Prospect Hill Protests Losing Tenured Teacher to Colonial

Within an hour, Prospect Hill parents collected 100 signatures last week to petition keeping Deirdre Stein from getting transferred to the Colonial School.

Because Colonial is expanding to three classes and Siwanoy is decreasing to two next year, the administration has to adjust the faculty accordingly. The proposed plan would mean plucking a tenured Mrs. Stein from Prospect and pairing her with two tenured teachers at Colonial. Prospect, in turn, would get an untenured instructor from Siwanoy, leaving parents concerned about the collective level of experience its teaching team will have.

"The way I look at it, we’re trading away the starting pont guard for an untested rookie," remarked Janice Ingram, a parent of a Prospect Hill fourth grader.

While the administration said it can’t share its reasoning for getting Prospect Hill involved in a reorganization that could've been kept between Siwanoy and Colonial, the board assured parents on Monday night that it has the children’s best interests in mind.

“We rely on our administrative team to make those recommendations,” remarked Board of Education member Will Cavanagh. “I’m sure they’re confident that next year you’ll have a terrific fifth grade.”

But parents were quick to fire back with a number of concerns.

Since fifth grade is taught with the team teaching method—all three instructors collaborate on all aspects of education—parents expressed that it’s unfair for Colonial to get three veteran instructors, while Prospect will have only one.

Though Principal Robert J. Roelle didn’t directly speak on behalf of keeping Mrs. Stein, he did try to impart the importance of maintaining a strong team structure to the board.

“The team is essential to the success of the program,” stated Principal Roelle. “They work together on academics and social and emotional issues, bullying issues. The team comes together and finds the best way to work with the kids.”

While parents are particularly fond of Mrs. Stein’s effective teaching style, they repeatedly impressed their concern about having someone experienced enough, particularly in the area of standardized testing, instructing their children.

“It was frustrating that evening,” DiFrisco said of communicating with board members. “Their responses were relatively patronizing, as if we [just] liked Mrs. Stein. It wasn’t about preference or popularity. It’s her experience and her resume that makes her vital.”