School Committee to scrutinze truck request
Date: 1/11/2011
Jan. 12, 2011By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
CHICOPEE — The School Committee voted to move to the Budget and Finance Subcommittee a request by Ron Simard, the director of maintenance, to purchase a new pickup truck valued at $40,683 at its meeting Jan. 5.
School Committee member Adam Lamontagne made the motion on the basis of not having enough information about why the new truck was needed and what features made this particular make and model — a 2011 Ford F-250 Crew Cab — necessary.
School Committee member Donald Lamothe asked for a list of current School Department vehicles and their purposes.
"I really want to know if we really need this," Lamothe said.
School Committee member Michael Pise said, "I don't understand why we need a brand new vehicle."
Simard was not in attendance to answer any questions.
*** In other action, Mayor Michael Bissonnette announced the joint meeting of the School Committee and the City Council to address the issue of the seat on the School Committee left vacant by the death of Susan Lecca will be Jan. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Chicopee Public Library.
Bissonnette also praised the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) for its efforts to establish "a viable instrument to evaluate teachers." He explained union officials have come under fire from teachers for this position.
Part of the controversy comes from the inclusion of students Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores as part of a way to judge the performance of a teacher, Bissonnette explained. He added that under the proposed plan, teachers evaluated with low marks would receive a year corrective period, after which if there is no improvement they would be terminated.
There have also been discussions on rewarding competence.
Bissonnette said he hopes the Chicopee Education Association will work closely with the MTA on this issue.
"I think this is a good starting point," he said.
School Committee member Chester Szetela asked if the MTA standards were binding to Chicopee and Bissonnette explained the evaluation plan was "an advisory message."
*** Bissonnette opened a conversation about rumors involving school choice students with an admission he was "hesitant to bring this up" as "last fall we had beaten [the subject of] school choice into the ground."
The mayor was referring to persistent claims that students from neighboring communities are being recruited to Chicopee to strengthen its sports teams.
Bissonnette said he would fire any administrator or coach who recruits an outside student to play athletics.
There are 236 school choice students in the Chicopee district that Bissonnette said do not negatively impact class size or the School Department's budget. The students do bring in $1.4 million to the budget each year. That $1.4 million is significant in light of a possible 4 percent cut in state support of municipal schools, he added.
School choice students are chosen for sports teams through a lottery system, he added.
Pise questioned whether or not the additional students affected the quality of education through larger class sizes and said, "other intangibles are affected through school choice.
Pise asserted that rumors about the lottery system could be quelled by having the lottery watched by "an impartial person," an idea that Bissonnette rejected.
*** Also at the meeting, School Committee member Marjorie Wojcik was elected as vice-chair of the committee and Mary Pniak-Costello was elected as the committee's representative to city government.
