Sentinel
& Enterprise
Entire museum school
staff asks for transfer
By Kyle Alspach
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
FITCHBURG -- All nine teachers at the Museum Partnership School have
asked to be transferred to other schools for the fall after being told
they had to re-apply for their jobs, according to a union official.
Some of the teachers
had worked at the school as long for as long as six years, and took
offense at the requirement from the school administration, Fitchburg
Teachers Association President Chad Radock said.
"That was the
biggest misstep," Radock said Monday. "It caused an automatic
lack of trust."
The teachers also
didn't want to sign a new work agreement, which is being put into place
as the Museum Partnership School becomes a pilot school, Radock said.
The pilot school
model allows school officials and teachers more control over their own
budgets, schedules, curriculum and other matters.
The partnership
school teachers had concerns about certain details of the new work agreement,
Radock said, though he didn't offer specifics.
Radock said some
teachers might be persuaded to apply for the positions if the agreement
is tweaked.
The disclosure about
the teachers' decision to leave came at Monday's School Committee meeting,
and just days after the Fitchburg Art Museum formally withdrew its partnership
role with the school.
The museum had offered
space to classes from the school and also provided oversight of the
school's art-based curriculum, but ended both roles last week after
the schools cut a $150,000 annual payment to the museum.
School Committee
member Marcus DiNatale said he had "great concerns" about
the teachers opting out of the school, leaving just a few months to
hire and train a new staff.
"It doesn't
settle well with me," DiNatale said. "It makes me a little
nervous."
School Committee
member James O'Donnell also said he found it odd that the school is
now starting to recruit new students for the school.
"We have spoken
about the art museum's decision to withdraw, about teacher support being
withdrawn," O'Donnell said. "Do we now ask the students to
come to our schools?"
Superintendent Andre
Ravenelle said he planned to meet with the school's teachers this Wednesday
to discuss the matter and see if any might re-consider their decision.
But Ravenelle said
he is confident the district would be able to hire enough teachers to
staff the schools in time for the fall.
"We're starting
a new chapter," Ravenelle said.
Ravenelle said all
the teachers will be placed in other positions elsewhere in the district
so long as they meet the right certification.
Outside the meeting,
Radock acknowledged that it would be tough to train an entirely new
staff for the school by the fall.
The program, which
has existed since 1995, involves art in the teaching of traditional
subjects.
The school has been
part of B.F. Brown Middle School but will become an independent pilot
school in the fall.
Fitchburg's will
be the first pilot school outside Boston, which has a system of pilot
schools which advocates say have boosted student achievement by giving
more control over school matters to teachers.
