City and school leaders in Boston reached an agreement with the Boston Teachers鈥� Union last week to expand the district鈥檚 system of small, autonomous schools, ending a 2-year-old standoff that had stalled the growth of the experimental program.
Under the agreement, which must be approved by the school board, the city would open at least seven new 鈥減ilot schools鈥� over the next three years, including one that would be governed by the union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. The 59,000-student district opened the first of its 19 pilot schools in 1994, through a partnership with the BTU. The schools, which are the district鈥檚 answer to charter schools, enroll various K-12 grade levels.
鈥淭his new agreement on pilot schools will offer our students more choice and continue to provide them with a world-class education,鈥� Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement announcing the agreement Feb. 15.
Several of the district鈥檚 145 schools had already petitioned before the standoff to become pilot schools.
In 2003, union officials refused to endorse a plan to add more schools to the program, citing inconsistent policies for limiting teachers鈥� unpaid overtime and a need to extend some of the same administrative liberties鈥攐ver school hours, hiring, and budgets鈥攖o other district schools.
The agreement would place a cap on the unpaid hours鈥攁t about 100 per school year鈥攁nd require the district or the schools to pay additional hourly wages to teachers who worked beyond those hours.
鈥淚n the past, some pilot school teachers had to work more than 300 hours without pay,鈥� BTU President Richard Stutman said in a statement. 鈥淭his agreement resolves teachers鈥� concerns and paves the way for expanding this important education option for parents, students, and educators.鈥�
Supporters of the schools argue that teachers choose to work at them and understand the extra hours that may be needed for planning and professional development. Those teachers also benefit from greater collaboration with their peers, additional support for instruction, and greater job satisfaction, a recent study found.
Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant has pushed for adding more pilot schools, saying they would allow the district to enhance one of its core improvement initiatives.
鈥淐onsistent with our commitment to provide a whole system of quality schools for all children, these additional pilot schools will increase the range of Boston Public Schools choices for Boston families,鈥� he said in a statement.
Decisionmaking Expanded
Mr. Payzant and Mr. Stutman participated in a panel discussion last month on the effects of the pilot schools. The discussion was timed to the release of a report that found them to be more effective than other public schools in the city at raising student achievement. (鈥淏oston鈥檚 Small 鈥楶ilot鈥� Schools Found to Outperform Others,鈥� Jan. 25, 2006.)
The study by the Center for Collaborative Education, a Boston-based advocacy organization that promotes small schools and supports the pilot school project, found that students in the network outperformed their peers across the district on multiple measures of performance and engagement.
Under the agreement, Mr. Stutman鈥檚 request for additional decisionmaking powers at other district schools would also be met. So-called 鈥渄iscovery schools鈥� would be 鈥済ranted some autonomy from district and union regulations in order to pursue particular innovative strategies,鈥� a summary of the agreement says.
The pilot school issue had been a sticking point in contract negotiations between the district and the union. Those negotiations continued last week. The new agreement would be incorporated into the three-year contract that is set to begin in September.
