Hanna Interviews Harry Harutunian

26
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February - 2006
A Day at The State House,
Hanna Interviews
Continued from Page 18
The Valley Patriot
Harry Harutunian
When he was done speaking, we heard
from Ron Bersani (my favorite speaker of
the day). Bersani is the grandfather of
Melanie Powell, the 13-year-old girl who was
murdered by a drunken driver. He told us
her story, and mentioned how she wanted
to be a guardian angel when she grew up.
Continued from Page 20
It was a truly heartwarming story, until he
discussed her death and the events that
followed. He told us how she attended her
friend’s birthday party, and on the way back
to her house, a woman who had been
drinking struck her down with her vehicle.
This woman was clearly intoxicated, and
the event eventually sparked the creation
of Melanie’s Law. The sad thing about it all
was that the drunken woman was a repeat
drunk driving offender.
We should lead by example in as many cases
as we can. We have rules and regulations
about the way people should behave. We
have incidents all the time where people lose
their tempers and we talk to them about it.
The North Andover public schools do not
tolerate people being mean, bullying, or
picking on anyone.
would make sure those things never
happened to other people.
How long have you been the North
Andover superintendent?
I don’t think a superintendent can be
successful if he doesn’t have a good
working relationship with his school committee. The school committee is like the
body of a person. I am just one of the extremities that the board uses. The school committee represents the community. They are
the ones who tell me what the community
needs and guide me in a way the community
would like.
I am in my third year.
What did you do before coming to North
Andover?
I was the superintendent of schools for
eight years in Reading, Massachusetts.
Prior to that I was the assistant
superintendent and interim superintendent
in Beverly. Before that I was a high school
principal for nine years in Connecticut, in a
large urban district.
D.J. Beauregard is The Valley Patriot's
Methuen reporter. He was the campaign
manager for Councilor Kathleen Corey
Rahme's successful run for at-large City
Council. If you have a news tip in
Methuen,
you can email him at
[email protected].
Answer to SU DO KU From Page 25
Do you get along with the school
committee?
What do you want to accomplish in your
time here as superintendent?
Do good teachers get paid the same as
bad teachers?
I will be in middle school next year. What
is middle school like?
The payment of teachers is not based on
performance. It is based on certification and
doing their job and that sort of thing. If a
teacher is not doing a good job, then we
have programs, evaluations and
professional development that can help him
or her. And again, there are all kind of reasons
why very good teachers might start doing
poorly, or not as well as they used to.
Middle school is different from
elementary school because you move
around and have different teachers, and you
are given more responsibility.
I became a superintendent because I knew
people moved me along very quickly. At the
age of 30 I was a principal of an urban high
school with 1,100 kids down in Connecticut.
I became superintendent at 41 or 42 years
old. People felt that I was the kind of person
who needed to run and lead school districts.
That my ideas and my vision were the kind
of thing that education needed. I lost my
job once as a teacher and once as an
administrator because of budget cuts. Now,
being the superintendent in North Andover,
I am very sensitive to what people are going
through. But I became a superintendent
because I always found that there is
somebody above me - people that I could
go to. I wanted to be in a position so that
the things that had happened to me as a
teacher, principal, administrator - that I
Until next time…
I love my job.
No one person determines how much
people get paid. Under Massachusetts law
we have to sit down and negotiate. So we
sit down with our teachers and we have to
negotiate the various salary raises and terms
and conditions. Part of those conditions are
the breaks.
Why did you become a superintendent?
All in all, we had a great time. The fun is
not over yet…that was only the first
meeting! Rosemarie, Mary, and I are truly
looking forward to seeing what happens at
the next several meetings.
Do you like your job?
I was hired as superintendent two and a
half years ago by the North Andover School
Committee to raise the standards, raise
accountability, streamline the spending of
money, and to move North Andover into
the top ten percent of all school districts in
Massachusetts. I did that in my last job in a
very similar community. When I left Reading,
it was in the top twenty of 210 K-12 school
districts and that means it was in the top
ten percent.
Do you decide how much teachers get paid
and when they get their breaks?
The final speaker of the day was state
Transportation Secretary John Cogliano.
He mentioned the projects that he has been
working on with the state Legislature,
including the placement of guardrails on
Route 213 in Methuen.
Is there more homework?
Well, homework is based on each grade.
It is important to know that one of the things
we are trying to do in all schools is to raise
the standards.
How are you doing now in the fifth grade?
CITY OF
LAWRENCE
DEPARTMENT OF
PUBLIC WORKS
NOTICE OF MOTORISTS
All night parking permitted at the following locations:
Exterior of Breen School – Yard Only
Carl Lindquist Playground – Emmett Street side only
Charles Storrow Park – High Street side only from
Pleasant Street southerly to Storrow Terrace
James F. Leonard School Playground – South side
Arlington School – Arlington Street
Exterior of Lahey School – Yard Only
Saunders School – Yard, Bowdoin Street side only
Exterior of Rollins School – Platt Street only
Parthum School – Playground area to East Haverhill
Fine.
Then you will do fine at the middle school.
Mrs. McQuade is a wonderful principal.
I was sad to see the Bradstreet school
close. What do you think will happen to it?
I don’t know yet. I’ve had two developers
call me and ask if I would sell the property
to them. We are keeping the Bradstreet for
one more year until we are absolutely certain
that we are not going to need it for
enrollment. We are also using some creative
ideas to use it for an alternative school and
things like that.
You can email
[email protected]
Hanna
at
It is very important that the motorists cooperate
and remove their vehicles out of all public areas
no later than 7:00 A.M.
All vehicles will be towed away at the OWNER’S
EXPENSE who fail to comply with the above time
schedule.
Also all vehicles immobilized by accident,
mechanical, uninsured or un-inspected left on all
city-owned land will be towed at OWNER’S
EXPENSE.
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February - 2006
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