By James Lomuscio
Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer said tonight that she would seek every avenue to continue Staples High School’s child development program, while honoring the service of long time, beloved teacher Linda McClary.
Colleen Palmer: “concerned about loyal soldier.” Dave Matlow / WN file photo
Palmer told a Board of Education meeting she had discovered in November after concerns from preschool parents that McClary, who for years has been synonymous with the program, is not certified to teach the course.
Palmer said she chose not to go public until she was assured that McClary’s retirement would be protected. She said she was concerned that a teacher who had taught in an area for which she was not certified would not gain points toward retirement benefits.
“I probably did not come out to the forefront and really talk about a lot of this publicly because I was very, very concerned about a loyal soldier in our school district who might have her retirement at risk,” she said.
Palmer made her comments after the board, for the second week in a row, heard public pleas to preserve the program and to retain McClary.
Palmer’s decision to move the program to the social studies department when she learned McClary did not have proper state certification had generated a groundswell of objections from program supporters and McClary fans.
Public comment came on the night the school board unanimously approved its proposed $115.35 million 2017-18 operating budget, a 2.44 percent increase over the current year.
By the time the board voted, it was agreed there would be money in the budget to hire a certified teacher to maintain the program with McClary staying on.
“We will continue to look at every avenue,” Palmer said about the future of the teacher and the course. “We’re not going to close any door. We’re just trying to be realistic about what we can do with what we know and the resources we have.”
She said the school system is in the process of applying for a state Department of Education process known as a DSAP — Durational Shortage Area Permit — to keep the program running through the end of the school year.
“We will leave no stone unturned. We will continue to be creative problem solvers,” Palmer said. “We want to honor the service provided to us by Linda McClary.
“But to know that in all of this, we tried very hard to protect our teacher through this process, and it probably created less than full transparency to our view. It was only when she was safeguarded that we began to talk about it.”
“We did not go looking for this shift; it came upon us,” she added. “We still have some time to work this out. We have always included Linda McClary in our discussions and will continue to do so.”
Currently about 18 high school students work with about 10 preschool children at Staples’ play school program for six hours a week under McClary’s direction.
Before Palmer spoke, parent Angela Ethier, a nurse Ph.D., asked why the school system is not advertising for a teacher with the proper certification. Ethier’s daughter, Julia, a senior, is in the program.
“The state wants to work with Westport to retain our program,” she said. “Why doesn’t Westport want to work with the state to continue the program?”
She also questioned how the school could have students register beginning Monday for the fall program when the new courses Palmer has proposed are either “undeveloped and/or not included in the course catalog?”
Ethier had also been critical of Palmer for a lack of transparency since parents only had learned of the course shift in late January. Palmer then explained she had not gone public to protect McClary’s retirement.
After the meeting, Ethier said while she appreciated the further insight Palmer conveyed regarding the program, “I don’t think the Westport School District has done enough to preserve the legacy of the program.”
She said she was “very relieved” to hear that the board recognizes the importance of fully replicating the current program and that the budget they approved tonight “has room for another full-time teacher to supplement Linda McClary’s important and hopefully ongoing contributions.”
At the same time, Ethier said she was concerned about “the conflicting information” she was hearing from Palmer versus the state Department of Education.
She said Palmer “keeps commenting on how difficult it is to find a candidate with the right certification credentials” but the state education officials had told her they very much want to work with Westport to find a suitable replacement.
“They offered up workaround alternatives to get us into compliance relatively quickly, so I don’t understand the disconnect,” Ethier said. “An area high school was able to advertise and retain a qualified teacher recently. Why can’t we?”
Among parents speaking before Palmer’s explanation was Heidi McGee, who said she graduated from Staples in 1983. She told the school board of her feelings that there should be work done to retain the program as “close to its present incarnation as possible.”
“Can’t we at least preserve her legacy?, she asked, referring to McClary.
Michael Aitkenhead, a Staples advanced science teacher, also made a plea for McClary, saying that she and the program exemplify “every aspect of (Staples) guiding principles.”
“How is it that we would allow that program to end and to dissolve?” he asked. Aitkenhead said he had struggled over whether to address the issue publicly tonight but concluded not to do so would be wrong.
In other matters, the school board also approved after several weeks of discussions a request by the school’s transportation director to put three-point seat belts in 13 of the district’s school buses starting next year as a pilot study for seat belt use.
The amount totals $120,900, with more than half of that amount being budgeted for the 2017-18 academic year to retrofit seven buses, and the remaining six buses for 2018-19.
