Portsmouth High School came in at #12 in the rankings for schools across the state, according to the web site GoLocalProv. PHS moved up 5 spots in the rankings compared to last year's #17 spot.

One can debate the math behind the rankings: Per-pupil spending and student-teacher ratio both count for 15%, with various NECAP and SAT scores (where PHS saw improvement) and graduation rate each counting for 10%.

Nine out of the 11 schools ahead of us spend more per pupil, and we edged up slightly in student-teacher ratio, which clearly helped us this year. However, since we have a school committee chair, Cynthia Perrotti, who ran on a campaign promise to "optimize staff to student ratio," I wouldn't count on cracking the top 10 anytime soon.

While I remain deeply suspicious of any arbitrary methodology like this (cooked up by online journalists, who are a notoriously unreliable bunch <grin>) it's useful to look at the charts. The big takeway for me was not the ranking, but seeing that Portsmouth continues to perform well and does so efficiently (only one school in the top 10 has a lower cost-per-pupil.)

A big THANK YOU to the teachers and staff who make this possible, and congrats to the students and families who put in the hours every day that are hidden behind these numbers.

The head of the Portsmouth teachers union, Joseph Cassady, released a letter to Portsmouth Patch this morning in response to the School Committee's e-mail to all parents on the status of contract negotiations. Tonight at 7pm at PHS, parents will have a chance to be heard, and I would encourage everyone to show up and support our schools.

Among the key points Cassady makes:

Seniority: "A most misunderstood concept," says Cassady. "The process is there to protect the individual from personal agendas and grudges that may have nothing to do with teaching."

Funding: "How disingenuous is it to complain about lack of funds when it was a conscious choice to underfund the schools."

Benefits: "[T]eachers agreed to increase our co-share and were actively seeking alternative plans. The teachers even agreed in principal to an HSA plan that was suggested by the School Committee only to have it withdrawn when we suggested we share the financial benefits of said plan. In addition, after that plan was rejected, we proposed a three year plan where we agreed to move to 20%, but that has not been announced."

The Cost Difference: "We [...] agreed to take no increases for the fourth in five years. It is interesting that a group that has been so maligned in public is given no credit for taking next to nothing for half a decade."

Cassady's conclusion bears repeating at length:

"PCC-like behavior (or Tea Party) has shredded this community. They have so valued tax decreases that they have devalued everything else. Our schools are the backbone of our community. To suggest that anything else takes precedence is to forget how much we depend on our next generation. They are the future. We will depend on them and in return we have an obligation to them. Teachers are one of our most valuable assets and Portsmouth has the best. No one is honestly arguing that they are not. Instead they shroud their points in vague comments of how bad Rhode Island is or, worse yet, how unprepared our kids are. None of this stands up to scrutiny, but fear-mongering is not meant to be provable—only terrifying. Enough of the fear, time for us to stand up and take back our schools."

You can read the rest of Cassady's note on Patch, and you'll want to click through to the PDF on contract negotiations.

Hope to see you at Portsmouth High School tonight.

Full disclosure: I am married to a member of the Massachusetts NEA. But my record of opposing the PCC-crowd's cuts to education goes WAAAAY back.

RISC/IRA Poetry anthology

Five students from Portsmouth Middle School were recognized today for poems published in the RI State Council of the International Reading Association (RISC/IRA) 14th annual poetry anthology. The hour-long ceremony, at Hope Highlands Elementary in Cranston, featured readings by more than 40 K-12 kids from around the state.

Elizabeth Ruest, vice-president of RISC/IRA was on hand to present certificates and praised the work of the students and teachers around the state who read more than 3,000 poems for this year's anthology.

This year's anthology, "People, Places, Poetry," showcased poems by five Portsmouth students: Ethan Bariteau, Nicole Markey, Jack McDaid, Laura Thomas, and Katie Nowak.

Congratulations to our Portsmouth kids -- and to everyone around the state. The readings were a fun experience, and the anthology is full of really fine work.

