Boy Scouts are OK, School Dept. contracts near agreement
Published on September 20th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - A rumor has been circulating that the School Department is going to toss the Boy Scouts out on their ascots.
The School Committee passed a nondiscrimination policy on Sept. 14. The Boy Scouts hold meetings in the Robin Hood School. A recent Supreme Court ruling upheld the Scouts right to ban homosexual Scout Leaders.
The School's policy reads, "...No person shall be excluded from or discriminated against in admission to the Stoneham Public Schools or in obtaining the advantages, privileges, and courses of study of the Stoneham Public schools on account of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability...the committee's policy will extend to students, staff, the general public, and individuals with whom it does business..."
Superintendent of Schools Joe Connelly says the rumor is false and the Scouts are still welcome. The Boy Scouts say they don't call their neckties "ascots." So be it.
In other school news:
oThe School Department will buy a new minibus with $36,000 in state "pothole money," funds the state distributes to schools for emergency capital expenses.
The bus is a Thomas Built bus.
"Isn't that the company that had the problem with bus brakes?" School Committee member Marie Christie asked.
"That was a full-sized bus," Connelly said. "This is a minibus."
Connelly assured the Committee that the bus would be inspected for safety. It should arrive in 60 days, he added.
oTen Stoneham students from the Class of 2000 were awarded Stanley Z. Koplik Certificates of Mastery for their performance on the 1998 MCAS exam.
The Massachusetts Compre-hensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam is designed to test whether students are learning the new state mandated curricula.
The Koplik recipients are Deborah Berkman, Felecia Cerrato, Benjamin Craigie, Jeremy Jamieson, Lauren Kelleher, Erin McManus, Jennie Nocella, Michael Porcaro, Michael Ring and Edward Silva.
The certificates made the students eligible for tuition waivers at Massachusetts public colleges and universities.
oThe School Department is close to finalizing contracts with its cafeteria workers, secretaries, teacher's assistants, nurses, program supervisors, department directors, assistant principals, principals, and central office personnel.
The School Committee voted Sept. 14 to approve three year contracts granting consecutive 2 percent, four percent and four percent raises to all the aforementioned groups except the teacher's assistants.
The teacher's assistants negotiated a two percent, three percent, three percent arrangement but added another step to their salary structure.
Subcommittees of the various unions representing the school employees have agreed to the contracts, but these subcommittees must bring the proposals back for ratification by the full union bodies.
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