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MANCHESTER
BOARD OF EDUCATION
BUDGET WORKSHOP THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2006 |
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I N U T E S
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Robertson
School Cafeteria
7:05 p.m. |
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A. OPENING PRESENT:
Crockett, Edwards, Hackett, Pohl, Rizzo, Rowe, Stafford, ABSENT: Small-Miller, ALSO PRESENT: Superintendent of Schools Ouellette, Director of Student Support Services Tait, Director of Business and Operations Brooks, Director of Human Resources Attorney Libby A.1. Call
to Order A.2. Pledge
of Allegiance B. Approval of Budget Workshop Minutes of May 17, 2006 It was moved to approve the Budget Workshop Minutes of May 17, 2006. Mr. Edwards had two friendly amendments to the Minutes: Firstly, delete the erroneous text "That would be $1, 500," from P.8. Para.3: Secondly, on P.10, Para. 4, it had been Mr. Edwards who asked the question, not Mr. Stafford. MOVED: Pohl/Stafford s.v. The Board approved the Budget Workshop Minutes of May 17, 2006 with the corrections. 6/0/0. C. Public Comments Mr. Rizzo acknowledged a large number of teachers and parents in the audience who sported a large scarlet 'W' on their clothing to demonstrate they represented Waddell School. He pointed out some had already made their representations at the Regular Board Meeting on May 22nd. They were free to add or restate something, but he reminded those who had not already spoken that there was a two-hour time constraint as important budget-related items remained on the agenda to be discussed that evening. The Board listened to the outpourings of a great number of teachers and parents on reasons why they believed Waddell Elementary School needed to have three first grade classes next school year. Five of the speakers had already spoken at the Board Meeting on May 22nd. A previous speaker, Ms. Leining, had read somewhere "More money is put into prisons than into schools." Another speaker quoted from something written by a former teacher of the year, which was applicable to the situation at Waddell. "I dream of a smaller class; not because I want to work less, have fewer papers to grade, or fewer report cards to fill out. It is because I want to be the teacher that every child in my class needs. I want to have the time to really help them reach their potential, to talk to them and to help them when they fall behind. As it is now, in the primary grades, we just keep pushing them along until they finally drop out of high school. I truly believe that children who did not succeed, would have done so, given a smaller class and the time of a teacher when no one else in their lives has ever had time for them." Although there was a combination of first-time speakers and second time speakers, it was very obvious that they were joined by a common thread running through their comments, i.e., children did not thrive in larger classes; needed to receive more individualized attention to keep them up to speed; there would be a very great loss to the school and the community if they lost a loyal and committed teacher, such as Mrs. Sheridan, who had instilled, and continued to instill, confidence and knowledge to young children in her classes and, in some cases, also to their siblings. The speakers all believed that the educational development of their children was in jeopardy. One parent was accompanied by her young son, Seth. Her reason for having him there was to illustrate the fact that they were discussing flesh and blood, not a statistic. Tom Springfellow
recommended the under noted reading: Mr. Rizzo thanked the parents and teachers for their comments. E. BUDGET DISCUSSION F. Questions
and Answers Attorney Libby tabled a document which contained information from all ten elementary principals who had been asked specifically where they were retaining; where they knew families were moving out (grade by grade); additionally when they had confirmed new enrollments for families moving into town. Attorney Libby offered to focus in on Grade 1; talk about that grade throughout the district, or any other particular area. Currently Bowers was looking at an 18.7 average class size: Buckley had expected to have forty-five students next year but had been reduced to forty-one. With forty-five students, three teachers had been slotted but they were probably now going to use two teachers, while still keeping a watchful eye on enrollment. With two teachers, they would have a class size of 20.5. Attorney Libby informed Dr. Ouellette that the numbers quoted were sent to her either late the previous evening or first thing that morning. Attorney Libby quoted the example of Highland Park, which had gone up that morning from forty to forty-four students. Now they had a 1st grade average class size of twenty-two. Keeney School 18.7. Martin 20; Nathan Hale 19.7; Robertson 19.3; Verplanck 17.3; Waddell 20 and Washington 19.3. Dr. Ouellette requested Attorney Libby to share with the Board and the public how the decision to add a third teacher versus two teachers was arrived at. What was the threshold for that? Attorney Libby said that grades 1 and 2 were looked at differently from grades 3, 4 & 5, depending on the year. They had tried to keep the class sizes