Does The Lack of Mrs. Binienda's Doctorate Matter

-Mrs. Binienda Does Not Have a Doctorate in Education

I learnt today Mrs. Binienda, the Principal of South High School and Superintendent elect for the Worcester Public School District does not have a doctorate degree.

This comes as a surprise to me as I have personally addressed her as “Doctor” and she made no effort to correct me.  I remember addressing two other women educators as “Ms.” and they immediate corrected me as to their proper title of “Doctor”. 

There was a lecturer at Holy Cross College whom I address as “Doctor” and he said that he was not and that I should call him by his first name.  The prefix title issue for me included a police man whom I addressed as “officer” and he said that he was a “Detective”.

In many ways I feel that I have been deceived by the omission of the lack of Mrs. Binienda’s doctorate by the people who knew that Mrs. Binienda did not have a doctorate degree. I feel foolish in some ways because I asked each of the Superintendency candidates whether they had a Certificate of Superintendency. Dr. Mulcahy answered that she did not, but she was working on getting one.

 A clue should have been that in the so called resumes (more of a summary) found on the Worcester School website Mrs. Binienda did not have the “Ed.D” after her name. My first impression was that this was an informal document as it did not list any schools attended.

Another clue should have been when I asked school committee member John Monfredo whether a doctorate was a requirement for the Superintendency.  He said it was not.

The point of all this is that Mrs. Binienda is a less qualified superintendent than is Dr. Rodrigues. Not only does Dr. Rodrigues have superior work experience and social experience, it is clear now he is better educated. In terms of education Mrs. Binienda was the least qualified.

I think that the parents and people of Worcester might have had a different view of the selection of Mrs. Binienda, if it was better known that she does not have a Doctorate of Education.

I wrote previously that with the selection of Mrs. Binienda everyone should be good soldiers and work for the success of Worcester’s children.  I still feel that way.

Now however I think it might be in the best interest of Worcester’s children, if Mrs. Binienda declines the Superintendency and let Dr. Rodrigues continue to run the schools which he has done well for several months. The declension of the Superintendency by Mrs. Binienda will relieve Dr. Rodrigues of the burden of doing the double duty of training his replacement.

It seems that Mrs. Binienda will not start working at 20 Irving St. until the upcoming fiscal year 2017. Running a Worcester High School is not an easy task and perhaps she could best help the children of Worcester by continuing as Principal of South High School.

I also think that the School Committee should reconsider its decision, given that Dr. Rodrigues is clearly the better fit with the revelation of Mrs. Binienda’s lack of a doctorate. Its vote was clearly one of choosing an old Worcester network candidate over a more qualified candidate.

For the sake of the children of Worcester I ask that Mrs. Binienda declines the Superintendency and that the School Committee reconsider its selection. Already the shadow of putting favoritism over education and experience has thrown what is an ugly shadow over the City School Committee and the Superintendency of Mrs. Binieda.