Committee approves Black as new Martin Middle School principal

East Providence native, resident formally takes position in January

By Mike Rego
Posted 12/13/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — City native and resident William Black was confirmed by the school committee at its Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting as the new principal of Martin Middle School effective …

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Committee approves Black as new Martin Middle School principal

East Providence native, resident formally takes position in January

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — City native and resident William Black was confirmed by the school committee at its Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting as the new principal of Martin Middle School effective January 16, 2018.

Mr. Black replaces Fatima Avila, who returned to the elementary level in the same position as principal at Silver Spring School following a recent series of building administrative changes made by the central office. Ms. Avila principal at Kent Heights Elementary before taking over at Martin.

Mr. Black, a former classroom teacher, has most recently been the principal of the West Broadway Middle School in Providence with an enrollment of 525 students. He earned his bachelor of science degree from Northeastern University and his master of arts degree from Rhode Island College.

“I’m very excited,” said Mr. Black. “I appreciate all the support I’ve already received and I can’t wait to get started.”

Ward 4 Committee member Jessica Beauchaine noted the contribution of Rob Perry, who served as the interim MMS principal for most of the first quarter and who will return to his position as assistant principal there.

“I want to thank Mr. Perry. You’ve done an amazing job. I just want to thank you for stepping up,” Ms. Beauchaine said, adding of he and Mr. Black, “I think you guys will make a great team.”

Of note as well Tuesday, the committee approved the appointment of Alex Butler as a new dean of students at East Providence High School, joining Jon Stringfellow and Lian Furtado in the position on the staff of principal Shani Wallace.

Mr. Butler, like Mr. Black, is an East Providence native and resident. He is a graduate of East Providence High School and Rhode Island College, where he earned a bachelor of education degree. Mr. Butler, in his 18th year as an educator, began his career in city at EPHS then spent two years at the elementary school level before spending the next 13 years teaching at Martin and Riverside Middle Schools. He returned to EPHS this fall as a physical education teacher.

Substitute pay
The committee approved a measure recommended by Superintendent Kathryn Crowley and District Human Resources Director Cheryl Mammone to increase the compensation for substitute personnel throughout the district.

The move is designed to alleviate the lack of qualified replacements in East Providence and make the district’s pay more on par with the marketplace.

In urging support of the change, Ms. Mammone said, “I believe the change is necessary and that the proposed rate change will ensure our district is paying our substitutes fairly and will put us above the minimum wage changes in both 2018 and 2019.”

The director was referring to upcoming changes to the state minimum wage scale, which jumps to $9.60 per hour on January 1 of next year, $10.10 in 2019 and $10.50 in 2020.

The new pay scale in the district will be a flat $90 per day, or $13.34 per hour, for substitute teachers. The hourly pay for secretaries and custodians moves to $11.50. Also, substitute teachers who remain in the position for 10 days or more will see an increase to $125 per day from $100. Long-term teacher subs will continue to earn a first step salary, per contract, if they are employed for 135 days or more.

Included originally in the proposal was an increase in the pay for substitute nurses. At-Large Committee member Joel Monteiro, however, had some reservations with the change, which would have seen daily pay for nurses increase to $200. It was removed from the motion and tabled for further discussion.

More personnel matters
On a related topic, Director of Pupil Personnel (Special Needs) Julian MacDonnell told the committee the district continues to actively seek speech pathologists to fill vacancies in various schools. Mr. MacDonnell noted East Providence was not alone in needing to find capable instructors in this field.

“There is a major gap in the number of positions available and those qualified people available in the state,” he said, adding the district has been “diligently” attempting to make speech pathology hires since positions were left vacant last June.

To that end, the administration has contracted with area headhunters to help fill the positions. He also reiterated any instruction time lost by student due to the situation would be made up according to state guidelines.

Employee absences
Superintendent Crowley and Director Mammone, in a follow-up discussion on the topic from a previous meeting, last week provided the committee with an update on the administration’s attempt to curb excessive employee absences district wide.

The director informed the body 52 letters of notice were sent out at the conclusion of the first quarter of the 2017-18 term to employees who had five or more “undocumented” absences.

According to East Providence Education Association’s Nick Shattuck, president of the teachers’ union, eight of those were instructors or only about 3 percent of the approximately 500 teachers who work in the district.

Ms. Mammone explained the letters were an attempt to make employees “aware” of their situations and to help “improve communication” between them and the administration. She also cautioned the letters would not become part of an employees permanent file.

Superintendent Crowley said those teachers, specifically, who had five or more undocumented absences already this term and who also had 10 or more last year will be called into a meeting with herself and Mr. Shattuck to discuss their situations.

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