of K, 1 and 2, fewer than twenty whenever they could. They looked to keep grade 3 probably in the range of twenty-two and grades 4 and 5 they definitely wanted to be under twenty-five. This had been achieved in just about every case, with the exception of recent cases such as Highland Park that suddenly had twenty-two as the average class size for grade 1. A Board member asked for information on past enrollment for 1st and 2nd grades, showing enrollment in excess of twenty. It appeared that in the past four years there had been about twenty-four different times where we had exceeded an average class size of 20, going as high as 22.7, 23.5 - even 24 at different points. Dr. Ouellette said she would ask Mr. Axelson to talk about Waddell; how its numbers had shifted from forty-two at one point the previous week, and were now down to thirty-nine. How had the decision three to two come about? Attorney Libby interposed that when it was forty-two they debated if they should have three classes, with fourteen students in a class, (that would be very much below that of any other school for a 1st grade). In fact, in the current year Waddell's 1st grade with 13, 13, 14 and 15 retained four teachers (because they had had a larger 1st grade class the previous year): In terms of May 1's enrollment in Kindergarten, which then moved into 1st grade, that was the expected forty-two. However, the Principal had informed Attorney Libby the previous week that, either because of retentions or movements out of the school, they were back down to thirty-nine. It had been confirmed only that day that the school were up to a net of forty. We were now looking at forty students, raising the question if it would be two classes of twenty each, or three of 13, 13 & 14. Dr. Ouellette and Attorney Libby discussed the fact that within one week it had gone from forty-two to thirty-nine to forty. Apparently this was the situation in every school; it was a moving target. Mr. Axelson asked if 1st graders ever registered over the summer; Attorney Libby told him this could happen if and when families moved into town, so there could be increases during the summer for any one of the ten schools. Dr. Ouellette interposed stating that Central Office shared the numbers with her when they fluctuated: sometimes staff had to be added at a later stage. For example, in the case of Waddell last year, they were fortunate that class sizes were maintained and sustained. It was difficult to estimate the mobility. Mr. Axelson stated that back in 1999/2000, 70% of children received pre-school education going into Kindergarten. There was a gradual decline in 2002/3 of 32%. This bottomed out in 2003/4 of 30.9%. There was an incline last year to 59.7%. There are more pre-school opportunities being offered in the town; a major pre-school initiative, which is a positive thing. True, there were mobility issues at Waddell School, as in many others, and there had been an average of 14.5 students coming in - going back over six years. They moved in and out. Last year eleven students came and five left. This had happened in first grade. Mr. Axelson expressed his gratitude for the support he received from the Waddell Community. He reiterated that mobility was an issue. He was a strong believer in all day Kindergarten and if there was an opportunity for that to happen, within this whole process, he would be supportive. Three full day Kindergarten programs would provide the extra hours of instruction students did not currently receive. He was of the opinion that with the help of Title 1 funds they could properly service the children. Mr. Stafford asked if Mr. Axelson was suggesting they add a Kindergarten, and keep first grade the way it is now. The answer was 'Yes'; it would be a positive thing for Waddell School. Currently there was some space available. Mr. Edwards asked if there was information on the years 2000/03 as to how many students left: those years had some significant students arriving. Mr. Axelson said in the year 2000 - twenty-one new students enrolled: five withdrew: a net gain of 16. In 2001 - fifteen students enrolled: five withdrew: a net gain of 10. In 2002 - thirteen students enrolled: eight withdrew: a net gain of 5. In 2003 - eleven enrolled: three withdrew: a net gain of 8. In 2004 - 16 students enrolled: There was significant fluctuation. That was a reality. Mr. Edwards said the Board did not need to be convinced that smaller classes were better, but what time period were we looking at? To take pluses and minuses - were those based on October/May or summer dates? Where was the line drawn? He was informed that they mainly came in before October 1. How close would we be generally in May to these numbers? Attorney Libby interposed saying that was accurate. Families moved in and out of town very often in the summer and the reason was readiness for the start of the school year. Mr. Edwards recapped that today at Waddell there were twenty students in a class: a total of forty, and it was proposed to have two teachers. Looking at the last four years, six net had come in; 8 net; 8 net; 5 net - average 9. For the last four years the average was around 7. Mr. Edwards queried "Did they get all the new students at the beginning of the year and departures at the end of the year? Mr. Edwards said he was trying to predict