Mark Niedergang, 2007 Ward 5 School Committee Questionnaire Responses

PDS SCHOOL COMMITTEE QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES Submitted by Mark Niedergang, candidate for School Committee in Ward 5 m.niedergang@comcast.net, (617) 629-8033

1. What political or community activism accomplishments are you most proud of during your last term in office (or the last two years if you have not previously served)? What specific things do you want to accomplish during the coming term?

   I am most proud of the fact that I have been an activist on the School Committee and that I have proposed a number of new initiatives and gotten several of them passed. Also, by focusing the School Committee's attention on key areas of our Schools that need improvement, I have helped to transform the School Committee's agenda and I have made our discussions more substantive and significant. I have been responsive to parents who have sought information or to raise issues. I have communicated regularly with the public via email list serves and articles in the newspapers. I have fought for transparency and I have contributed to an improvement in public access to information about the Schools.

   The Somerville Public Schools have begun a transformation under the leadership of Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi. I have strongly supported most of Mr. Pierantozzi's organizational changes and new initiatives. But I am also pushing him and my colleagues on the School Committee to make other changes. I have persistently asked tough questions of the Superintendent and other top administrators.

   My single most important accomplishment was initiating and helping to lead the School Committee through a long-range planning process this year. After a public planning process that involved scores of parents and community members and the media, the School Committee identified five long-range goals that reflect strong desires in the community for better schools. One of the goals -- to increase staff diversity and develop greater multicultural understanding was adopted only because of advocacy by me and two other School Committee members. The other four goals are: develop an extended-school-day initiative to enrich students' educational experience; create a groundbreaking, exciting middle school instructional program; increase inclusion opportunities for Special Education students; and establish a foreign language instruction program before high school.

   In terms of specific accomplishments, I have worked with my colleagues on the School Committee and the Superintendent to implement initiatives such as:

   • I led the School Committee in making a policy change that allows out-of-state educators without Massachusetts licensure to apply for positions in our Schools. This change will expand and diversify job applicant pools.
   • I proposed and lobbied for adding $40,000 to the annual budget for outreach to parents of children in the English Language Learners program. As a result, many immigrant parents are studying English in free classes so they can better support their children's education.
   • I pushed for holding an open house for parents at Somerville High School during the school day, and there was one, for the first time, in January 2007.
   • There are now more slots for parents and community members on hiring committees for principals and top administrators as a result of my advocacy.
   • As the Chair of the Personnel Subcommittee this year, I have led open and transparent hiring processes with significant public involvement for a number of key positions.

   In terms of my goals for the next two years, my top priority will be to begin implementation of the five long-range goals that the School Committee adopted this spring. I will continue to push for the development of a large-scale volunteer tutoring program that can engage community members as tutors for students. I will continue to emphasize parent involvement and to improve outreach to parents. I also want to focus more attention on the Special Education program, which serves 20% of our students. And I will continue to work on improving the transition to 9th grade at Somerville High School. (For more on this topic, see my response to questions 5 & 6.)

2. Pupils in Somerville schools come from diverse linguistic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds, and bring a range of learning styles to the classroom. What can the City do to provide every child with access to a high quality public education, and what will you do as a School Committee member to further that vision?

   The Somerville Public Schools must strive to provide a quality education for every student. We need to meet the needs of students across the achievement spectrum. High-performing students should be challenged to develop their abilities, but we must have high expectations for every child.

   Teachers need more professional development focused on helping low-income and minority students to develop academic self-confidence and to become high achievers. They also need professional development on differentiating instruction, which means that they can teach and challenge groups of children in their classroom who are at different academic levels. A new program in the coming year should help. To improve the delivery of instruction to students, the Superintendent will appoint 36 teachers to the position of Curriculum Team Leader. These full-time teachers will work in the elementary schools to assist their peers in the classroom.

   Over the past 18 months I have emphasized, in particular, strengthening the Special Education and English Language Learners programs. I've worked closely with parents and other advocates, such as the Somerville Special Education Advocacy Project and the Welcome Project, to make sure that these two programs, which serve many low-income families, receive adequate resources and attention. I believe that progress is being made in both of these areas. One of the Superintendent's priorities is to improve learning and raise MCAS scores for low income, English Language Learners, and Special Education students. A new after-school tutoring program is being developed for children in these populations.

