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August 2008
New superintendent touches base — with everyone
Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Supt. Tom Brady hit the ground running yesterday morning, greeting bus drivers at dawn and dishing up bagels for breakfast at one elementary school.
By lunchtime, the district’s new superintendent had toured four schools, and he visited four more before wrapping up the day at Kennedy Plaza, where RIPTA buses disgorge hundreds of high school students every afternoon.
Brady, who arrived here from Philadelphia six weeks ago, is a natural at the “meet-and-greet.” Where former Supt. Donnie Evans was reticent, Brady is gregarious. Shaking hands, meeting new people and making casual conversation come as naturally to him as they do to a seasoned politician.
At the Fortes/Lima Annex, there were more than a few tearful kindergarten students struggling to get through that painful moment of separation from their mothers. In one classroom, Brady knelt down next to a miserable 5-year-old named Sharon and spoke a few words of encouragement. But it wasn’t until a teacher handed Sharon a big stuffed bear that she began to cheer up.
“We all need a huggy bear sometimes,” Brady said as he left the classroom.
Brady embarked on a “listening and learning” campaign shortly after his arrival in Providence, meeting with 250 teachers during an informal coffee hour, the first of three such meetings. In the weeks that followed, he met with parents and teachers in packed school auditoriums and in parents’ backyards; he toured the neighborhoods with City Council members and met with community groups.
His advance work is beginning to pay off. Yesterday, several teachers shook Brady’s hand and said, “We met at Hope High School,” or, “I heard you speak at one of the parents’ nights.”
Meeting the public sends an important message, Brady said, that “this is a team and we have to work together.”
In every class, Brady thanked teachers for their hard work and told students to have a great year. But he didn’t just stop for teachers. He introduced himself to custodians and kitchen staff, to secretaries and teacher assistants. Everyone got the same square handshake, the same direct gaze.
Brady has his work cut out for him in the goodwill department. A series of missteps during Evans’ three-year tenure — from the closing of a popular West End elementary school to the Dec. 13 snowstorm that stranded students on school buses –– has led to a spirit of distrust among teachers and parents.
Teachers, meanwhile, are frustrated by three years of budget cuts and the failure to secure a new contract. But Brady and Providence Teachers Union president Steve Smith have both signaled that the long-stalled negotiations are progressing and a resolution may be in sight.
Yesterday, Brady expressed curiosity about every aspect of the school day, from the bus monitors who keep the children safe to the people who prepare the school lunches. At Fortes Elementary School, Brady popped into the cafeteria where masses of macaroni-and-cheese were being prepared for the district schools.
In every classroom, Brady asked which textbook the teachers were using and how they liked it. At Mount Pleasant High School, he asked to see the teacher’s lesson plan. When she said that the plan was at home, Brady asked her to e-mail it to him. All this was done with a smile and the teacher didn’t seem to mind.
At Nathanael Greene Middle School, Principal Nicole Thomas introduced Brady to a young boy in a wheelchair named Wayne, whose medical condition is so complex that he needs a full-time nursing assistant.
At a recent public meeting, the child’s mother begged Brady not to separate her son from the nurse who had cared for him for several years. The nursing assistant made the same appeal.
“I figured if they both wanted the same thing, it had to be good,” Brady said. “We made it happen.”
In a district known for its revolving door of superintendents, Mayor David N. Cicilline has said that strong, consistent leadership must be the basis for academic achievement.
When Cicilline announced Brady’s appointment in March, the mayor made it clear that he was looking for an experienced manager, not an academic leader. In an interview this winter, Brady addressed his apparent lack of academic experience by saying that Providence needs someone who can manage complex systems, someone who can define the district’s mission and then tap the right people to get the job done.
Brady certainly has had experience running large systems. As commander of Fort Belvoir, Va., he oversaw a $770-million budget and more than 20,000 residents. As the interim education chief of Philadelphia, he was responsible for running the eighth-largest school district in the country, and as the chief operating officer of the District of Columbia public schools, he managed a $1-billion budget.
According to state Education Commissioner Peter McWalters, the district needs a superintendent who can deliver the books on time, settle the teachers’ contract and find savings in the midst of a budget crisis.
Brady wrapped up his first day at Kennedy Plaza, where 800 high school students descend every afternoon after school gets out. Brady met with Police Chief Dean M. Esserman and Sgt. George Smith, who oversees the police detail at the plaza, which is now staffed by 8 to 10 patrolmen.
Yesterday, the RIPTA bus depot was calm. Three years ago, however, a brawl involving nearly 100 students broke out at the plaza and traveled up College Hill. Although some students were armed with bricks and bottles, no one was seriously hurt. The melee and several subsequent fights led the police to beef up their presence at the plaza.