twenty-three or twenty-four in those classes and wondered if that was a fair assessment? Mr. Axelson thought it could be. Mr. Edwards said that, armed with that knowledge, was it Mr. Axelson's preference to not add a third teacher now but, instead, add an all day Kindergarten - assuming resources were available? The answer was "yes", it would be an asset to the school. Dr. Ouellette said one of the considerations was to keep the Waddell Staff intact: an option that had been discussed. If we moved in that direction this could happen. Mr. Edwards hypothesized if they added another teacher in first grade; they might need to add another in October. Where would that teacher come from? Dr. Ouellette told him they would have to add another additional to the budget. Dr. Ouellette said the intent of keeping the Waddell staff intact was a priority, but with the recent information shared, classes of twenty-three and twenty-four were not acceptable to her as Superintendent, and for the record, she had concerns about that. Dr. Ouellette pointed out they were looking at two plans here. The priorities were there. Mr. Axelson's mobility rate was incredible and he was asked to share this. In 2004/05 they had only 65% of grade 1- 5 return to Waddell - a 35% mobility rate. Ms. England shared the district perspective of mobility rates for the elementary schools: they were much more in line with 80% returning the following year. Mr. Stafford asked how many children came in to Waddell, in total, and how many leave in a given year? He was told that last year they were down fifty students from the same time a year ago: they lost a number of students who had transferred to other schools: some families chose to relocate. It was hard to give Mr. Stafford an accurate number. For two or three years they had maintained about 406 and last year, 2004/05, was an unusual year relative to the mobility rate. Attorney Libby stated that in October of the current school year there were 362 at Waddell: in May of this year there were 349 but, additionally, students were going in and out. The overall net disguised individual ins and outs. Mr. Rizzo
recalled someone had mentioned 549 hours of Kindergarten and asked to
what that referred. Dr. Ouellette believed it applied to Title 1. Mr. Rizzo asked how many out of the forty enrolled now had a need that was severe enough to warrant a one-on-one: there were two. Mr. Rizzo was familiar with the school and made the observation that there appeared to be a great deal of space currently unused for educational purposes. Mr. Axelson, Mr. Rizzo and Attorney Libby discussed how space would be utilized in the event they offered a full day Kindergarten; also other resources that would be needed. The cost was significant. Dr. Ouellette had a discussion with Ms. England about the possibility of a full day Kindergarten and whether or not it could be absorbed in the Title 1 fund. Mr. Rizzo had done an analysis on the updated class size chart and noted there was a total of 87 classes, Grades 1-3: the largest number of classes, 20 - had nineteen students. For Grade 1 alone, the largest number of classes, 10 - also had nineteen. This demonstrated that the Board had done a good job in the past, keeping the class sizes consistent. He considered consistency was important with our practice and the rest of the district. We did not want to have a school with twenty-two, twenty-three first graders, and then another one that had thirteen and fourteen - that made no sense. It seemed we had been able to maintain in the areas of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. Mr. Stafford wanted to know if the Board could receive two reports a month on the numbers - at least over the summer: by email, if necessary. Ms. Hackett confirmed she had asked, that morning, for reports to be issued more frequently. Mr. Rizzo made the point that they were looking at numbers which could differ completely in August or September when the Board needed to have a good handle on enrollments. The Board could make a decision that night, but three months ahead is looking at a very different scenario. Ms. Huyler asked, through the Chair, if when the numbers had been updated, the document included the exact date of the revision. Attorney Libby drew her attention to the document, tabled that evening, showing the date in heading. Mr. Rowe asked Mr. Axelson if he recalled mentioning that he had been flipping through some paperwork with the retention rate for the Kindergarteners. Mr. Axelson confirmed there were three retentions in Kindergarten for the current school year; one in 1st grade; three students would not be repeating Kindergarten next year. There would be thirty-eight students moving on; one retention in Grade 1, raising the number to 39. There was no registrant at this point of time, which left the total at 40. Mr. Edwards
thanked the Waddell representatives for coming out in such force. He
applauded their commitment. One of the participants had asked the question
"What would you want for your child?" He thought the Board,
as a whole, shared his view that they would like to see fifteen children,
and no more, in grades K-3. He thought the key to the question was "How
many children are going to be in Waddell 1st grade?" We did not
have the answer. For the purposes of the budget, we would have to guess.