   The Somerville Public Schools need to intensify our efforts to recruit minority teachers and staff. Growing evidence shows that minority students taught by minority teachers do better in school. It is important that students of color and immigrants have adult role models. I have been pushing the Superintendent on this issue and I am pleased to say that improvement has begun. For example, this spring, a Haitian woman was hired as the Human Resources Dept. secretary. The Superintendent recently hired a Hispanic woman with a recruitment background to be the Human Resources and Diversity Administrator.

   Many Somerville residents are not aware of the considerable strengths of the Somerville Public Schools. Our Schools provide an excellent education for young children, through universal and free kindergarten, free pre-school programs, and small class sizes in the elementary schools. Parents have the opportunity to send their children to any public school in Somerville, and there are several innovative programs including a two-way Spanish-English bilingual program and an alternative school. These programs benefit children from all backgrounds.

3. How will you create a town-gown relationship with Tufts comparable to that of Cambridge and Boston with their universities?

   I am a Tufts graduate. I have reached out to Tufts faculty and administrators to urge Tufts to be more involved in Somerville. I've encouraged our School administrators to connect with Tufts. I know this can be done: In the mid-1990s, while working for the Mayor's Office of Human Services and the Somerville Police Department, I developed the Somerville Conversations project in collaboration with Tufts. Tufts does have a number of small collaborations with our Schools, but could and should do much more. The current administration under Superintendent Pierantozzi is highly collaborative and has been seeking out partnerships with universities and other institutions. It takes time to develop the relationships and the trust to move forward in a big way. I am hopeful we will get more from Tufts in the future and I will continue to encourage leaders at Tufts to be more engaged in our Schools.

4. What will you do to stop the flight of young families away from Somerville public schools?

   First, I disagree with the way this question is phrased. I don't believe there is a flight of young families away from our Schools. Many families with young children do move out of the City. Yes, some of those families are moving out of Somerville because they want better schools. But many of these families are moving for other reasons -- because they can't afford to stay in Somerville, want more living space, a bigger backyard, more open space, or to live in the suburbs.

   The vast majority of families I have met are satisfied with our Schools. The exit surveys that the Schools have done (which are not universal enough to completely convince me) show that families with children leave the Somerville Public Schools mostly for non-academic reasons. The truth is, we don't have adequate data to tell us exactly why families with children are moving out of Somerville. The Superintendent and his administration have just begun a research project to gather and analyze such data. I expect that within a year we will understand this problem better.

   We do have data that shows that while enrollment in the Somerville Public Schools has declined significantly in the past five years, enrollment of children from Somerville in parochial, private, and charter schools has declined EVEN MORE. In general, our Schools appear not to be losing the competition for students, except at the middle school level. The question should be, "How do we keep families with children in Somerville and draw new ones into our community?"

   I do believe we can shape the decisions of those families with young children who WANT to stay in Somerville, by improving the quality and responsiveness of the Schools. I have worked hard over the past 18 months to reach out to parents of young children, to go to where they hang out, to respond to their requests for information, and to talk with them about the strengths and the weaknesses of our Schools. I try to show them that our Schools are improving and are going through large-scale structural and cultural change. I have fought hard to make it as easy as possible for parents and the public to get information about the Schools and to be involved in decisions around policy and hiring. My belief is that a more open system inspires confidence in parents.

   Unfortunately, it has become very expensive to live in much of Somerville, and many families have been forced to move due to high housing costs. I have advocated and worked for more affordable housing in Somerville for 10 years. I am a member of the Somerville Community Corporation, and I served on its Board and as its President in the late 1990s. I believe that the single biggest step that the City could take to keep more families with young children in Somerville and in our Schools would be to develop more affordable housing.

5. What specific steps will you take to improve the graduation rate of Somerville students?

6. What specific steps will you take to improve the post-graduate prospects of Somerville students?

   I will answer these questions together as they are closely linked. The graduation rate at Somerville High could certainly be improved, but I do not see it as one our biggest problems. I am much more concerned about grades 7 and 8, as many of our students start to fall behind in those years.

   The annual dropout rate for high school students in Somerville dropped from 4.3% in 2004-2005 to 2.3% in 2005-2006. The overall four-year graduation rate of 77% is close to the state average of 80%, while our student population is considerably poorer than the state average. Our student body is also very transient. If you take just the students who started in grade 9 and did not move out of or into Somerville during high school, the adjusted four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2006 at Somerville High was 89.5%. While losing 10% of the students who started 9th grade is not cause for celebration, nor is it evidence of a crisis. We can do better and I believe we will.

