Vote Medford 2005

Q11: Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

Is there a collaborative, respectful and professional relationship between the Medford School Committee, city officials, parents and individual school administrators?

What would you do to preserve and strengthen these vital partnerships?

Blackburn: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

Ms. Blackburn declined to take part in this questionnaire.

Brady: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

From time to time I have objected to the city council mixing into school department business. However, I believe in general we all get along and work together to produce a good school system. I believe in dialogue among different groups. Most problems can be solved if everyone talks it out.

Cincotti : Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

Yes for the most part there is however there is always a need for checks and balances. How I would preserve it is remind people that all School Committee Meetings are an open forum for the public to attend and voice there opinion also the members and city officials and administrators are available to address there concerns at all times

Cugno: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

Yes, I believe there is a collaborative, respectful and professional relationship among everyone on the committees and parents. What I would do to strengthen and preserve these vital partnerships is that I would make sure that the communication lines stay open. It is very vital to know what is going on with all these different levels. Parents and students as well as all our Medford residents need and have the right to know, that they have the proper representation when they have already gone through the proper channels.

DiGiantommaso: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

Yes, but one issue is that the city council tries to do school business. School Committees are elected officials just like the council and School Committee should do their own school business.

Kulik: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

While I would not say that the relationships that I have seen are disrespectful or unprofessional, I would question whether they are as collaborative as they should be. For example, the school committee agenda is published in summary form on Friday for the following Monday's meeting. This does not allow enough time to find out more about a particular agenda item. Additionally, the actual reports are not available except for viewing after the meeting, which means that there is little hope of providing reasonable feedback about an issue.

One of the ways that I would improve communication would be to meet with the parent groups at each of the schools at least twice per year. Additionally, I would ask that draft and final reports from the superintendent should be published on one of the school web sites for review by the public. Since the reports are already created electronically, it would not take much to provide them to a web site for public viewing.

The school committee and city council should also work more productively together. Instead of taking offense about city council touching on school affairs, both bodies should determine how best to communicate when issues overlap jurisdictions. As a school committee member, I would cultivate my relationship with the city councilors, who I have gotten to know quite well over the past two years. I believe that one of my strengths is the ability to work with others even though I may have considerable philosophical differences with them.

Pompeo: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

There is a collaborative, respectful and professional relationship among the school committee, city officials, parents, and school administrators.  If the relationships continue in the future as they have in the past, the vital partnerships will continue to be strong and amicable.

Skerry: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

YES. Time to time conflicts arise that are detailed or mundane and all are given the proper attention and resolved or solved for the good of Medford. The problems are not new and are some of the same ones that would solve at home on a daily basis.

I have always been an advocate for our children and our schools. No issue goes unattended and I pride myself in listening to all sides of an issue before taking action.......

Van der Kloot: Q11 - Collaborative, Professional Relationships?

I certainly have a positive working relationship with the members of the City Council, school administrators, the Mayor, other members of the school committee, and parents. Just recently, when some of my collegues were feeling a little put out by some council members stepping into our arena, I called for a more positive and collaborative approach.

I know that parents are sometimes frustrated when they call the Superintendents office and don't receive a call in a timely manner. I think part of my job is to interface between parents and school officials and let school officials know the urgency of some issues or the depth of a concern. The number of calls that the Superintendent receives a day is staggering and it is unrealistic to expect that every issue belongs on his desk, especially when we need him to attend to the other business of the district. I believe that the Assistant Superintendents and Principals generally do a good job of responding in a timely manner. If not, I am always glad to assist.

I very much promote parent participation and am very supportive of the city-wide PTO. I have been instrumental in assuring meetings and events can go forth. A key tenet of my tenure on the school committee is that the school system should be "user-friendly" and I am committed to working to that end.