It’s that time of year, again when the Mass. Association of School Committees (MASC) seeks support of resolutions regarding educational issues at its annual conference.
As there are often some controversial topics on that list, this year is no different, as the W-H School Committee voted on Wednesday, Oct. 11 to support higher fines for passing school buses and changes to the MCAS test, while expressing concern about a requirement for a diversity coordinator and rejecting a safe gun storage education plan as outside a school committee’s responsibility.
The recommendation calling on the General Court to enact legislation to give cities and towns the ability to install digital detection monitoring systems on school buses in the interest of pursuing fines against drivers who pass stopped school buses as well as legislation raising those fines.
The fines are intended to be a “significant schedule of fines” as a penalty for the violations either witnessed by a police officer or recorded by a digital video monitor. The equipment would be a district expense.
Right now, the fine is $200.
“Is there a way the [expected] $41.8 million in tickets could be sent back to us?” Member Glen DiGravio asked. “That would be fantastic. It would pay for itself.”
Member Fred Small said the legislature was speaking about that possibility.
“If this came through in legislation, I’m sure there would be grant funding for safety and security from the governor’s office so that all buses would have that,” Szymaniak said.
The MASC has also recommend all districts appoint a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coordinator to work toward anti-racism is only putting a title to a person, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. The MASC is recommending that all districts adopt the position at its annual conference this month.
“We have that person in place,” he said. “If it has to be a certain, specific title, that makes me a little anxious.”
They hired Director of Equity and MTSS Nicole Semas-Schneeweis
School Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 11, but Szymaniak expressed concern that, he would have to rename the position and take away other responsibilities.
Committee member David Forth, who will represent the W-H School Committee at the MASC asked for guidance as to what questions he should ask.
“You can get up and speak and tell why we voted that way or what our question is,” Chair Beth Stafford said.
DiGravio asked if the resolution would make the position mandatory for school districts that don’t already have it and if there are districts that don’t have such a position now.
“These are just recommendations,” Stafford said.
Stafford asked the committee for meeting norms they wished to suggest for discussion and possible adoption. They will be revisited at the next meeting, when a full committee could attend. Member Steve Bois was absent from the meeting.
The review of MCAS results is also up for a change as the MCAS seeks a more consensus-building wider approach to an evaluation system with “meaningful input from legitimate stakeholders,” investigating the extent of bias in the testing and seeking an immediate moratorium on the MCAS test while an alternative method is developed.
Stafford reminded the School Committee that the MTA is sponsoring a petition to put the issue on a ballot.
“The devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know,” said committee member Hillary Kniffen, who teaches sophomore English. “It’s not going away, they’re talking about replacing it with something else. … I worry about this.”
MTA is working to remove the MCAS a graduation requirement.
DiGravio asked for clarification about what the resolution means by “high-stakes” and “bias.” The stakes are that students must pass it to graduate.
Bias, on the other hand, pertains to cultural bias in the wording of questions, especially for students who come from another country, and problematic accommodations for students with learning differences.
“It is a flawed test, to say the least,” Kniffen said.
“I have always been against it being a graduation requirement because I have a grandson who has Down Syndrome,” Stafford said. “He’ll never be able to pass that and not being able to do a portfolio [demonstrating his learning progress], why can’t he get a diploma?”
She said he would receive a certificate of attendance instead.
“Not good enough,” DiGravio said.
Both Kniffen and Stafford said they have never taught to the test.
Another bias is that students attending private schools do not have to take the MCAS to graduate.
Szymaniak said research has never support the efficacy of high-stakes tests. The committee endorsed the three resolutions and voted on several others.
Vice Chair Chris Scriven said the committee members should “all remember that they’re one of 10. We best serve our committee and our constituents when we act as a committee,” he said.
Member David Forth said communication and collaboration are important. Members do not always see things eye-to-eye, but the two approaches have helped reach an understanding of each other that benefits teamwork.
Member Hillary Kniffen said that once action has been taken on a vote, members should support the official position of the School Committee. It is a norm she has found in researching several other such outlines of norms across the state.
“The time to discuss our viewpoints [on a specific issue] … to have those conversations with people in the community and send emails, is prior to when that public hearing and vote is going to be taking place, not after,” she said.
Stafford said she wants to see the committee come to meetings with an open mind, members should think before they speak, treat one another as professionals and have a suggestion for every complaint.
Public Comment, again focused on the proposed Whitman Middle School project with Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly spoke about an agenda item dealing with public presentations, noting there are locations available for them at libraries, the WHCA public access channel.
“I want the public to understand that school committees have very complex jobs,” she said. “School committee budgets are separate from municipal budgets – not just regionals, but also in regular towns and cities – because they have to adhere to strict laws and procedures.”
She also said school committees have to meet student achievement and reasonable cost goals to present to their towns.
“That’s a big ball to carry in a [relatively] short meeting,” she said, and they are provided with a lot of vetted information from sources including the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “To have a public entity come in and introduce something, could end up being political theater and it could be an abuse of the public trust that we swear to uphold.”
Connolly explained that Whitman’s Finance Committee and Select Board have each run into such situations unintentionally after allowing the public to come in to make presentations.
The Finance Committee had identified a weakness in busing and brought it to the schools about January 2022. Two citizens then came forward with a solution, presented as fact in a public meeting of both boards she said. The public thought the information was true, but Connolly said it was determined to be fraud in a meeting with DESE.
The problem identified by the Finance Committee still has not been solved, but “all of this theater had the public believing that it had been fixed,” and has caused political mistrust. Connolly said the people who put the “solution” forward have been looked on as experts and she fears the “face would be given” to the problem again.
Select Board member Justin Evans of Candlewick Lane, spoke to the decision the committee faces in the decision to borrow for the Whitman Middle School project: level debt vs. level principal.
“The way the town has always borrowed for projects has been by level principal, that way you take a premium the first year and the payments decline each year after that,” he said, noting there are other projects on the horizon. “That lets the town build other capital projects in over the 30 years it’s taking that debt out.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain of Forest Street spoke again about the public comment period.
“I don’t know why this is such an important issue to me,” he said, noting that he has been reflecting on why that is, but the closest thing he said he could come up with is that members of the public could come to a meeting and share. “I believe it’s very important that people can actively participate in that process,” he said of the way people used to be permitted to also speak during debate of issues before votes are taken.