By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Superintendent Tom Geary argued with two School Committee members over parental input into two policies during a May 6 meeting.
A different incarnation of the School Committee approved separate policies pertaining to cellphones/electronic devices in schools and the dress code last summer. School Committee member Kate DePrizio, who serves on the Policy Subcommittee with newly elected School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue, said Geary administered a survey to staff members to get feedback about the two policies.
Geary and the Policy Subcommittee held two community forums about the two policies at Panera Bread on Thursday, May 8, which took place from 9-10 a.m. and 6-7 p.m. DePrizio said Geary and Assistant Superintendent Adam Federico recommended holding a community forum because it was “the best place” to “hear feedback.”
Baker Donahue informed the Villager that four people attended the morning forum and four individuals went to the evening forum.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman asked during the meeting why surveys have not been administered to parents about the two policies.
“We say that we want parent input, which I think is really important, so why aren’t we surveying and why aren’t we asking?” inquired Hayman. “It seems like it would be good data to understand.”
Geary said a survey was administered to educators because school officials “wanted teachers’ opinions on how this year has gone.”
“We got that through a survey,” said Geary. “It’s a classroom issue and it’s a classroom management issue.”
Geary said the District Safety Team, which includes him, Federico, Middle School Principal Stephen Ralston, Police Chief Nick Secatore, Fire Chief/Emergency Management Director Glenn Davis and other town officials, recommended the policy changes. He said the teachers’ survey results revealed that 90 percent of educators “agree or strongly agree” with the policies.
“Some feel we are not doing enough,” said Geary. “I feel that is the data I need to use. I appreciate that we want parent input and I am happy to have conversations, but I don’t want to be disingenuous and say that I would take parent data when our administration, our teachers and our District Safety Team, through law enforcement, strongly, strongly feels a certain way.”
Hayman questioned why Geary and the Policy Subcommittee were holding community forums about the policies if Geary did not want to listen to the feedback from parents.
“It feels like we are doing community forums so that we can say we are trying to get parent input, but let’s be honest, we are having forums at (9 a.m.) on a Thursday morning and an evening forum in the middle of the spring when you have got all of these school events going on,” said Hayman. “It seems disingenuous to say that we want parent input and this is how we are going to get it.”
Geary disagreed.
“I think parent input is stronger on the dress code,” said Geary. “I think that has to be a conversation. And if we are having a community forum, I am happy to discuss cellphones along with it. But for me specifically with cellphones and electronic devices, I am going with law enforcement, teachers and administration.”
Hayman noted that school officials can make decisions “despite what parents want.”
“Part of it is a discussion and part of it is explaining how decisions are made,” said Hayman.
School Committee Vice Chair Jim Dillon said Geary and the Administrative Leadership Team determines how the district is run and not the committee. He opposed administering the parent survey about the two policies because he said it would “undermine” administrators and teachers.
“It would undermine (Geary’s) ability to lead if you were going to the parents and asking them which math curriculum we should pick and how should we teach it,” said Geary. “That would be really insulting to the professionals and your staff.”
Dillon said the dress code and cellphone policies are “strategies to improve classroom management, to improve student focus and achievement, and to improve school culture.”
“We are not the how,” said Dillon. “We don’t want to be disrespectful to the teachers, the principals and all of the leadership. This is an educational practice we are talking about. I think asking parents how we should do it would be, in my opinion, a little insulting.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy asked Hayman if the survey proposal would ask parents whether “they want cellphones in the classroom.”
Hayman said no.
“I don’t think it is asking about what they want at all,” said Hayman. “I think it is about getting input on the impact and how this is rolled out from a parent perspective. All of the data and everything that we have heard has been very positive about the cellphone policy. We have a lot of constituents. We have students, we have teachers, but we also have parents. It’s important that we engage with them and ask them how this is working. We also have to understand what some of the challenges may be. Are parents concerned about the safety issue if something happens in school? I would love to understand what some of those concerns are behind it so we can address them head on. I also think it is just good practice to be able to get input from parents when you are making general policy decisions that impact kids.”
DePrizio said, “discounting forums as a place for data is not true.” She said the forums at Panera would allow parents to discuss “these emotional and nuanced issues around safety, around access, around implementation and things like that.”
“A survey doesn’t capture nuance and emotion well,” said DePrizio. “We looked for a place for meaningful engagement. That was the whole purpose for choosing to have a forum and have Tom lead it.”
Baker Donahue said that she suggested that a parent survey be administered during a Policy Subcommittee meeting.
“We settled on a community forum, but I still think that it doesn’t necessarily need to preclude also doing a survey,” said Baker Donahue. “I don’t think that anything negative can come out of doing a survey. To say that we might not use the feedback, I would disagree. To Jamie’s point, simply addressing what we hear is using the feedback.”
Baker Donahue said the survey results from teachers revealed that the cellphone policy has been addressing “distraction in the classroom.”
“We are hearing a lot of feedback and data that says it is actually working for that, but what we aren’t quite clear on is what the other concerns have been,” said Baker Donahue. “We need to understand what the other concerns have been so we can at least address it, and say this is how we got from Point A to Point B. I don’t think Jamie was discounting the forum. That is one way and it is a very positive and productive way for people who can go. Having a conversation is always best, but there are plenty of people who can’t access the forum. We can ask open-ended questions in a survey and get the some of the same reply.”
Elworthy said parents have weighed in on policy changes during public participation and have also sent the School Committee emails about policy changes.
“I have a concern here that this particular policy is for some reason going through a different feedback process than other policies would go through,” said Elworthy. “I have a first-grader. First-graders and kindergartners often have screen time limits at home. Are we going to start surveying parents about screen time? This is a classroom management issue.”
Hayman pushed back against Elworthy’s argument.
“By having a forum, we are opening ourselves to feedback,” said Hayman. “That is a different level than other policies. That is relevant and that is important because it is a new policy that impacts all of our students. And frankly, we did this in the middle of the summer when we don’t typically do that type of work, so we weren’t able to get a lot of input on it.”
Elworthy said parents have had nine months to weigh in on the two policies.
“The policies are working,” said Elworthy.
Baker Donahue said she “doesn’t understand what the pushback is on getting more feedback.”
“We have talked about this three or four times now in the Policy Subcommittee meetings and this morning when we met,” a frustrated Geary said in response. “It’s a safety issue, a teaching issue and a classroom management issue. Those are the areas that I see this really meets. For this particular thing, I believe that teachers and law enforcement are the experts.”
Dillon asked Baker Donahue if parents should be surveyed on making changes to classes.
“Should we ask the parents what their input is?” inquired Dillon.
“I don’t think that is what we are saying,” said Baker Donahue in response.
Dillon said both policies are “an educational practice” undertaken by teachers and administrators.
“If we start surveying parents about all of our educational practices, we would definitely be the only school district in the state or maybe the country to have that practice,” said Dillon.
Baker Donahue said the parent survey proposal was “not meant to be any disrespect or undermining of any teacher, or principal, or administrator or superintendent.”
“We have already received public feedback for these policies, and what we are saying now is we are going to disregard what the community has said about it so far,” said Baker Donahue. “And when you are gathering input to distinguish about a dress code, there is a lot of different stakeholders, a lot of different groups and a lot of different people who could have input on what that looks like.”
Dillon reiterated that Geary opposed Baker Donahue and Hayman’s suggestion.
“The how is Tom’s, and I don’t think he wants to do it,” said Dillon.
Baker Donahue said in response: “I am hearing that loud and clear.”