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Hanna Interviews Methuen
School You
have now been a School Committee member for two months.
How is it going? It’s going very, very well. We had our fourth meeting last night. Do you have your meetings every month? We have our meetings twice a month. They are on the second and fourth Monday of the month, but only one of them is televised. The second Monday of the month is televised. How come they are not all televised? That’s a very good question. One is in City Hall and the other is in the central building. The central building doesn’t have the equipment. I’d like to see all the meetings televised. Why don’t you change the policy and have all the meetings televised? I think that’s a very good idea and I am going to inquire as to what the situation is. What has been your biggest challenge so far? I think the most challenging task was hoping to get the nurses contract resolved. That was the first challenge and it has worked out OK. The next challenge for me is reducing class sizes. How many kids do you have per class, on average? We are trying to get them down to 20. Right now, we are at 25 or 26 children, especially with the kindergarten through third grade - where it is very difficult to have 26 or 27. It’s tough on the teachers. It’s tough on the students. We really need to get that number down. We are really jammed; I have visited all the grammar schools and the high school, and it was amazing to see how overcrowded some of the classes are. Can you go to visit the schools whenever you like, or do you have to make an appointment? No, I can go whenever I like. When I first went, I called the superintendent and had him set it up for me because I was new, but now I can just go. I do call the principals first just to let them know I’m coming.
Like I said, getting the class sizes down. At some point, once the hiring freeze is over, we will get either a new high school or a renovated high school. The high school is an open concept right now. I think we are the last one in the state to have open concept. What is that? There are no walls separating the classrooms. I saw a high school class when I visited and one teacher is teaching history and another teacher is teaching English. I don’t know how the kids focus. It’s so loud. Wait, how do they write on the blackboard if they have no walls? At my school the blackboard is on the walls. They use portable white boards on wheels. What is your favorite book? “Man of the House,” by Thomas O’Neill. It’s a book about his life and political memoirs. Should good teachers be paid the same as bad teachers? Well, I don’t think there should be any bad teachers. There is a system in place right now that will eliminate bad teachers if they are not performing. They have annual reviews by their principals and assistant principals. They are observed in the classroom. Hopefully, we don’t have any bad teachers - but there is a system in place to address that. What are you looking for in the next superintendent? What a great question. We voted last night to hire a consultant and we have NESDC coming in to do the search. We are looking for someone who fits into the community. We are fortunate in a way because we have a school system that doesn’t need fixing. It’s kind of like when you buy a business that’s a turnkey operation. We have a solid staff of administrators. We need someone who can manage a large system and can get along with the community. Why is the superintendent leaving? He is retiring from the Massachusetts system and going to work in the New Hampshire school system. Does your superintendent sit with the School Committee? Yes, he does. Do you think Methuen will get a new high school? I don’t
know. It will either be a new high school or we will
renovate the existing school. The way the system is set
up, the They will tell us what we can do. They did an assessment already and have seen the building. We have to meet a certain criteria for a new school. I’m not sure what the solution is right now. I have no preference, one way or the other, whether it is renovated or we build a new school. Whatever is most cost effective for the city... as long as it has walls. That’s all I care about right now. Did your children go to the Methuen public schools? No. My daughter, Ashley, went to Catholic schools throughout her school career. We believe in a Catholic education. She went to Presentation Nursery, then she went to Saint Monica’s, then to Central Catholic, and she even went to Providence College, which is run by the Dominican friars. Now she is the cheerleader coach at Central Catholic. How much time do you spend on School Committee work? I spend a lot of time. It’s a lot of reading. I really wasn’t aware it was that much reading and that much homework. I do enjoy it. Last night we got the proposed budget for 2007 and that’s pretty big. It has a $12 million increase. I think it will be about $67 million total. What do you think of MCAS? You ask very tough questions. I think the students should be tested. I think it is unfortunate that everyone is mixed in together. It’s a double-edged sword. I know that children have to be tested, but it is very unfair for special-needs kids and children who have English as a second language to be all lumped in together as if they are all the same when they aren’t. This makes the average scores go down because they are all averaged together. It’s a real problem, the way the structure is set up, because you are told you have to have your scores up to a certain percentage and you are judged based on that. Eventually, it is going to come down to money. Those that don’t perform well are going to be penalized. The bottom line is that, yes, the students should be tested, but there should be a better way to score everyone and judge them. One test doesn’t measure a whole student. When you are teaching to a test, it is very difficult and that is what is happening. We are all teaching to the test. Do you support merit pay for teachers and would you try to do that in Methuen? Wow, you really know your stuff here. To answer your question, no. I believe in civil service. I believe that there is a system in place, as we discussed earlier, if you have a bad teacher the bad teacher will be taken out of the picture. So, no I don’t believe in merit pay. Do you like being on the School Committee? Yes, very, very much; I am enjoying it. It is better than I had anticipated. That’s good. What do you do for a living? I am an accountant for Medicare. What is that? It is a health care program for people over the age of 65 and the disabled. So we take care of the elderly and those who cannot take care of themselves. How is the new committee working together? Well, I have to tell you, I think this is a really good committee. There have been no problems whatsoever. We are all getting along and we are working on the challenges - which is a little different from past committees. So far, so good. Is the mayor doing a good job as chairman of the School Committee? Yes, he is doing a very good job. The one thing I like about the mayor is that you know he is in charge of the meetings and that’s the way it should be. If you have a comment or suggestion or comment for Hanna you can email her at Valleypatriot@aol.com *Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
What do
you hope to accomplish?
Massachusetts School
Building Authority makes the decision.