School Leader Wants Change

Chairman David Rossi Proposes Reopening Regional Agreement to Create
Single Committee; Merits Debated, Not Voted

By RACHEL KOVAC

The chairman of the all-Island school committee this week called for
reopening the regional school agreement, which is nearly four decades
old, with an eye toward creating one school committee to create more
accountability and efficiency in the disparate Vineyard school system.

At Wednesday's all-Island school committee meeting, David
Rossi, a school committee member from Edgartown who took over as
chairman of the board at the start of the fiscal year July 1, asked the
members if they would be willing to look at the regional agreement that
was created in 1956 and think about combining the high school committee
and the all-Island school committee into one group.

"Why do we need to have two boards to discuss regional
issues?" Mr. Rossi said. "I don't have to go on about
how confusing it is. If you sat in the room for the last 45 minutes your
head's spinning."

Mr. Rossi said he does not want to regionalize the schools, but
simply combine the two committees into one.

Mr. Rossi's suggestion comes just nine days after James H.
Weiss took over as the new superintendent of Vineyard schools. Mr. Weiss
takes the helm of a structurally complicated and rapidly changing school
system, where among other things, three principals and one
superintendent resigned this year, and the up-Island regional school
district is under scrutiny for possible disbanding. Throughout the
Vineyard schools enrollment is flat or declining while costs are on the
rise.

Mr. Rossi thinks combining the two committees would help resolve
some of the confusion. He said a single committee could come together to
discuss school issues and educational concerns at one sitting, instead
of the current system, where meetings are held in a variety of places
and at a variety of times. Currently the Island has six different school
committees, including the regional high school committee, the up-Island
regional committee and three down-Island elementary school committees.
Mr. Rossi said the idea is to create government and administrative
efficiency, from the central office to the office of the superintendent.

Currently Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury each have a school
committee. Representatives from Chilmark, Aquinnah and West Tisbury are
members of the up-Island committee, which oversees the Chilmark and West
Tisbury Schools. Representatives from each of these committees also sit
on the nine-member regional high school district committee.

The 14-member all-Island school committee, formerly called the union
school committee, deals mainly with hiring the superintendent and
negotiating teacher contracts.

"The fact is that all our issues affect all the towns on the
Island," said Robert Tankard, a school committee member from
Tisbury who was elected vice-chairman of the all-Island school board
Wednesday night. "The high school affects the whole Island. Every
elementary school situation affects the Island. If you can get all the
participants in one room and go over all the issues and get solutions
that's best. We are saving time, definitely money and we are
getting a lot of territory covered," he said.

Mr. Rossi said one regional committee would make good common sense
for a school system that has nearly 3,000 students and a combined budget
of $30 million.

Opinions at the meeting were varied.

"Education has changed a lot since 1954," said Leslie
Baynes, a school committee member from Edgartown. Mr. Baynes said with a
single school committee, board members could spend more time on regional
issues such as curriculum, centralized purchasing and trends in
education.

Right now there is often overlap between the all-Island school
committee and the high school district committee. For example at the
high school committee meeting on June 28 the issue of a three per cent
raise for administrators surfaced, but no one was sure how the process
worked to approve such raises. The issue came up again at the all-Island
school committee Wednesday, where everyone at the table had also been at
the high school meeting.

Some school board members had reservations about Mr. Rossi's
idea, in part because it would mean that the regional high school
committee would first need to dissolve itself. Priscilla L. Sylvia, a
school committee member from Oak Bluffs, said she did not want to make
any moves until she had talked to her town leaders and gotten feedback
from her constituents.

"I don't think we should go forward. This is a big
decision, and I can't make any decision without talking to the
leadership of my town," she said.

Margaret T. Harris, assistant superintendent for curriculum and
instruction, said the committee should tread lightly because people
might misunderstand and think the committee wants to regionalize the
schools. Ms. Harris also reminded the board that any changes in the
school system will require approval from the state Department of
Education.

"You want to look at the broader framework," she said.
"It's a long process, but that doesn't mean you still
don't look at it."

Mr. Weiss, who remained mostly quiet during the discussion,
encouraged committee members to at least take a look at the regional
agreement and consider how education in the country and on the Island
has changed. He said his priorities include reorganizing the
superintendent's office, creating a strategic plan, professional
development and examining the requirements set forth by the No Child
Left Behind legislation.

The meeting ended with committee members at least in agreement to
keep talking about the idea.

"I think right now we're in the dark ages the way we are
doing things," Mr. Tankard said. "We need to look at
this."