The Great Neck Public School Board banned private tutoring between teachers and students within their buildings at Monday night’s meeting, capping months of debate between advocates concerned about potential conflicts of interest and opponents who said the change would harm students.
Trustee and policy committee chair Susan Healy acknowledged in a statement the concerns of parents who use private tutors but argued that the change was necessary to guard against the appearance of favoritism or unfairness.
“The prohibition on tutoring students in one’s own building is directly related to the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Healy said. “We do not do so because there are inappropriate situations. We do it so that those situations cannot occur.
The policy, which was approved unanimously following the fourth public hearing on the topic since September, expands the district’s tutoring restrictions from teachers and students within the same class to those within the same building.
The board and several administrators and teachers who testified in favor of the change said the move was necessary to avoid placing teachers in compromising situations, creating the perception of unfairness and corrupting the teacher-parent relationship with money.
But some parents said the board’s move, which was formally opposed by the Great Neck Teacher’s Association in December, both attacked the integrity of teachers and harmed students who depended on close relationships with their tutors for academic success.
Parent Karen Torkan, who said her academically struggling son began acing his classes after private tutoring with a teacher from his building, argued that the policy was an unfair attack on the honesty of teachers.
“I’ am really saddened by this. I’m really upset,” Torkan said.
Torkan added that her son was upset by the change and would be harmed by breaking off his relationship with his current tutor.
Great Neck Estates Trustee Howard Hershenhorn, who has been a parent in the school district since 1997, said that advocates for the policy had not cited any examples of misconduct and that the change was unwarranted.
“The hardships created by this new policy are extreme,” Hershenhorn said.
The change did find support among both administrators and some teachers in the district.
Great Neck South Middle School principal James Welsch said that a private financial relationship inherently changes the terms of interaction between teachers and parents.
“I applaud our board of education for taking this stand,” Welsch said.
And Great Neck South High School math teacher Barry Dickson said that, like members of any other profession, teachers are not universally honest and protections are needed to prevent unethical behavior.
“This is a conflict of interest issue with people paying $100 to $150 an hour who expect a result,” Dickson said.