If the third teacher is retained and enrollment did not increase, we
had made a mistake. An even worse situation would be if the classes
were reduced to two and then it was needed to add a teacher at a later
date when budget dollars were unavailable. Ms. Huyler initiated a short discussion about Title 1 schools. Dr. Ouellette informed her that Verplanck and Waddell were the least disadvantaged schools. Currently our most impoverished schools were subsidized through the budget and not through Title 1 funds. Ms. Huyler wanted to know what would change at Waddell if they did not add Kindergarten. Dr. Ouellette told her it would be the Board's decision if they chose to keep the 1st Grade 3-way team intact. The option of keeping the Waddell family intact perhaps would be to start an all day Kindergarten and hopefully that staff member would be able to remain. Mr. Edwards recalled that Ms. England had described a sequence where we added all day Kindergarten to the neediest Title 1 schools. He understood that we had to add all day Kindergarten to all the Title 1 schools before we added it to a non-Title school. Verplanck and Waddell were the only two schools left, so which one, going on that premise, would be next on the list to get all day Kindergarten. Verplanck was the answer. Mr. Crockett followed up on comments made by Mr. Edwards about adding a 1st grade teacher. He said if we added today, or in October, we would have to find the money to pay for it. We would be getting bi-weekly updates so we could actually lose students. Why would the Board bind itself to something now, if it could be added on August 15? "Did we have to make a decision tonight? "Could it not be monitored? Dr. Ouellette's response was we needed to reduce $1.7m: the budget had to be adopted by June 8. The Board had to make big decisions that evening on technology and the Assistant Athletic Director position at the High School. Time was of the essence. June 15 was the contractual obligation that staff must be provided with their assignments for next year: it was in the best interest to provide students and parents with their student assignments for next year. If the Board directed, Dr. Ouellette could go deeper into the pockets, but she could not guarantee they could settle on a budget adoption that evening. Mr. Edwards asked if there was not an available position to move into that would provide an answer. Dr. Ouellette said there was a possibility: not yet officially accepted by the Board that only came to light a day or two ago. Ms. Hackett was concerned that if we did not collapse the 1st grade we might have to do it later on in the school year. Attorney Libby's recollection was that two years ago, possibly at Bowers, the class sizes became smaller than predicted (well below that of comparable elementary schools): a teacher was actually moved to another school where the class size was large. Perhaps twice in the past six years - just about school start up time - they had had to go from three to four classes. Full Time
Athletic Director Position Mr. David Frost read from a document, which had been tabled. Five hundred and sixty-six events were listed and he pointed out it was impossible to have representation, on the part of the Athletic Administration, at all these events. They could not even be handled by two people. Looking specifically at the Assistant Athletic Director position; considering whether or not it should be dropped with the change in the A.D. position: would be like taking one step forward and one backwards, to save $8,000. This amounted to approximately one 1/100th of 1% of the budget; 1/6th of what a teacher, right of college, would cost, about $50,000 in benefits and starting salary. Putting this in perspective, with an $80m budget, was not a lot of money for the opportunity to be in a great position with the number of events he had listed. In budgetary situations Mr. Frost said it was extremely rare to be able to significantly improve a program for as little as $8,000. He urged the Board to retain the position. Ms. Hackett recalled when the Superintendent had presented the budget reductions to the Board there was a page listing items that were preserved. Was the proposed addition to making it a 1 FTE an actual criteria for evaluation set down by the NEASC Committee? Mr. Frost said there was nothing specific in the standards. From Manchester's point of view they had long felt that having a Full Time A.D. was an important way to provide effective services in monitoring, busing, etc. Mr. Sierakowski was not aware of any schools that did not have a full time A.D. Mr. Crockett pointed out it should be borne in mind that although many events were listed, two or three of these took place simultaneously. He did not doubt that the work was demanding but schools he had talked with were managing with a Full Time A.D. and a part-time secretary. It seemed to him they were running under the same A.D. concept that was operative in the 1960's. Mr. Crockett said he would have no problem supporting the