials need a reality check on the growing amount of money it spends. He estimates that the budget has grown by more than $200 million over the last 10 years and that city taxpayers cannot afford it.
"The message is simple: we gotta slow down this spending," DeLuca said. "The fact that we are [making cuts to the school budget] at the last minute, after all the Finance Committee meetings and hearings, is very insulting . . . this should have been done a long time ago."
Budget OKd, minus teachers' back raises
Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2002
BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The City Council last night adopted a $515 million budget that provides no additional money to pay for labor contracts with teachers and school administrators.
The decision leaves unresolved how the School Board would pay for $2.8 million in retroactive pay raises for teachers and administrators. School officials insist they lack the money.
Tentative agreements on the contracts also remain up in the air, subject to a ratification vote by the council at a special meeting tomorrow.
The 2002-2003 fiscal year budget now goes to Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. for his approval or veto.
If Cianci accepts the revised budget from the council, it does not have to be the last word on city spending for the fiscal year.
The mayor and council can move money later in the year and increase the appropriation for schools. But they would have to come up with a corresponding increase in revenue or decrease in nonschool spending to cover any additional money for schools.
That is because the council has already locked in the tax levy for the year and, for all intents and purposes, has set the tax rates.
The real-estate tax rate would go up by a projected $1.87 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, to $35.94. For those with a homestead exemption, the effective rate would go up by a projected $1.25, to $23.96.
While it does not cover the $2.8 million in retroactive pay, the budget plows more local taxpayer money into schools than was appropriated in the last fiscal year.
Taxpayers last year contributed $84.3 million, and the council wants to increase that by $6.3 million, or nearly 7.5 percent, to $90.6 million.
If the state had increased its aid to education by a larger sum, the school system would have enough money to work with, according to council members.
The city cannot spare any more for schools, the members have said, because the state trimmed aid to the city in other areas and the city has a built-in deficit of $20 million to $30 million looming in the 2003-2004 fiscal year.
That deficit, according to Councilman Luis A. Aponte, arises from the burgeoning costs of labor agreements, health care and debt. It is the first year that the full impact will be felt from the debt incurred with the first of two $50-million bond issues for public works and housing that the city has issued.
And the state is not expected to be able to direct significant additional aid to Providence for 2003-2004, Aponte said.
In contributing $90.6 million to schools for 2002-2003, the city would be obligating itself to maintain that contribution every year even if its finances worsen.
According to a state statute called the "maintenance of effort" law, a municipality can never decrease the amount of money it gives its school system. Councilman Kevin Jackson, chairman of the council's Finance Committee, told his colleagues that the 2002-2003 budget is "as fair as possible" to all concerned, including taxpayers.
Last night's decision brings the budget review process, which began with the mayor proposing a budget to the council in May, one big step closer to completion.
In the 7-to-5 vote for budget passage, those in favor were Council President John J. Lombardi, Ronald W. Allen, Balbina A. Young, Rita M. Williams, Terrence M. Hassett, Aponte and Jackson.
Dissenting were Patricia K. Nolan, Peter S. Mancini, Carol A. Romano, Josephine DiRuzzo and Patrick K. Butler. Two members, John J. Igliozzi and Joseph DeLuca, were absent.
The council tweaked the budget it preliminarily approved three weeks ago. The council initially approved $514.7 million in spending, and the latest revision would boost spending by $300,000 by making a series of modest adjustments to estimated revenues and expenditures.
The budget provides $2 million for a legal fund to pay for any sizable litigation loss the city would incur during the year. The mayor had proposed wiping out the fund and relying on borrowing to pay any sizable loss.
And it continues for the third year a four-year program of contributing $4 million extra each year to the employee retirement fund, in an attempt to reduce a huge unfunded liability for retirement costs.
The $4 million is in addition to the sum being contributed annually at the recommendation of the fund actuary.
The council also:
Slashed the mayor's office budget by $949,417, or about 41 percent, from last year's $2,318,817 to $1,369,400. That would force the layoff of about 30 of Cianci's 49 staff members, estimated Internal Auditor James J. Lombardi III.
Abolished three positions for deputy public safety commissioners, which were never filled as the council and the Cianci administration clashed over their duties and the the appointees.
Some council members wanted to have deputies in an effort to ride herd on controversial Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr. When Prignano retired, the urgency ebbed.
