MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING
JULY 26, 2006, 7:30 P.M.
PRESENT: Chairperson Dori Zaleznik,
Vice-Chairperson Marc Laredo, Gail Glick, Susan Heyman, Anne Larner, Reenie
Murphy, Claire Sokoloff, Jonathan Yeo, Mayor David Cohen, Superintendent
Jeffrey Young
CALL
TO ORDER
Chairperson Dori Zaleznik called the meeting to order at
7:40 p.m. The purpose of tonight’s
meeting is to discuss the list of items of possible add-backs to the budget from
the additional State funding. The second
item is to vote on several donations that require attention before the
Committee’s first regular meeting in the fall.
Jeff Young began the conversation by commenting on what
a wonderful feeling it is to be adding back to a budget. However, there are so many necessities that
it is also a difficult task to determine priorities. In preparing tonight’s list, they referred
back to the one developed by the Committee during budget season, which totaled
$500,000 of restorations should additional funds be forthcoming. The sources of the new revenue, which totals
$845,000, are as follows: 1.) additional state aid from the legislature of
$500,000 to the City, of which the Mayor will give the usual 70% to the schools
($350,000), 2.) $150,000 accrued from the district’s savings from retired
employees’ insurance costs, 3.) Circuit Breaker funding in the amount of
$285,000, which is the State support for reimbursement for certain special
education costs, and 4.) an additional $60,000 of METCO reimbursement, which is
typically split in half with one half going for direct services to the METCO
program and the other half to offset teaching costs districtwide.
He then spoke about the way they propose to apportion
the funds. First they want to add 5.0
full-time equivalencies (FTEs) high school teachers, three of which were
already used earlier in the spring for planning and scheduling purposes in the
major subject areas. The additional 2.0 FTEs
will allow them to do several things.
One is to restore the status of the fine arts department heads at the
two high schools. It will also allow for
additional staffing to be able to schedule all the electives they need in the
various areas. The One-to-One program
will be restored and they will be able to phase out the Family & Consumer
Science program rather than end it abruptly, so that the students who had taken
Clothing 1 will be able to finish the second level of that course.
The next add-back being proposed is 2.0 FTEs for high
school aides to make provisions for support programs for regular education at
Newton South, in which they had discovered inequities between the two high
schools.
At the elementary level they are proposing an additional
2.0 FTEs for teachers – one for the 3rd grade at
At the middle schools they want to add a .3 FTE language
teacher at
They are proposing restoration of the half-time cut in
the early childhood coordinator position, but in a reorganized manner of
support. Rather than it being a
coordinator role, they want to make it the equivalent of a teaching position,
which will provide support for the literacy initiative.
Another recommendation is to return 3.0 FTEs of
custodians, with the specific locations to be determined. He does not need to elaborate on this need,
as it has been discussed numerous times at meetings that they are understaffed
in this area and the end result is obvious in the buildings.
In the area of special education, he is recommending a
$50,000 reserve (2.5 FTE aides), who will be deployed where they determine the
needs are greatest.
Finally, the per pupil allocation, which has been cut or
level-funded for a number of years and which the principals use to purchase
materials for their schools will be increased by $50,000.
It is important to mention that they looked at a number
of other options prior to making these recommendations. They considered restoration of some other
cuts that were made, such as the reduction in time for elementary art and music
and the middle school reading specialists but, given the limited funds, these
did not rise to the same level of consideration as the others. However, they are important and he hopes they
will be able to restore them in the future.
They also reviewed a list of maintenance projects, but felt that adding
$50,000 - $100,000 to this area seemed like it would only make a small dent in
the numerous needs, so they opted instead to put the majority of the funding
into the classrooms. They also
considered adding more teachers, but in the end felt these recommendations
achieved a balance between needs at all levels systemwide.
Dori Zaleznik wished to clarify the issue regarding the
3rd grade recorder program, as some people may have misunderstood
the intent. This program is not being
eliminated. An extra half hour has been
taken away from the music program and teachers are being asked to fold the
recorder into the program in some fashion.
Susie Heyman thanked the community for their lobbying
efforts at the State House for additional funding. Obviously their voices were heard.
Dori Zaleznik commented that at one point they were
looking at attempting to reduce the number of aides in the system in favor of
hiring more teachers. The $100,000 for
five aide positions could buy two teachers and she would like to hear the rationale
for that decision.
