Education forum message: Support the teachers

SMITHFIELD – Support the teachers in our state was the main message to come out of an education forum held Friday morning at Fidelity headquarters, sponsored by the R.I Public Expenditures Council and attended by approximately 80 of the state’s top business, education and community leaders.

Speaker after speaker, including state Commissioner of Elementary of Secondary Education Deborah A. Gist, spoke in general of the terrific job most of the state’s teachers do on a day-to-day basis, often donating personal time – especially right now, as school districts across the state are in the process of adopting a core curriculum.

“We have some incredible teachers in Providence” who “donate countless hours to their students,” said Paula Shannon, acting chief academic officer for the Providence school system, who took part in a panel discussion at the forum.

The core curriculum, along with a new and what officials say is a more effective form of teacher evaluations, is part of the state’s Race to the Top, a federal initiative that saw Rhode Island win $75 million to institute reform.

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The core curriculum should ensure that students from Westerly to Woonsocket study the same subjects at the same time in their school careers, helping to ensure that basic skills are covered in every school at every grade level.

Several business representatives were in the audience and, in response to their questions about what business people can do to help in education reform, educators mentioned such options as offering to judge science fairs, opening company laboratories to student visits, joining a school’s advisory board, providing tutors in specialized subjects and sharing information on careers.

“We have not engaged the business community as much as we would have liked to in the past,” Shannon said. She suggested the “expertise of business leaders” could help educators now working to make the transition to a core curriculum. “We should be looking to tap into their expertise,” Shannon said.

Timothy C. Duffy, executive director of the R.I. Association of School Committee, cast a bit of cold water on all the starry-eyed plans for the future when he warned that the financial ills of the federal and state governments could hamper reform efforts.

“We must begin to assume that the resources we’ve enjoyed in the past will not be there,” he said. He referred in particular to the cost associated with reforming the state pension systems as a potentially major financial deterrent.

“We realize we run a very expensive business,” said Donna Ottaviano, president of the R.I. School Superintendents Association and North Providence schools superintendent. Often told that schools are huge draw on taxpayers, she said she tries to avoid the “us-versus-them” mentality because, in the end, “our goal is the same, to do what’s right for the children we serve.”

Others taking part in the three-hour forum were Joseph Amaral, principal of Portsmouth Middle School; Michael Comella, secondary math intervention specialist; Shannon Donovan, R.I. teacher of the year and a science teacher at Scituate High School; Bob O’Brien, superintendent of Smithfield schools; Melinda Smith, director of curriculum for the Lincoln school system, Francis Flynn, president of the R.I. Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals; and Robert A. Walsh Jr. executive director of the National Education Association in Rhode Island.

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