Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jun 2006
Source: Westford Eagle (MA)
Copyright: 2006 Community Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.townonline.com/westford/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4182
Author: Ariel Z. Burch, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)

PARENTS CLAMOR FOR MORE SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS

Parents say the School Committee needs to ensure a safe school environment 
by increasing staff drug and alcohol screening and implementing abuse 
awareness programs. The School system also must work on the ongoing 
communication issue, according to parents and staff at the School Committee 
meeting Monday.

The Safety Task Committee of parents and community members was created 
after this year's teacher scandals to improve communication and provide 
guidance to the School Committee.

"This committee represents a very diverse group of people, representing 
people in industry, people with a vested interest in the community and 
community leaders," said Mark Quinn who represented a subcommittee that 
gave recommendations for improving the hiring process.

Quinn said the current hiring process is able to secure high-quality 
teachers, but that it lacks comprehensive background checks that would 
enable the schools to predict behavioral problems such as substance abuse.

"We tend to focus very much in hiring on the technical aspects, the 'what' 
they are going to do. We don't spend a lot of time as hiring managers on 
the 'how,'" Quinn said.

Quinn recommended outsourcing the background checks and screening portion 
of the hiring process to a third party to decrease liability. Hiring 
programs would allow the schools to gain a more thorough knowledge of 
candidates' backgrounds and would provide information about substance 
abuse, criminal records and financial stability.

The schools should also train staff to recognize potential problem 
behaviors, Quinn said.

"Everyone is going to become more aware of signs, symptoms and behavioral 
changes," said Sue Higgins, a member of the Employee Drug Screening 
Subcommittee.

Lee Thurston, nurse leader for the School Department, said staff should be 
taught to recognize signs of drug abuse and that all staff should be 
required to consent to drug testing if there is evidence of a problem.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Foster said the leadership team of 
principals and management staff will train to recognize risky behavior 
during a summer conference.

"We need to stress moral responsibility for all teachers," Foster said. He 
said the employee assistance program is underutilized and that the teacher 
handbook and code of conduct should include policies about proper behavior.

Foster said he is speaking with Frank Shea, a private investigator with the 
Department of Education, to determine whether the recent teacher scandals 
could have been predicted by more comprehensive criminal records checks.

Nabnasset Principal Susan DuBois, who headed the Public Notification 
Subcommittee, said the communications survey should be reissued to gather 
more results. A paper copy of the survey was given to all parents after the 
School Committee was criticized for its methods of communicating sensitive 
issues, especially regarding the allegations against former Blanchard 
Middle School teacher Susan Clickner.

DuBois said that parents of kindergarten through second grade students 
submitted 221 surveys, but that there were only a handful of responses from 
high school parents. She suggested that the survey be reissued in 
September, when parents are used to filling out paper work, so that the 
School Committee can compile information about how best to communicate 
sensitive information.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D