Bromfield English teacher Chris Jones presented the School Committee at its meeting Monday night with an official vote of no confidence from the Harvard Teachers Association. About three dozen parents and teachers, angered by the lack of progress in teacher contract negotiations and wanting to show support for the no-confidence vote, also crowded into the meeting, with several of them forcefully denouncing the School Committee for not working hard enough to safeguard the quality of the schools.
“We have no confidence that this School Committee is moving our system in the right direction, nor do we have any confidence that its members are showing the leadership necessary to maintain (let alone improve upon) the level of excellence in the Harvard Public Schools,” the teachers wrote in their no-confidence statement. “We are extremely disheartened and demoralized by what we see as the needless destruction of one of the best school systems in the state.”
—Mary Jane Shelton
The teachers’ statement went on to castigate the board for not showing leadership in lobbying for enough funds to keep up the quality of the schools.
The no-confidence resolution then spelled out four specific charges against the current school board. The teachers accuse the board of intentionally misleading the public on the negotiating issues, of being unwilling to compromise on health care cost-sharing, of not following their own standards to reach a settlement sensitive to the market for teacher services, and finally, of failing “to act as an independent advocate for the betterment of the Harvard schools rather than as an arm of the Finance Committee.”
Bromfield teacher and Harvard resident MaryEllen McGarty told the board that the teachers had voted overwhelmingly for the no-confidence resolution. In fact, many members had suggested such an action last August, but the contract negotiating team had urged patience, she said. However, with no settlement reached after over a year of negotiations, she said, the union membership has taken this step to get its message across. “I hope this board, or the next one, will earn back its [the union’s] confidence,” McGarty concluded.
Mary Jane Shelton, who has three children in the schools, accused the School Committee of making the teachers’ jobs more difficult by bringing in school-choice students and not keeping class sizes down, and then trying to take away teachers’ benefits as well.
“There are 125 kids in the eighth grade, and the science labs are not enough. There are 31 in the math class; it’s not what they [the teachers] signed on for. They are why people moved here…why are you letting these people suffer?” she demanded. Shelton pleaded for the board to settle the contract soon, as the acrimonious negotiations were already hurting the atmosphere at Bromfield.
“I know you get pressure from the selectmen and FinCom, but that’s why we elected you, to hold up to the pressure. You’re shooting yourselves in the foot…you want to attract teachers. These people will walk away, and we’ll be the losers,” Shelton concluded in a choking voice.
Second-grade teacher Jan Woodward told the board that the schools are a foundation of democracy and an institution that binds the town together, bringing art and music to residents, as well as providing education and social services to children.
“The teachers are the heart and soul of this institution. They need a contract that is competitive,” she said. Woodward urged the school board to stand up and defend the quality of the schools. “If you lead the way, we’ll be right there with you.”
The School Committee listened stoically to the speakers’ complaints, and then Vice-Chairman Will Verbits, who chaired the meeting, told the parents and teachers that his board is “very committed to coming up with a contract that is fair and balanced” for everyone concerned. He noted that there would be a tri-board meeting of the selectmen, the Finance Committee, and his board the following night to discuss next year’s budget, and encouraged all interested parties to attend the meeting. There was no other discussion by the school board of the no-confidence vote at that point, and the teachers and parents left.
Superintendent Thomas Jefferson did address Shelton’s complaints of overcrowding in the eighth grade during his report to the board. He noted that eight new eighth-graders who live in Harvard enrolled at Bromfield in the week before school started in September. These unexpected students, rather than new school choice students, caused class sizes to swell in that grade, he said.
At the end of the school board meeting, during the members’ commentary, several board members did respond to the accusations made earlier by the teachers and irate parents, and defended the board’s actions.
“We were accused of thinking of the schools as a business—we are not,” Paul Wormser said. He argued that the board is trying to find a way to make a sustainable future for the schools. “We are trying to ensure good schools in the long term. We’re still working on it.”
Member Jeff Shaw said he was upset by the vote of no-confidence by the teachers, but then noted wryly that the selectmen and Finance Committee might also vote no confidence in the school board, because “they don’t trust us to not give away the store” in the teacher contract negotiations.
For his part, Jefferson told the board that sometimes in making a decision, the choice is between doing something hard, and doing something even harder. “If it was easy, with the talent on both sides of the [bargaining] table, we’d have gotten to a solution by now,” he said.
