Tuesday, June 5, 2012
School Committee with a stacked agenda, Venus in Transit, a channel change for LexMedia and more today in Lexington.
1. Stacked Agenda for School Committee: The Lexington School Committee is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Town Office Building and its agenda includes the announcemet of a new Clarke School Principal, a discussion of school improvement plans, a report on improving professional relationships and the superintendent's evaluation. 2. Estabrook Litigation: Prior to the School Committee's regularly scheduled meeting, it will go into an executive session, with the Board of Selectmen, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss Estabrook litigation, according to a posting on the town website. 3. Venus in Transit: About 6 p.m. this evening, Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun in such a way that we can see Venus's silhouette backlit by the Sun'…
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Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
According to advice from legal counsel, the School Committee can review the data collected during the Wellman Report process, but members must be careful about discussing how it shapes their opinions.
Following a May 9 meeting with legal counsel, the Lexington School Committee will review data gathered during the compilation of the Wellman Report and potentially draw its own conclusions about the report with regard to alleged teacher moral issues within the district. The Wednesday afternoon meeting saw the School Committee consult both town and School Committee counsel about how to approach and use the data – including slips of paper and redacted it interviews consultant Bruce Wellman conducted with district employees – committee members voted April 25 to review. According to Town Counsel Kevin Bott, School Committee members can review the data individually to deepen their understanding of Wellman’s report and the climate within the …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
On short notice, the School Committee tomorrow will seek legal advice regarding how to proceed with the Wellman Report data it voted to review in late April.
The Lexington School Committee is meeting at 3 p.m. tomorrow, May 9, at the Town Office Building, and the only item on its agenda is a discussion with the School Committee and town counsel regarding the Wellman Report data voted to review. On April 25, the School Committee voted in favor of reviewing a redacted version of comments provided by school staff in interviews with consultant Bruce Wellman, who was hired to study alleged issues with teacher morale and professional relationships within the school district. However, two weeks later, that information has not yet been provided. Exactly how the School Commitee moves forward with that data could hinge on tomorrow’s discussion, according to School Committee Chair Mary Ann Stewart, who …
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Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
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Friday, March 23, 2012
Moving forward with consultant Bruce Wellman's report on improving teacher morale in the Lexington Public Schools will involve relying on district staff to address personnel issues, School Committee Chair Mary Ann Stewart said Friday.
Mary Ann Stewart, chairwoman of the Lexington School Committee, is in the same boat as most who attended her board’s March 13 meeting where consultant Bruce Wellman delivered his report on improving professional relationships in the Lexington Public Schools. “I’m interested in hearing what the next steps are,” Stewart said by phone on Friday. “I think it’s a little bit of a puzzle, because some of the issues are personnel, and that’s the internal piece the School Committee is never going to have direct access to unless people tell us. We’re just going to have to rely on the staff in the schools to find out about the work that is going on in the schools.” That work could begin next Monday, March 26, when, according to Stewart, Lexington …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
School Committee members and Lexington residents said they expected the independent consultant's report, titled “Improving Professional Relationships in the Lexington Public Schools" to go deeper into alleged morale issues.
A much-anticipated report delivered during the School Committee's meeting Tuesday night at Cary Hall wasn’t exactly the examination of alleged teacher morale issues many people were expecting, according to public responses to the presentation. Efforts to uphold the Lexington Public Schools’ culture of high performance and expectations amid a significant change process driven by internal and external forces have led to tensions affecting relationships and job satisfaction, according to the report, which consultant Bruce Wellman prepared and presented after months of work with a steering committee of administrators, teachers and staff. But several School Committee members and residents who commented publicly last night said they didn’t feel…
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
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Monday, March 12, 2012
A report on teacher morale within the Lexington Public Schools will be delivered to staff today and presented at the School Committee meeting tomorrow, March 13, at which time the public can question and comment.
The following announcement was provided by Mary Ann Stewart, chairwoman of the Lexington School Committee. In response to School Committee and community discussions and concerns last spring regarding teacher morale, an independent consultant was hired to study interpersonal professional relationships within the Lexington Public Schools. A 10-member Steering Committee comprised of five administrators and five teacher union representatives was established to work with Bruce Wellman to facilitate the review process. On Tuesday, March 13, the School Committee will hear Wellman's report. The meeting will be held in Cary Hall Auditorium, at 7:30 p.m. Members of the Public, as always, are invited to attend or view the proceedings via LexMedia. …
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
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Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A report on teacher morale within the Lexington Public Schools will be delivered to staff next Monday, March 12 and presented at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, March 13, at which time the public can question and comment.
The following announcement was provided by Mary Ann Stewart, chairwoman of the Lexington School Committee. In response to School Committee and community discussions and concerns last spring regarding teacher morale, an independent consultant was hired to study interpersonal professional relationships within the Lexington Public Schools. A 10-member Steering Committee comprised of five administrators and five teacher union representatives was established to work with Bruce Wellman to facilitate the review process. On Tuesday, March 13, the School Committee will hear Wellman's report. The meeting will be held in Cary Hall Auditorium, at 7:30 p.m. Members of the Public, as always, are invited to attend or view the proceedings via LexMedia. …
42.446369
-71.22389
Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/teacher-morale-issus-on-tap-next-tuesday
232593
/locations/6534980
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Share your opinion in the comments.
Over the past month or better, School Committee members have seen and heard an outpouring of comments -- public and not -- about process and transparency, not to mention teacher morale. It came to a head last week, during a June 7 meeting at which audience members expected to opine on a pending contract extension for Superintendent Paul Ash only to have the School Committee reveal the contract was voted on during a June 1 executive session. In the days that followed, two residents -- Eric Eid-Reiner and Dawn McKenna -- have filed, or plan to file, complaints about Open Meeting Law violations related to the superintendent contract. Additionally, a pair of 2011 LHS grads completed a survey of 101 high school teachers, which reports low …
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
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And, after several weeks of rumors, LEA President Phyliss Neufeld says reported morale issues are not "a perception problem."
Lexington Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash on Wednesday revealed his plans for considering questions about teacher morale, a topic that has dominated public comment periods at School Committee meetings for several weeks. At the School Committee’s last scheduled meeting of the year, June 15, Ash told a maybe half-full Cary Hall he has spent a considerable amount of time in recent weeks considering, and talking to people about, real and perceived problems. Ash, who’s contract was extended this month, explained he came to Lexington six years ago touting striving for academic excellence for all students and forging caring and respectful relationships as his core beliefs. The four-part plan he unveiled aims to reinforce those principles and …
42.446369
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Cary Memorial Building
1605 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, MA
/articles/ash-to-address-reported-morale-issues-in-lps
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011
A contract extension announced last night could keep Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash in Lexington through June 2015.
The Lexington School Committee and Superintendent Paul Ash have agreed to a two-year contract extension that keeps Ash at the head of the district through June 2015. School Committee Chairwoman Mary Ann Stewart announced the deal, approved unanimously by voice vote during a June 1 executive session, at her board’s June 7 meeting. According to Stewart, the vote came after a series of executive session negotiations that began in April, after Ash received what Stewart described as a “strong evaluation” from committee members, administrators and others. Complete terms of the deal have not been revealed, but Stewart said the extension includes two additional years with the same annual salary increase rate of 3 percent. “It has already …
Patrick Ball
10:13 am on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Robin, School Committee member Sandro Alessandrini asked almost the same question on Tuesday. Among his feedback about this report was that he would like to see the data. I'm not sure that he received a real answer, but I'll double check. more ›