Jeff Young stated that two teachers would help two
grades in two schools, but the aides give them the flexibility to deploy people
at various spots systemwide. Principals have become quite skilled at using that
flexibility and they get a lot of service for the expenditure. There are a number of classes creeping up in
enrollment, which may not necessarily call for another full teacher, but aides will
allow them to provide the necessary support.
Marc Laredo asked if the splitting of METCO funds
between the program and school system is done through some type of agreement.
Jeff Young replied that there is no formal agreement but
rather a tradition. However, they have
not had many of these opportunities since it has often been level-funded or
cut.
Marc Laredo asked if they had considered using some more
of those funds to retain some of what was cut, such as elementary art.
Jeff Young noted that they would not be able to retain
the entire elementary art program systemwide for the $60,000. There is some discretion to negotiate with
METCO regarding how new funds are split.
However, because the program has struggled for so long with
level-funding and is in serious need of the support at the high school for
which they plan to use that money, it seemed to be the right choice.
Marc Laredo stated that as a community they have rightfully
made the decision to support this program, which he hopes they will continue to
do, but it is important to note that the funding they get from the State only
covers a portion of the cost. It is not
the
Susie Heyman stated that they need to keep an eye on
middle school class size, which is sustaining cuts. She wished they could have added back the cut
in the arts program because not only does cutting 15 minutes change the way the
program is taught, it also reduces precious and scare preparation time for
every elementary school teacher.
However, she would acquiesce to what the principals and administrators
have decided is best.
Jeff Young noted that in terms of the middle school
class sizes, one way they can have some flexibility here is to delegate the
aide line item to both elementary and middle and see where the needs fall.
Susie Heyman noted that if there were an anomaly in the
middle schools and they needed some flexibility perhaps the per pupil
allocation could be an area they could review.
Jeff Young stated that the per pupil formula is used for
ease of distribution, but they are not locked into specifics.
Jonathan Yeo shared Susie’s concern about art. He kept trying to juggle some of the other
items so that they could retain the full program, but realized it probably was
not possible. With regard to the
librarians, while the 1.2 FTEs is certainly going to make improvements, and
some quite dramatically for certain schools, he expressed concern about the
smaller schools which will not see any additional staffing. He hopes they can find some way to support
these staff members and perhaps next year increase the amount of time these
libraries will be open.
Jeff Young stated that he appreciates these comments and
will pass them along to Shelley Chamberlain, the new Director of Information
Technology, but it is true that they are getting a good impact for a relatively
small investment.
Dori Zaleznik noted that holidays frequently fall on Mondays
and Tuesdays are early release days, so one suggestion might be to have the
small school libraries open Wednesday through Friday, which would give them a
bit more time. One of her originals
ideas when she first saw this list was to take one aide and the librarians and
trade that off for art, because it might be easier to deal with an area that
has already had cuts rather than somewhere that had not yet experienced that
situation. However, when she saw how
much they got from restoring 1.2 FTE librarians it did not seem like a fair
trade.
Jeff Young likened library scheduling to a Rubik’s cube,
but will pass along Dori’s suggestion regarding which days to open, as it seems
like a good thought.
Anne Larner stated that the schools have not had to
experience cuts in art and at this point it is only theoretical. They still do not know how this will play out
in specific schools. She recalls cuts
back in the ‘70s in many specialist areas and how much it changed the
program. These are difficult choices to
make but she wants to be sure that as they move forward they watch this area
carefully in terms of the impact on preparation time for teachers, the issue of
what can be done in a 45 vs. 60 minute program, and the piecemeal nature of the
program.
Jeff Young assured people that they will monitor this
area to see the nature of the impact but one thing he can say for certain is
that it is not something they want to do or would ever recommend in different
times. They have been in a cutting mode
for the past four years and each year they have to make even more difficult
choices. However, sometimes the
decisions are absorbed more easily than others, so this will remain to be seen.
Reenie Murphy is pleased to see the restoration in
librarians and hopes this will remain intact and that they will not have to
come back and cut again in this area next year.
She believes they went too far in the cuts in this program.
Marc Laredo suggested a way to retain the art program
and that is by trading off the early childhood position and cutting the elementary
aides in half. The early childhood
program seems to have a good level of support with literacy specialists in each
elementary school.
Claire Sokoloff noted that support for the literacy
initiative through the recommended reorganization impressed her a great deal
because it appeared that they would get a lot of “bang for their buck.” She asked if these type of tradeoffs were
discussed in the decision-making process or how the Superintendent and/or
principals might react to Marc’s suggestion.
