Advisory might be history. Site Council voted Nov. 8 to suspend the program indefinitely until problems with it could be remedied.

Initiated last year, the program was created to facilitate development of relationships between staff members and students. When the program began, Advisory classes consisting of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors were scheduled to meet regularly in a classroom setting with the same staff member for all four years of high school. Teaching the class was optional for staff last year, but many opted to do so.

“The kids who drop out [of high school] tend to not form relationships with staff members. Advisory was touted as solving that problem,” said Dr. Alan Ames, a former Lincoln parent and member of Site Council involved in creating and analyzing the program.

But staff voiced concerns about the program, and posed questions regarding the improvement of Advisory at staff and Site Council meetings last spring, according to biology teacher and Site Council member Nancy Lapotin, who helped create the program.

Many teachers objected from the outset to discussing personal issues with students. Problems were compounded over the summer when the program was changed from an optional staff responsibility to mandatory for all teachers, giving them an extra class without compensation. This raised issues of a violation of the teachers’ contract with the Portland School District.

“You are asking teachers to teach another class,” said Rick Kolinsky, math teacher and teachers’ union representative. “It comes down to protecting your contract. If you don’t object, it becomes a part of your normal working conditions.” Advisory could continue, however, he said, if teachers voted for a contract exception.

Principal Peter Hamilton decides if such a vote will be taken. If he says “no,” Kolinsky said teachers will have to file a grievance, which would be mediated by an outside arbitrator.

“The reason schools across the country have created advisory programs is to build relationships between students and teachers, and I really support that. We’ve had difficulty implementing the program, and we need to figure out a better way for Advisory to work at Lincoln,” Hamilton said.

Many teachers support Advisory. “I think that in a school this big, we need more opportunities for students to get to know each other better and to get to know at least one teacher better. Advisory is a good vehicle for that,” science teacher Maggie Raczek said.

“I feel saddened by what’s happened to Advisory,” said Lapotin.

“I don’t mind it,” senior Ilana Berry said. However, most students do mind. In a school-wide survey taken last year, a majority polled said that Advisory was not beneficial to developing relationships between staff and students, and 62 percent said that Advisory should rarely or never be held.

Hamilton said students may not like the program because lunch comes later in the schedule on days with Advisory. At the Site Council meeting, alternative ideas for advisory were discussed, including changing the Advisory period to a mid-day closed-campus Flex time, or moving lunch to follow third period.

Kolinsky says that Advisory is not helpful when it comes to building relationships, arguing that it is hard to do so with 30 students in the room. “They give you a worksheet to do with the kids, but it’s artificial. You can’t force people to build relationships.”

Another option proposed by Site Council was to create a council consisting of 10 faculty members who want to make Advisory better. This council would work to reform Advisory. If it isn’t possible to find 10 people in the building who support Advisory, it will be a good indicator that Advisory must not be continued, concluded the Site Council.

“There’s no question that it doesn’t work now,” said Ames. “The question is whether we could make it work.”