WARE — The union representing educators in Ware recently declared a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Superintendent Michael Lovato at a meeting that quickly devolved into chaos.
While the Ware Teachers Association leveled accusations including the fostering of a hostile work environment, intimidation and gender-based inequity, Lovato clapped back, calling the allegations “quite disturbing and unfounded.”
Members of the committee objected to Ware Teachers Association President Amber Boucher’s presentation during the public comment portion of the Dec. 4 meeting, calling it out of order. The committee’s chair, vice chair and Boucher attempted to raise their voices over each other and members of the audience vocalized their approval and disdain in a series of events that resulted in a police presence.
School Committee member Chris Desjardins said he had not seen anything like what had occurred that evening since joining the committee in 2004.
“It didn’t need to happen tonight like this but part of me can’t help but think it was planned to happen like this and that’s the part that disappoints me the most,” he said. “We have a problem in this district right now … The one problem we have is the School Committee and the teachers union cannot communicate, and that’s where we are.”
Boucher told the committee that 95.1% of its voting membership supported the no confidence vote. At that point, Vice Chair Aaron Sawabi attempted to call a point of order, stating the issue was a legal matter.
Nonetheless, Boucher attempted to continue to her statement through the objections, the pounding of the gavel and shouts of encouragement from the audience gathered at Ware Junior Senior High School.
“He allows and enables Clark Consulting to intimidate and attempt to discipline teachers,” she said.
Clark Consulting and Training Inc. is a private firm that advertises coaching in assistance in the “design and implementation of sustainable educational programs that directly increase student achievement.”
Lovato had told the School Committee at a January meeting that the district had begun working with Clark Consulting and Training to help teachers better engage students in order to close learning gaps. The reference to Clark Consulting was made as part of a conversation regarding fall and winter i-Ready diagnostic assessments that revealed the majority of students were still testing below grade level.
According to Clark Consulting, the firm as partnered with more than 500 educational organizations across the country. Its website lists two school departments in Massachusetts in its list of recent contracts — Ware and Chelsea Public Schools where Lovato was previously employed.
When asked about allegations of intimidation, Clark Consulting CEO Bradley Williams told Reminder Publishing the company would not comment on matters related to its clients, per policy. “However, if invited by a client district, our training, co-planning and in-class coaching sessions take place in a public setting and as such we welcome anyone to experience first-hand how our organization provides professional development with teachers across all grade levels and academic departments,” he added.
As Boucher spoke, a committee member called for a the school resource officer and Sawabi urged Chair Brian Winslow to “hit the gavel,” which drew laughter and applause from the crowd.
Boucher continued to accuse Lovato of targeting and bullying staff. Addressing safety issues, she also made mention of a homeless person having access to the middle school and the lack of lockdown drills conducted by the department. Resident Christine Bateman earlier voiced concerns during public comment regarding the lack of adequate lockdown and fire evacuation drills.
At that point, members of the committee attempted to take a recess as Sawabi, over shouts of dissent, cited state law that he said required unions to provide documentation of complaints.
Boucher persisted, however, criticizing “marathon meetings” between building principals and the superintendent that she said create a leadership void, and further accusing Lovato of showing favoritism toward male employees.
Winslow shouted over Boucher that complaints and charges against the superintendent must be submitted in writing, noting he had consulted with legal counsel on the matter.
“You are shutting down public comment? Every school committee hears words of no confidence against their superintendent. Mr. Winslow, respectfully, you are wrong,” Boucher retorted before leaving the podium to screams of approval and applause.
“No, I’m not,” Winslow quipped back.
Union members left the meeting, some chanting, “For the children.”
Lovato began his Ware Public Schools tenure on July 1, 2023, replacing former Superintendent Marlene DiLeo, whose contract expired at the end of the 2022-23 school year and was not renewed. Formerly the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning in the Chelsea Public Schools, Lovato was unanimously selected by the School Committed on Jan. 18, 2023.
Prior to officially joining the School Department, Lovato provided the committee in May 2023 what then-Chair Desjardins called an “aggressive plan” to bridge achievement gaps and implement new measurable benchmarks and standards for educators.
