LEWISTON — Despite concern from teachers, the School Committee voted 5-2 Monday night to permit the School Department to apply for a federal teacher training grant.

Superintendent Bill Webster will seek a teacher incentive grant that, if awarded, would net about $3 million over five years to help some teachers get on the road to becoming nationally certified.

National research shows that the training helps improve teaching and student performance, educators said.

As proposed, the grant would allow 270 of Lewiston’s 460 teachers to receive one year of teacher development training called Take One. It amounts to 25 percent of the national certification process.

Because there wouldn’t be enough money to allow all teachers that training, the School Department would pick which schools would participate. It could be Lewiston High School, Lewiston Middle School, Longley School and one or two of the elementary schools. Or it could be the Lewiston Middle School and all elementary schools, Webster said.

Whatever schools are chosen, all teachers at those schools would be required to take the one-year Take One professional development if the city receives the grant.

The initial training would occur during workshop and in-school support time already scheduled. “We’re not asking teachers to do anything more outside of those times,” Webster said. “Our intent is to give them the tools and time to have wonderful, collaborative learning experience.”

While teachers would be required to receive the initial training, it would be up to them to decide to continue with full certification.

Teachers with national certification now make about $4,000 more a year: $1,000 from the Lewiston teachers contract and $3,000 more a year from the state.

Two teachers, one representing the teachers union, another representing middle school teachers, said they have concerns.

Muffett Dulac of the Lewiston Education Association said teachers are anxious about the proposal. “The initiatives we’re currently responsible for are overwhelming as it is. This would be another new piece we’d have to add onto our existing workload,” Dulac said.

“I have myriad questions I would like answered,” she said. “Teachers are apprehensive.”

Beth Miller, who teaches middle school health, asked if national certification is only open for teachers with three years experience, and would teachers be reimbursed for expenses of becoming nationally certified?

Teachers with less than three years cannot go for national certification, but can take the first-year training and use that later for national certification, John Myers of APA Consulting of Denver, Colo., said.

Registration fees would be covered by the grant, but for full certification there would be other expenses teachers would not be reimbursed for. “That’s part of being a professional teacher,” Myers said.

One teacher and two principals spoke in favor of applying for the grant. Montello Elementary teacher Deb Goding said her teachers are already doing some of the kind of training Take One would bring, such as teacher coaching and teachers making videos of themselves teaching so they can assess themselves. “This seems like a perfect next step for which people are going to be paid a little extra for,” Goding said. “I’m excited about the possibilities.”

Committee member Ronella Paradis said she’d prefer that teachers who want the training be allowed to take it rather than mandating all teachers at certain schools receive the training. “I don’t have good feelings,” Paradis said. Teachers opposed would not speak about it publicly, she said.

One of the School Committee’s functions “is to lead” and challenge the system, committee member Paul St. Pierre said. “I don’t see this certification any differently than I see certification of other professions.”

Paradis and member Sonia Taylor voted against applying for the grant. St. Pierre, Jim Handy, Paul Dumont, Thomas Shannon and Larry Poulin voted for it.

In other business, the committee:

* Heard a presentation from Geiger Elementary School’s civil rights team.

* Approved Lewiston Regional Technical Center mission statement and goals.

* Approved a school budget schedule, which proposes the committee adopt the budget April 14, sending it to the Lewiston City Council and then voters.

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