Tuesday, January 15, 2013
After months of negotiations and tension between the two sides last year, the contract was finalized on Monday night.
The negotiations between the Westford Education Association (WEA) and the Westford School Committee concluded last June and the new contract went into effect on Monday. In 5-0-0 votes, the School Committee voted to approve the new contracts for Unit A and Unit G of the WEA. Unit A consists of all school district employees involved in classroom work excluding teachers' aides and Unit G includes Math and Reading intervention specialists. The board also unanimously approved new contracts for office professionals and Superintendent Bill Olsen. Olsen's new agreement, which lasts until 2016, was largely unchanged from his former deal, outside of a small increase for travel fees and $3,000 to be obtained upon retirement. He also told the board …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By a 5-1-1 vote last week, the Westford School Committee recommended a measure that would transfer and appropriate money for a new police officer posted to Westford Academy
Drugs in Westford’s schools remain as a hot issue, and last week the School Committee approved recommending to Fall Town Meeting appropriations that would bring Westford Academy its first School Resource Officer since 2006. The topic of a School Resource Officer, or SRO, was brought forth in a meeting at August where Westford Public School superintendent Bill Olsen told the board he had been hearing numerous concerns from community members at events such as the talk earlier this year at Nab Lake Country Club. Now those concerns will go to voters in October, with the School Committee asking them to approve a transfer of $20,000 into the Police Department budget from the School Department budget along with an additional amount expected …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
A preliminary hearing on Monday night brought several recommendations from increased, but infrequent searches at Westford Academy to new classes to the addition of a potential new school resources officer.
Looking to fight the issue of drugs in Westford Public Schools, Superintendent Bill Olsen recommended several new initiatives to the School Committee on Monday night for decisions to be determined at a future meeting. The proposals grew from a forum earlier this year on the topic of drugs in town hosted at Nabnasset Lake Country Club as well as frequent discussions with Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet, Westford Academy principal James Antonelli, Westford town manager Jodi Ross and Westford Police chief Thomas McEnaney. Olsen’s proposals included planning several unscheduled walkthroughs at Westford Academy and possibly the town’s Middle Schools by Westford Police K9 Officer Corey Peladeau, potentially looking at bringing in speakers and …
Friday, June 22, 2012
Parents opposed and in favor of a new space reallocation plan at the Robinson School voiced their opinions in what was a heated portion of Monday's School Committee meeting.
“Sneaky isn’t in her makeup. Period.” That was Westford Public School superintendent Bill Olsen’s response to a parent’s accusation aimed at Robinson School principal Denise Arvidson during Monday night's School Committee meeting. After a presentation by Arvidson detailing the reallocation of space at Robinson, parent Shelly Newark addressed the School Committee with her concerns. Those concerns became personal and the School Committee members and other parents, tipped off that something like this was going to happen, came to Arvidson’s defense. Newark began by addressing concerns about having more children in a teaching suite in order to create a separate technology lab space and private meeting/workspace area. Her concerns for her …
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Committee voted 4-1-2 to approve, with David Keele dissenting and Judy Culver abstaining due to a conflict of interest.
In a 4-1-2 vote Monday night, the proposed teachers' contract recently approved by the Westford Education Association was also ratified by the Westford School Committee, making the contract now official. "(This) allows us to move forward and get back to the business of educating kids,” said School Committee chairwoman Angela Harkness, who joined School Committee members Erica Kohl, Margaret Murray and Terence Ryan in voting to confirm the contract. Harkness thanked the public and the classroom teachers for getting through the difficult year of contract negotiations. She asked the public for their continued support when discussing finances in the upcoming years. Judy Culver abstained from voting due to her daughter’s job as a teacher in …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Joseph Greene and Sameer Kini recognized for representing students on the School Committee
During Monday night's School Committee meeting Westford Academy student representatives Joseph Greene and Sameer Kini were recognized by Superintendent Bill Olsen and the School Committee for their service. Each school year one or more students from Westford Academy are chosen to represent their school at bi-weekly School Committee meetings. After their recognition, Greene and Kini updated the committee on upcoming milestones including AP exams at the end of year, the junior cotillion this weekend, the senior prom next weekend, and Last Night on June 1 where about 95 percent of the class attends. In a separate meeting beforehand, the committee held their annual meeting with the Westford Academy Student Council to discuss what is working …
Monday night brought a new member to the School Committee, but no update on teacher negotiations.
While the School Committee's membership has changed after last week's election, they announced that there is little change when it comes to ongoing teacher contract negotiations. Following a lengthy executive session, the Committee announced that the teachers’ negotiating team has requested additional sessions and they have agreed to continue to meet with them. School Committee member Judith Culver recused herself due to her daughter’s teaching position in town. However, there are other changes coming for Westford teachers. Culver reported on the two-day conference she attended for the state’s Race to the Top plan where a new teacher evaluation model was rolled out. “It’s an exciting new way at looking at teacher evaluations," Assistant…
Friday, April 13, 2012
Between a new website and a new policy getting rid of "pink slime", Westford Public School food service director Patti Donoghue was before the School Committee earlier this week to present what is hoped to be a new chapter for the department that was embr
It’s unclear whether Westford Public School students will return to buying lunches at the level they once did before last year’s food safety controversy, but various changes in the department were on display at Westford’s School Committee meeting on Monday night. Westford Public School food services director Patti Donoghue was on hand to introduce the department’s new website, and fielded questions from School Committee members on topics ranging from the new resource to the district’s decision to not serve “pink slime” beef causing the district to throw away 27 cases of meat and switching to serving more chicken. The website, which now offers information about nutrition and other topics in addition to school menus, costs the district $595 …
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The School Committee has released details of the negotiation process between themselves and the Westford Education Association.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The following comes from the Westford School Committee -- The School Committee has repeatedly been asked to supply the public with details of our negotiations with the teachers’ union. During the course of formal negotiations the sharing of negotiation details with the public about the offers was prohibited. After formal negotiations ended, the Committee accepted the advice of the State mediator not to disclose the details of the offers over the course of the mediation with the WEA as the best process to reach an agreement. On February 28, 2012, an Agreement on the terms of a successor contract was reached with the negotiating team authorized to represent the teachers. This agreement was rejected by the union members at a …
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Westford School Committee chairman Angela Harkness has indicated that the School Committee needs to provide more information.
After this weekend’s announcement from the Westford Education Association, School Committee chairwoman Angela Harkness told Westford Patch on Monday that new measures are now likely necessary in order to break the contract negotiation deadlock. “I’m sort of at a loss where we go from here,” said Harkness. “Obviously we’ll have to continue negotiating, although I’ve been trying to think really hard why the offer was rejected.” Although Harkness stated that she believes neither side wants to see layoffs or reduced programs for students, at this point her belief is that further information is needed to convince the teachers that the School Committee has been earnest in their position that no money is currently available for step increases …
Alex Finnegan
3:56 am on Friday, April 12, 2013
I'll be watching carefully. Just be sure to remember that I was trying to tell the teachers that they weren't broke, that the whole thing was just masterfully planned opportunism. In the end they did what they felt was right, but I think now, it's apparent to them. more ›