Tyer, Bianchi Outline Educational Visions at UEP Debate
 The two mayoral candidates face off in a debate sponsored by the United Educators of Pittsfield on Wednesday night. |
For Linda Tyer, she'd want to adopt an International Baccalaureate program, a growing teaching method focused on academic rigor.
The program helps schools develop curriculum focused on writing, broad themes and inquiry, and world cultures and can earn credits from colleges. Such a move would make the city's educational system "unique" and help attract new students.
"It is really designed to create a pipeline for higher education at some of the more outstanding colleges including ivy league colleges," the city clerk said.
For Daniel Bianchi, it means continuing to worked with Mass Insights Education to increase educational performance of the schools and expand the Advancement Placement course offerings. The incumbent says an expanded slate of AP offerings will be something students can't get anywhere else in the county.
"This is going to be a very powerful thing. We are going to expand that program and help open the eyes of the people who are choicing out," Bianchi said.
The two exchanged ideas in a debate Wednesday night put on by United Educators of Pittsfield and moderated by union President Brendan Sheran. On about a dozen questions, the two dug deeper into educational issues than in previous debates, outlining how they'd improve the schools.
Tyer envisions the schools to be "vibrant, compassionate, and innovative places of learning." She'd work to find creative ways to let teachers teach "well rounded" education instead of teaching to the test. Bianchi says his vision has been exemplified during his time in office in his educational support, which includes capital upgrades in schools, new multi-year teachers contracts, new internship programs, securing 21st Century education grants, and advancing the construction on the new Taconic High School.
"I fought to get this Taconic High School built. ... We are going to have a terrific opportunity for our students," Bianchi said outlining the pathway from the new school through Berkshire Community College and then to jobs at the Berkshire Innovation Center.
"We are putting together a unique opportunity for small, and medium-sized innovative companies to grow and when they do they will be hiring kids from Taconic High School who went on the BCC."
Tyer, however, retorted that Bianchi isn't responsible for the new Taconic High School. A decade ago when the City Council had to vote to submit a statement of interest, which is the first step toward getting the project funded through the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Bianchi voted against it.
"If we had not had a majority vote, we wouldn't be here today excited about a new high school," Tyer said of that vote.
Bianchi said he wasn't voting against Taconic but that he felt it was "unconscionable" that former Mayor James Ruberto left out renovation efforts for Morningside, Conte, and Crosby schools.
"It was a fight for those three schools that desperately needed renovations," Bianchi said.
Tyer questioned what's happened since for those three schools; Bianchi responded that statements of interest were submitted for the three in 2011 to receive funding for renovations. Bianchi added that the vote for the statement of interest was 10 years ago but nothing happened until he took office. Now the mayor says he has a good relationship with the MSBA and knows how to get funding for projects in other schools.
"We didn't have a mayor driving the bus," Bianchi said.
Tyer countered that it was the work of state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and City Councilor Kathleen Amuso who kept the project alive as well as the volunteer boards developing it.
"It is their persistence and perseverance as to why we have a new Taconic High School," Tyer said.
Nonetheless, Bianchi says the new school will attract many students from Lee, Lenox, and Dalton for its vocational offerings. He called it a "home run" for attracting and retaining students. That will be coupled with expanded AP course offerings.
For teachers, the mayor boasted of two three-year contracts that had been approved with UEP during his administration. He said in the past, the teachers failed to come to multi-year agreements which led to work to rule and other disputes with the union. Those contracts will retain teachers.
"I saw personally how that was hurtful to kids and to teachers," Bianchi said.
Tyer said that's not enough. The teachers are currently restricted because of bureaucracy in teaching. She said she'd push for "unique" programs such as the International Baccalaureate program to make the city stand out.
"We are trapped often by this framework of testing which prevents teachers from being creative," Tyer said.
She also said she'd advocate for the ending of school choice on the state level. She said it leads to the city's top academic students going elsewhere, decreasing diversity in the city schools.
She also said the city can work with the Chamber of Commerce and local realtors to change negative perceptions of the school system. But first, the city needs to make the schools safe.
"Until we solve the crime issue we are facing. Until families know we are safe, we will never attract more students," she said.
On Friday, a loaded gun was found in a Herberg Middle School student's locker after another student informed administrators. Tyer said no family should have to depend on other students to make sure their child is safe.
"This is not the first time guns have been found in our schools. This is a very serious issue and it takes urgent, immediate action," Tyer said. "We can't expect kids and teachers to constantly be on alert. They are in an academic environment and their first priority is to teach and learn."
When it comes to safety, mental health issues, and drugs in the schools, Tyer doesn't expect the teachers to be experts in those subjects. She is advocating to bring the organizations that specialize in those areas into the school to solve those problems.
Bianchi is calling for a re-evaluation of the school's security protocols in the wake of finding the weapon. He, too, pushed for partnerships. He pointed to his efforts to help the city's youth avoid drugs and violence through the Pittsfield Community Connection mentoring program and the opening of community centers in public housing projects.
"We have done health screenings there we have done a number of intervention programs and we started a mentoring program to really reach out to the kids at risk of falling through the cracks," Bianchi said.
In the last budget cycle, the teen pregnancy and alternative school programs were eliminated. Bianchi said working with community groups including the Berkshire United Way and the Berkshire County sheriff's department has closed that gap.
Tyer said eliminating those programs just put those students more at risk. Tyer said she would like to develop new programs with the flexibility to work with the attendee's schedules.
Tyer preached the importance of early education, calling for partnerships with providers to help expand access to all city families. She said there are grant programs that would help the city pay for the expansions.
"This program is good for kids and good for families. It gives kids a head start before entering kindergarten and allows parents to seek employment," Tyer said.
Tyer also supported programs such as Multicultural BRIDGE and a youth diversity leadership program to facilitate conversations about the school system's changing demographics. She said many students feed disconnected from their community and that can lead to gang involvement.
Bianchi said the schools need to continue to become more diverse in staff members.
"We want the workforce to really be reflective and the teacher population to be reflective of our students," Bianchi said.
Both candidates said they'd be against expansion of charter schools. Tyer said before that could be an issue, the city needs to make its school system better so that charter schools wouldn't be a threat to taking city students.
"We need to take control of our own destiny and not be a victim to charter schools," Tyer said.
Tyer also said she supports redistricting to ensure equal class sizes in each school. Bianchi said he'd support that if proposed by school department administrators.
"I would certainly defer to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent. They have to look at every option," Bianchi said.
Tags: #PittsfieldElection, debate, election 2015,
