Please Note.....
Budget Process Informational Meeting for all Parents and the Community
December 19, 2006 at 6:30 p.m.
High School Library
Reminder--The Snow Line number for cancellations/delays is 413-362-1898
Enclosed:
* Superintendent's Letter
* Incident Update
* Mass Phone Communication
* Budget Development
* Statement to Parents at November 29 meeting
* School Committee Meeting Agendas
Dear Everyone Learning @ Amherst, Region, and Pelham Schools:
Earlier this week I was interviewed on a local radio station about the recent incident involving one of our employees. The interviewer asked if I wanted the chance to share some good news about the schools that I wanted to discuss. (And a thank you to him for asking!)
What is the best news in our schools? It is what goes on in classrooms and the interactions between adults and kids every hour and every day!
Over the past month, I have observed dozens of mathematics lessons and classes in all five elementary schools, the middle school and the high school and dropped into dozens of other classrooms. The rapport between teachers and students, the richness of the content, and the motivating instruction are all noteworthy if not newsworthy. While the awards, the unique projects, and the events are what usually get featured in the papers and news, the daily lessons are the core of our work and the supportive interactions between administrators, counselors, and all adults throughout the day are the real highlights of our schools.
As we debrief those news events, begin the budget process, and address situations as they arise, I hope you will remain cognizant of the incredible work performed by our teachers and staff every day with and for your children. And, thank YOU for your support and development with your children and all the children in our community.
Thank you,
Jere Hochman
Superintendent
Incident Update
As you know, a week ago one of our teachers was arrested for possession of pornography. Within a two day period, we learned of this situation from the Amherst Police; performed our investigation; communicated with faculty, parents, and students; and planned our next steps. Over the past week, the high school counseling staff coordinated opportunities for students seeking support and asking questions of us. All school principals, district directors, and I have met to debrief what we have learned.
As I noted in my statement to the parents and community last week, since this situation occurred, many of us have been hearing about some students' concerns regarding this teacher. While these are not of the magnitude of the reason for the arrest, they are of a nature of which we should have been aware so we could intervene.
Coincidentally, over the past year, all district administrators and I have addressed our policies and procedures for personal safety, harassment, bullying, staff trainings, evaluation, response to concerns, and other related issues. I will provide an update and our plans for everyone's awareness about this very soon.
The statement that I read at the November 29 parent meeting is included below.
Mass Phone Communication
Within the next few weeks, we will test our new mass phone call communication system. The system will allow us to make a single phone call that will be sent immediately to all parents. We will use this to let parents know about emergencies, to look for a letter coming home with students, and other urgencies that might arise. I am not sure if we will use this for snow days. When we are trained and prepared for implementation, we will send a note home with students to announce a test phone call at a designated time.
Budget Development
We have begun the budget development process for the 2007-2008 budgets. December will continue to be the month to raise awareness. During January, we will reach out to parents, teachers, and the community for input on our budget situation. Simultaneously, as noted in a previous email, the Amherst Finance Committee will review the pros and cons of an override. At this time, the Finance Committee has declared the expectation for only a 1% increase in our budget. The School Committees and the administration will continue to build the budget during February and March as we monitor the progress of the town and state budget plans.
On Tuesday night, December 19, at 6:30, I will present the context of our budget process. This Budget 101 session will include an overview of the budget process and the implications of a 1% increase. We will meet in the High School Library. The meeting will last approximately one hour.
During January, in addition to our School Committee meetings to review the budget, I will hold meetings for parent councils and the community to provide input into our planning. Those dates will be posted soon.
Statement to Community Meeting
November 29, 2006
Jere Hochman
Superintendent
In the past two days, much attention has been given to the arrest of one of our teachers; efforts to communicate with students, faculty, and parents; and keeping focused on final exams and work at school. (.... Elaborate on communications sent home and website info... ) As you can see, we now move forward in three categories. First, the police will continue their investigation and forensic activity. Second, we will continue our response to students and others based on general and individual needs and issues. Third, I will insure that we continue our efforts in supervision and evaluation of employees and our responsibility to students when they have issues or concerns about adults.
Much attention is being given to the topic of pornography in an individual's home and looking for reassurances that neither our students nor our school are connected to that in any way. As you have read in our letters, while we are reassured by the initial report of the police investigation that this is isolated to an individual and his home, the matter is not closed and we will continue to listen to and respond to any concerns that are raised.
What has come to light are comments being made by students and adults indicating a sense of discomfort with this teacher. We are not here to criticize this teacher. While this is all very public and much information has been shared about him, it is still a personnel matter and we do not hold open forums to complain about adults. I do want to acknowledge that we are hearing expressions of concern about this individual. While the concerns are distant from the issue of pornography, they are still concerns.
And, they raise legitimate points that we should have known, we should have known a lot, and we should have known for a while.