Made an across-the-board cut of about $576,306, or about 4 percent, in all departmental accounts for "services" in the mayor's budget. The services category, according to Internal Auditor Lombardi, includes items such as equipment, maintenance and supplies.
Exempted from the cut would be garbage collection, recycling, street sweeping and the annual independent audit of the city's accounts.
Allowed the internal auditor two of the four new employees he had asked for, for his three-person office and half of the $50,000 he sought for management-consultant services.
Internal Auditor Lombardi has said that the city is in dire financial straits. Given the resources, Lombardi has said, he will find economies throughout government to ease the situation.
Added money to boost the pay of workers at election polling places. The Board of Canvassers complained that it is becoming difficult to coax people to work because the pay is inadequate.
Refused to count on the sale to developers of the former police/fire headquarters at LaSalle Square and Parcel 12 in Capital Center to provide $4.3 million in revenue. Finance Committee members said it would be imprudent to budget revenue from sales that might not occur.
At a recent committee meeting, Allen scolded Finance Director Alex Prignano, "We've got to stop playing this [bookkeeping] shell game."
School contract delayed again
Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2002
The City Council Finance Committee declines to vote on the new contract and sends it on to the full council.
BY KAREN DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Speaker after speaker at a City Council Finance Committee last night implored committee members to ratify the teachers' contract, which calls for $2.8 million in retroactive pay for teachers and administrators.
Approval of the contract would reaffirm negotiations that took two years and the help of a state mediator to achieve, said Philip J. DeCecco, president of the Providence Teachers Union.
It would support education reform and would avert the threat of a strike that has plagued the system before, other speakers said.
"Ratifying this contract is the most important thing the city can do for its children and families," Schools Supt. Diana Lam told the audience at the hearing in City Council chambers.
Finance Committee members did not dispute the arguments.
"The dollars are not here," said committee member Luis Aponte. "It's not in the budget."
After a short discussion, the Finance Committee voted unanimously not to recommend approval of the contract and sent the teachers' and administrators' contracts on to the full council, so that each member would be allowed to "vote their conscience," Aponte said.
The City Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday to vote.
Speakers voiced strong support for the contract.
DeCecco and School Board member Mary McClure noted that negotiations began two years ago in an effort to reach a three-year contract before school ended in June 2001.
When that failed, state mediator Donald Driscoll, who also spoke last night, stepped in. Within a month, in April, the school board and union members had approved a contract calling for a 2-percent retroactive pay increase for the last school year, a 4-percent increase this year and a 5-percent increase next year.
Some speakers took issue with the council for waiting until two weeks before school starts to talk of rejecting the proposed contracts.
Mary Sylvia Harrison, director of the Rhode Island Children's Crusade and a parent of two children in the school system, said city officials have not made it clear why the contract is in dispute.
If the contract is rejected, "I believe strongly that the kids would be the casualties," she said.
"As a parent, it's very distressing to wonder if school is going to happen on time," said Carol Gromet, parent of two Classical High School students.
Teachers are slated to attend an orientation session on their first day, next Monday. However, union officials said there will be a 9 a.m. union meeting that day if the contract is not ratified.
Meanwhile, teachers Maribeth Reynolds of Nathanael Greene Middle School and Rick Taylor of Springfield Middle School disputed the notion that teachers do not deserve the 2-percent pay increase because they withheld crucial services under "work-to-rule" guidelines. While work-to-rule requires workers to do no more than what is specified in their contracts, Reynolds said her colleagues, and many like them, came in early and stayed late to help with an after-school enrichment program.
"If they're hanging their hats on the work-to-rule issue, it's a poor excuse," said Stephen Kane of the school administrators' association. "Work-to-rule was nearly not existent."
Ferdinand Rodriguez, a teacher at Oliver H. Perry Middle School, said he fears the school system's sizable Hispanic population stands to lose the most if the contract is rejected and a strike occurs. A delayed start to the school year would hurt their education and on ongoing anti-dropout effort.
Councilwoman Patricia Nolan said the blame can be shared by the city for taking three months to address the contract. But, she said, "Teachers have waited far too long for a contract" and she believes city officials -- who have making budget cuts and adjustments -- can find the money to pay for the $2.8 million retroactive pay.
Councilwoman Rita Williams joined Nolan in endorsing ratification of the contract.