Facilities Manager to assist at the home games: he did not think we needed to pay out any extra money. We would be going from less than a 1 to almost a two-person operation, which was unnecessary at this time. As a Board member it was his intent to see things were done properly. He supported the Full Time A.D. Mr. Rowe had a question about the responsibilities a Facilities Manager would have, in addition to collecting tickets: apparently this depended on how it was structured. Duties included taking gate receipts, making deposits, etc. A Faculty Manager, with enough hours, would take over some of the responsibilities and duties that had been listed, e.g., assist with scheduling buses; umpires. A few Board members had a conversation as to the exact duties of the part time secretary, which appeared to be unclear. Dr. Ouellette stated there was a full time secretary who also came to the High School, in some capacity, in that area. Mr. Frost urged if the Board wanted to get into scholarship stuff and a timelier fundraising program, it would become difficult without a change being made. It was a matter of preference and where the Board decided it wanted to be. Ms. Hackett recapped that right now we had a .6 A.D. and the request was for the addition of a .4 for $8,000. Mr. Frost corrected her - actually it would be the difference in the Athletic Director's Salary going from .6 to 1.0 and that would be more than $8,000. It was also questioned if the A.D. position were to become full time would it be a ten or twelve month position: it would be twelve months. Basically, Assistant A.D. would be from the start of the school to the end of school - a three season for $8,000. August 25 to June 15 - it was a stipend. As a recap, they were sharing a part-time secretary who divided her time with student activity. Ms. Hackett asked about interfacing with the Middle School and was told there was not a lot: maybe four track meets; a basketball game. She questioned if the position were to be elevated to a Full Time A.D. would there be some bridging with the Middle School, with expectations that an eye would be kept on that? The answer was vague. Mrs. Huyler wanted to know where cheerleading entered the picture and was told that cheerleading, although not recognized as a sport, was most certainly supported; they were members of the Athletic Department. She was pleased to note that Girl's Golf was included. She wanted to know what happened, in the event of having only one person, and that person was out, if an event could not take place? Apparently this would not pose any difficulties. Dr. Ouellette responded to Mr. Crockett's question informing him that currently the Full Time A.D. at Illing Middle School was in place. Mr. Crockett was of the opinion that an A.D. could fulfill the job requirements without an Assistant and events would continue to take place. He was of the opinion that the Board should look at a Facilities Manager: we did not need another A.D. title. This would be misleading, and confusing. He had strong feelings that there should only be one Head. Dr. Ouellette invited Ms. Cronin to address the Board on the subject of the Early Childhood Specialist. Ms. Cronin represented Manchester Early Learning Opportunities (MELO). Ms. Cronin stated the town had been fortunate, since 2002, to have had an Early Learning Opportunities Grant. It ended in the current year: no longer funded by the Federal Government. It was expected to bring the project through July for direct service but would end in August, as demanded by the Federal Government. The only piece of the project remaining would be some nursing services that currently existed in the Human Services budget for 9.5 hours. They had recommended to their Board of Directors, and the Manchester Board of Education, that they fund the position of an Early Childhood Specialist: to be shared by the town and the district. That person would pick up some key pieces of the MELO Project. This would be the first time the position had been institutionalized within the town and would directly address the question of childcare. The Board of Directors had already approved half the cost and it was being looked to the Board of Education to fund the other half. Mr. Rowe wanted to know if their clients would basically be parents or young children. The answer was parents, children and the providers. It had been currently proposed to put it under the Youth Service Bureau, a shared position. The desire was to put into place a Policy Group, comprised of some of the key people currently overseeing parts of the MELO Project. Mr. Rizzo was informed that funding for the position had been provided for. He asked if childcare was provided and was told that assistance was provided to help with day care providers. It was a new concept and Ms. Cronin expounded on what was included in the program. Mr. Stafford recapped that the total cost of the Board's half of the monetary contribution would be $30,000. Dr. Ouellette stated that the final piece to her presentation was simply to ask if there were any additional questions for Dr.Gejda or Ms. Brooks with regards to the previous week's presentation on technology. Ms. Huyler