Special thanks to the Portsmouth Middle School teachers Nelia Almeida, Joanna Conheeny, Erin Costa, Sue Janik, Danielle Laurie, and Brian Smith, and all the ELA teachers in our elementaries who did such a great job bringing the kids to this point.

Full disclosure: Obviously, I am an enormously proud parent; picture of Jack reading is up on Flickr.

Last night, Supt. Susan Lusi released a note from the Portsmouth School Committee on the district listserv outlining the current status of contract negotiations and inviting parents to attend a forum on Monday, April 11 at 7pm in the Portsmouth High School auditorium.

Here's how the Portsmouth School Committee described the situation:

"As you may know, the Portsmouth School Committee has been engaged in contract negotiations with our teachers, represented by NEA Portsmouth (NEA P), since July of 2010. Both the School Committee at that time and the current School Committee have negotiated in good faith for many months. Unfortunately, negotiations have not progressed during this time; and we, the members of the Portsmouth School Committee, believe that it is important to explain the status of negotiations to our employees and our community at this time. A written explanation is below, followed by a shorter “At a Glance” summary. Further, we invite you to attend a public forum for further explanation and discussion of these matters on Monday, April 11, at 7:00 PM, at the Portsmouth High School auditorium."

Read the attachments here:
Portsmouth School Committee Letter on Teacher Negotiations
Teacher Negotiations at a glance

Editorial note: I'm running this because it is news, but I would caution readers to note that this information was released by the School Committee, in the middle of negotiations. As a journalist, that certainly inclines me to read it in context. Last summer, there were howls from the PCC and their fellow travelers when Dr. Lusi used the listserv to distribute information on the budget. Where's the outrage now? Qui tacit consentire.

You can bet I'll be there on Monday night, and if you care about the quality of our schools, I hope you'll be there too.

The RI Dept. of Education (RIDE) launched a new data-packed web site today which makes available to the public the information from the state-wide Uniform Chart of Accounts (UCOA) for school districts, according to a news release this morning.

“Rhode Islanders invest more than $2 billion a year in public education, and this investment is vital to the future of our state,” said Gov. Chafee in a statement. “The Uniform Chart of Accounts will help all Rhode Islanders understand how we invest taxpayer dollars and what return we’re getting on our investment.”

RIDE developed the UCOA in partnership with the Auditor General and all school districts in the state to provide a system of numbers and a method of accounting that provides transparency, uniformity, accountability, and comparability of financial information for all schools and districts. All districts, charter public schools, and state-operated schools began operating under UCOA during the previous fiscal or school year (2009-10).

School districts will use UCOA to track revenues and expenditures in their day-to-day accounting and to inform their financial decisions. UCOA will help districts ensure that they are using their investments to improve instruction and to advance learning.

“At RIDE, we will use UCOA to identify effective practices,” said RIDE Commissioner Deborah Gist. “Using the UCOA system, we can examine our data to see where investments in education have led to improved student achievement. More important, we will share this information in order to help all schools and districts invest their resources wisely.”

Visit the UCOA site

Editorial note: Written substantially from a press release. There's a firehose of data on the site, which will take some time to explore.

There is no word in English for parents who have lost children. We have tags for other familial bereavement relationships like widow and orphan, but the death of a child is, in our language, literally unspeakable.

It would therefore seem to be a reasonable goal of social policy to do anything possible to prevent such a horrific outcome. And if a program exists which has prevented such tragedies for 24 years, one might expect it to be self-justifying. And yet, despite evidence of success, once again, we find the RI General Assembly considering a bill which would remove the requirement for bus monitors on K-5 school buses.

Bill H5186, co-sponsored by freshman Portsmouth Rep. Dan Gordon (and Reps. Costa, Newberry, and JP O`Neill) goes to the House Municipal Government Committee this Thursday, March 3 at about 4pm in Rm. 203.

