WARE — The School Committee approved the contract for new Ware Junior Senior High School Principal Derek Morrison at its June 20 meeting.
Superintendent Michael Lovato told the committee that Morrison and the School Department had negotiated a three-year contract, starting at $120,000 with annual increases similar to those received by teachers and other staff.
“I do want to share that the negotiation was quite simple,” Lovato said. “[Morrison] wasn’t looking at getting a pay raise when he came here; that was the lateral transfer that he was at in Greenfield.”
Lovato added that salaries in the surrounding area were examined as well to ensure the salary was on par. “The price that we have here, too, is also consistent with the conversations we were having with the School Committee in July when I first started when we did some increases for all of our principals to make sure they were competitive and they were within striking distance of where everybody else is so we are attracting principals to the community of Ware.”
Chair Brian Winslow and members Aaron Sawabi and Chris Desjardins voted in favor of the contract with members Julie Slattery and Michael DuBois abstaining.
Morrison was introduced to the School Committee at a June 5 meeting, having begun his transition from his position as principal at Greenfield High School. Morrison, who was in Greenfield for two years, replaces former Principal Eugene Rich, who officially resigned from his position in July 2023. Since then, Scott Slattery has served as interim principal at the school.
Morrison’s previous school leadership experience also includes five years as principal of Chicopee Academy Alternative School and 11 years as principal of Chicopee Comprehensive High School. He also briefly served as principal of 1st Sgt. Kevin A. Dupont Middle School before accepting the position in Greenfield.
Also approved at the meeting as a memorandum of agreement with Slattery, who, with Morrison’s hire, Slattery is slated remain on staff as associate principal.
“There has been a practice here in the Ware Public Schools that works with teachers to maintain some security after their first year after working with administration to make sure that’s what they want to do to maintain their seniority,” Lovato explained. “So the MOA is that after the first year of Scott’s contract, if he figures out that admin is not for him, then he’d be allowed to go back into the classroom, regain his position and keep his seniority.”
Currently, Lovato explained the School Department had a similar agreement with Slattery last year, but because of his interim principal status, Lovato decided to extend another agreement. He added Assistant Principal Michael Fazio had a similar agreement.
Amber Boucher, president of the Ware Teachers Association, told the committee Slattery approached the union about the MOA. She added that while Fazio had an MOA, he had a two-year contract and the union had rejected a proposed two-year agreement and the vote regarding giving Slattery an MOA essentially extending him a second year was “split.”
“The consensus that [we] came to was that Mr. Slattery has put a lot of years into the district and as a result of that, we were willing to make that accommodation for him,” she said.
Winslow, Sawabi, Desjardins and DuBois voted in favor and Slattery abstained.
Jan Yardley, director of the Office of Curriculum, Accountability, Professional Development, Federal Programs and Grants, also told the School Committee about a number of grants recently awarded to the School Department, including a $418,000 grant to replace 64-year-old vents in the middle school.
The department also received a $112,400 High Quality Instructional Materials Purchase Grant. Yardley explained the department was part of an “Evaluate and Select” network that met once a month to review best practices for purchasing school materials. By “faithfully” completing the work outlined in the program, the department was able to secure the funding. Additionally, the department received a related 64,440 Evaluate and Select HQIM Network Support grant. Yardley said the grant was originally approximately $13,000, but because the state had additional funding available, their allotment was increased. The funds were used to purchase the materials and training needed for the department’s new math curriculum.
The School Department also recently applied for an was awarded a $50,000 Early College Planning Grant. She explained that Lovato had been in discussions with representatives at Holyoke Community College about launching an early college program at the high school and other local colleges may also be an option. She said further exploration of the program would occur during the summer.
An Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Grant for $50,000 will support the K-8 summer enrichment program and high school credit recovery program offered by the School Department. Both programs are taking place this month.
A $16,000 grant was received to support the Vacation Acceleration Academies in April.
“We had students from SMK all the way up through 12th grade participate in that week. Some students were there to regain attendance if they had missed more than the allowable days of school this year and other students were just there for remediation,” Yardley explained. “The program focused mainly on math instruction and it took place just a couple of weeks before the math MCAS took place. That was something new and it was very successful for us.”
The department also received a Financial Literacy Planning And Implementation Grant worth $15,000, which will allow students at the high school to take a financial literacy course in the fall. The funding will specifically supported three classrooms’ worth of books and professional development necessary to support the program.
“Great class; I think everyone should take it,” Yardley said. “In that class, they discuss financial literacy topics such as saving money, using credit, online commerce, state [and] federal taxes, and, of course, making investments.”
