Saturday, December 7, 2013

Narragansett principal goes back to school, studies budget solutions

Narragansett principal goes back to school, studies budget solutions

Kerry O'Brien
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON — Narragansett Regional Middle School Principal Peter Cushing is pursuing a doctorate degree from Boston College with the hopes of discovering ways to address funding issues and new educational mandates school districts are struggling to cope with.

“When I went for my masters, I was really focused on social justice,” said Mr. Cushing, who’s been Narragansett’s principal for three years. “If a school district is under-funded, how is that social justice?”


Mr. Cushing began Boston College’s selective accelerated three-year Practicing School Administrators Program just ahead of the school year.

The program’s 25 members spent all of their class and free time together for two weeks, according to Mr. Cushing, in order to form a trust that would be the foundation for candid and confidential conversations about the state’s education system.

“It’s incredibly enriching,” he said. “These are people who come from all walks of life and we’re having frank and honest conversations about our experiences.”

Some of the main concerns voiced by the administrators were changes in special education, unfunded state and federal mandates, the new teacher evaluation system and the McKinney-Vento Act, which forces schools to pay for transportation of homeless students.

“The budget issues we face are issues that other school districts are facing as well,” said Mr. Cushing.

With Narragansett being one of the state’s nine school districts which failed to have a approved budget by the start of the fiscal year, Mr. Cushing said he is preparing for on-going budget woes.

The burden school districts are forced to place on communities — such as asking for increased taxes from residents without children — is a discussion among the administrators in the program, he said.

“The problem is the system is not properly funded,” he added. “Why is it based on tax property values — how is that fair dispersal? At any point you have a substantial portion of the population that doesn’t have kids in the school system.”

Social issues, such as addressing gender identity, is another new task districts are working on to create standardized practices for.

Mr. Cushing said he can better serve Narragansett with the knowledge he’s gaining through the administrator program, and hopes to help lead the school in the future.

“I’d like to be a superintendent and be able to make decisions and work with communities to make decisions,” Mr. Cushing said. “But I still have a lot of time.”


7 comments:

  1. I am pleased that Mr. Cushing is planning to attend a "real" college for his PhD, instead of one of those "online" diploma factories who issue worthless degrees.

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  2. It is my opinion that a good education system makes its users more aware of the environment around them and prepares them to look a little closer at events to find truth.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEvA8BCoBw
    It does not appear to me that our education system is working all that well.

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  3. TJ,as my daughter Kristen starts her Nurse Practitioners inturnship after her online college for her masters in nursing from Florida state. I'm think she would disagree with your opinion. I'm sure you're opinion is correct with some online worthless degree's. I think in this day and age unless the military is a way to get your education private sources are only what you make of them.The students thirst for knowlege and education is only theirs. Kristen will quit her full time nurse supervisor position to do her clinical internship and will be missed by her crew and employer."Her" Masters in nursing is not just one of those "online" diplomas you call worthless. I'm sure you will agree the need to have alternate types of education is best for all. I wonder if Mr. Cushing will resign? Do we pay for his education expense? I would bet that Boston college also has a online factory wing. Just like sewer plants some stink more!

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    1. Some online courses might be acceptable. But how does the college assure that the person receiving the degree is the same one that passed the online courses? There are numerous "noname colleges" offering complete online degrees that I am very suspicious of. Teachers degrees are a good example. Since the "Peoples Republic of Massachusetts" required that all teachers must have a Master's, numerous "online" colleges have sprung up. Basically "you pays your money and gets your degree". How beneficial is that?
      Just sayin Dave, don't take it personally.

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    2. Maybe Mr.Cushing will figure out the fact that these problems will not end soon, and we are not alone in not having the money to float the school alone. Unless we get funding from the "bigger government" that this country has, a good number of residents in this community cannot possibly keep up. Some of the people who just moved into town came for low taxes, and may have voted for the override this time around. I am hoping they have learned that they are able to negotiate with the schools instead of just giving them everything they ask for. Now, I know some of you are against big government meddling in our small town business, but if they are going to make rules or mandates our school dept. has to follow, they dam well better cough up some money to help fund them. State and Federal officials will spend the money anyway, so it may be on us. I do not want to get into the big vs. small gov. because we could argue all day, but there is no money for all of the mandates and "needs" these people dream up, and we have to pay for. The school people need to understand we live in this small town where incomes are small, especially for the older generation, and people can not give you what they do not have. It is as simple as that. Education may give a person a piece of paper to put on the wall, but the one thing the best of schools cannot teach is "common sense", and that is a real shame. Bev.

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    3. Maybe he will figure it out. Sometimes solutions come from the strangest places :)

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  4. What if we fully funded the schools and made prisons make up their budget deficit with box tops and money from Target?

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