“You can see the tension build some afternoons,” Smith told Brady as they walked around the plaza. “We’ve made hundreds of arrests. We average about five a week.”
Brady, who never stopped for lunch, ended the day on the same upbeat note with which he began it.
He said the first day of school was “absolutely smooth” and that it exceeded his expectations.
“I saw schools that were inviting and welcoming to parents,” he said. “The buildings looked good, the teachers were engaged and the children ready to learn.”
Welcome Back!
Posted Monday, August 25, 2008
Dear Colleague:
Welcome Back! I hope you have had a relaxing and enjoyable summer.
Because we are still working under the existing 2004-2007 Agreement and we are actively involved in negotiations, I did not schedule a meeting on orientation day.
Since the arrival of Superintendent Brady we have been in continuous negotiations and have made progress. While we are not there yet, I am hopeful that a joint proposal can be reached and presented to you shortly after the start of school. In the event that we reach a joint proposal, I will schedule briefing sessions to provide members with an opportunity to review and discuss the proposal prior to the ratification meeting.
In addition, we have spent an exorbitant amount of time correcting Human Resource errors pertaining to this year’s Consolidation, Job Fair and Recall meetings. My staff has been working closely with Human Resources to ensure that teachers’ rights were not violated while corrections were being made.
We have also been in communication with the Rhode Island Department of Education regarding the District’s intervention status and the ramification of the Commissioner’s Order to the district. As always, I will keep you informed of any and all changes that will impact you directly.
Also, at the AFT Convention, held in Chicago, Ms. Randi Weingarten was elected President of AFT and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama received the unanimous endorsement of the AFT. In addition, a resolution was passed in support of Peer Assistance & Review as well as a resolution calling for a complete overhaul of the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Act. For a full report of the 2008 AFT Convention you may visit the AFT website at www.aft.org.
Finally, in keeping with our back-to-school tradition, I am enclosing your 2008-2009 school calendars as well as your 2008-2009 AFT calendar.
You will be issued your first paycheck of the 2008-09 school year on September 5, 2008. Payment for your summer professional development, submitted to the Payroll Office by August 21, 2008, will be issued on August 29, 2008 in a separate check.
It is important that you verify that your salary has been calculated correctly. I have enclosed a copy of the 2006-2007 salary schedule, additional stipends, professional advancement and longevity schedule along with a worksheet (21 or 26 pay periods) to calculate your correct annual salary, daily rate, and your hourly rate.
If you find a discrepancy between the amount you received in your paycheck and the amount you calculate you should have received, please call the Union office to verify your calculations.
As always, I thank you for your continued support and assistance.
Sincerely,
Steven F. Smith
resident
Workshop helps teachers hone communication skills
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
WARWICK — Carolyn Reedom has been a teacher, a principal and an assistant superintendent, and she has seen and heard it all.
That’s one of the reasons why her presentation on parent-teacher communication was so engaging. Reedom knows what it’s like to be a teacher dealing with a disruptive child just as well as she knows what it’s like to be a principal on the line with a frustrated parent.
Yesterday, during a two-hour class at the Warwick campus of the Community College of Rhode Island, Reedom showed teachers how to break through some of the roadblocks that prevent teachers from communicating effectively with parents.
In a lecture that blended humor with a homespun wisdom, Reedom, a private consultant, says there are good reasons why parents have negative feelings about their child’s school.
“Every parent has caller identification,” she said. “When the prefix 456 shows up on the phone, they press ignore. Why? Because they know it is bad news. Ninety-eight percent of the calls we make are negative. We need to be making many more positive calls.”
The parent-engagement class is part of a month-long summer institute for teachers offered at several locations, including the Community College of Rhode Island. This is the first time that the district has offered teacher training in such an intensive format, according to district spokeswoman Christina O’Reilly. More than 300 individual classes are available and all teachers are required to take two classes: parent engagement and a session on special-education requirements.
O’Reilly says that this is also the first time that the school department has offered broad-based parent-engagement classes for all teachers. Teachers are required by contract to complete 39 hours of professional training annually and they are paid for their time.
Yesterday, Reedom said that teachers have to demonstrate their competence to an often skeptical audience. How many teachers, fed up with a child’s constant interruptions, will tell a parent, “I don’t know what to do about your child’s behavior?”
Instead, teachers should focus on the positive, saying something like, “I’m never going to give up on your child. I’m not going to let your child fail. I like your child.”
Reedom asks the class to role-play a variety of parent-teacher interactions. First, she stages a typical phone conversation between the parent of a disruptive child and a teacher frustrated with the child’s behavior.
The teacher begins with a litany of complaints: the child refuses to sit down, talks back and won’t concentrate on his work. The parent asks what she can do to help. The teacher continues to vent; his frustration is palpable. The parent grows upset and ultimately hangs up on the teacher.
