Children Should Come First

The March 12 School Committee meeting agenda included discussion of the Personnel Assignment Team (PAT). Many residents may not be familiar with this policy and how it impacts student learning. The PAT sets the procedures by which teachers are chosen to fill open positions. The policy, created and approved in 2011, established a collaborative process between management and labor to ensure that teachers placed in classrooms are the most qualified option for that classroom, with seniority considered only if multiple teachers were equally qualified.

If this policy were changed or discarded, the impact on our children could be severe and there would be nothing anyone could do to prevent it.

We contacted Dr. Maureen Cotter who served on the School Committee during the time PAT policy was developed and approved. We appreciate her historical knowledge and wonder why the School Committee is revisiting this policy and stripping away management’s rights to provide our children with teachers who best meet their learning needs.

Dr. Cotter’s response is below.

~SK Spotlight

I checked out the PAT policy process discussed at a recent meeting. The superintendent nailed it in her brief at the School Committee meeting on March 12. The issue was then, and still is now, that “student learning be the primary reference point for decision making” per the Basic Education Plan (BEP). Bottom line: the school committee owns the responsibility to ensure professional staffing meets the goal of student learning and success.

I reviewed the 2011 meeting videos and listened to the school committee deliberate and frame their concerns. Looking back on discussions during the first and second readings, seniority was the major sticking point for committee members. Several members spoke about honoring teacher “consistency of excellence” – a thoughtful phrase to recognize seniority. It was the committee’s position that policy language must reflect an appropriate resolution.

The personnel assignment policy clearly addresses the issue:  “Whenever, based on all of the data available to the Superintendent, he/she concludes that two or more teachers will be equally effective, the most senior of those will be given the first opportunity for the assignment, provided that individual is certified in the subject area and is Highly Qualified in that subject area, as and if required.”  On June 14, 2011, after a third reading, the school committee approved the policy  unanimously.

How did the policy work for teachers who demonstrated “consistency” of excellence – has teacher experience been fairly considered? According to the superintendent’s brief, seniority has not been a significant issue except in a small number of cases and all those decisions were upheld by the union without protest. Implementation of the policy and procedures has been fair, respectful, and effective.

That school committee made a commitment to ensure that student needs were paramount in the personnel assignment policy, “It is the policy of the South Kingstown School Committee to recruit, hire and retain highly effective personnel who are to be placed based on student need in accordance with the needs of the South Kingstown School District.” While there is no doubt that SK teachers put students first in their classrooms, it is the school committee’s responsibility to assure teachers are placed in classrooms based primarily on student learning needs.

The union’s job is to protect the rights and interests of its members, i.e. the adults in the school department. Putting a job fair based primarily on seniority in the CBA would prioritize the adults with disregard to student-centered staffing decisions.

As the school committee considers the future of this policy, members and the public must decide if the students of the district or the adults of the district come first. A revision of the PAT would be an unfortunate example of when the two are NOT the same.

The teachers union provides an admirable and important function, advocating for teachers. It is the School Committee’s job to advocate for students. The vast majority of the time, these goals are congruent. But in the exceptional cases where they are in conflict, it is imperative that the children come first and that a policy be in place to insure these decisions are made with the proper focus.

Maureen Cotter