By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The School Department is considering a partnership with Lesley University Graduate School of Education that would offer Lesley classes in Wakefield and could provide annual revenue to the district in a projected range of $50,000 to $80,000.
Jack Gillette, dean of the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University, appeared before the School Committee this week to discuss the proposal. He said that the idea would be to locate “a mini-Lesley here and tailor it to the needs of the district.”
Gillette said that Lesley, with its main campus in Cambridge, is the largest provider of new teachers in New England.
In a memorandum to the School Committee, Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike called it “a unique opportunity to enhance our professional learning opportunities for teachers, provide a financial benefit for our employees, collaborate with leaders in our field and generate revenue for the school district.”
Zrike enumerated some of what he saw as the advantages of the proposed collaboration, including courses for staff at the current reimbursable rate and courses tailored specifically to the needs of the district.
He said both he and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kim Smith see the proposed collaboration as “an important step in enhancing the visibility of the Wakefield Public Schools and supporting the continued development of our talented educators.”
The idea would be for Lesley to hold six or seven classes on Thursday evenings at the new Galvin Middle School, creating a kind of “mini-campus.”
Gillette stressed that the goal is for Lesley “to be as light a footprint as possible” in Wakefield. Lesley would provide all its own staffing and there should be no additional costs to Wakefield, Gillette said.
The Wakefield campus would offer both initial licensure courses and continuing education opportunities for existing teachers seeking professional development, Gillette said.
Classes would also be open to teachers from other districts and Gillette stressed that the more students that partake of the courses, the more revenue the Wakefield district receives as its share.
But Gillette stressed that Lesley would also tailor Wakefield-only courses to the specific needs of the district, offering Wakefield the opportunity to develop the types of teachers that it wants.
Zrike said that the idea was to put the proposal on the table for the School Committee’s consideration and to generate discussion. He said that Town Counsel Thomas Mullen is currently looking over the proposed contract.
School Committee member Anne Danehy noted that having Lesley in Wakefield would save teachers the trek into Cambridge to take classes. “This is one of the best gifts we could give to teachers,” she said.
School Committee member Thomas Markham called it “a wonderful opportunity” for the new Galvin Middle School to serve as a resource to the community and to the teaching community at large.
In response to other questions from the School Committee, Zrike said that the administration could survey the teachers regarding the types of classes they would like. Gillette said that Lesley would be eager to cooperate in designing courses to meet requested needs.
Zrike told School Committee members that once Town Counsel has finished reviewing it and the contract is finalized, he would send out it out to each member to review. He asked them to be prepared to discuss and vote on the proposal at an upcoming meeting.
