Technology discussed, special education issues persist at committee meeting

Warwick Beacon ·

The School Committee faced tussles over technology, online grading system Aspen, and special education at Tuesday’s meeting.

Usage rates of Aspen, according to Supervisor of Math and Science Ryan Mullan, are 59 percent at Pilgrim, 72 percent at Toll Gate, 95 percent at Winman, and 28 percent at Warwick Veterans.

School Committee Member Jennifer Ahearn commended the teachers who are using the system. Data proves that online grading supports student achievement, she said, and the teachers using it “understand the relevance of being able to share that information with parents and students.”

“I have a whole bunch of letters from parents saying how much they appreciate teachers being able to put grades online and they can monitor how their students are doing,” said Ahearn.

Mullan said teachers had an hour of professional development time in which they learned to use Aspen, and that teaching and learning assistant principals and department heads were trained on troubleshooting. In addition, Director of Technology Douglas Alexander provided a timeline and presentation on technology upgrades in schools. The presentation began with the years 2000-2006 in which teachers were given one desktop PC per classroom. No laptops were provided and network infrastructure was the focus at that time, it said. It went on through 2016 to describe tech personnel changes, RITTI grants for teachers, the adoption of Aspen, and other additions including Chromebooks, Mac labs, and Wi-Fi.

However, teachers at the meeting said the schools were not a “wonderful technological utopia” and that the Aspen wasn’t functioning properly. Warwick Teachers Union President Darlene Netcoh said the union was not against electronic grading but called Aspen a “disaster.”

“One of my colleagues sat down and calculated by hand the grades and compared it to what Aspen did. Aspen was wrong,” she said. “There are plenty of ways for parents and teachers to communicate… If you want electronic grading, there’s an easy solution. It’s called negotiations.”

Warwick Veterans special education teacher Jennifer Hartel said that one day, she had been using Aspen to write an IEP and had to resort to finishing it on her own cell phone after the school’s Internet went down.

“I can’t work like this. I can’t teach like this… Every day should not be like an obstacle course where I’m coming in and trying to figure out ‘what’s the next surprise? What do I need to navigate today to educate my children?’” she said.

Another teacher said her math curriculum software displayed an “internal error” and that she could not assign her students work because she was unsure of what the error was or how to fix it.

“I think it is encouraging that the district is moving forward to try to make our students 21st century learners... My concern is that a user manual or powerpoint presentation is going to be thrown at the teachers and [they’ll be told to] go figure it out at home,” she said. “We need to be trained to make it meaningful to our students and it has to work properly.”

Hartel also said she and other educators have not been properly trained on Promethean board usage. She said she went to a professional development session she thought would be on how to use the boards only for a district administrator to tell the teachers that they’d be learning something else.

“I learned about a wonderful app that I could use if I knew how to properly use my Promethean board, which I want to use because I think it would be great if I had manual on it or some training,” she said.

Complaints on the special education department also continued. Some parents argued their child’s IEP are still being violated.

Anthony Sinapi, a Warwick resident and associate attorney at Sinapi Law Associates, Ltd., said he brought special education lawyers to a recent meeting.

“They were so appalled by what they heard and saw but gladdened by involvement of teachers, students and parents,” he said to the School Committee.

The attorneys, Sinapi said, have agreed to help get together and represent as many families as they can for free (or low cost if a family with a case does not or cannot be part of the group effort) provided they can get a large enough group.

Sinapi Law and Access! Education Consulting will host a free informational session on November 19th from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the community room at the Warwick Police Station.

Sinapi said Wednesday that the lawyers are hoping to represent at least 100 families. Those who want to attend the session on the 19th are asked to and to RSVP as soon as possible as they may not be able to accommodate reservations received less than 24 hours prior to the event. RSVP by sending an email to 411@accesseducationconsulting.com with “Warwick and (number attending)” in the subject line. Attendees are asked to bring their child’s IEPs and a pen.

Special Education Director Dr. Jennifer Connolly has provided administration perspective on special education to the Beacon in an op-ed in today’s edition.

In other business, the School Committee approved contract awards for computers for the robotics lab at Warwick Veterans, welding equipment for the Marine Trades program at the Career and Tech Center, installation of additional Promethean boards, and electrical upgrades for installation of Promethean boards.