But Councilman Joseph DeLuca, a finance committee member, challenged anyone to find the money to pay for it.
The city's financial crisis became apparent when it was awarded $6 million in state aid instead of the expected $24 million, DeLuca said. By making cuts and eliminating a few jobs, city finance officers whittled the budget that only a $2.8 million shortfall remained; the committee decided that the retroactive teacher's pay should be eliminated.
"We can't invent $2.8 million out of thin air to fund a budget year that is gone," DeLuca said. He said he believes the city should "move forward" and plan for 4-percent and 5-percent raises for teachers over the next twoyears.
Aponte said talk that the Finance Committee is anti-teacher or anti-education is wrong. As one of two council members with children in the school system, Aponte said he has "no desire to start the school year off on a sour note."
If the council approves the contract, members will have to find the money to pay for the retroactive salary increases, Aponte said.
Improved Kizirian school to greet students this fall
Posted Sunday, August 18, 2002
The elementary school is undergoing a face-lift and addressing its handicapped accessibility needs.
BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Harry Kizirian Elementary School on Smith Hill, its heating and air quality problems apparently now a thing of the past, is still getting attention.
In a $350,000 project, the grounds of the school are being reworked and landscaped, access for the handicapped is being improved, and new windows, sidewalks, fences and retaining walls are being installed.
"I'm excited," said City Councilman Terrence M. Hassett, who helped to plan the work. "The kids will have a nice gift for the beginning of the school year."
In recent years the school was plagued by heating breakdowns, despite a $1-million overhaul of the heating system, and bad air quality. Teachers and other school employees objected strenuously, complaining that the city was slow to respond to the problems.
"It became a concern when they had strange smells in the school and some of the children were becoming ill," the councilman recalled. .
The original boiler in the 31-year-old school was replaced last winter, and the related systems were adjusted. So the major problems with the school's infrastructure have been dealt with, he said.
With the work being done this summer, Hassett said, "ninety-five percent of the needs are being addressed." The money is coming from a school bond issue.
One of the more important changes, according to Hassett, is a revamp of the turnaround behind the school, where school buses and cars driven by parents headed for an adjacent daycare center converge in a haphazard and dangerous way.
The Early Childhood Learning Center, which is operated by the Smith Hill Center, is in a building very close to the school building.
The Kizirian School improvements include:
Installation of flagpoles, shrubs, grass and flowers.
Repairs to broken asphalt, to be used as a play area.
Expansion of the parking lot for teachers and visitors.
Improvement of drainage.
After the boiler was replaced, a new concern arose: The heating oil bill went up sharply. So all the drafty windows are scheduled to be replaced, according to Hassett.
Hassett has another ambition for the school: Air conditioning. It would be a splendid improvement for the summer-like days during the school year and would reopen the possibility of using the school for summer sessions, he said.
Schedule changes ease contract worries
Posted Friday, August 9, 2002
Moving up a public hearing on the teachers' contract gives the city more time to settle its budget before school opens.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The time line for the City Council's deliberations on a three-year contract between the city and its school teachers has been moved up several days, giving school officials and parents time to prepare for the opening of school.
Depending on the outcome of those deliberations school officials and parents have the time to either to prepare for the smooth opening of school or brace themselves for the possibility of a teachers strike.
Meanwhile, the City Council Finance Committee is continuing discussions on whether to restore $2.8 million to the school budget that school officials say they need to help pay for the contract. The Finance Committee cut that money from that budget earlier.
The Finance Committee is expected to vote on the budget next Thursday and send it to the council.
The public hearing on the teachers' contract will be Aug. 19.The contract would give combined 11-percent raises to 2,200 members of the Providence Teachers Union. The hearing date is three days earlier than anticipated.
The City Council could meet as early as Thursday, Aug. 22 to vote on the agreement, avoiding both an extraordinary weekend session and the risk that teachers might vote to strike if they come to work Aug. 26 without a contract in place.
Originally, Anna Stetson, a city clerk, said the earliest the public hearing could be held would be Aug. 22. If that were the case, she said, the City Council could not act on the contract until Sunday, Aug. 25, the day before teacher orientation day.
Stetson cited logistical and procedural reasons for the time line, including a requirement that the public be given 10 days' notice of the hearing.
In addition, she said, The Providence Journal needed five days' advance notice to publish a legal advertisement of the hearing.
