Claremont
Arbitrator Gary Altman ruled for a second time last month that the “A/B” schedule, where students take classes on alternate days for an entire year instead of every day for a semester, is in violation of a “side letter” in the collective bargaining agreement with the Sugar River Education Association.
Altman furthered ordered the district to pay $153,000 to the high school’s 33 teachers, or 8 percent of their salaries, for the increased instructional time since the new schedule was implemented. McGoodwin said that is equal to $4,636 per teacher.
McGoodwin and the board maintain the original block schedule did not meet the academic needs of students — a conclusion agreed with by a committee that studied the schedule — and that setting the schedule is the sole authority of the board.
“The School Board has unanimously agreed to not got back to the old schedule because it is its prerogative under state statute to set the schedule,” McGoodwin said Monday, citing RSA 189. “If the teachers’ union prevails, it strips the authority of the School Board.”
In an email, School Board Chairman Brian Rapp said “scheduling is a public policy decision for the board, and that responsibility cannot be given up.”
More importantly, McGoodwin said, are the data and statements from teachers and former students pointing out the block schedule’s numerous shortcomings, which contributed to an unacceptable student failure rate in many classes.
McGoodwin said tonight’s PowerPoint will look at the “evolution” of the schedule change — implemented in September despite the teachers’ union’s objection — going back to his 2011 hiring, when he began hearing too often of student failures. Data being presented tonight include failure rates as high as 31 percent in 10th grade English and 23 percent in algebra.
“The data is clear,” McGoodwin said Monday about the ineffectiveness of the old schedule, which consisted of four blocks per semester, each class held for 85 minutes a day. “My intent is to give the community the other side of the coin. I will talk about the evolution of the Stevens High School A/B schedule, why we moved away from the old schedule that had been in place for 15 years, and what (the reasons were for doing so). I will explain why students are saying ‘we have to have more work.’ Our goal is to address the needs of the students based on the data.”
After the arbitrator’s latest ruling, union President Tammy Lynn Yates issued a news release blaming the board and administration for failing to mediate an agreement acceptable to teachers to avoid the current impasse.
“The district could have worked with the SREA to develop a schedule that the teachers believed would be beneficial to the students,” the statement read.
McGoodwin pointed out the committee that developed the schedule included faculty members, and that the committee unanimously adopted the new schedule in early 2015.
“The committee was unanimous, and then things fell quiet and (the union) grieved,” McGoodwin said. “They say we can’t do it, it is in the collective bargaining agreement. But that is not the purpose of the agreement.”
The grievance, filed in February 2015, was denied by the administration but upheld by Altman, the arbitrator, last June. The School Board voted in July to implement the schedule, which led the union to file an unfair labor practice claim, asking the state Public Employees Labor Relations Board to force the district to revert to the old schedule before school started. During the last several months, efforts to reach a settlement in the matter have been unsuccessful, leading to Altman’s most recent ruling last month.
The process toward a new schedule began in fall 2014 when Patricia Barry became Stevens principal, and McGoodwin asked for a committee to address the question of whether the “4×4” schedule was meeting students’ needs.
Tonight, McGoodwin will highlight many of committee’s findings, including:
A gap of up to 18 months in taking core disciplines, such as math and English, leading to unacceptable failure rates and students entering their junior and senior years with too few credits.
Advanced Placement classes did not match up with AP exams in May.
Extra help time was scheduled for the end of the day when many students have no transportation. It also is seen as punitive. (With the A/B schedule, extra help — called flex time — takes place in the middle of the school day.)
Without four full years of mandatory math and English, students end up taking electives their senior year.
Other committee findings show that about a third of the 85 minutes in the block schedule was used for homework or “down time,” and the schedule did not provide enough support for students to do well on SATs and college essays. There also were statements from students about a lack of accountability, low expectations and the need for more focus on the basics, such as reading, writing and math.
“This is not just one statement from one student; it is based on many statements and data collected over time,” McGoodwin said. “My intent is not to bash teachers, but to show why we have the A/B schedule.
“With the information we had, we had to move forward with (the A/B schedule). If I didn’t do this, I might as well resign. How can I work in a district if I am not willing to confront this?”
Also tonight, Barry, the principal, will discuss the new schedule’s impact this year, as well as future plans.
The union’s attorney James Allmendinger, who works for the state chapter of the National Education Association, declined to comment for this story, saying he would wait to hear from the School Board.
The school board’s attorney, Matt Upton, said this week he had not spoken with the board, but believes the next step would be a hearing before the state labor relations board.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