During his superintendent’s report, Lovato took the opportunity to address some of the issues raised. Noting he did not receive details of the allegations in writing, he said he would welcome any investigation by the School Committee.
“Anything that is an accusation has to be founded. It can’t be about feelings. I welcome anything in writing. I welcome anything in detail. I welcome any conversation about what it looks like to move forward. I welcome any conversation about what it looks like for critique. But we have to be able to do it with civil discourse,” he said. “I do want to share, and I’ve shared this with the School Committee before, one of the challenges that we’ve had here in Ware since I’ve been here is the ability, sometimes, to be able to sit across the table with the teachers union on some of these discussions that move forward.”
As Lovato spoke, two police officers entered the room. Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley was also present.
“I gotta be honest with you, I can go through my emails, I can go through my information and a lot of these things that they may be frustrated with, they haven’t been shared directly with me,” he said. “So, in order for me to make that movement or make that change or to have the conversation or even self-reflect, then we gotta be across the table from each other whether we agree or disagree.”
Lovato related a conversation with a group of parents that he characterized as respectful discourse between sides with opposing viewpoints. “That is expected across the board, regardless of who we are.”
Commenting on concerns raised by other residents during public comment, specifically absenteeism among teachers and staff turnover, Sawabi opined that the structures supported by teachers unions and implemented during the coronavirus pandemic failed to put children first and created a mindset among educators that encourages these behaviors. He added bringing Lovato on board as superintendent illustrated that the School Committee is “trying to get back to putting the student first, like they said as they were marching out,” referring to union members.
He also referenced a meeting with students that reflected that while overall student satisfaction was high, there were those who made note of teacher absenteeism.
In his comments, Lovato said that concerns regarding substitute teacher availability is directly related to full-time teachers, stating the department is missing three to five teachers per school. “I don’t believe that it’s just a substitute shortage. I do believe that that’s one of our challenges, without question, but we also have a challenge about why teachers are not coming to school on a regular basis,” he said, confirming Sawabi’s assessment that the case has been similar since approximately 2019. “Even if we had 15 substitutes, it’s still not a teacher.”
Lovato pushed back, however, at the notion that Ware is experiencing significant attrition or staff retention issue, calling that belief “fundamentally false.”
Sawabi leveraged the teacher absentee issue into an opportunity to throw his support behind Lovato.
“I heard what the president of the WTA was trying to state … But when we hired Dr. Lovato, it was to change these things and I can only say that’s not going to make a lot of people happy. I’m sorry to say it,” he said. “There’s a status quo that needs to be addressed. Absenteeism was an issue before he came, retention was always an issue and we’re trying to change that.”
Sawabi also said in response to concerns raised about security protocols that the committee was limited in what it could share with the public and that issue would have to be raised in a separate session. Lovato shared that the School Department has worked with town departments on various memorandums of understanding and had a meeting scheduled with the public safety chiefs. The implementation of plans would be discussed with staff at scheduled professional development sessions in January 2025.
Lovato also noted a lockdown drill coordinated with the Massachusetts State Police took place in September and “went well.”
He also confirmed the allegation that a homeless person was in a school building and that members of the football team staff identified the individual as not belonging there. In response, Lovato said the School Department has requested additional funding to install sensors at all doors. “We identified that problem and we fixed it,” he said.
Sawabi suggested creating a subcommittee to address some of the concerns regarding Lovato’s performance raised at the meeting in order to involve the committee “legitimately, appropriately, legally, etc.”
He added, “I want to put it out there, for the record, that we heard you. We’ve got to follow rules of order. The new culture now is to go viral and this type of thing will go viral, but I don’t think that’s how you get things done. I understand the frustration and maybe that’s a way of protesting status quo, but as a representative of the teachers association, as the president, there’s got to be a away we can connect with some civil discourse.”
The committee ultimately decided to appoint a Safety Committee. Lovato suggested a Human Resources Committee and the School Committee agreed to push a determination on that until January 2025 to research the matter.
Lovato did not respond to a request for additional comment.
