During his nearly-four-year tenure leading Massachusetts’ fifth-largest public school district, Lynn Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler has repeatedly stated his core education credo: “Love the student, the teacher, and the craft of teaching.”
It is unfortunate that the School Committee has stymied Tutwiler’s efforts to translate that credo into action. The latest example of the committee’s intransigence is its decision last Thursday to dismiss Tutwiler’s recommendation for a new human resources position that would be focused on recruiting educators to the district.
If approved, the human resources generalist/recruitment specialist would focus on actively working “to meet the diversity, equity and inclusion goals of the district,” and ensuring that its workforce “represents the cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity” of its student population, according to the job description.
Understanding the importance of the proposed position is as easy as Googling “Lynn Public Schools ethnic diversity.” That query provides enrollment numbers indicating 51 percent of Lynn public school students identify as Hispanic and 12 percent as African American.
Tutwiler has determined the district’s Human Resources department doesn’t have the capacity to undertake the recruitment work. Committee member Tiffany Magnolia endorsed that assertion last Thursday, only to see her six colleagues declining to offer a seconding motion to move Tutwiler’s recommendation forward for approval.
A frustrated Tutwiler said:
“The School Committee hired me to bring forth what I think needs to be done to move the district forward. What I would say, in not accepting what I bring forward, is that I would also be very thoughtful about your expectations when you’re not accepting what I think I need to move the district forward.”
That nuanced but pointed statement underscores the committee’s inability to get on the same page with Tutwiler in regards to meeting the needs of Lynn’s majority-minority student population.
Tutwiler expanded on the importance of meeting that need in discussing the district’s English language learning challenges (Item, April 12).
He said that for the past decade, the district has seen a significant increase in the amount of enrolled students who qualify as English learners. Thirty-eight percent of the Lynn Public Schools student body is classified as an English learner.
“I have often declared a good school district as one whose core values are known and whose actions reflect those core values,” he said.
How much more clearly could he say to the committee that — if they trust him and endorse his leadership — they need to follow his lead?
Why does this public body even exist if it can’t follow the recommendations of someone as fully credentialed as Dr. Tutwiler?