Jeff Young stated that it is in looking at the holistic
approach of the elementary schools that decisions were made and he believes he
can speak for the principals in saying that literacy has been one of the main
priorities. The early childhood
coordinator position was full-time at one point, then cut to half-time, and
finally eliminated completely. There is
nothing more important than teaching children how to read and identifying those
at risk at an early age.
Gail Glick noted that as much as she would like to see
the art program restored, given the finite amount of FTEs, she sees the value
of having the aides at the elementary level as a very important support given
the volatility of the class sizes
they may encounter.
She also echoed Claire’s comments about the literacy initiative, which
they have been able to more or less sustain.
To the extent that they can maintain it, she would support the
recommendation.
Jonathan Yeo noted that even with adding the two
additional teaching positions at Franklin and Underwood, it appears that there
will still be 18 elementary classrooms that they might consider large and aides
will be very important for addressing these issues.
Reenie Murphy commented that she has heard from
principals that staffing is an issue and that at times they are stretched very
thin, so she would not want to reduce any of the additional aide time.
Anne Larner agreed.
As the Committee visited schools throughout the year, this was a
constant theme among principals and it was not solely related to class size,
but also by the increasing needs of students in the classroom and challenging demands
on teachers.
Claire Sokoloff is somewhat uncomfortable making these
decisions when so much is still unknown and asked if they could talk about the
latest enrollment projections at each level.
Sandra Guryan, Assistant Superintendent for Business,
Finance & Planning, stated that unfortunately they do not have updated
information on the middle and high school level, as the enrollments are in
flux. Schools are in the process of
adding students and removing others from the rosters. In general, the middle school enrollments
have been very close to projections over the past few years. Last year Newton North was very close to
projections and Newton South was over, but not to the degree that had
originally presented itself. Given this,
she is reluctant to provide any forecast, but will do so as soon as she has
additional information.
Claire Sokoloff asked that they keep in mind the
possibility of some need for flexibility at the middle schools to add aides, if
needed, given the possibility of increased numbers of students with special
needs at that level.
MOTION: It was
moved to support the add-backs to the
FY07
budget, as recommended by the Superintendent
and
outlined on the 7/26/06 FY07 Budget Planning List,
for
a total of $845,000.
(Heyman –
Larner)
Discussion:
Gail
Glick questioned whether they get as much flexibility in deploying aides at the
middle schools as they do at the elementary level.
Mayor
Cohen gave credit to their legislative delegation who worked very hard on this matter
and in particular the Chairperson of the Ways and Means Committee, who
developed a comprehensive plan on school funding, and the Speaker of the House,
who ultimately compromised, which resulted in the additional funding coming to
Newton. Anyone who is concerned with
education in the Commonwealth needs to remain focused on continuing to lobby the
State to properly support public education with a plan that is fair, adequate,
and reliable for all communities. He is
pleased this year that they are spending an evening talking about how to put money back into the
budget rather than the more difficult and traditional process of trying to
figure out where to make cuts.
Dori
Zaleznik is relieved that no one offered the suggestion of going after the
custodial positions, which are an easy target when balancing with staffing classrooms
and programs. Obviously everyone is
cognizant that the buildings are not up to standard and not having to make that
substantial cut is very important.
Susie
Heyman agreed. They have cut seven
custodians since ’05, while simultaneously added additional space. Three more positions would have been too
much.
Marc
Laredo will support this motion although he would have liked to have made some
changes in order to restore the cuts in the art program. However, these were difficult judgment calls
and he feels it is important to act in unanimity on this vote.
Vote on motion to approve add-backs: unanimous
VOTE TO ACCEPT DONATIONS
MOTION: It was
moved to accept the following donations:
$60.00 from Pat Pransky to honor her son’s
teachers at Newton South this past academic year: Mr. Hill, Ms. Maher, Ms. McNally, Mr.
Mosbrooker, Mr. Vandergrift, and Ms. Beaupre.
$2,500.00
from the Flynn family/RK Associates for the Early Childhood Programs/Preschool
and $1,255.00 from the Gormley family (with matching corporate funds from the
employer) for Kim Glaser’s preschool classroom.
$7,500
from the Zervas After School Program to partially
support
the purchase of a new wireless laptop cart.
(Larner
– Murphy)
unanimous
COMMUNICATIONS
Dori
Zaleznik announced that they have decided to take some of the funding that is
likely to be saved by the energy programs to put toward the long-term
facilities study and are moving ahead with a Request for Proposal (RFQ) to
obtain a consultant. It is their hope
that this work will begin in the fall and the study will take place late in
this calendar year and early into next.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.