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Date: 6/20/2022
LUDLOW – After a post circulated the Ludlow Community Forum on Facebook about music teachers being asked to transfer to different schools in the district and community members became upset with the changes, many parents and students attended the June 14 meeting of the Ludlow School Committee to express their concerns about the changes.
Before the public comment session began, Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth read a prepared statement that said it is not uncommon for teachers to be transferred between buildings after a school year.
“We have approximately seven teachers district-wide transferring between buildings to best fit the needs of students, we reassign teachers grade levels and subjects frequently at the end of a school year to best fit the needs of the next school year,” she said.
Nemeth said it was concerning that teachers were breaking contractual obligations to speak about the transfers publicly.
“The teachers who have reached out to this audience to save their positions in certain buildings are bound by contractual language that they have not adhered to,” she said. “There is a process for them by their union and they are choosing not to follow the process. I am perplexed as to why they choose to upset the students they claim to want to protect and teach.”
Citing the budget challenges this year, Nemeth said it was difficult to fund everything without making changes.
“Many of you have accused me personally of being power hungry or making decisions out of revenge for not getting my way during a budget crisis. My way is to fund all teachers, all programs and add positions to the budget every year, unfortunately that’s not what happened this year,” she said. “Superintendents make difficult decisions but always in the best interests of students, principals also make difficult decisions every day.”
Going back to her days as the principal at Ludlow High School, Nemeth said she has supported the music programs.
“If any of you knew me, you would know I have been trying to build the chorus and band program for years. I encouraged and helped Mr. [Kevin] McAvoy expand his teaching and offer Music Therapy, History of Pop Culture and Songwriting,” she said. “In regard to chorus, I asked Mr. [Daniel] Henry to start an acapella group or some other type of group about six or seven years ago; he started a men’s chorus with 100 percent of my support.”
Nemeth added the changes will be implemented to continue to grow the music program.
“The music program in Ludlow Public Schools is a strong one and it will continue to be. The changes that may occur have been well thought out, solely to keep the program growing. This issue of transfers is contractual language that is being reviewed by myself, our school attorney and the teachers’ union,” she said.
Following Nemeth’s comments, the committee opened the floor to public comment from students, family members and stakeholders in the district. Many of the speakers spoke in favor of keeping the teachers in their current positions, with some students going as far as saying that they would quit band in the fall if the teachers were moved.
One parent spoke about his concerns with students quitting because of the teacher transfers.
“Kids dropping out of band because of the teacher switches is an issue, it’s going to hurt the music program in the schools. The kids are amazing, changing anything is going to make it worse, you are going to lose kids, you’re going to lose their love of music and it’s going to hurt the music system,” he said.
Another speaker said there was no need to move the teachers to different buildings.
“I don’t see what the reason is for the changes. These decisions are having negative impacts on our kids, don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken,” he said.
Committee member Ron Saloio said he had concerns about moving teachers in the music program now.
“We have a program that is successful, it is struggling because of COVID [-19] obviously, the numbers are down and it’s struggling; that is not the time to throw it in the blender and switch it all up, this is the time to work with what you have and build,” he said.
Committee Vice Chair Jeffrey Laing said he was also concerned about students quitting because of the staffing changes.
“If the kids say they want to quit, that is not the best avenue and there is probably a better way to do it,” he said. “The kids seem to like their teachers where they are.”
The Ludlow School Committee next meets on June 28 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the July 7 edition of The Reminder.