'Teacher of the Year' Kimberly Cunningham Resigns from Portsmouth Schools

The Portsmouth School Committee on Tuesday accepted a resignation from 2010 "Teacher of the Year" Kimberly Cunningham.

Committee Chairwoman Cynthia S. Perrotti said this was the second "Teacher of the Year" to resign from the Portsmouth school system this school year, 2010-2011.

“We need to find out why these teachers are leaving," said Kathy Melvin. "We need to have an investigation.” 

The reason behind Cunningham's resignation is unknown at this time.

The School Committee also appointed Donna Lunny to the position of district technical support specialist during its meeting.

Only seven people attended the meeting. The meeting's agenda was posted just before 5 p.m. on Friday, before the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.

The public agenda session only lasted 19 minutes before the School Committee entered a closed-door executive session.

Nancy Zitka, who has a daughter in eighth grade, arrived shortly after the executive session began.

“I thought the meeting started at 7 like it usually does," Zitka said. "I wanted to come to tonight’s meeting because I’m deeply concerned about the direction of this town. We are looking at almost a $1 million dollar deficit in such a polarized town. There are no easy answers." 

Personnel Policy

Also discussed at the School Committee meeting: an addition to a policy affecting how the hires and assigns its personnel, which may have a direct impact on the negotiations between the School Committee and the teachers' union.

During the business agenda portion of the meeting, a first reading of the policy entitled, “Approval of Policy #4111- Selection and Appointment of School Personnel,” was put forth.

The school committee voted upon changes to this current policy.

Superintendent of Schools Susan Lusi had recommended the School Committee adopt the changes to Policy 4111, which she said put the policy in line with the state's Basic Education Plan (BEP).

A written form of the changes included the following statement from the Portsmouth school district:

”The overarching goal of the BEP and the Portsmouth school district’s mission is clear: continuous improvement of student learning must be the primary reference point for all decision making, including personnel assignment and evaluation."

Next, is a quote from what appears to be the Basic Education Plan of the State of Rhode Island:

 “In order to effectively meet these functions, each [Local Education Agency must] maintain control of its ability to recruit, hire, manage, evaluate and assign its personnel.”

Finally, an additional sentence regarding collective bargaining was added to the policy. 

“Such responsibility may not be delegated, in any fashion, through the collective bargaining process and no collective bargaining agreement, going forward, shall contain any language expressly or impliedly in derogation thereof.”

The vote passed unanimously, 7-0, to accept the first reading of the policy changes.

A second reading and possible approval of these changes will be held at the next School Committee meeting, to take place on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

“We have serious concerns about this," said Sue Hatch, vice president of the teachers' union. "These kinds of decisions need to be part of the collective bargaining process. These changes need to be negotiated."