But Schools Supt. Diana Lam said she asked The Journal's publisher, Howard Sutton, to speed up publication of the ad in the public interest.
The notice ran yesterday, allowing City Councilman Kevin Jackson, D-Ward 3, the Finance Committee chairman, to schedule the public hearing on Monday, Aug. 19.
Jackson said last night that he also will schedule a meeting of the Finance Committee to begin at the conclusion of the hearing, so the committee can make its recommendation to the council the same evening.
After that, City Council President John J. Lombardi could convene the council to vote on the contract with 48 hours' notice, or Aug. 22 at the earliest.
Jackson canceled last night's Finance Committee meeting for lack of a quorum.
He said he expects the budget vote to occur next Thursday.
The Finance Committee last month approved a budget that did not contain $2.8 million necessary to pay retroactive 2-percent pay increases to teachers and school administrators.
Some Finance Committee members said teachers did not deserve a retroactive raise in a year in which they held back on voluntary activities, slowing the pace of school reform.
The council declined to act on the Finance Committee's recommendation and sent the budget back for reconsideration.
If the Finance Committee sticks to its original recommendation, the decision will not necessarily have any bearing on ratification of the teachers' contract.
If the City Council approves the contract, the city is legally bound to pay the negotiated raises. That means the School Department would be forced to cut other expenses to meet the payroll.
Panel studies budget options
Posted Thursday, August 8, 2002
A City Council committee is looking for ways to pay for salary hikes promised to teachers in a new three-year contract.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The City Council Finance Committee last night listened to a few scenarios for restoring $2.8 million to the proposed school budget to cover a 2-percent retroactive pay increase for teachers and administrators.
The ideas, offered by City Finance Director Alex Prignano, are tentative. The Finance Committee is scheduled to resume discussions tonight.
Of the $2.8 million, $2.5 million represents the cost of the raise for teachers; the remaining $300,000 would go for a 2-percent raise for administrators.
Prignano said the bulk of the $2.8 million needed to cover the retroactive raises might come from a $2 million contingency fund set aside for settlements in civil litigation.
He also said the estimated surplus in the city budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30 might yield $800,000 beyond the $6 million in surplus money that has already been committed to the School Department.
Using the legal fund is not a solution he prefers, Prignano said, but it is a solution the City Council controls.
If the city were hit with a large settlement during the next year, he said, it would have to borrow the money to pay it.
Councilman Joseph DeLuca, D-Ward 6, said some teachers asked him why the three-year contract period couldn't begin with the current school year instead of being retroactive to last Sept. 1.
That change would allow the city to put off until next year the 4-percent increase specified in the second year of the contract.
Joseph A. Almagno, executive director of the Providence Teachers Union, said after the meeting that such a change cannot be made unless teachers reject the contract they approved in April.
Councilman Luis Aponte, D-Ward 10, asked whether the city would save money by delaying construction of a new high school complex at Prairie and Thurbers Avenues for a year. Prignano said he will explore that idea with Mark V. Dunham, the school department's senior administrator for finance.
After the meeting, Aponte said council members are not posturing about the teachers' contract but are grappling with the fact that the city never got $24 million it expected from the state.
The city lost $7.4 million from reductions in the state compensation for the gradual elimination of automobile taxes, according to a table prepared by Prignano.
The city also received $8 million less than it expected in state aid.
Prignano said $1.2 million was lost to reductions in payments n lieu of taxes, or PILOT, and $2.5 million was cut from the state's general revenue-sharing fund for municipalities.
Prignano said the city might have to raise taxes beyond the 5.5 percent ceiling imposed by state law if there is no increase in state aid to education next year. But the lack of an increase in state aid would not make such a tax hike a certainty, Prignano said.
In interviews, he and Dunham clarified figures Dunham presented to the Finance Committee on Tuesday describing the cost of the teacher's contract.
Dunham agreed that the cost of the increases -- 2 percent the first year, 4 percent the second year, and 5 percent the third year -- total about $12 million.
That is the same figure used by the Providence Teachers Union.
But Dunham said the total cost of the contract over three years is $21.5 million. Joseph A. Almagno, executive director of the teachers' union had wondered how negotiators for the School Board would agree to a contract that might require raising taxes more than 5.5 percent.
His remarks addressed only the cost of the raises and did not attempt to address the growth of the entire teachers' salary line in the budget, as was reported in yesterday's Providence Journal.
