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WORCESTER – The head of the Worcester teachers’ union is speaking out against a Worcester school committee member who claimed that there is “crazy amounts of racism” happening in Worcester Public Schools [WPS].
At the start of the school committee meeting scheduled for this Thursday, April 4, Roger Nugent, first-term president of the Educational Association of Worcester [EAW], will be speaking out against school committee member Dante Comparetto’s recent comments in an email to the progressive political organization, Greater Worcester Our Revolution [GWOR].
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In the email from late February, Comparetto urged GWOR members to show up at the school committee meeting on Feb. 28 and said, “The reason why I need you at School Committee on Thursday is because crazy amounts of racism are still happening in our schools. New data from DESE [Department of Secondary and Elementary Education] shows that school discipline rates are still on the rise for students of color.”
As ThisWeekinWorcester.com reported earlier this month, Comparetto didn’t provide any data regarding the school suspension rates in the email.
“The members of our union are very, very upset with Mr. Comparetto’s stance,” Nugent told ThisWeekinWorcester.com in a phone interview on Sunday, March 31. “Mr. Comparetto was very quick to quote data coming out of the DESE, but he should dig a little deeper, in my opinion.”
Nugent added, “At this point, we just want to make it very clear that we are offended and absolutely beside ourselves that Mr. Comparetto would utter something even remotely consistent with racism in our membership.”
The EAW endorsed Comparetto and fellow school committee members Jack Foley and Brian O’Connell during the 2017 school committee meeting. Nugent said he now finds Comparetto’s union endorsement “particularly bothersome.”
“I had conversations with Mr. Comparetto and everything that he said was pro-educator, pro-teacher. Never did he indicate that he had any suspect ideas that our members weren’t the 100 percent quality people that I know them to be,” Nugent said.
When asked if the EAW would endorse Comparetto ahead of this year’s school committee election, Nugent said, “The legislative committee that interviewed Mr. Comparetto and the other school committee members [in 2017] were the ones that made the endorsements then and I stand behind them 100 percent. Those interviews were done with complete transparency.”
“However, if this were a one-man show, that [endorsement] wouldn’t happen again. But it’s not a one-man show. We still have a legislative committee. Some members are the same, some are different. I can’t predict the future for the endorsements anymore than I can predict the future of my own second term as president.
“All I can say is that the I’m sure the comments made by [Comparetto] and others will weigh heavily on the legislative committee,” Nugent added.
In his email message to GWOR, Comparetto said that he is hearing directly from WPS Superintendent Maureen Binienda that the committee responsible for working to reduce the amount of school suspensions “is going in the wrong direction.”
Towards the end of his message, Comparetto urged GWOR members to show up at the meeting in numbers to “give the administration guidance.”
Although DESE suspension data during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years in WPS went down across the board, Nugent did say that this may not be for the better. In fact, Nugent said that the teachers’ powers to discipline have been reeled in a bit.
“The teachers are very concerned that the suspension rules have become very lax over the past few years. Teachers have been very frustrated,” Nugent said. “Those of us that have been in classrooms and worked first hand with students, we all know that if you don’t have a consistent set of rules and expectations for students to follow, you can’t have any kind of meaningful teaching or learning going on.”
“What you’re guaranteed to have under those circumstances is bedlam,” he added.
Nugent, who had previously worked for WPS for 20 years and has now served in his role as president for three years, is up for re-election in early May. When asked if his communication this Thursday at the school committee meeting will affect his re-election, he told TWIW that he has given it a lot of thought, but ultimately wants whatever is best for the union.
Nugent said, “To be honest, I’ve put a lot of thought into that. If the members feel that I’ve done a worthy job, they will elect me. If they feel that someone else can do a better job, I’m sure they will elect that person. I hope to do it for another three years, but if not, I want nothing but the best for this membership. I believe in them sincerely.”
The next school committee meeting is Thursday, April 4 in the Esther Howland Chamber at City Hall. See the agenda here.
Lead Photo: Dante Comparetto
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