Report: Littlefield’s ability to lead Portsmouth High was ‘marginalized’

NEASC report also cites disconnect between PHS staff, central administration

Jim McGaw
Posted 7/15/16

PORTSMOUTH — School Committee members “communicated an ambivalent attitude toward” former Portsmouth High School Principal Robert Littlefield during an April visit by members …

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Report: Littlefield’s ability to lead Portsmouth High was ‘marginalized’

NEASC report also cites disconnect between PHS staff, central administration

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — School Committee members “communicated an ambivalent attitude” toward then-Portsmouth High School Principal Robert Littlefield during an April visit by members of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), according to the visiting committee’s report for the school’s decennial accreditation.

Mr. Littlefield abruptly retired late last month after 18 years as PHS principal. On Tuesday the School Committee named his successor: Joseph Amaral, principal of the middle school for the past nine years.

In the recently released NEASC report (it can be read in full here), several passages pertain to the school board’s view of Mr. Littlefield as well as the relationship between central administration and the high school staff.

“The school board shows unanimous support for the superintendent,” the report stated. “The school board communicated an ambivalent attitude toward the principal during the visiting committee meeting.”

The report continues: “With the history of turnover in superintendents, school district vision and initiatives have changed, eroding trust and the ability to maintain long-range progress. The refrain ‘up on the hill’ is repeated over and over by staff and is usually said in reference to perceived loss of the principal's ability to make decisions autonomously at the high school.

“Because of the turnover in district leadership and palpable lack of trust and belief in the principal from the current central office administration, the principal's ability to lead the school is marginalized. When the school board and superintendent provide the principal with sufficient decision-making authority to lead the school, the principal will be able to ensure that all students have the support needed to achieve the school's 21st century learning expectations.”

Last month, Mr. Littlefield stated he was retiring in part because of all the good things he was hearing about PHS from the NEASC team.

“I just keep thinking to that day in April, at the end of the NEASC visit,” he said at the time. “I said to myself, ‘You’ve done a really good job to bring this faculty to the point where it is. Is it ever going to get any better than this?’”

‘Disconnection’ cited

The report also commented on the relationship between PHS staff members and central administration.

“There is a disconnection between high school staff and members of the central office administration when it comes to the development of the budget and planning professional development. Teachers at the high school state that the upcoming staff cuts are due to budget limitations while the superintendent's office states the cuts are due to declining enrollment,” the NEASC report stated.

“Evidence of this disconnection is found in the district (professional development) where the central office administration stated that somehow ‘district (professional development) was missed’ at the high school and high school teachers stated that ‘little direction was given from the top down on K-12 activities.’”

In another section, the NEASC report stated: “Teachers articulate a lack of confidence that the current central office administrative team has not made a connection to the high school community, citing minimal visible presence of central office administrators at the high school.”

School board members respond

In an e-mail to The Portsmouth Times, School Committee Chairwoman Terri Cortvriend acknowledged that communications between administration and PHS could be improved, “and I have every hope and expectation that Mr. Amaral will make this a priority as he assumes the role of principal.”

By state law, she said, the “school communicates with the superintendent and the superintendent communicates with the principals and the principals communicate with the teachers,” which is not something specific to Portsmouth.

“The current school committee has endeavored to respect these boundaries,” stated Ms. Cortvriend. “I would further add that contrary to what the report implies, supporting the superintendent is not mutually exclusive of supporting the district’s principals.”

She took issue with the report’s statement that the School Committee was “ambivalent” about Mr. Littlefield.

"I have no idea what is meant by that,” she stated. “All seven of the committee members were present on a Sunday afternoon to greet and meet with the (NEASC) visiting team at the request of Mr. Littlefield. We spoke frankly to them about the various questions and concerns they raised regarding the reduction in staff at PHS, the roll out of Chrome books at PMS vs. PHS, about the BYOD program at PHS, and about the changes in superintendents and various other topics. From my perspective if we were ambivalent we would not have taken the time to attend.”

School Committee member John Wojichowski said the NEASC visiting committee expressed concern over the high turnover of superintendents in recent years, and how that impacted principals and teachers.

“I was elected in 2012, and I am now working with my third superintendent. So, their concern was well-justified,” Mr. Wojichowski said, adding he know believes the district has an excellent leadership team in place.

He said he regretted the impression the school board gave the evaluation committee regarding Mr. Littlefield.

“I think the school board, as a whole, has a great deal of respect for Mr. Littlefield, and I for one believe he was a major reason why PHS is ranked as one of the top high schools in Rhode Island,” Mr. Wojichowski said.

He’s not surprised that some people feel there’s a lack of autonomy at the high school. “When we hired Superintendent Riley, the school board felt it was important for her to bring a fresh perspective to our district and to make changes where she felt change was needed,” he said.

As a school board member, Mr. Wojichowski said he naturally spends a great deal of time with Ms. Riley and Assistant Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy, “and I can confidently say that the last thing they want to be doing is micromanaging our principals. Nor do they feel it is necessary. They do have convictions on how we should operate as a district, and we must all remember that the school board ultimately holds the two of them accountable for meeting our student achievement objectives.”

Mr. Wojichowski characterized the NEASC report as “thorough” and one from which the district must use as a vehicle to improve at all levels.

“From what I can see, we have a need to make improvements in just about every area, and I certainly hope my committee colleagues will agree that we will need laser focus by all stakeholders to address the many issues that were raised in the report,” he stated.

Commendations, recommendations

The report details the school’s progress toward the NEASC accreditation standards and provides the district with a list of commendations and recommendations for each standard. NEASC Steering Committee co-chairwomen Sarah Hunicke and Lisa Murphy Maillet detailed some key commendations and recommendations, which are listed below. 

Key commendations

The report commended Portsmouth High School for the following:

• The school community has deliberately engaged in a dynamic, collaborative and inclusive process informed by current research-based best practices to identify and commit to its core values and beliefs about learning.

• The specific changes to curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices made in response to the core values, beliefs about learning, and 21st century learning expectations

• The comprehensive curriculum written in a common format and aligned to the school's 21st century learning expectations

• The teacher’s work within departments to strengthen content-specific instructional practices and to create both common and comprehensive assessments

• The instructional focus groups which provide formal structured time for professional staff to focus on the analysis of student learning data as the basis for instruction

• The block schedule that promotes engaged learning and in-depth understanding

• The number and variety of support services available for students

• The parent, community, business and higher educational partnerships which support and enrich student learning

Key recommendations

Here were the key recommendations the accreditation report made: 

• Align content-specific rubrics with the school’s core values and beliefs about learning and ensure that the rubrics use common language and/or format.

• Allocate additional time and resources for curricular coordination and vertical articulation between departments as well as between PHS sending schools.

• Increase opportunities for all students to engage in cross-disciplinary learning.

• Develop and implement a formal process to disseminate individual student and school-wide achievement of the school’s 21st century learning expectations.

• Develop and implement cross-departmental collaboration.

• Develop and implement a process for special education staff to meet with individual students on their caseloads.

• Provide adequate and consistent funding for instructional materials, supplies and equipment.

Portsmouth School Department, Portsmouth School Committee, Portsmouth High School, Robert Littlefield

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.