Teachers' contract could push city over taxation limit
Posted Wednesday, August 7, 2002
An analysis of the proposed three-year pact suggests the city may be unable to fund the $21.15 million in pay hikes without an increase in state education aid.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A proposed teachers' contract could cost the city $21.15 million over the duration of the three-year pact -- possibly forcing the city to violate the state's tax-limiting laws.
That possibility came to light last night when the City Council Finance Committee reviewed the contract's financial implications.
Mark V. Dunham, the school department's chief financial administrator, submitted a one-page summary that suggests the contract will cost 75 percent more than what the teachers' union calculated.
Dunham's analysis was not discussed during the meeting, but City Finance Director Alex Prignano said that without an increase in state aid to local education next year the city would have to raise taxes beyond the 5.5-percent limit set by state law.
When contacted after the meeting, Dunham's calculations shocked Joseph A. Almagno, executive director of the Providence Teachers Union.
Almagno said he calculated the cumulative increase at about $12 million.
"I can't speak for the School Board negotiators, but I doubt very much that they would agree to salary increases that would exceed a tax increase of five-and-a-half percent," Almagno said.
After the meeting, Prignano said Dunham's calculations are correct.
Dunham's method counted the first year's increase -- $2.5 million -- three times, one for each year of the contract. He twice counted the cost of the second year's increase -- $4.25 million -- once for the second year and another for the third year of the contract. The final year's increase, $5.15 million was counted once.
Almagno's method caculated each year's salary increase on top of a base that incorporated pay hikes from previous years.
The cumulative increase, he contended, means that the entire teachers' payroll will have grown by about $12 million by the 2003-2004 fiscal year when it is compared with the payroll for the school year that ended in June.
The contract proposal includes a 2-percentretroactive pay increase for teachers dating back to last September, totaling $2.5 million. Teachers would see that pay hike in this year's salaries, along with the second year's hike of 4 percent, totaling $4.25 million. They would get an 5 percent more, totaling $5.15 million, in the 2003-2004 school year.
Meanwhile, Schools Supt. Diana Lam summarized key features of the contract proposal while members of the Finance Committee asked polite questions.
Finance Committee members have criticized the retroactive pay increase earmarked for the first year of the contract, saying teachers didn't deserve raises because the union called on teachers to work to rule.
That criticism did not make the rounds last night.
When the Finance Committee authorized its clerk, Anna Stetson, to advertise in The Providence Journal for a public hearing on the contract proposal, Lam expressed alarm at the timetable.
According to Stetson's calculations, the newspaper's deadlines mean a legal notice can be published no earlier than next Monday, Aug. 12. With a 10-day notice required for the public hearing, the earliest the contract could be discussed would be Thursday, Aug. 22.
And if the Finance Committee were to make a recommendation the same night, the earliest the full City Council could consider the contract would be Sunday, Aug. 25.
Teachers are scheduled to return to work a day later, on Monday, Aug. 26, but it is likely they will entertain a vote to strike if no labor agreement has been ratified.
Lam said she would try to prevail upon The Journal to make an exception to its deadlines in the public interest. She said she hopes the legal notice on the public hearing might run sooner than Aug. 12, allowing the public hearing to be held earlier than Aug. 22.
City Council revives committee to focus on public schools
Posted Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Defunct since the mid-1990s, the joint committee of city and school officials is again seen as a way to improve communication between the council and the School Board.
BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- The City Council Committee on Education, which was active in for a brief time in the mid-1990s, is being revived to improve communication between the council and the School Department.
The move comes amid a flareup sparked by school budget needs and concern about whether the council might reject the proposed teacher labor contract.
Councilwoman Rita M. Williams, D-Ward 2, who initiated the committee and served as its chairwoman, will lead the committee again.
Having been a school social worker for 22 years, Williams said her background seemed to make her leadership appropriate. She is retired from the North Providence School Department.
The committee is being reactivated at the request of the School Board and other school officials, according to Williams.
In the past year or so, Schools Supt. Diana Lam has been criticized about her perceived failure to communicate with various groups in the city. While the board is happy with Lam overall, members told the superintendent that she needs to improve communication.
"We've had a concern [for] years of substantial changes [in the schools] not being communicated to the council in a timely fashion," Williams said.