Again--as this is not a hearing about an individual, I will extrapolate to a broader picture that is also legitimate: How do we train, supervise, and evaluate adults to the extent that: 1) we are preventing problems and concerns from rising and 2) every student, whether he or she has a complaint or concern or feeling of discomfort or a serious allegation or not, knows that there is a simple and safe avenue in place to express concern and know that it will be taken seriously, investigated, and followed up on?
I will be quite frank with you to state that over the years, in education, and no doubt in Amherst, our standards have been raised and our procedures to hold ourselves up to those standards have changed.
We employ hundreds of adults in this system. We have new procedures in our hiring process, employee orientation process, existence and use of employee handbooks, trainings and professional development, monitoring progress of adults, and even disciplining adults. I contend that the vast, vast majority of our teachers never make a mistake, never make a poor judgment, or never make stupid "What were you thinking?" decisions. But, we are not 100% on that. In general we are doing quite well.
At the same time, there remains a sense of isolation and either acceptance of, or tolerance for, modest but still inappropriate decisions and behaviors. That has been recognized. We have been working vigorously on establishing clearer expectations and higher standards. Subsequently, we have been working as vigorously on development of policy, systems, procedures, training, and monitoring to insure we are a culture reflected by professionalism, high standards, and ethics.
What matters right now is that there are concerns that have surfaced and many are asking "Why has this been tolerated? How is it being addressed? When will we see changes?" I could give you dozens of examples of what strengths we have built upon from previous years and measures we are taking for continued improvement. But that doesn't matter.
You want assurances that if your son or daughter has an issue with an adult that she or he knows with whom he or she should speak, that the concern will be acknowledged and respected, and that there will be substantial follow up and response. That is my responsibility. It is not a high school issue or single case issue, it is a system-wide issue and that is my responsibility.
While I can say I feel good about our progress on all the component parts of this critical need, we have a ways to go. I would like to be able to say that if the questions that are coming up now came up in six months and/or next school year that we would have known, we would have known a lot, and we would have known for a while and responded.
I assure you we will be even more aggressive with the many measures we have in development on this issue. And, we will, of course, follow up on every issue that comes to our attention now no matter its magnitude.
AGENDA for JOINT Meeting of the AMHERST & REGIONAL School Committees
6:30 PM, TUESDAY-December 5, 2006
High School Library
1. Call for Executive Session-6:30 PM
2. Welcome-7:30 PM
· A. Call to Order
· B. Agenda Review
· C. Minutes-November 14, 2006 (Amherst) and November 21, 2006 (Region)
3. Announcements and Public Comment-7:35 PM
4. Superintendent's Update-7:40 PM
· A. Incident of November 28, 2006
· B. Fall Sports
· C. Summer School
· D. Special Education Survey
· E. Memorandum of Understanding
· F. Demographic Study
· G. MCAS Update
5. Unfinished/Continuing Business-7:50 PM
· A. Policies for Second Reading
o 120.09 Community: Public Complaints Against School Personnel (Region)
o 230.10 Prohibition Against Firearms (Region)
o 400.14 Students: Tobacco Use (Region)
o 700.06 Staff: Tobacco Use (Region)
o 410.09 Pregnant Students (Region)
o 410.02 Enrollment: Entrance Age (Amherst)
o 410.18 Students: Bullying (Amherst)
o 420.07 Acceptable Use Network Policy (Amherst)
o 420.08 Students: Physical Restraint (Amherst)
· B. HEC Update (Region)
6. New Business-8:00 PM
· A. Charter School Public Comment Process
· B. Reduction in Staff Notice
· C. Budget Meeting #1-Data and Demographics
7. Reports-None
8. Sub-Committee Reports-9:00 PM
· A. Amherst Master Plan
9. School Committee Planning-9:15 PM
· A. Calendar review
· B. Items for upcoming meetings
10. Adjourn-9:30 PM
AGENDA for REGULAR Meeting of PELHAM School Committee
7:00 PM, THURSDAY-December 7, 2006
Pelham Community Building
1. Welcome-7:00 PM
· A. Reorganization
· B. Call to Order
· C. Agenda Review
· D. Minutes-November 7, 2006 (special meeting)
2. Announcements and Public Comment-7:10 PM
3. Superintendent's & Principal's Update-7:15 PM
· A. "Captain Clean" Health Unit-Paul Lipman presenting
4. Unfinished/Continuing Business-7:30 PM
· A. Policies for Approval
o 410.02 Enrollment: Entrance Age
o 410.03 Enrollment: School Admissions
o 410.04 Enrollment: Resident and Non-Resident Students
o 420.05 Conduct of Students: Interrogations & Searches
o 420.07 Acceptable Use Network Policy
o 420.08 Students: Physical Restraint
5. New Business-7:40 PM
· A. Spanish Language Program Initiative
6. Reports-None
7. School Committee Planning-8:00 PM
· A. Calendar review
· B. Items for upcoming meetings
· C. Sub-committee reports
8. Vote for Executive Session-None
9. Adjourn-8:05 PM