Dick Carpender, current chair of the School Committee's Finance subcommittee, sent me this over the weekend for publication (a version of this appeared in the Saturday Newport Daily News.)

Fellow Portsmouth Voters:
In a recent Letter to the Editor, Marilyn King discusses the school system in Portsmouth and what her experience would bring to the Committee. There are several misstatements that require clarification and correction so that the citizens of Portsmouth have accurate information.

Statement — "How can we negotiate a contract in good faith with NEA Portsmouth after giving the superintendent a 16% pay raise?"

Fact — The increase in the Superintendents base pay is 7.6%. In addition an advanced degree stipend of $4,550 dollars was added to her contract to make it consistent with the Portsmouth NEA Teachers and Administrators Contracts. This compensation package now places the Superintendent just below the State average for Superintendents. Also, the fact is the Superintendent's total percent increase over the last 3 years lags significantly behind the teachers.

Statement — "Morale must be at an all time low since teachers are being told that money is not available."

Fact — At the staff orientation last week morale was very high with one teacher saying, "she is pumped about this year."

Statement — "Teachers are being told money is not available, resulting in layoffs, increased teacher load and no pay raises for some teachers."

Fact — All teachers received a pay raise in the current contract year. Steps 1 through 9 received raises between 4.2 and 6.4 percent while Step 10 teachers received 3.1. The teachers agreed to give up the additional cost of living increase. No teacher went without.

Statement — "I pledge to give teachers a fair and equitable contract within our Town’s ability to pay. It will not take a Caruolo action to ratify a teacher contract."

Fact — A Caruolo action has absolutely nothing to do with the ratification of a teacher contract. Caruolo actions have to do with whether or not the School Department is appropriately funded to run a legal school system.

Statement — "The School Committee looked far and wide to find a qualified Ph.D.-educated Superintendent."

Fact — The School Committee looked far and wide to find a qualified superintendent. They found one in Sue Luis who just happened to have a PhD. A PhD was not a requirement.

Statement — "We find ourselves hiring outside consultants to do the various jobs that we know the superintendent is capable of doing"

Fact — While the superintendent is extremely qualified and capable there are a several concerns in this area. The first is time; the superintendent already puts in 50- to 60-hour work weeks. Secondly, internal resources are sometimes too close to the action and don’t have all the required skill sets. Third, credibility; these consultants were engaged at a time when the school department was going through some difficult times. Any report done internally would not have been believed. Finally, some of the outside consultants referenced were hired when high-level positions in the school department were vacant for an extended period of time.

Statement — "The expense of Prudence Island School is merely the cost of one teacher and utilities."

Fact — This statement ignores the costs of transportation, insurance, extracurricular subs, supplies, professional development days, and maintenance beyond the scope of what volunteers can do. The budgeted cost this year is $90,957 with a per pupil cost of $30,319.

All members of the sitting committee want to keep Prudence open and that is why we have worked with the Town Council over the last 2 years to do that. However, our responsibility is to the entire community and at some time it may not be fiscally possible to keep it open due the current State and Local financial situation. Sometimes as a committee member you need to make difficult decisions even though it may not be what you want to do in your heart.

E. Richard Carpender
Portsmouth School Committee