When Lam was hired, "It seemed like she started communicating with [the council]," Williams said. "I thought it was better than it ever was before."
The committee's first meeting is at 6 p.m. today in the city clerk's office at City Hall. Melody Johnson, deputy superintendent of schools, is expected to make a presentation on curriculum.
The committee was active from about 1994 through 1996, when Arthur Zarrella was superintendent and Phyllis Tennian was president of the teachers union, according to Williams. An ambitious program of school construction was one of the major discussion topics.
"Things were so busy" that the committee stopped meeting, Williams recalled.
The membership of the reconstituted committee includes Williams; Councilmen Joseph DeLuca, Kevin Jackson and Luis A. Aponte; Johnson; School Board members Susan R. DeRita and Mary E. McClure; William E. Collins, policy director for Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., Philip J. DeCecco, president of the Providence Teachers Union, or his designee, and two representatives of the district-wide PTA Leadership Advisory Committee, Ida Valentin and Guy Pirolli.
Council President John J. Lombardi, who is expected to become acting mayor when Cianci is sentenced to prison next month, had been a member of the committee but is declining to participate now because of the press of other business, according to Williams.
Timing crucial in approval of teachers' pact
Posted Tuesday, August 6, 2002
The City Council must wrap up hearings on the contract in an orderly fashion if it wants to avoid disruptions on Aug. 26 when teachers are due to start work.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- On the one hand, the City Council president and the president of the Providence Teachers Union are making soothing noises about the prospects of the council ratifying a three-year contract for the city's 2,200 public school teachers.
On the other hand, there's plenty of time for teachers -- and the administration of Schools Supt. Diana Lam -- to build up a good sweat over the final result, which won't be known until Aug. 25 at the earliest.
That's the day before teachers are scheduled to report for orientation, which will start with a 9 a.m. union meeting on the status of the contract.
If there's no contract, union leaders predict, the best bet is that there will be no work.
If the contract is ratified, the School Department must pay teachers a 2-percent retroactive pay increase for the last academic year, regardless of a recommendation made two weeks ago by the City Council Finance Committee to hold back the cost of the increase, $2.5 million, from the school budget.
Finance Committee members said that teachers do not deserve a raise for a year in which they worked to the letter of their contract, refraining from voluntary activities such as professional development after school.
The Providence Teachers Union sent its members a letter over the weekend that attempted to reassure them about the ultimate outcome.
"Despite the fact that individual members of the Finance Committee have implied that the City Council will not ratify the agreement, there is firm and growing support in favor of it within the council itself," wrote Phil DeCecco, the union president.
He wrote, "I remain optimistic that the legitimate needs of the Providence School System will take precedence over the counter-productive desire of some to gain political favor by attempting to punish teachers at the very real expense of a delayed school opening."
DeCecco noted that half the bargaining unit -- or about 1,100 teachers -- lives in Providence and represents a "potent political bloc" if the unit's members are registered to vote and "willing to encourage their respective City Council members to support ratification."
Yesterday, DeCecco said he remains "optimistic, but not comfortable" about the prospects for ratification.
He said the union, school administrators and the School Board are working hard to ensure passage.
"We're doing our homework," DeCecco said.
City Council President John J. Lombardi, meanwhile, said he would do everything he could to help resolve any differences of opinion so the contract can be ratified and school can open smoothly.
He said it would be "premature" to say whether there are enough votes on the council for approval.
He said school administrators are looking for ways to handle a $2.5-million cut recommended by the council's Finance Committee and still pay teachers their retroactive raise.
If school administrators can manage that, the contract could be ratified without the Finance Committee retreating from its position.
Lombardi said he understands that the council has the choice of approving or rejecting the contract in its entirety and cannot choose the portions it likes or dislikes.
One of the most significant logistical factors in the ratification process is an ordinance requiring that any collective bargaining agreement be aired at a public hearing. According to the city's Home Rule Charter, notice of a public hearing must be published in a newspaper of general circulation at least 10 days before the date of the hearing.
Anna M. Stetson, second deputy city clerk, said the Finance Committee is expected to set a date for the hearing at a meeting tonight at 6.
If a date is set tonight, the earliest the hearing could be held would be Aug. 22, Stetson said. That date assumes that the City Clerk's office places the ad tomorrow, she said, explaining that the earliest she would expect it to run would be Monday.
