GLOBE EDITORIAL

A pilot school grounded

June 11, 2004

TEACHERS and students at Thomas Gardner Elementary School in Allston are strivers, so it was no surprise when 24 of 29 faculty members voted in October to accept innovative "pilot school" status. But the faculty was disabled yesterday by its own union when Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, vetoed the measure.

The Gardner School already enjoys a reputation for its strong after-school programs and on-site social services. The next logical step was to gain needed flexibility concerning academic schedules, school hours, and personnel deployment, all practices particular to in-house pilot and charter schools that operate, to varying degrees, outside union work rules and central office interference.

The ill-considered veto drained more than energy from the Gardner School. The nonprofit Boston Foundation, which promotes school reform, was poised to give as much as $100,000 to the school to aid in its transition. Now that offer will be withdrawn, according to Paul Grogan, the foundation's president. "I think the veto was a naked exercise of power to kill the pilot school movement," he said.

Stutman says it was the School Department's unwillingness to address working conditions at pilot schools during contract negotiations, including overtime and scheduling issues, that prompted his veto. And there likely will be more vetoes to come, he added.

"If they don't care enough to negotiate, we don't care enough to grant status," he said.

Try as it might, the union won't deaden interest in pilot schools. Fifteen such schools already exist in Boston. In 2002 the Boston Foundation expected only a few schools to show any interest in its pilot school planning grants. But about 30 did.

A federal judge has told Boston's patrolmen's union that its members cannot use contract grievances as an excuse to block workers trying to enter the FleetCenter to prepare for the Democratic National Convention. A similar message should apply to the teachers union: Stop blocking educational progress.