Waltham Teachers Union Responds To Schools Report

In the wake of a damaging state report on the Waltham Public Schools, the union that represents Waltham Public Schools' teachers says it has confidence that administrators will vastly improve the district.

"Teachers have put a lot of trust and faith into [Superintendent Susan] Nicholson and [Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction Paul] Maiorano. Given the recommendation DESE has made, we are confident that they will be afforded more autonomy by the school committee to make the kinds of leadership-management decisions that will make our schools more successful than they already are," the Waltham Educators Association said in an email statement to Waltham Patch.

The WEA was reacting to the report criticizing the Waltham School Committee for micromanaging the district. The School Committee has said it welcomes the reports recommendation and sees it as a tool to help improve the district. 

Text of the full statement:

There has been lots of turnover in leadership in Waltham in recent years.  Fortunately, we now have a superintendent and assistant superintendent who seem vested in our schools—this consistency is a good thing for everyone.  Dr. Nicholson and Mr. Maiorano have restructured the roles and responsibilities of some administrators to make departments and schools run more effectively.  One of the recommendations from the report was to hire a human resources director, an essential position which Dr. Nicholson filled in August.  Also with respect to leadership, the DESE report indicated that some members of the school committee “involve themselves too much with matters that would best be handled by the superintendent and her administration.”  These sentiments were expressed by several interviewees, some of whom were even members of the school committee itself.  Teachers have put a lot of trust and faith into Dr. Nicholson and Mr. Maiorano.  Given the recommendation DESE has made, we are confident that they will be afforded more autonomy by the school committee to make the kinds of leadership-management decisions that will make our schools more successful than they already are.  After her first year on the job, I have no doubt that Dr. Nicholson was pleased to see Waltham High School move from Level 3 status to Level 1.  Clearly, the district is moving in the right direction.