“Do phone calls go like that?” Reedom asks. Many teachers nod their heads in the affirmative. “Did I sound like I like this child?”
No, the teachers said.
Write this down, Reedom says. Never call a parent when you are feeling frustrated or angry. Avoid words that will put a parent on the defensive.
“In every interaction, we have to demonstrate that we care about their child, that we like their child,” she said. “Parents want to know that we will treat their child fairly.”
Begin the conversation by saying something positive about the child: “Tyler has great potential,” or “Tyler is very bright.”
Reedom says there are two kinds of teachers: reactive and proactive. Reactive teachers nurture a preconception about “Tyler” based on office gossip. When the teacher finally gets Tyler on her student roster, she complains to her colleagues and gets them to validate her negative feelings about the child.
Reedom role-plays a typical conversation initiated by a reactive teacher:
“On my gosh, I have Tyler,” the teacher says. “I wonder if the district is still offering that early buyout.”
The class chuckles. Everyone has heard a variation of that conversation in the teachers’ room.
“What kind of a chance does Tyler have?” Reedom says.
“None,” the class says.
A proactive teacher calls Tyler’s parents and says, “I’m excited to have Tyler in my classroom. What can you tell me about him to make this a good year? What is his favorite subject? Math? I’d love to make him the chairman of the math resource corner.”
By now, most parents are hooked. Here is a teacher who is enthusiastic about their child’s furture, someone who cares enough to ask for advice from the person who knows him best. This parent will say to Tyler, “Finally, you have a good teacher. Do whatever she asks.”
Teachers also have to get better at communicating their expectations clearly. Reedom suggests that at the beginning of the school year, teachers send a welcome letter home spelling out the school’s homework and discipline policies.
“Homework is not busywork,” Reedom says. “It should be used the next day to review the previous day’s lesson. Many kids don’t know how to do homework. That’s our job, not the parents’.”
Never underestimate the lasting power of a handwritten note, Reedom says. Then, she pulls out three such notes, the only ones that her two children received during their entire public-school experience. When she got them, Reedom remembers thinking, “I don’t know this teacher but I love her. She told me my son is a great kid.”
“You can’t imagine what this does for parents,” she says. “If you want your school to be perceived as a caring school, this must be done.”
Contact parents at the first sign of a problem, Reedom says. Don’t wait until the child is failing a subject. Notify the parent early enough so the child can make up his missing work or change his behavior.
Reedom cites the example of a parent who complained that her son’s chemistry teacher never told her that he had failed to hand in 13 lab assignments. When the parent complained, the teacher said, “I did what I was required to do. I sent home the notice of failure at week 6.”
But Reedom says that teachers must go beyond what is required by contract or district policy.
“You can’t let a child fail because he is not responsible for his behavior,” she says. “Allowing him to be irresponsible will not teach him to be responsible.”
New D’Abate principal sees positive changes ahead
Posted Tuesday, August 12, 2008
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Brent Kermen, the new principal of William D’Abate Elementary School, realizes that it won’t be easy to fill Lucille Furia’s shoes.
In a district where principals come and go like the seasons, Furia was one of the few constants, spending 39 years in the same school, 13 of them as its leader. Kermen, who comes here from Newport where he was an assistant principal, actually knows Furia through his wife’s family and has met her several times. In fact, he recently stopped by her house to get the keys to his new school.
“It’s an honor to fill her shoes,” said Kermen, who is 37 and lives in Cranston. “I’m the beneficiary of her hard work. The staff is really on board, the expectations are very clear and the leadership has been consistent.”
Kermen cut his teeth as an administrator in Newport, where he was assistant principal of Thompson Middle School. One of his biggest accomplishments, he said, was developing a guide to help teachers prepare students for the New England Common Assessment Placement, the state test.
“We came up with testing strategies,” Kermen said, “test items and ways to analyze our curriculum to find out the gaps between the curriculum and the material on the tests.”
Although Thompson is still classified as low-performing, its students made enough progress on the NECAP this year to move off the state’s “watch list.” Chronically low-performing schools wind up in “corrective action,” which makes them eligible for additional services and ultimately state intervention.
Kermen began his career in Providence, where he taught fourth grade at Laurel Hill Elementary School for six years. He left the district to earn a master’s degree in school administration at Rhode Island College and then took the position in Newport.
When he saw that Providence had several administrative postings, he decided to apply:
“I was aware that the district had a new superintendent,” he said last week. “I had heard positive things about the direction Providence was going in and I wanted to be a part of that. The timing was perfect.”
Kermen said he is pleased that Supt. Tom Brady has indicated that he wants to establish a collaborative relationship with the Providence Teachers Union.
