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Date: 7/13/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent John Provost opened the School Committee meeting on his first day in the position. He thanked everyone who had welcomed him.
The School Committee is required to reorganize at the first meeting of the new fiscal year. Committee member Maura Ryan, who served as vice chair in the 2022 fiscal year (FY22) said that because the superintendent had recently changed, it was in the district’s best interest to maintain continuity with Michal Boudreau again serving as chair. The rest of the committee agreed. In the same vein, Ryan was chosen as vice chair and Committee member Sean Kennedy was selected to continue serving as secretary.
Curriculum Coordinator
Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning Lisa Curtin had created position descriptions and posted internally for two curriculum coordinators in both the math and English language arts programs for Grades K-8. The roles come with two-year terms and $15,000 stipends and are open to classroom teachers or coaches.
Boudreau told Curtin that the positions seemed similar to that of instructional coaches, but the stipend is larger than typical for that position. Curtin explained that the coordinators would not be doing the same work as coaches, who support teachers with professional development and mentoring. Instead, she likened the coordinators to high school department heads and said the focus of the work would be vertical integration. “There’s a lot of work to be done,” in integrating curriculum between grades.
Boudreau asked how a teacher would be able to do this work and “carry their load” in the classroom. Committee member Lisa Murray also wanted to know how the teachers could teach and do coordinator work without working on curriculum during classes.
Curtin said the curriculum work would be done during free periods, which are usually used for planning, or during nights, weekends and vacations. She said teachers will have more time to complete this work because the recent adoption of curriculum programs means they will not need to write their own curriculum as they have in years past.
Murray commented that there were more “efficient” uses for $120,000 and School Committee member Sherrill Caruana agreed. She said the district has expressed a “dire need” for funding to hire more coaches. Aaron Oborne, whose title was updated to assistant superintendent of school for finance, operations and human resources as part of his new contract, explained that the coordinator stipends were funded through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) grants.
Kennedy contended that ESSER money was provided for use on curriculum and the coordinator positions were how Curtin felt it could best be used.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi asked if the position would maximize the time coaches can spend supporting teachers. Curtin confirmed that and said coaches were “excited” to spend more time working with teachers.
Ryan said she felt the position was “rushed through,” and it should have been part of the steps taken to put the strategic plan in motion. Bontempi countered, “You can’t be sitting around waiting for a [strategic plan] committee vote in October.”
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan was concerned with how the stipend positions would affect the recently signed contract with the teachers’ union, Hampden-Wilbraham Education Association (HWEA).
“I would encourage us to be very careful,” Kiernan said. “If we’re adding a position, we need to add it to the contract.” Bontempi suggested reaching out to the district’s legal counsel to make sure the role didn’t run the district afoul of contract requirements but noted other stipend positions aren’t run past HWEA.
Kennedy told Boudreau it set a “dangerous precedent” for a committee member to put an issue they had with an administrative decision on the agenda, rather than going directly to the administrator, but Kiernan defended the move and said that something which raises questions should go through the School Committee chair to be addressed.
Meal Changes
Osborne brought a change in meal pricing to the committee. Elementary level lunches are set to increase to $3.25, while high school lunches would go up to $3.50. The committee approved the new prices.
Kennedy suggested using a vendor such as Homegrown Springfield’s Culinary and Nutrition Center, which makes meals for Springfield Public Schools. “I’d really like to have true, good food,” Kennedy said. Kiernan commented that the facility is “gorgeous.” It was decided that the district would explore using such a vendor.