commented that although she had not been present at the Budget Meeting
she had received great feedback. Mr. Stringfellow commented briefly on the Athletic Assistant Director position, and extended congratulations to the Board on entering the 19th Century by appointing a full time Athletic Director,. He felt the Board should think about the position of the Assistant Athletic Director, and he supported the all day Kindergarten program proposed for Waddell School. Michelle Cooley sought to understand how grants were allotted: would that be an option in getting additional funding for Waddell as far as getting a full day Kindergarten; retaining a teacher, or both? Either way, both her sons would be affected and she was very concerned. Dr. Ouellette said her team could provide some answers. Ms. England responded that speaking to the Title 1 Grant (Federally funded) the determination for schools was made on the basis of poverty census data for the neighborhood and the district. Title 1 was distributed among Title 1 schools. In terms of how the Title 1 funds were spent, the Board was aware that when the grant was written primarily the funds would go to staffing. The Board provided Language Art Consultants, Literacy Facilitators and a number of tutors. Title 1 schools were also supplied with instructional supplies and professional development. There were other grants that schools may apply for which might not have the same stringent requirements as Title 1 but where Federally funded grants were concerned - they were pretty specific. Mr. Rowe wanted to know if the money would be divided evenly amongst the five titled schools, or the neediest. Ms. England reiterated that it was based on poverty. The neediest received the largest amount, as laid down by the Federal and State government. Ms. England could not give Mr. Rowe an actual amount: a determination could not be made because, primarily, every year the Title 1 allotment changed. This year they had already been informed by the State Department that they would be cutting the State grant. Mr. Edwards observed he knew there were certain restrictions on grant money and trying to save an existing teacher would be problematic. Mr. Rizzo had a question on the status of Illing now that two schools were merging. Was Illing still a non-title school? He was told the numbers were close: part of the decision the district would have to make was how to use Title 1 funding. Mr. Rizzo had the thought that that would give us additional Title 1 funding. Ms. England said they would get the funding regardless. Dr. Gejda stated she was aware of two elementary schools, i.e., Washington and Verplanck that had an After School Program. They were funded through competitive grants, i.e., 21st Century Grant. They were written and applied for and did not come under the category of entitlement. Public Comments - II Mr. Bujaucius, Ambassador Drive, thanked the Board for taking and answering questions. He talked about technology: his favorite topics. In particular, he expressed his disappointment at the budget figures, although he realizes the realities of the situation. He thought it was a great idea to include this as an annual part of the budget purely for technology. With regards to the question of lease vs. purchase, for PC's, etc. From his perspective that was strictly a financial decision. Coming from the business community, this was a decision made every day. On the question of the aging of PC's, it seemed that in Manchester the talk was always about replacement and he thought we needed to think about how to target the assets being purchased. The concept that a PC is monolithic and needed to be looked at seriously. In the business world they have four different models, geared towards different types of users: that could make sense when one looked at the K-12 environment. The PC purchased for a twelfth grader vs. someone in Kindergarten could be entirely different. Did everyone deserve exactly the same piece of equipment? One of the public speakers, who resided on Hawthorne Street, returned for an additional time to talk on the subject of Waddell School, specifically about the wonderful child who lived next door. She had seen the child turn around 150% since moving in, owing to the wonderful help he had received. When she listened to discussions on computers she could not help drawing comparisons between expenditure on technology and help needed for a child. Tom Stringfellow
supported the proposal for a Full Day Kindergarten at Waddell School
and hoped that Title 1 funding could be found for both Waddell and Verplanck; Mr. Rizzo stated there was generally great coverage by the media at all their meetings, which was much appreciated. MOTION: Pohl/Edwards s.v. Manchester Board of Education unanimously approved to adjourn at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Michael
Rizzo, Secretary |