Quincy Citywide Parent’s Council

Minutes for December 12^th, 2005

Broad Meadows Middle School.

Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm, with Barbara Isola presiding.

The minutes from November were accepted, with a correction to the spelling of Sylvia Pattavina’s last name.

Barbara reminded representatives to pay their dues.

Barbara informed us that Neal and Eileen Mullin are taking a break from Citywide and that the schools represented by them will need to find new representatives. This also leaves us needing representatives for the School Committee meetings. Barbara asked for volunteers. The meetings are usually twice a month. The duties involved are to go to School Committee meetings and report back to Citywide PTO. We usually speak during Open Forum on issues of concern to us. Barbara will speak at this weeks’ meeting at North Quincy High School at 6:00pm to say thank you and bid farewell to the departing School Committee members. They were always responsive to Citywide. It was decided to get them poinsettias as a parting gift.

Barbara brought up the question about the Homework Policy and how it is not a vacation for the children or the parents if they have homework to do. There should be no homework during vacation and no big projects due at the end of a vacation. All representatives agreed that there should be no homework during vacation periods. Barbara will bring it up at the next School Committee meeting. Sue Sheridan recapped the minutes from a meeting last year when this subject came up and at that time Elaine Dwyer reported that Dr. DeCristofaro recommended to teachers to not give homework over vacation. It was agreed that we should still try to get this made into a policy.

Fiona Canavan brought up the security concerns at Central Middle School and how she has entered the school through unlocked doors a dozen times since September. On one occasion a man with a backpack attempted to enter with her saying he needed to use the bathroom. The office staff seems annoyed when it is pointed out that the doors are unlocked regularly. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Fay-Beers informed her that the intercoms are not working, nor is the school’s Caller ID system. Barbara suggested that the school PTO call Dr. DeCristofaro and ask for a meeting with him about the security concerns before we go to School Committee.

Roxanne Renken said that Atlantic Middle School has not had an occupancy permit since March 2005, as it is not in compliance with the Fire Department regulations. Twenty-one of the fire extinguishers have not been inspected since September 2003. The Atlantic PTO will call Dr. DeCristofaro to see what is can be done to correct this situation.

Paul Phillips, President of the Quincy Education Association (QEA) Teachers Union was our guest speaker. The QEA has 870 members, with 420 with less than 10 years in QPS.

 He spoke about the safety concerns at QPS. Five to six schools can’t do a lockdown right now due to lack of communications within the school buildings. Communication between classroom and office is vital and non-operational right now at several schools (named Central, Wollaston and QHS). Parents should be very concerned about that. Ceilings are falling in at some schools and heating is a problem at other schools. Paul is constantly calling the maintenance department. (Paul suggested some of the money the City is receiving from Quincy College could go toward paying for the maintenance issues). Rent money from Quincy College is earmarked for sports and foreign language programs.  The City doesn’t want to spend any money on Central or QHS.

Contract negotiations are up coming and the teacher representatives are ready to go. Young teachers have many concerns. In order to teach, they must have a Bachelors Degree and pass a certification test (they must get re-certified every 5 years). Then they have to get a Masters Degree within 5 years and must take many courses. They do not get reimbursed for courses whereas other communities do reimburse their teachers. This is an issue that will be brought up during negotiations. Another issue is childcare for teacher’s children. This was brought up in the past but didn’t happen as there was no classroom space available for a daycare. Paul also sends out many information packages on maternity leave.

 The Department of Education changes their rules on a whim, which frustrates teachers. All public employees are having a problem with a program that used to accumulate the longevity pay for the last three years of their employment so that they could retire on a better pension. Teachers do not get Social Security. The average retirement pension for teachers is 80% of their salary. The State is now saying that they don’t want to do this anymore and teachers are very upset. During negotiations they will be looking for ways to cushion that blow to teachers.

Many teachers (80–90) are retiring this year. At the last negotiations they got rid of the 1^st step on the pay scale. They needed better salaries for teachers coming in. We lose 1 out of 5 teachers in the first year, and another within five years. Roseann Russell asked about the attitude of the young teachers about the new education system. Paul said that see it as just the way things are. It is harder on older teachers. Kids graduating college now were on the pilot program for MCAS.

Education Reform will be on the table this year. The State is talking about redoing Education Reform. The test scores are going up and that’s all the State cares about, but we are focusing on only certain subjects. Math is a pre-occupation. We must resist pressure to get test scores up. Non-tested subjects are being devalued. Barbara commented that test scores only seem to get attention when they aren’t good. Paul agreed. Some schools (Atherton Hough, Bernazanni and Montclair as examples) no longer have daily scheduled recess. Therefore, at lunchtime children are eating like maniacs, or skipping eating in order to get some playtime outside. QPS is trying to retain other subjects, like music and art. There is an Activity Stipend Account (ASC) in the school budget for the past ten years for after school enrichment. It is now all going to academic enrichment.

Hank Brawley questioned State Frameworks and textbooks. Paul said that textbooks are being more aligned to the curriculum. Paul agreed that the State Framework is a very rough guideline. Hank commented on the fact that there are 12-year-old Social Studies at AHS. Extra assistance books are purchased through the ASC. Paul said that teachers hate prescriptive (prescribed books) teaching, as it leaves no room for imaginative teaching and going off in a different direction. All instruction in QPS is assessment orientated.

Hank asked if anything from the District Improvement Plan has been implemented. Professional Development has. At Professional Development they are supposed to figure out how what to teach and how to fill the gaps. The Curriculum Framework has lots of subject matter but not all lends itself to testing so it isn’t covered. Colleen Roberts is the one to talk to about the Curriculum Framework.

Paul said that special needs teachers are amazing in all that they do. They hate the alternative MCAS test as no child passes it and it is frustrating. It takes about six hours to administer the test. Any parent can choose to have their child do the regular MCAS. And the “No Child Left Behind” initiative will create failure in the school system.

On the Gifted and Talented Program, Paul said that it is great at the Elementary level, but that there are a lot of issues about the program at the Middle School level. They are special needs students and we have to try and meet those needs.

There is a listening tour of the Joint Committee on Education. Paul attended a meeting and passed out a questionnaire he responded to at the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50pm.