NEWBURYPORT — The School Committee gave itself a passing grade, if not straight A's in its first-ever self-evaluation report released this week on the district Web site.
The seven members graded themselves on 24 specific goals they either met, or failed to meet over the course of the last school year, which when averaged became a C+ cumulative score. For overall accomplishments, however, they gave themselves a B- for achieving things beyond the scope of their stated goals, such as better relations with Whittier Vocational Technical School, and for improvements in the area of district policy.
Parents and members of the community were issued the same survey questions as part of the committee evaluation, and it was pointed out by committee member Nick de Kanter that approximately 300 respondents rated the committee with the same B- grade. It was his feeling, he said, this duplicate grade reflects the committee's ability to accurately assess its own strengths and weaknesses.
"By and large, the community was evaluating us just as we were evaluating ourselves," de Kanter said.
The board gave itself low marks — a 1.86 achievement score equal to a D+ — for failing to bring world language back into the core curriculum of the public schools, and for not providing adequate funding to expand the language program in the upcoming school year's budget.
"We have not been able to fund this reintroduction, and we must do so if we expect to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century," de Kanter wrote.
"Over time, there has been much slippage in this area," agreed Stephen Cole. "Losing French as a language is very disappointing."
The committee felt best about its accomplishments in the area of policy, especially for setting up clear and repeatable guidelines for evaluating the school superintendent, and for evaluating the capital needs of the district on an annual basis. Additional self-kudos were offered in the area of strategic planning, specifically referring to a community-based process the district hopes to launch this fall and repeat each year thereafter.
"A legitimate process has begun and broadly engages the larger community," Bruce Menin wrote.
Several committee members took exception to the committee's setting of unrealistic goals, which they felt were too far reaching and impossible to attain.
"I think we take on too many tasks and set unrealistic objectives," wrote committee chairman and Mayor John Moak. "This leads to a perception of not accomplishing as much as we actually have accomplished."
Others were far more critical in that regard.
"Only one-sixth (of the stated goals) completed; more than one-fifth with no steps toward completion," Dana Hooper wrote.
Comments from the community, which are included in their entirety as part of the self-evaluation report, ran the gamut from overwhelming support of the committee and their handling of tasks, to outright condemnation. Even with the variation, there was no cumulative grade assigned to the committee lower than the C+ given for their handling of fiscal matters. Most of the negative comments referred to budget shortfalls and cuts made in recent years that have compromised school curriculum quality.
Stephanie Weaver expressed support for the community portion of the survey in particular, citing one respondent's comments that simply said 'thank you for asking.'
"I don't recall in my seven years of living here being given the opportunity to take a survey," Weaver said.
In response to another respondent who stated they'd answer the committee's questions and grade them accordingly but doubted anything would be done with that constructive criticism, de Kanter proposed the results of the survey should create measurable change moving forward.
"It's up to us now to make sure something happens with the survey," de Kanter said.
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