A grant application to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education could possibly secure funds up to $500,000 for the purpose of finding new and efficient ways to deliver core local services, including a technology director’s position, said Superintendent Doug White at the Mattapoisett School Committee meeting held at Center School on January 9.
The funding of a new position for a technology director topped the wish list in a discussion of the fiscal year school budget for 2013, which is now gearing up. All the school committees in the district voted to move forward in including the salary in the upcoming FY2013 budget.
In discussing the grant, Mr. White said that ORR District qualifies to apply for the grant due to the percentage of local funding by the towns. Across the state, many school districts have an average funding of 82 percent of their budget coming from local town funds, while the ORR District is funded 90 percent by the towns.
The deadline for the grant is January 17 and the announcement of grant recipients will be in late February. If awarded the grant, the area of focus will be to develop and implement and coordinate technology services including infrastructure, communications, curriculum and data analysis to all schools in the district. Currently, each school handles its own technology needs, which aren’t coordinated with any of the other schools or the central office. Mr. White said that if grant monies are awarded, they could be used immediately to start the process of coordinating technology services.
Chairman Grace Knox asked each of the principals to prepare a list of weighted priorities for the school board to use during budget crunch time.
Superintendent Doug White said that he had recently met with town managers and they wanted to look at two scenarios: a level services budget (same services as FY 2012) and a level funded budget (same dollars as FY 2012).
“The towns want to see both budgets and would like to continue with level service, if fiscally possible,” said Mr. White. In the discussion, it was noted that the towns fund approximately 90 percent of the school budget, while the state funds the difference through Chapter 70 monies.
In her Principal’s Report, Ms. Bowman reported that all students in grade three participated in an English Language Arts/Reading assessment on January 5, 2012, using an assessment tool, known as Galileo. The assessment will help identify students’ weakness and proficiencies in performance levels prior to the Spring 2012 MCAS assessment. A Math assessment will be given to all grade three students on March 13, 2012.
Curriculum Director Elise Frangos discussed the two upcoming professional development days on January 13 and January 27. A chart was presented showing all the offerings for teachers, most revolving around the MCAS common core standards and goals in English language arts and mathematics.
Ms. Frangos also discussed the new supervisory and evaluation plan that the Board of Education and the Massachusetts Teachers Association put into place for use in September of 2012. The evaluation tool places teacher assessments in categories, with those in the unsatisfactory or needs improvement given a specific amount of time to improve. The complex plan includes student assessment of teachers and ties MCAS scores directly to teacher evaluations.
Chairwoman Grace Knox asked about children who were looking for napkins and spoons which were recently put in a place where only cafeteria staff could access them. “I wasn’t sure what this was all about,” said Ms. Knox. Ms. Meagher said that both students and faculty, who were not purchasing lunch were using salad dressings, condiments, napkins and utensils and she moved these items to a more secure place to reduce unnecessary expenses. Ms. Knox recommended that napkins and utensils be available to students who bring their lunch.
In other news:
• The first annual adult spelling bee will be held on March 9 at ORRHS. Rosemary Bowman, principal of Center School is coordinating the effort. She hopes that 25 teams, paying $50 per team, hopefully sponsored by local businesses and groups will participate.
• A Health Night, to be held in March, will bring together children and families to learn more about nutrition and other healthy lifestyle activities. A date for this event will be announced soon.
• Old Hammondtown School began the after school foreign language classes on January 9. Latin and Spanish classes will be taught to 4, 5 and 6 graders by high school students. The sessions will run for four weeks.
• Principal Matt D’Andrea said that he received a thank you note from St. Vincent DePaul Society thanking the students for their donation of 600 can goods and a $160 check, which was the profit from the student/teacher basketball game.
By Joan Hartnett-Barry