When contacted by e-mail today to explain the aim of the legislation, why it should be passed, and what he would say to parents concerned about safety, Rep Gordon said:

"In all fairness to the prime sponsor of the bill, Rep. Costa, and to House Majority Whip O'Neill, I will withhold comment on H5186 until they have an opportunity to testify in their own words, in the committee hearing."

Take a brave stand there, Rep. Gordon.

Middletown residents Sophia and Bill Pendergast, who lost their daughter Vanessa in a school bus accident in 1985, led the movement to enact bus monitor legislation, and they have fought every attempt, over the years, to cut the program. I reached Ms. Pendergast by e-mail today and asked about their reaction to this latest threat:

Bill and I intend to be there to lobby for the continuation of this life saving mandate, but don’t be fooled to think that our voices will help to save this mandate in these tumultuous economic times.

No child has been killed since this legislation was enacted in 1986 and all school bus accidents have been reduced by 65%. The last accident in RI occurred [on June 5, 2009], when 7 year old Ryan O’Connor was struck by a car passing the school bus he had just exited. His monitor had called in sick that day...[]

WE NEED YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD AT THIS HEARING!!!!!

If you cannot attend, offer to watch your friend’s child or call or email your Rep. If you need a ride call me and I will help to arrange it. Follow this link to find your Rep’s info: sos.ri.gov/vic –then fill in the required fields to find your Reps telephone and email. And call Rep Jon Brien, Chair, House Municipal Government 401-766-9877 or Peter Martin, Newport, Vice Chair, House Municipal Government 924-2402.

If you find yourself wondering why education always seems to be where politicians looking to make cuts, there is an explanation.

In a recent NY Times op-ed, "Leaving Children Behind," Paul Krugman explains that services for children "account directly or indirectly for a large part of government outlays at the state and local level," which is why they always bear the brunt of spending cuts. Despite the high-sounding rhetoric from small-government types about 'teh children' when talking about the crushing burden of government spending, Krugman notes, "In practice, however, when advocates of lower spending get a chance to put their ideas into practice, the burden always seems to fall disproportionately on those very children they claim to hold so dear."

Do bus monitors guarantee that no accidents will befall our children? Unfortunately, no. Can you mount a cost-benefit analysis showing that the $12M spend state-wide offsets an occasional wrongful death payout? Probably not. But is there anyone who will seriously argue that the vigilant presence of monitors has no impact on safety? No matter how incremental that improvement, when dealing with the safety of our children in the care of the state, I would argue that we can do no less than our absolute best, ignoring the voices who argue for acceptable risk and cost reduction. This is not the place to cut corners.

Resources
Bill full text (pdf)
Bill status page on RI General Assembly site
Sophia Prendergast's 2009 ProJo LTE
ProJo story on hearing in 2009

Full disclosure: It should be blindingly obvious, but I believe that bus monitors are a worthwhile allocation of my tax dollars.

Portsmouth schools closed today, according to TurnTo10.com.

Update: Supt. Lusi makes the robocall at 6:01am, cites roads that have become "treacherously icy."

Be safe everybody, it's nasty out there.

Today's visit to Portsmouth by RI Dept. of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has been canceled, according to a note distributed on the district listserv:

Dear Members of the Portsmouth Community:

The forum with Commissioner Deborah Gist that was scheduled for this evening from 6:30 to 8 PM is cancelled. The Commissioner will reschedule her visit to Portsmouth at a time when she is also able to visit schools.

Sincerely,
Susan F. Lusi, Ph.D
Superintendent

Last night was a Portsmouth school subcommittee mini-marathon, with meetings by the policy, facilities, and alternative revenue groups. Most of the school committee members attended, as did Supt. Lusi and schools finance director Mark Dunham.

The facilities committee (David Croston, Jon Harris, Thomas Vadney) discussed the recommendations of the RGB report and alternatives. They set out a series of guiding principles for their work (safe, effective buildings, possible space for full-day kindergarten, room for the administration, etc.) and considered several scenarios for consideration: renovate and extend Melville and Hathaway, renovate Melville and build a Hathaway replacement, or build a single elementary.

