FITCHBURG, January 15, 2007— Voting yes to Academy Middle School's conversion to a Commonwealth pilot school is really the "only option," Bill Bourbeau, president of the Fitchburg Teachers Association, said last week.
Teachers at Academy will vote tomorrow to see if they go forward with the conversion process, which would give teachers, parents and the principal more autonomy over their school's budget, curriculum and hours.
Two-thirds of the school's teachers must vote yes to the pilot school for planning to continue. The school has about 45 teachers.
"The teachers at Academy have been put into a position where there really isn't a choice," Bourbeau said in a phone interview. "You're chronically underperforming, or you go pilot. And chronically underperforming isn't really an option."
Bourbeau will not vote, because he does not teach at Academy. But the teachers association does support the conversion, he said, because it saves the school from receiving a chronically underperforming label from the state's Board of Education.
"We know what (the state has) done in some other districts, where they've mandated a scripted curriculum, and they've taken complete control away from teachers," Bourbeau said. "It would be a completely uncomfortable work environment."
Principal Steven Silverman said he's not sure how the vote will go, but he's optimistic.
"From what I've heard from some staff members, things look good," Silverman said Friday. "You don't know until the vote goes, but just from what I'm hearing ... people seem to be looking at the pilot school as a favorable option to turn Academy Middle School around."
The state threatened intervention after the school's MCAS scores did not increase sufficiently for several years in a row.
More than 10 teachers approached last Thursday declined to discuss their thoughts on tomorrow's vote. Bourbeau said many teachers are still undecided, and seeking more information about what exactly a pilot school would entail.
"The teachers have been feeling under siege for the past six years," Bourbeau said. "With our district having lost millions of dollars, it seems like each year, there's some new idea that's thrown at them, that fails. There's a sense of apprehension about whether or not this would be the magic bullet."
Academy Middle School has seen three principals in recent years, and several curriculum initiatives, such as math or literacy programs, that don't always work, Bourbeau said.
"They want this to be what works," he said of the pilot school.
Bourbeau teaches at Fitchburg Arts Academy, currently the only pilot school outside Boston.
If Academy Middle School became a pilot, it would be a slightly different type than FAA.
The DOE offered Academy -- along with three other schools in the state -- the option of becoming a Commonwealth pilot school.
A governing board of teachers and parents will run the school, like in other pilot schools. But the state will more closely monitor test scores and other school practices, such as class size, student-teacher ratios, professional collaborative time, length of instructional periods and length of student and teacher day, according to guidelines written by the Department of Education.
The state, in partnership with certain high-tech companies that have committed to help, will give Academy money to facilitate planning this spring, Anderson, the DOE chairman said.
The state will also give Academy money once the school is underway.
Pilot schools are valuable because the partnership between teachers and the administration "breeds innovation," Anderson said.
Teachers collaborate more between departments, and usually gain extra time for professional development.
An immeasurable difference also emerges in "attitude and culture," he added.
"There's a stigma that goes with an underperforming label. To eliminate that stigma and create a positive culture, it's intangible," Anderson said. "It's probably one the most positive outcomes."
The biggest hurdle in starting a pilot school is that it involves many unknowns, School Committee member Lisa Moison said in an interview last week. Moison served on the design team for FAA, and her daughter attends that school.
"You've got to give up a very traditional mode of doing things. It's really easy to get stuck in a way of thinking where you're inside a system, saying to yourself, 'Well, the system's too big, there's nothing I can do, I'm one person.' Whereas in a pilot school, you're responsible," Moison said.
But Kendra Engel, an English Language Arts teacher at FAA, said this power is part of what makes a pilot school appealing.
"It allows for change," the energetic teacher said. "We're a work in progress."
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