Blackstone Valley

Teachers air their concerns

09:54 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 8, 2005

By CYNTHIA NEEDHAM
Journal Staff Writer

Scott Gray is used to making do.

As a science teacher at Woonsocket Middle School, he teaches introductory biology and chemistry with no lab, no petri dishes, not even running water.

For 18 years he's crossed the hall, fetching buckets of water from a slop sink in a broom closet so he can teach seventh graders basic science.

He rarely complains about the lack of resources and he admits he even manages to have a little fun along they way.

But after nearly two decades of making do, he says he's fed up.

He's not alone.

In recent months and weeks, Woonsocket Middle School teachers have grown enraged about the administration, the safety issues and the physical conditions in the building.

Like Gray, the teachers are well-versed in the obstacles of inner-city education, obstacles they say they tackle with unflappable enthusiasm.

These days though, they've reached their limit.

"I'm just so frustrated. It's getting to the point where it's just hard to do your job," says Chris Williamson, a 28-year-old resource teacher.

At first glance, Williamson and Gray are about as different as two faculty members come. Gray, 49, has been teaching since 1979, when Williamson was just 2 years old.

Gray is thinking of slowing down. Williamson, now in his fifth year, is just getting started.

For all their differences, the two agree that the school needs fixing. And soon.

That's why they talked at length to a reporter.

Of the dozens of teachers asked to speak on the record about their concerns, only a handful agreed. Those who did not wish to be quoted, however, conveyed opinions similar to those expressed by Gray and Williamson.

"The reason I'm talking is that I want to see our school saved," Gray said. "I want to see if my opening my mouth and starting a dialogue does anything to help that along."

Their list of complaints is succinct: with a new principal and four new assistants this year, there is no consistency when it comes to discipline or academic initiatives.

But the biggest gripe, the two men say, is the administration's unwillingness to listen to teachers when things aren't working.

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Chris Williamson, a resource teacher at Woonsocket Middle School, works with students Savanna Roderick and Daniel Robillard.

"Donna Valentine is my seventh principal. Tony D'Acchioli is my fourth superintendent. I've outlasted them all," Gray said. "My biggest frustration is that we're not really being listened to. People like me, we've been there a long time. We know what works and what doesn't. We know why things are done certain ways. It seems like the administration wants to do it their way, just because it's their way."

Instead, Williamson says, they've been told they must "get on board," or as Valentine likes to say, "get out of the way."

"She keeps talking about getting on the bus, but I don't think you'll persuade teachers to get on a bus when they don't know where it's going," Williamson says.

"We're told she has a vision. We haven't been told what that is. Or if there is a vision, it hasn't been communicated to teachers. In order to work, it has to be shared," Gray says.

A recent report by a team of visiting educators for the state Department of Education agrees that while the administration says it has a vision for change, it is not being communicated effectively to the faculty. That means "polarization continues to obstruct progress," the report says.

Talking wasn't always this hard.

When Valentine arrived at the school two weeks after classes began last fall, teachers say they saw her as someone who might be in it for the long haul, and looked forward to working with her.

A Journal reporter who spent a day in the school during Valentine's first week on the job witnessed their excitement.

Within weeks, it had evaporated.

Schools Supt. Anthony D'Acchioli and Valentine say that's an exaggeration. They believe the majority of faculty members still support their mission and blame the teachers' union and the media for publicizing the views of a few "constant complainers."

Yet more than half the faculty (nearly 70 people) flooded a School Committee meeting two weeks ago in a show of support for the handful of teachers who spoke up about school problems.

And anyone who walks the halls of Woonsocket Middle School can see that many of the teachers are unhappy.

Their most concrete criticism is the administration's approach to discipline.

Valentine and her assistant principals wrote a discipline guide, but teachers say they rarely follow it.

The administration argues that discipline should start in the classroom, that teachers must take responsibility for classroom management, thereby dealing with problems before they escalate to full-fledged crises.

The recent report by the team of visiting educators agrees with that philosophy.

Teachers "often ignore problem behaviors and hope they will just go away. Teachers say that students run the school and are out of control, but in classes where management is strong, these problems are often defused and handled constructively within the classroom," it says.

While Gray agrees with that theory, he says that when dealing with students who may become violent, classroom management simply isn't enough.

In those cases, the administration's failure to effectively discipline students can have dangerous consequences, he says.

Two weeks after Gray sat down with a reporter to be interviewed for this story, he was assaulted by a student, who hit him during a fire drill.

According to the police report, Gray was trying to contain a fight between the 13-year-old boy and another student when the boy repeatedly cursed at Gray, pushed him and punched him in the hand.

The incident was so disturbing, Gray says, that he's currently seeking therapy to help him cope. He's also filed charges against the seventh grader, who faces one count of assault and battery. The boy's case has been referred to Family Court.

But the state report finds that classroom problems go beyond discipline. Teachers must take responsibility for shoring up academics, as well, it says.

