The Great Neck Teachers Association abandoned its neutral stance on proposed restrictions on private tutoring by Great Neck teachers with full-throated opposition at Monday’s board of education meeting.
The teachers association had until Monday remained agnostic on the proposal, which would prohibit teachers from tutoring students who attend classes within the same building, citing divisions in teacher opinion.
But Association President Scheila Scimone said a November survey of teachers had revealed a growing consensus against the change and spurred the union to stake out a position.
“[The Great Neck Teachers Association] believes that the policy, as it stands now, allows for tutoring that is extremely supportive of our students. We cannot see any benefit to them that would result from a change; therefore we urge the board to drop its proposed revision of the policy on tutoring,” wrote Scimone in a letter to the board.
Existing policy already prohibits teachers from tutoring students in their classes. The proposal, which is on its second reading and was subject to a lengthy debate at the Oct. 15 board meeting, has been touted by advocates as a means of preventing the appearance of favoritism that could result from teachers and students within the same building establishing monetary relationships.
According to Scimone, the benefits of the existing tutoring system are significant and questions of favoritism or unfair advantage are mitigated by the professionalism of Great Neck teachers.
“Teachers who tutor privately are deeply committed to providing their students with the scaffolding they will need in order to become independent learners,” wrote Scimone. “They see themselves are bridges between home and school, and they believe that they can be most effective in this role when they have first-hand, personal knowledge of what their students daily experience of school is.”
Scimone said at the meeting that teachers are dedicated to avoiding favoritism and any cases of conflict of interest should be dealt with on an individual basis.
“It seems that the policy revision is designed to address a problem that is more a possibility than a reality,” Scimone said.
Board Vice President Lawrence Gross stressed that the policy was still under review and would be subject to another public hearing before any decision is made.
At the Oct. 15 meeting, parents, teachers and administrators spoke forcefully about the proposed change.
“To have the ability of some parents to pay extra money to have extra access is frightening to me,” said Great Neck North High School principal Bernard Kaplan. “Every child should have the right [to extra help], not just the privileged… this district has been too slow to enact this policy.”
But several parents said in October that tutoring had been of major benefit to their children and voiced opposition to the change.
Also at Monday’s meeting the board revised the district’s bullying policy to mandate the appointment of a Dignity Act coordinator in compliance with the state’s Dignity for All Students Act.
The coordinators, staff members chosen from each school, will be responsible for organizing their school’s response to bullying, cyberbullying, harrassment, hazing and sexting among students. The Dignity Act, which came into effect this summer, set state-wide standards for school anti-bullying policies.
The board also announced the settlement of a lawsuit with contractor Saracino Construction Corp.
The suit arose when the district’s claims officer disputed charges from Saracino and declined payment for services, said Superintendent of Schools Tom Dolan.
According to Dolan, the case was settled for slightly less than the district had been charged on the original bill and the district’s relationship with Saracino remained intact.
“We will continue to do good work with Saracino Construction,” said Dolan.
