They pay anywhere from $60 to $120. For one hour. It’s the potential difference between passing and failing. Checks exchange hands in in the library, other times in dining rooms. The transaction: from WHS student to WHS teacher. Tutoring has become an important supplement to many students’ educations, and the backbone of many GPAs. Based on a survey of 146 WHS students taken during lunch periods, 74 percent reported that they have been tutored professionally, and 27 percent have been tutored by a WHS teacher.

But what drives all this tutoring? Are those who have the means to afford it gaining an unfair advantage? And perhaps most important of all, should WHS teachers be tutoring WHS students who are taught by their colleagues?

Dr. Peter Horn, a former WHS English teacher and tutor, led several group discussions with other teachers about these issues with tutoring during his time at WHS. “The ethical concerns I had about tutoring came to outweigh the value of the compensation,” said Horn, who stopped tutoring 10 years into his 18-year tenure at WHS. “From the standpoint of the tutor, keep in mind that there are bills to pay. I stopped tutoring when I could afford to, so I don’t judge anyone who needs it to make ends meet.”

Physics Teacher Mr. Josh Garodnick, who currently tutors WHS students outside of school, expressed a similar point of view on why he tutors. “When tutors charge, you’re being charged for two things: their expertise and their time,” Garodnick said. “As much as I would love to volunteer for hours after school for students who need it, I don’t have that time. So I’m paid for that time, which then makes it worth it.”

Horn, to alleviate his ethical concerns, said that he offered his services on a “sliding scale,” providing free help to some students. When asked to tutor a student for an honors course, he said, he always refused.

“There’s a sharp distinction for me between a student who’s really struggling in a college prep class and needs help to get by, maybe including organization skills, and a student being tutored in order to stay in an honors or AP class that clearly isn’t a good fit for their readiness,” said Horn.

The Counseling Department has taken a similar stance on tutoring, and only makes a list of WHS tutors available to students who are at risk of failing a course or need remedial assistance, according to Head of Counseling Ms. Maureen Mazzarese.

However, struggling students are not the only ones getting tutored. Garodnick has tutored students for honors courses, and has made his services available to students attempting to sustain A and B grades. His explanation is simple: “They come to me, and if I say no, they’ll go somewhere else, and I know I can provide the best help. I used to feel bad about it, but if I don’t do it, someone else will.”

Senior Amelia Ritter, who was tutored by Garodnick in physics last year, also believes the proliferation of tutoring is driven by pressure. “We’re supposed to be focused on learning and obtaining more knowledge, but in reality it’s all about getting the A,” Ritter said.

Added Mazzarese, “My concern is always why is the tutoring happening and what isn’t happening instead. Is the tutoring fostering a search for good grades, and in some ways getting in the way of the love of learning?”

Another important debate with tutoring is the issue of income disparity. While some can afford the extra help, some cannot.
“I always have a concern for the students who can’t afford tutoring, and don’t have that same advantage,” said Mazzarese.

Social Studies and Psychology Teacher Mr. Robert Ebert, who tutors in psychology, believes that these issues are simply unavoidable. “To hold people back [from getting tutored] just for the sake of holding them back doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Ebert. Income inequality, he said, is “sadly, just life.”

Ritter noted that WHS offers many ways for students to get extra help. ¨Teachers are available for free and there are always the different ‘labs’ like the Math Lab and Writing Center,” said Ritter. “Most schools aren’t lucky enough to have the resources we have.”

An anonymous junior, who has been tutored in math and science, is more hesitant: “I feel a little bit guilty because I am completely aware that tutoring can be very expensive, and that it is not affordable to everybody. I feel like I do better in school oftentimes because of the assistance of a tutor, so I guess it really is like paying for higher grades.”

There’s also the concern about conflict of interest. Might a teacher perceive a student differently if that teacher knows that a colleague is tutoring the student?

Mr. Paul Pineiro, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and programs for Westfield Public Schools, said that teachers tutoring students from their own schools is ethical, as long as the teachers are not tutoring students in their own classes. Section 18A, Part D of the New Jersey Department of Education’s School Ethics Act reads, “No school official shall undertake any employment or service, whether compensated or not, which might reasonably be expected to prejudice his independence of judgment in the exercise of his official duties.”

Pineiro said that tutoring of other students is acceptable according to this rule, but added, “I can see that there are areas where we might want to be careful about this practice. It presents challenges.”

Another gray area in the Ethics Policy is Section 18A, Part F, which reads, ¨No school official shall use, or allow to be used, his public office or employment, or any information not generally available to the members of the public, which he receives or acquires in the course of and by reason of his office or employment, for the purpose of securing financial gain for himself.¨ Is a teacher tutoring a student from his or her school considered an exchanger of insider information?

Pineiro said no, adding, “As long as teachers are following curriculum that is public, and not sharing assessments…. Aside from that, the curriculum is the curriculum. If they are operating from the curriculum that we use in our classrooms, I don’t think it’s an advantage to students.”

Ebert noted potential advantages to teachers who are tutoring students in the same school: ¨In fact it’s ideal in some ways,” he said. “You can speak to another teacher, you have more access to the materials that a student is using. So I have no problem with it at all.”

According to Garodnick, physics teachers have received “offensive” parental accusations that their classes are purposefully difficult so that kids must seek out tutors. Garodnick said he does not solicit tutoring jobs, and said he believes that no WHS student is gaining a strategic advantage by enlisting his tutoring services, since the teachers in the physics department work completely independently from one another.

​Garodnick added: “I never recommend getting a tutor. I don’t think that should be your first go-to thing.”