By Adam Swift
Winthrop Middle School Principal Brian Curley will likely have a new role in the district come July 1.
On Monday night, the school committee approved Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard’s request for the district to hire an interim assistant superintendent and for the committee to enter into negotiations with Curley to fill that one-year position as of July 1.
Curley will fill the position that was held by former assistant superintendent Lori Gallivan, who left it earlier this year to take a position in another district.
By approving the interim position, Howard said the district will be able to more fully look at how the position should be shaped for the future. Currently, she said other administrators and principals have been working to fill in for the work that was previously done by Gallivan for curriculum and instruction.
“We looked at all the things (Gallivan) does do, and we passed them out about the different people in the district and that has been going okay,” said Howard. “It’s a lot of work on top of work that mostly principals and other administrators do. But they felt strongly that they could step up and help out to the end of the year until we figured out what we wanted to do.”
Howard said the purpose of her approach to create a one-year interim position is so that the school district maintains strong leadership and continuity in the areas of curriculum and instruction.
“Having an interim allows the district the necessary time to carefully review the current scope of the position as well as the needs of the district as we’re moving forward into next year and taking that time to look at that position and make some changes to that position,” said Howard.
The superintendent also stated that even if there are changes made to the assistant superintendent position, Curley could potentially step into that role with the adjusted job description beyond his potential one-year interim appointment. Howard added that the current plan is to also have Curley work with an interim middle school principal as part of the transition in the schools.
“Brian has worked closely with the former assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and accountability and he, as well as other administrators in the district, is aware of our current initiatives,” said Howard. “He’s familiar with the technology platform supporting our curriculum, and he’s also a key member of the professional development team and has longstanding relationships with the current staff. After consulting with all administrators, having a current member of our staff assuming this role minimizes interruption of relationships and supports continuity of practice while assisting with evaluating the future direction of the position, and that makes the most sense for next year.”
Council President and school committee member Jim Letterie praised the choice of Curley to fill the position.
“He’s an incredibly proactive person, he’s a great leader, incredibly knowledgeable, hardworking, he is everything you could ask for in a candidate,” said Letterie. “To be an internal candidate, I think it makes it all that much more special for him and for us, so I wholeheartedly endorse this nomination.”
In other business, School Committee Chair Layne Petrie provided a brief update on contract negotiations with the Winthrop Teachers Association.
At a special school committee meeting last week, the members of the Winthrop Teachers Association presented its latest contract proposal, asking the school committee to consider a single set of negotiations for the four open contracts for teachers, nurses, secretaries, and education support professionals.
The union members asked that there be a single set of negotiations to cover the latest proposals for all four bargaining units included under one proposal document.
The school committee and the union have been negotiating for new agreements since last May. WTA representatives said they are seeking higher compensation for the education support professionals. They also presented a compensation offer for a four-year contract for teachers that sees a pay raise of 19 percent total over the length of the contract, as opposed to a 23-percent raise over the length of a three-year contract as previously proposed.
“We agreed to meet with the teachers’ association as a whole to represent the teachers, ESPs, secretaries, and nurses and we listen to a summary of the proposals that included a list of tentative agreements reached with all four units, proposals that they are willing to drop, proposals that we need to do some work on, as well as their cost of living increases,” School Committee Chair Layne Petrie said on Monday night. “We are working through that as subcommittees on the school committee so we can respond.”
The latest collective bargaining information and documents are included on the school committee page of the Winthrop schools website.