FOLLOW-UP TO THE 11/9 SCHOOL COMMITTEE PUBLIC FORUM

The public forum held at Oak Hill Middle School on November 9, 2005 provided an opportunity for an exchange of ideas and questions on the topic of budget guidelines for FY07. The conversation focused on issues raised by community members. The School Committee and Superintendent felt the discussion was invigorating and that the chance for a give and take was helpful. Feedback from the community was uniformly positive.

Several future meetings are in the planning stage to complete a sequence of interactive forums around the budget process. However, we felt it was essential to catalogue the issues raised at the first forum with an indication of what type of follow up is being considered. The topics are listed in a random order and not necessarily in the order that they were raised at the forum — when more than one person discussed the same or a similar issue, we have grouped these together for simplicity. We are posting this document on our website.

Cost of Special Education

One person cited an article from the Boston Globe and asked why we spend more than other communities on Special Education.

It was agreed that we needed more comparative information about Special Education spending in Newton and surrounding communities. We questioned whether all of the communities report the data in the same way. The PTO Council was sponsoring a panel presentation on Special Education which all were urged to attend (Nov. 17 and Dec. 1). As a follow-up to this panel, the School Committee and Superintendent are planning a series of information sessions on Special Education for later this winter and into the spring. These sessions will be designed to educate everyone about the diagnoses of students who require services and how these have changed over time, the type of programs that we offer, costs of these programs and of placing students outside of our system, and comparison of programs and costs with neighboring school systems. We will also include forecasting trends for the future. As the planning proceeds, further announcements will be forthcoming.

Increasing Size of Pie/Addressing Revenues

The questioner commented on the need to reduce the cost structure of the schools and gave as an example trying to make the buildings more energy efficient.

The Committee is aware of the problems associated with an aging physical plant with 22 sites and 2 ½ million square feet. The long-range facilities study will address this area, but several programs have already been put into effect, such as the energy audit currently underway at Day Middle School partly funded by the energy companies.

The same individual raised the question of whether we can afford to have small elementary schools. Several suggestions were made from the community including expanding optional zones by assigning new families to two or three districts to balance smaller and larger schools, voluntary choice of schools if the parents felt that class sizes might be more favorable at another school, and redistricting.

The Committee is conscious of the long-standing value placed on neighborhood schools in this community. It is not clear how the community would feel about non-voluntary programs to balance the size of different schools. However, we do support continuing the voluntary program that was introduced last year with more early publicity. A move to a non-voluntary system would require further study.

Class Size – Standards

The importance of having class size standards in the budget guidelines was raised even if these goals cannot be achieved. Class size goals were included in the Budget Guidelines for FY07.

Math/Science Initiatives to Match Literacy Initiatives

Several community members raised the issue of math and science instruction including whether there should be initiatives similar to the literacy initiative in elementary school and whether elementary teachers should receive more help in math instruction.

The Literacy Initiative was piloted in several schools after an extensive curriculum review process before being implemented in all of the elementary schools. We agree that more attention is needed for math and science instruction, and the math volunteer program was started last year to try to supplement math instruction since there were not resources for math specialists in each school. We need to make sure that we identify the right programs to move forward. The curriculum review process is underway in the mathematics area, and the system is still in the process of data collection. There has also been significant professional development in mathematics for elementary teachers.

The science framework is currently being reviewed by the State. We will have to adjust our curriculum to align with these new frameworks. Therefore, we will be concentrating on the science curriculum over the next few years, especially since high stakes MCAS testing is currently scheduled to begin in spring 2008.

Professional Development – Teacher Involvement

A question was raised about the role of teachers in brainstorming professional development offerings.

The union administrative team on the Joint Instruction Council represents teachers in planning and evaluating professional development programs. The principals oversee the supervision/evaluation program, which adds accountability to professional development. Professional development needs to be a balanced effort taking into account both teachers’ needs and the need for curriculum advancement identified by the system.

National Education Trends – School Libraries

One person brought literature from the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills stressing that libraries are essential to student achievement.

The Superintendent took these materials and will circulate these to the Committee. Everyone agrees on the importance of school libraries and the central role of the school librarian. A review of the impact of library cuts in the FY06 budget is scheduled for the 2/27/06 School Committee meeting.

Academic Challenge

One individual raised the issue of whether we are allowing standards in the curriculum to serve as a maximum when we should be using them as a minimum and providing more challenge.

The Newton Public Schools strongly supports differentiated instruction as the best way to serve the needs of all students. Our efforts have been geared toward providing resources to train and support teachers in the use of differentiated instruction and thereby to challenge all students to perform to their maximum capacity.

Budget Process/ Involvement of Public/Balancing Priorities

Several people commented on the budget process including whether or how the concerns of teachers are raised, how children are used or potentially manipulated at the public hearing, and how different priorities are balanced.

In the budget process, the voice of the teachers is taken into account at the school level through the principal. While the Committee is sympathetic to the viewpoint that children could be manipulated during discussions of the budget, public comments and public hearings are for any member of the public to make his or her views known. However, it is hoped that people will be sensitive to the matter of children’s participation. The Committee is currently reviewing the use of its website, with the goal of providing more financial information to the public, as well as making this a better tool for communication.

Importance of the Arts in a Balanced Curriculum

The importance of music and art as a key element for making school matter for many students was raised.

The School Committee agrees and supports these programs as well as the Wellness/Physical Education programs. We have worked to retain these programs in difficult budget times when some other communities have cut these. We continue to believe that it is important to constantly be mindful of the importance of these programs.