Academics at Woonsocket Middle School simply aren't rigorous enough, it concludes. In reading and writing, teachers aren't educating students to be imaginative learners or creative problem solvers, and expectations are generally low.

Teachers believe they are doing what's necessary to help students succeed.

Despite that, fewer than 2 out of 10 seventh graders know how to write a coherent, grammatically correct paragraph.

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Teacher Scott Gray at Woonsocket Middle School conducts a science class at the school.

"Far too many teachers in all content areas do not teach their students to write well," the visiting team's report says."These teachers do not have high and clear expectations for student writing and many are not motivated or committed to teach writing."

"Teachers say that their students cannot do more difficult work, because students 'will have a meltdown;' whereas students want teachers to 'teach us more."'

Todd Flaherty, a deputy commissioner with the state Department of Education, says, "In general, Woonsocket has shown some nice gains at the elementary level. ... We feel that if the middle school isn't able to sustain gains made at the elementaries and those gains are wiped out, that's a real concern for us."

Woonsocket Teachers' Guild President Richard DiPardo blames the district for not investing in what he calls "productive and consistent" professional development. Teachers spend hours on programs they say they'll never use, while other classroom needs go ignored, he said.

Not true, says Linda Filomeno, the School Department's literacy and professional development coordinator. Woonsocket's professional development is considered cutting edge, she says. Instead of relying on lecture-style programs used by other districts, Woonsocket has worked hard to tailor its development to help teachers in whatever capacity they say they want.

She also points to a successful mentoring program at the middle school which sends retired teachers into classrooms to help faculty members who might need extra guidance.

D'Acchioli, the superintendent, says that professional development would be more effective if the union stopped resisting every initiative, demanding extra pay for extra hours and wanting to know what's in it for them. He believes the union has become too powerful, that teachers are hiding behind contracts and refusing to go the extra mile needed to improve the school.

Last summer, the School Department ran an optional "summer academy" for teachers. Teachers were paid to attend, the registration was easy and it offered teachers a chance to learn more about new academic practices.

Just a handful signed up.

Chris Williamson says it's not that teachers aren't interested in getting better. "These initiatives change from year to year. One year we're doing this, the next year we're not," he says.

That's not a valid excuse, says Filomeno. Many of the changes in classroom practices are federally mandated. They're exactly the same requirements as those faced by every middle school around the country.

DiPardo, the union president who teaches at the high school, knows some teachers are fond of excuses. He'll even acknowledge that there are some "problem teachers" among the middle school faculty.

But DiPardo defends the majority of the teachers at the school. In 22 years as union president, he says he's never seen such animosity.

School Department officials have called DiPardo the instigator in this power struggle, accusing him of resisting change on any level.

Anyone who has heard DiPardo speak before the School Committee knows he is a passionate defender of teachers. Away from the microphone, however, DiPardo is less strident.

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Woonsocket Middle School principal Donna Valentine stops by a classroom to speak to some teachers, including social studies teacher Bruce Heroux.

"Mrs. Valentine's force of personality can be useful and effective, but she does not have the experience with middle school-aged children. Neither do her vice principals," DiPardo says. "When you're dealing with trying to increase sales that's one thing, but in education, you have to engage your staff or it won't work. There's a difference between being an administrator and an educational leader."

Asked how he would solve the school's problems, DiPardo launches into a list of ideas.

For starters, he says communication is non-negotiable. Until the adults in the building learn to listen to one another, nothing will be solved.

That means workshop sessions in which Valentine and her staff clearly articulate their ideas, instead of governing by memo. Next, he says, Valentine must work to engage her faculty -- which he says she's never done. As he puts it, "When you're losing in baseball, you can't fire the whole team."

That's where the School Improvement Team -- made up of administrators, teachers, parents and even students -- comes in. As chairwoman, Sandy Gasbarro leads the group responsible for developing a corrective-action plan for the school. She's also an English as a Second Language teacher with 17 years' experience at the middle school.

Gasbarro says the faculty has been receptive to her group, promising they will do whatever is necessary to help their students succeed. So have the administrators.

She believes the diverse makeup of the team may help them jumpstart the peace process everyone in the building so desperately needs.

She's not the only one. In a recent memo to the district, obtained by The Journal, Rick Richards, a state Department of Education school support official, called the team's draft of an action plan "as good a performance as I've ever seen."

Teachers say they hope that plan will include restoring the team leaders who helped oversee academic clusters. The 16 leaders, cut from last year's budget, served as liaisons between teachers and administrators, passing on information about students and classroom problems.

An advisory system, where one teacher serves as a mentor for a dozen students would be even better, teachers say. But teachers say that's a luxury they can't even imagine in their future.

For now, teacher Scott Gray says, "I honestly think our best shot at mending a lot of this is a cooling-off period over the summer. Everything is so heated right now, it is unrealistic to think much is going to improve."

"If everyone has a chance to cool off for a few months," he says, "maybe we can have a fresh start in the fall."

Staff writer Cynthia Needham can be reached at (401) 277-7374 or at cneedham [at] projo.com