To the Editor:

I would like to thank former Board of Education President Tim Quinn for beginning a conversation with the public about recent contract negotiations with teachers. It is difficult to make progress with set speeches and with the Board unable to respond. My letter is in response to Mr. Quinn’s remarks at a Board meeting and in a public letter, regarding an “absurd” narrative characterizing the Board as anti-teacher and the need for the public to educate itself on the school budget. I have been attending Board meetings and I find these things startling:

• 1. The members of the Board voted to use funds saved from the salaries of teachers who had retired and give that money to administrators as a raise. I understand that because there are fewer administrators, the cost of their raise was less than a raise for the teachers, but the effect on the individuals is the same. An administrator gets a raise but a teacher does not get offered a comparable raise.

Is hierarchy playing a role here? Is the Board playing its proper role as one of the legs supporting the organization — administration, staff, teachers, students, parents, the Board — with a balance of power between all legs ensuring the healthiest organization?

• 2. The members of the Board refuse to speak with John Baxter and the PREA negotiating team. The Board speaks through a lawyer and a state mediator at $1,500 per day. Why not have direct communication with the teachers? Putting lawyers and mediators into the process costs money and prevents open discussion.

• 3. More recently, the School District plans to hire a consultant to “listen” to people and set goals for the future. Is the Board listening to the countless students, teachers, and parents who are speaking (for free) month after month about their priorities (teachers in classrooms before school, student clubs meetings, and school trips). My priority is to spend more money on teachers and smaller class sizes in the middle and high schools. Many of the core classes at these combined schools approach 30 students, too big for effective teaching and learning. In addition, English teachers’ class load has increased from 4 to 5 classes a day, and English teachers have roughly 125 students, making it impossible for detailed assistance and comments on students’ writing. Is this contributing to the relatively lower reading/writing SATs (and other standardized tests) at the high school as compared to the higher scores in the math sections of the test?

As someone who has interviewed and made hiring decisions on dozens of applicants over the last decade, the number one reason why people do not get jobs is poor writing or communicating skills. Technology changes, science advances, but fundamental writing and communication skills that should be taught in middle and high schools will stay with a student their whole lives.

Robert Dodge

Maple Street