November 5, 2023
Submitted by Hingham Education Association
Members of the Hingham Education Association remain deeply troubled by the lack of transparency from District leadership and the disregard for a slowly unfolding staffing crisis in Hingham Public Schools. Middle School educators were outraged to learn from parents, rather than the School Committee or Superintendent, of the recent arrest of a substitute. We recognize that this incident was ultimately the result of a variety of factors, including an obvious failure of the vetting process, disinvestment in public education, and a broken mental health care system. However, that does not absolve the District of its failure to promptly notify staff and families of the incident. We are disturbed by the prolonged silence, the initial downplaying of community distress, and the reported statement from Superintendent Dr. Adams that there were no concerns.
In addition to the three immediate actions proposed by School Committee Chair Nes Correnti in her emailed public statement, we would suggest adding two:
1) Improve communication across schools regarding active substitute lists. It is common practice for individuals to be removed from lists by school following teacher, paraeducator, and student feedback. This appears to have happened in several Hingham schools as the individual worked their way through every school in the district since last spring. The professional staff of Hingham pays close attention to the well-being of students in our care—even in our absence.
2) Enact solutions proposed by Hingham educators during ongoing negotiations since last December. This includes paying all staff fair wages, compensating paraeducators for taking over classes from struggling substitutes as needed (which happened in this case), adequately staffing schools to address the needs of students, and providing essential benefits like paid parental leave to attract and retain the highest quality educators possible. The following statements on these issues were read during negotiation meetings to the School Committee and sent to Hingham’s Select Board and Advisory Committee: Unit A educators (tinyurl.com/HEASCstatement) and Unit B paraeducators (tinyurl.com/HEASCstatement2, tinyurl.com/HEAunitbSBACletter).
While pleased that the Department of Labor Relations forced the School Committee back to the paraeducator negotiations table on Friday, we were disappointed that Living Wage requests were still met with apathy. The lawyer acting as spokesperson for Hingham’s School Committee ignored the staffing problems inevitable when not offering competitive wages in a tough labor market, stating, “If we have to hire unqualified staff, so be it.” It was a shocking, but not surprising, admission to hear out loud. When challenged, the comment was quickly backpedaled. Hingham educators stand in solidarity, are ready to work on solutions, and look forward to support from the community, administration, and School Committee to do the same. We care deeply for our students and colleagues—they not only deserve qualified staff, but the best possible.
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The Hingham Education Association represents nearly 600 educators, nurses, clerical staff, custodians, paraeducators, and support staff affiliated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
Thank you for the article but I’d like to understand this more on what is meant by this part of the initial paragraph:
“We recognize that this incident was ultimately the result of a variety of factors, including an obviously, disinvestment in public education
What specific obvious disinvestment in education are you referring to?
Thank you,
-Parent of PRS student
Great question, thanks for asking- can only fit so many words on a page! We are referring to the many years of unfunded state mandates, insufficient state level funding (recently starting to be corrected by the Student Opportunity Act and Fair Share Amendment), hundreds of thousands (totaling millions) returned to the Town from the School Department over the past decade, and insufficient local funding necessitating a historic override last year to prevent devastating cuts to services and staffing (thank you for voting yes!!!). There is a substitute shortage and the low wages offered (not just in Hingham) are likely part of the problem. When surveyed about the use of ESSER funds, staff asked for them to be used to get paras to a Living Wage and increase substitute pay (even though the latter are not in our union, we understood it to be a critical staffing exacerbated by COVID).
From what I am hearing, the rooms just aren’t staffed according to what is needed. If a teacher has a class with many children pulling them for help, then that class would need a para. Last week schools were desperate trying to find coverage. The eligible people to work are going to towns that are neighboring Hingham and getting paid more. Would you rather travel 10 minutes for $100 or $150? A parent was telling me that when there is a lack of coverage the administration just puts their names into the open spots, this is done with no intent to cover the holes. Is it true that a student broke a window? How is a teacher who is responsible for up to 20 children suppose to manage all of these behavior outbursts?
Hi
I have a question regarding Staffing of Teachers in Hingham Schools. Is there currently a shortage of Teachers? How many?
I’m trying to understand how much of a shortage there is with student teachers this year to last year?
Since the start of School in September thru November 6th that is 42 days Teachers have been in session.
Why would there be such demand for substitute teachers to cover classes in this 8 week time frame.
Thank-you