An additional 10 days brings the calendar up to Aug. 22, a Thursday, Stetson said. If a hearing were scheduled that day, the Finance Committee could schedule a meeting to vote on the contract and forward it to the full council the same day.
But a City Council meeting cannot be scheduled now in anticipation of that Finance Committee meeting, Stetson said.
Once the Finance Committee votes, there must be 48 hours' notice before the full council can have a meeting, she said.
That means that for all practical purposes, Sunday, Aug. 25, is the earliest the council can vote on the teachers' contract, she said, if it wants the decision to be made before the union meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. the next day.
Lam says travel vital when seeking foundation money
Posted Monday, August 5, 2002
City Council members say she is out of town too often, but she has also developed a reputation as a hard worker.
BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Viewed one way, travel is a job requirement for Schools Supt. Diana Lam.
But viewed another way, from a seat on the City Council, Lam's travel adds up to absence from the job.
In the budget controversy that has swirled around the council and the School Department during the last two weeks, more than one councilor has noted Lam's absence from the schools' initial presentation to the Finance Committee in June.
But from Lam's point of view, travel goes along with millions of dollars worth of grants from private foundations that have enabled the School Department to continue with reforms while its local budget is being cut.
Beginning Friday, Lam will attend a five-day conference outside Washington, D.C., at the behest of the Lila and DeWitt Wallace Readers Digest Foundation, which in January gave the Providence public schools $5 million over five years to help address a national shortage of qualified school principals.
The weekend will be devoted to discussions of the work the Wallace Readers' Digest Foundation has financed, not only in Providence but nine other school districts across the country. Each was given the same amount of money to find new ways to nurture school leadership.
On Monday, Lam will participate in a panel discussion on "Can Leadership Be Taught?" The conference concludes Tuesday.
While Lam's detractors say that she is too often out of town, paradoxically, she also has developed a reputation as a workhorse.
After an evening School Board meeting, for example, she can often be found in her office, continuing her workday.
When Lam returned to Providence after her mother-in-law's recent funeral in Minnesota, she spent part of the weekend catching up on work in the school administration building at 797 Westminster St.
On a typical weekday, she might be on the job at 7:30 a.m., or earlier.
Asked about criticism of her travel, Lam likened those kinds of remarks to an overemphasis on the amount of time a student spends in school, rather than what is being learned.
"We live in a very narrow culture sometimes," she said.
Lam said it is far better to "look at things more globally, from the perspective of getting things done."
In the aftermath of state intervention at Hope High School, Lam has also taken heat for nominating the Hope principal, Harry Potter, to a newly created dropout prevention post.
One of the factors that led Commissioner of Education Peter McWalters to intervene at Hope was a skyrocketing dropout rate.
While Potter's new job is described in some quarters as a promotion, Lam points out that he will make a little less money and work 12 months a year instead of 10.
"It's irresponsible and cheap to fix responsibility on one person" when the success or failure of a school depends on many people, Lam said.
Potter inherited a deeply divided faculty when he became principal of Hope 4 1/2 years ago, and Lam said he was able to carry plans for academic reform further than anyone before him.
The state intervention, announced in June, gives the new Hope principal, Nancy Mullen, more clout -- and more support -- than Potter had.
In fact McWalters made a point of saying that he didn't expect Mullen to do the job alone.
McWalters directed that Hope be divided into three or four independent schools, each one with its own academic director, within a year.
Lam said Potter was "courageous enough to realize he had carried [plans for reform] as far as he could."
Potter's experience as a high school dropout who was guided toward a career in education by a series of mentors is "a particularly good story that can inform" his new work, Lam said.
It is not his job alone to decrease the dropout rate, Lam said.
Youth will stay or leave depending on their sense of belonging to their school," she said.
"The ability to curb the dropout rate . . . lies right at the school level," Lam said.
"We all want to participate and own this, from the superintendent all the way to the students," Lam said.
She said she is hopeful that the continuing movement to redesign the city's high schools will address some of the conditions that contribute to the dropout rate.
Those factors include poor reading and writing skills that handicap students in all classes, said Lam.
The Carnegie Corporation, one of two philanthropies that have pledged a total of $8 million over five years for the high school redesign effort, wants Lam to do a presentation one day soon on secondary-school strategies for beefing up students' literacy skills. Naturally, Lam will attend that conference.
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