“There is no way you can move forward without an open, positive relationship with the union,” he said. “Having been a teacher in Providence plays to one of my strengths. I’ve seen both sides. I know what it’s like to have a program thrust at you.”
Kermen grew up in North Providence and then spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a stint in the Gulf War. After finishing his military service, he returned and attended Rhode Island College for his undergraduate teaching degree. Kermen is the first member of his family to graduate from college.
“I really like helping kids,” he said. “The bigger the challenge, the more gratifying it is. Every kid deserves a fair shot.”
Kermen said he will not try to reinvent the wheel.
“I will listen and learn and build upon whatever is positive and make sure the district initiatives are carried out. “
Teachers’ union chief sees contract within reach
Posted Wednesday, August 6, 2008
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Providence Teachers’ Union President Steve Smith said that he is optimistic that contract talks will resume shortly and that a two-year contract is within reach.
Smith, in an interview Friday, said that he has met a couple of times with Supt. Tom Brady and said that the new superintendent seems eager to resolve the contract. The 2,000-member union has been working under the terms of its old contract since last August, when the contract officially expired.
“Mr. Brady has expressed an interest in reaching a resolution even if it’s a short-term one,” Smith said. “We’re open to working to reaching an agreement. We have to work out the financial details.”
Brady said recently that he would like to sign a contract as soon as possible with the understanding that the agreement could be reopened in a year to discuss deeper, more systemic issues.
Negotiations slowed to a crawl this spring after then-Supt. Donnie Evans announced his resignation, effective in mid-September. At the time, Smith said that both parties felt they should wait until the district had a new superintendent before resuming negotiations. Brady arrived here three weeks ago. A mediator was brought in last year after negotiations stalled.
“We felt we were very close earlier in the year,” Smith said. “If we can reach an agreement by September, we would begin negotiations on a longer agreement.”
It seems unlikely that teachers would have time to ratify an agreement before they report back to work on Aug. 25, Smith said, adding that he wants the membership to have ample time to review the language in a new contract.
After months of acrimony between the union and management, Smith signaled that the union is willing to collaborate with Brady.
“Our position is that we want to be a partner,” he said. “I am happy that he has taken a proactive role in such a short period of time and that he has expressed that working with the PTU is important.”
School Board President Mary McClure said she was hopeful that talks would resume in the immediate future. “The superintendent is obviously eager to establish good working relationships with all of the unions and that is evident in his work with Donald Iannazzi,” she said.
Brady reached a compromise with the teacher assistants that precludes layoffs but now calls for assistants to receive additional training so they can be more effective in helping struggling students to read. Iannazzi, president of Local 1033, had organized his members to turn out en masse at two recent City Council meetings and had taken out a half-page ad in The Providence Journal decrying the cuts.
The relationship between the union and the school administration reached a low point in March, when the union voted overwhelmingly to express a lack of confidence in Evans and McClure. The ballot question claimed that students were being denied a quality education and cited more than a dozen supposed missteps by the administration, including the Dec. 13 snowstorm that stranded more than 100 students on school buses.
The ballot also mentioned the “mass exodus” of teachers and administrators during Evans’ two-and-a-half years in office.
After the no-confidence vote was taken, more than 100 teachers staged an informational picket in front of the School Department’s headquarters on Westminster Street. The last time that the union took a vote of no confidence was in October 2001, when Diana Lam was superintendent.
At the time, union leaders said teacher morale was at an all-time low, citing the worsening budget crisis, constant turnover at the top and a perception that the district was adrift.
The union, Smith said, has no plans to strike or “work to rule,” in which teachers refuse to perform any duties beyond those specified in the contract.
Summer Professional Development
Posted Tuesday, August 5, 2008
TO: All Union Members
FROM: Steven F. Smith
DATE: July 31, 2008
Professional Development Materials
It was brought to my attention that teachers enrolled in the Step Up to Writing professional development scheduled for Friday, August 1, 2008, were directed to contact their school administrator to sign-out the material needed for the workshop.
After speaking with Sharon Contreras, Chief Academic Officer, the directive has been retracted, per my request. Therefore, professional development materials will be transported to the respective workshop sites by the administration not teachers.
Any teacher receiving a similar directive for future workshops, should contact the Union office immediately.
Professional Development Payment
The payroll schedule for professional development activities completed during the summer is as follows:
* Professional development activities completed and submitted to payroll by August 22nd will be paid in a check dated August 28, 2008.
* Professional Development activities completed and submitted to payroll after August 22nd but prior to August 28, will be included in the first regular payroll check on September 5, 2008.
Any discrepancies with payment for summer professional development activities should be reported to the Union office immediately.
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