   When I was a candidate two years ago, changes in the High School were at the top of my platform. Over the past 18 months, many of the changes I called for have been implemented or begun. There has been a reorganization in student services at the High School, focused on providing more opportunities for young people and adults to have more positive contact. A welcome center for immigrant students and parents has been opened. A new Headmaster, Tony Ciccariello, was hired. He is a thoughtful, sensitive, and caring man. There are also large-scale retirements taking place at the High School (and at every other level) so there is lot of new energy coming into our Schools.

   In terms of improving the graduation rate and prospects after graduation, the most important thing is to help the students to be better learners. Two years ago I and several other active members of the Somerville-4-Schools list serve identified the transition to 9th grade as a huge problem at Somerville High, as evidenced by the large number of students (more than 25%) who fail at least one course in their freshman year. In response, the High School has developed a major initiative that works with 6th-10th grade teachers around improving students' readiness to enter 9th grade. Astonishingly, previous to this initiative, there was little work being done around this transition. This new initiative has strong leadership and the administration seems committed to it.

   Somerville High School has a good honors program and an excellent Technical and Vocational Education program. The students in those two programs seem to do quite well in school and afterwards. My concern continues to be with the kids in the middle, those in the non-vocational track who do not have a lot of focus or motivation. The new Headmaster has introduced some new courses aimed at these students and the organizational changes and transition-to-high school program are focused on helping these students.

   In terms of post-graduate prospects, the Guidance Department at the High School needs to give students who are graduating better assistance with their choice of colleges and with getting financial aid so that they can afford to go to a college that will enable them to realize their potential. For this, there need to be more guidance counselors, so they can spend more time with students who need assistance. I also believe that the aspirations of some of the guidance counselors for our graduates need to be raised. The Technical and Vocational Education program does a superb job of working with their students around career choice and post-graduate options. This should be extended to students in the academic track, particularly those not in honors classes.

7. What specific steps would you take to reduce the waiting list for adult literacy and ESL classes?

   This is not really a School Committee issue, but rather one for our state and federal representatives. While the Somerville Public Schools has an excellent adult education center (SCALE), and there are a number of social service agencies that offer adult education classes, the vast majority of funding for adult literacy and ESL classes comes from the state and federal governments. Most of the students at SCALE are not Somerville residents. It is not the City's or the School's responsibility to fund these programs; nor do we have the money to do so. I believe that adult education is extremely important. I was a part-time teacher at SCALE for two years in the late 1970s. But I do not believe we should take funds from the education of our children to educate adults.

8. What specific steps will you take to promote pay equity in Somerville? (see http://www.mass.gov/women/payequity/payequity.htm#legislation)

   The vast majority of School employees - roughly 80% of full-time employees -- are women. Unfortunately, a smaller percentage of those in leadership positions and high-paying jobs are women, and a larger percentage in the lowest paying jobs are women.

   There are three things that I have done and will continue to do to promote pay equity:

   A) Advocate for higher pay and larger proportional raises for employees who receive low salaries, such as paraprofessionals and cafeteria workers.

   B) Encourage women to apply for (higher paying) administrative and leadership positions in the Schools.

   C) Support the candidacies of qualified women for those positions. In this area, too, positive change is occurring. Superintendent Pierantozzi has hired women for many of the top jobs that have been open, with the School Committee's support.

9. What else should we know about your candidacy?

   I would like you to know a few things about me personally. I have lived in Somerville for over 25 years and own and live in a two-family home that we bought in 1997.

   Part of my motivation to improve our Schools is because my daughter just completed her freshman year at Somerville High School and has been a student in the Somerville Public Schools since kindergarten. My wife, Marya Axner, worked for four years in the Somerville Public Schools, organizing parents and developing more after-school programs. I have been a volunteer in a Somerville Public School for most of the past 10 years. For the last two years I have tutored two students once a week at the Kennedy School.

   I have been a board member for many community organizations, including the Somerville Community Corporation, Eagle Eye Institute, and Congregation B'nai Brith, the Jewish synagogue on Central Street. During the school year, I teach young children in the Sunday morning religious school there. My primary means of transportation for three decades has been my bicycle, and I am a committed environmentalist. I play shortstop on a co-ed softball team, love nature, the outdoors and gardening, and I am an advocate of physical exercise for people of all ages. Whenever possible, I have encouraged the development of programs in these areas in our Schools.

   I work professionally as a consultant to non-profit organizations, helping with special projects, organizational development, and problem solving.