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Photo Pru Sowers
Education consultant Jan Williams, at right, is watched by high school principal Ed Boxer, far left, and elementary school principal Tony Teso as she attempts to answer concerns voiced by the Provincetown School Committee last week. |
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Battle flares over school consultant
By Pru Sowers
Banner Correspondent
PROVINCETOWN — It was a tumultuous week for the people involved in exploring the possible restructuring of the Provincetown school system.
The School Committee, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee met in a joint meeting last week to discuss whether to hire educational consultant Jan Williams to help the school district explore possible restructuring options. At the end of that meeting, the selectmen and Finance Committee had committed to paying half of William’s $40,000 fee.
However, at a separate meeting the next morning, the School Committee had an emotional three-hour meeting with Williams in which questions about her allegiance to the School Committee and preserving the school district were raised. By the end, the School Committee was split, voting 3-2 to hire Williams to proceed with only Phase I of the three-phased project, for a cost of $20,000.
But that vote was set aside by the committee’s attorney on Friday, who said that because the contract was over a $5,000 limit set by the state for municipal contracts, the School Committee must go out to bid and seek two other qualified consultants before making a decision.
Terese Nelson, School Committee chair, who had serious reservations about Williams despite voting to hire her for Phase I, said that she welcomed the chance to research other options.
“I was never crazy about Phase 2 or 3 [in Williams’ proposal]. It has some elements missing to it that I thought should have been included,” she said.
The three-phased proposal lays out a detailed plan for how Williams would help the school district explore possible restructuring options as it tries to find a way to combat declining enrollment and rising costs. The first phase calls for forming a steering committee to analyze quantitative and qualitative data gathered by Williams through a series of interviews with local officials, residents and other stakeholders.
The second phase calls for the steering committee to make recommendations about the future structure of the district to the School Committee. The third phase proposes to create a plan to meet those recommendations.
“It would seem that the Provincetown public schools have the opportunity to undergo a transformation, one that supports students in getting the best possible education while utilizing its resources in the most effective and efficient way,” Williams wrote in the proposal.
Board of Selectmen chair Cheryl Andrews said that while she has no opinion on Williams’ qualifications — saying the School Committee should take the lead on who to hire — she objected to changing the scope of the project after the selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee had already agreed on what the restructuring evaluation should include.
“I think the Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen pretty much backed us into a corner by offering to pay half [of Williams’ $40,000 proposal]. But I have to do what is best for my board. Now we have the opportunity to see what other consultants have to say,” Nelson said.
After meeting with the consultant for over three hours, Nelson told Williams, “There are a lot of hidden agendas from the other committees,” I don’t want to feel you’re working for the Finance Committee and are going to cut into our budget. I want to feel secure that you’re supportive of this committee.”
“I’m not working for the Finance Committee,” Williams responded at the meeting. “But I’ll be candid: there is room in your budget to cut.”
Burt Wolfman, School Committee member, voted against hiring Williams because he objected to the educational models she is proposing to use in her evaluation. In addition, he said, the three-phased proposal will take too long to implement. Action is needed now to help stabilize the school system, he said.
“I don’t think we have time. We have to start making immediate decisions, start talking immediately to teachers,” he said.
To which Williams responded, “With all respect, if this committee knew how to change the system, they would have done it.”
[Banner reporter Mary Ann Bragg contributed to this story.]
Read the entire text of the article in this week’s Banner.
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Jun 15th, 2006