School Committee member Sven A. Amirian (pictured) has asked to discuss Silver Hill School’s charter renewal process at Thursday night’s meeting, even though a recent vote by Haverhill teachers ended the school’s bid to remain a charter school.
The School Committee meets Thursday night beginning at 7 in the Theodore A. Pelosi City Council Chambers on the second floor of Haverhill City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
Approval by a majority of the membership of the Haverhill Education Association was among the requirements for the school’s charter renewal application to go forward. The 246 to 114 vote killed the possibility of Silver Hill of renewing its five-year Horace Mann charter.
After the vote, Silver Hill teachers decided against trying to convert to an Innovation school, which allows a school more autonomy and flexibility than a traditional school in areas of curriculum, professional development and funding, among others.
As a result, Silver Hill will revert to a traditional public school model, and the students who were selected by lottery to attend the charter school will be redistributed to their neighborhood schools.
HEA President Lisa R. Begley said she hopes Amirian’s comments will be limited to the plans to return Silver Hill to the status of neighborhood school.
“If that is the case then I understand the need for the discussion. If it is on the vote by the members of the HEA, then I do not,” Begley said.
Amirian is among several committee members who support charter schools in general and backed the Silver Hill charter renewal in particular, including Shaun P. Toohey and Paul A. Magliocchetti.
Earlier this week, founder, former principal and board member Euthemia Gilman resigned as a director of the school. Gilman told WHAV she had been looking forward to returning in September “to participate in either obtaining the second Charter Renewal or converting to an Innovative School.”
sven is out for sven. he is the vice president of the solar panel company that is lobbying to put his solar crap on our schools. pay attention Haverhill. he is all also out for tim Jordan a council candidate who will push his solar company crap…a card carrying member of team Haverhill. their agenda is to take over Haverhill city government. raise taxes and spend until the taxpayers money is gone. then raise taxes
Looking at Mr.Amirians picture is just scary!
Lisa Begley lied and manipulated statistics of minorities attending SH during this whole circus. She publicly deflected the issue away from the measurable performance and success of students and instead made it about “skin color”. It’s not often that you such blatant acts of racism.
Throughout this whole issue Andy Vargas said absolutely nothing as Hispanic students were used as a pawn by Begley and the HEA. He promotes the fact that he’s Haverhill’s first Latino city councilor….so where was he on this? Andy sat things out in the peace and quiet of the sidelines….AGAIN!
It’s an election year so it’s important to ask questions of candidates and incumbents regarding issues like this.
Andy proved once again he’s as much of a fraud as Begley is.
Congratulations Lisa Begley on running a successful smear campaign against SilverHill. Thank you for putting so much misinformation and illegal suggestions out there that teachers, colleagues and friends turned against one another. Thank for putting our children’s education LAST on your priority list and your career goals first.
So, HEA President Lisa R. Begley wants to makes sure that any meeting about the school has limited content and speech – all this – from a union member who supposedly care about kids.
Does anyone really buy this woman’s line of baloney any longer? This is a power grab by those who want to cover their own rear -ends – and absolutely 100% couldn’t care less about kids.
An ABSOLUTE DISGRACE! Yes, please publish the votes of the individual members so parents can see who voted against their children.
7 out of 10 teachers voted to dismantle the most successful school in the city. It’s absolutely disgusting and sad at the same time.
Parents all throughout the city have a right to know how each individual teacher voted. This should be public information. Parents need to know where the teachers of their children stand when it comes to promoting excellence in the classroom.
WHAV: is there anyway you can pursue obtaining this information and printing for everyone to see?
Jack so true! This is a disgrace!
This VOTE IS INDEED A DISGRACE! SHAME on all of the teachers who voted against the charter school. What are they afraid of???
BRAVO to Euthemia Gilman for having the courage of her convictions, for making a public statement, and for resigning her position. BRAVO ALSO to School Committee Members Sven Amirian, Shaun P. Toohey and Paul A. Magliocchetti.
ROTTEN TOMATOES for Lisa Begley and all of those teachers who voted AGAINST the charter school. Are they afraid the very existence of a charter school in Haverhill will be a threat to them?
As far as racial parity, nonsense. How much fairer can you get than when you have a LOTTERY system? I don’t blame parents one bit for pulling their kids out of Silver Hill and for putting their houses on the market to get out of the district. The teachers have done a disservice to the entire City of Haverhill, and now we know without a doubt that they vote in their best interests, NOT the best interests of the children they teach..