A packed house attended the Marion School Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 1 at the Town House to hear the committee discuss the town’s request to remove $215,000 from the proposed 2013 fiscal year budget.
Principal Lyn Rivet mentioned three scenarios, which included programing and staff reductions. Ms. Rivet said that she was directed by the Marion Budget Subcommittee to notify all staff that would potentially be affected by the cuts.
“Everything is on the table,” said Chairman Brad Gordon, “We have certain obligations that must be met, including contractual, vocational education and special education areas that are mandated…these are the three big areas.”
Superintendent Doug White said that staff at the school would be reduced by one teacher, due to a retirement, and that the position would not be filled. “We no longer have the federal stimulus funds… they’ve dried up…the town has asked us to reduce our proposed budget by $215,000 to $230,000.”
Superintendent Doug White said that Governor Deval Patrick’s budget indicated that the junior and senior high school would receive a slight increase in Chapter 70 funding but the elementary schools in the district would receive no additional dollars in 2013.
“The increase of health insurance and retirement pension costs, the increased cost of special education services and the decrease of federal stimulus dollars…there will be some major challenges and obstacles that will need to be addressed as the school committees in the district prepare their final budget proposals that will be recommended to the towns in March,” said Mr. White.
Although several attendees asked about the budget issues involving staff reduction, Chairman Brad Gordon told them that the open meeting in March would be the time and place to challenge any changes to the proposed budget, which is currently under consideration. The projected student enrollment for fiscal year 2013 is 460 to 465 students at Sippican Elementary School. The next meeting of the Marion School Committee – which will be open for comments on the budget – is scheduled for March 7, 2012 at 6:30.
In other business, Superintendent White gave his report and said that the new model system for educator evaluation was discussed with attorney Mike Long and that the language will need to be negotiated with all of the teacher associations before the system can be implemented in the district. Mr. White added that Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Educational (DESE) Commissioner Mitchell Chester said that the new evaluation tool will require tweaking over the next few years and that the new teacher evaluation system should benefit everyone involved in the process.
In other business, the Regional Educational Assessment and Diagnostic Services (READS) Collaborative agreed to accept the Somerset-Berkley Regional Public School District as a member. The board discussed and approved a one-year trial for the school.
The school calendar for 2013 was discussed briefly and attendee Peter Winters commented that he felt that the school year had too many half days and not enough full weeks. “It’s tough for two working parents to keep up with the broken up schedule…we need more five day weeks and fewer half days,” he said.
Elise Frangos, Director of Curriculum, discussed the recent participant by grades three through six in the Galileo curriculum-based measurement in English Language Arts. The Galileo is a simulation of the MCAS-type measurement of student achievement. Principal Rivet said that the results will be helpful in guiding students as they move closer to the 2012 MCAS tests in developing plans for question types that students have stumbled on in the past.
Facilities Manager Steven Murphy said that the district had locked in a 6 cent rate for electricity for the FY 2013. The current rate ranges from 6 and a half to 8 cents, saving approximately $1,000 per month for Sippican School. Mr. Murphy said that a flat gas rate has been negotiated and with a lower average daily temperature, he is projecting a 7 percent decrease in gas costs for FY 2013. Mr. White said that the savings generated in the facilities area would help offset the challenges of the FY 2013 budget.
By Joan Hartnett-Barry