For next steps, the committee voted to recommend to the full school committee the creation of a "Stage Two" fund, referring to the second stage of the RI Dept. of Education (RIDE) approval process. The first proposed use of the fund would be to hire a consultant (archictect or cost estimator) to validate and price out the options.

Next, the alternative revenue committee (Croston, Marilyn King, Angela Volpicelli) reviewed the efforts to date in establishing the proposed "Aquidneck Island Math and Science Academy" (AIM), the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) "school within a school" at Portsmouth High. While the grant proposal to the Newport County Fund was unsuccessful, Croston described plans to pursue other foundation and private funding to get the project off the ground, with a goal of possibly entering the first class (probably freshmen only) in 2012.

The committee went into executive session at 8:35 to discuss preparations for the Little Compton bid.

Editorial note: The policy committee met at 5:30, but I couldn't make it. Sorry, next time.

NBC News Overnight, the irreverent late-night 1983 news show which presaged techniques familiar to any fan of Jon Stewart, began its final broadcast with this intro from co-anchor Linda Ellerbee. "Republicans have reason to be elated tonight. The reason? They believe that they are eliminating something that has been a real political troublemaker to them," she said, and barely paused. "Unemployment."

Anyone who had watched the edgy, intelligent news show a few times understood that the final word in that sentence was not the one written nor spoken.

At tonight's school committee meeting, Republicans had reason to be elated, because they believed they were eliminating something that has been a real troublemaker. As chair Cynthia Perrotti put it, "The era of home-made cupcakes is coming to an end."

Anyone who has paid attention to education in Portsmouth will understand that the important business tonight was not the health committee edging closer to establishing standards for "non-food celebrations" in our classrooms.

The real story, albeit untold, was Supt. Susan Lusi's decision not to seek another term. And while we will all agree, in public, to accept the polite fiction that Dr. Lusi felt it was time to move on and pursue other challenges rather than renewing her contract when it expires at the end of June, no one who knows the words and music should be fooled.

Management changes were, after all, one of vice-chair Jonathan Harris's campaign promises.

I will miss the tremendous intelligence and energy Lusi brought to the job for these past few years. She stepped into a district in a fiscal quagmire, endured a Tent Meeting and Caruolo action, and managed the district into fiscal health. She made key hires that stabilized finances and facilities, among others. And she thought big: she created a local Basic Education Program when the state's was still incomplete, and on her own initiative, convened 100 members of the community to map out a strategic plan for the district. She fought -- and many of the budget sessions over the past years can only be characterized in such antagonistic terms -- for the students and the teachers, for the quality of Portsmouth's schools.

And she did it with a calm presence and grace under pressure that never cracked. If I had a staff of interns logging tape like the Daily Show, I would put together a montage of her saying, "With all due respect, Mr. Fitzmorris..."

Of course, I can't be objective. I began covering Portsmouth in September of 2006, and spent countless hours after meetings asking questions of Dr. Lusi. She was unfailingly helpful, patient, and candid. I worked with her on the Facilities Committee and the Future Search workshop. Throughout, I have found her to be a truly dedicated public servant and a fearless advocate for our kids.

Portsmouth is a better place because of her work, and we will miss her.

And because final words are always important, to close the circle, here's the way that last broadcast of Overnight ended, way back in 1983. Ellerbee had the outtro. "The final quote is from Mark Twain, discussing the young missionary who went out among the cannibals. Said Twain: 'They listened with the greatest of interest to everything he had to say. And then they ate him.'"

And so it goes.

Editorial note: Chair Cynthia Perrotti announced a call for interest in being on the search committee for Dr. Lusi's replacement. "Some big shoes to fill," said Perrotti. Anyone wishing to be considered should send a letter to cynthia.perrotti@gmail.com by Thursday, Jan. 20.