NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING – JANUARY 16, 2002

EDUCATION CENTER, FRAZIER ROOM, 7:00 P.M.

 

PRESENT:               Chairperson Anne Larner, Vice-Chairperson Susan Albright, Gail Glick, Patricia Kellogg, Marc Laredo, Nancy Levine, Leslie Schneider, Dori Zaleznik

 

ABSENT:                 Mayor David Cohen, student representatives

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Chairperson Anne Larner called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.  Tonight's meeting will focus on the regular education portion of the budget.  The Superintendent will begin by reviewing some historical data on staffing. 

 

Staffing

 

Superintendent Jeffrey Young explained that the purpose of the staffing information is to help inform the Committee as they deliberate and make decisions on the budget.  He presented a chart depicting the FY93-FY02 summary of staffing changes, which shows enrollment increases up through FY01, at which point it begins to level off, as projected.  Enrollment has always been one of the driving factors of staffing increases.  The staffing patterns associated with regular education enrollment follow an expected parallel pattern.  However, what is important to notice is that during this timeframe some significant events took place that resulted in increased staffing.  In FY93 Bigelow Middle School reopened.  In FY97 they  focused on reducing elementary class size.  In FY98 Oak Hill Middle School reopened, additional state mandates regarding time & learning were instituted, and a contractual cap was put in place that reduced teacher load at the high schools.  In FY99 they made an effort to reduce middle school team size.  As indicated on the chart, the spike in staffing relates to each of these occurrences.  In FY01 they attempted to implement some short-term solutions to the overcrowding at the high schools, which would have increased staff.  However, they were forced to cut that in FY02, as well as having to take additional cuts in middle and high school staffing.  The FY03 budget attempts to bring back this staffing, as well as address the proposals outlined in his recent budget presentation. 

 

In terms of special education/pupil services, ten years ago, when inclusion first began in Newton, there were 12 elementary school students in the program.  Today there are 195 inclusion students being educated in the regular classroom. The way they are able to do this is with the support of aides.  As this cohort moves through the system, appropriate staffing is necessary at each grade level and the correlating spikes are evident on the graph.  At the same time, a number of special education programs were initiated and will be discussed in more depth

 

 

when the Committee addresses this category at the next meeting.  While these programs are costly, they are well worth the investment by keeping students in their neighborhood schools and avoiding having to pay even more expensive private tuitions.

 

Staffing in the areas of administration, bilingual education, health, maintenance, and technical-vocational education, have essentially remained flat over this ten- year period, which demonstrates the inaccuracy of the argument that they are over-staffed at the administrative level.  Of the additional 519.6 full-time equivalencies (FTEs) over the past ten years, the numbers break out as follows:  1% for administration, 38% for regular education, 60% for special education/pupil services (of which the majority  is for aides, who are paid at a lower rate than teachers), and 1% for operations.  In conclusion, 98% of the new FTEs over the past 10 years work directly in the classroom.

 

Anne Larner added that in FY91 and FY92 huge cuts in state aid occurred and drastic cuts had to be taken out of the school budgets, at the same time that enrollment was increasing.  From that point forward the system was basically trying to recover.  In addition, the 6th grade was moved from the elementary to middle schools.  In order to staff the middle school program properly, additional teachers were necessary and this was phased in over a period of years. 

 

Carol Daynard, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction,  provided a brief history of the inclusion program, explaining that these students would not be in the regular classroom setting without appropriate staff, but would be either in a separate program or in private placement.  Because of medical advances, more children are surviving and living with more complex needs, which the school system needs to address. 

 

Dori Zaleznik talked about the number of school buildings in Newton that require upkeep and how they have a much larger system than other communities.  It is possible these other smaller communities have the luxury of spending more money on supplies, materials, etc. because they have fewer schools to maintain.  Any data the administration could produce on this might be helpful.

 

Elementary

 

Roseli Weiss, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, talked about the elementary schools being both similar and different, which is a strength of the system.  Similarities have to do with structure, hours, goals, and age ranges of students.  Individuality has to do with community identification, differing instructional responses and materials to meet students' needs, and staffing decisions.  The average class sizes this year range from 19.1 in kindergarten to

21.9 in grade 5.  Each school is staffed by a principal and a secretary, as well as a 1.0 building aide, and an additional .5 for the larger schools.  There is one

 

librarian per school, also with additional aide assistance for the larger schools.  Each classroom has a teacher.  There are resources for special education, English as a Second Language (ESL), art, music, and physical education.  Support services are also in place to assist in the classroom in the areas of Primary Intervention Reading Program (PIRP), special education, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, specialists in the areas of speech and language, math, science and literacy, and custodians and lunch staff -- all proportioned by the size of the building.  They also have the expertise of curriculum coordinators to provide resources and direct services to staff.  School begins each day at approximately 8:30 and ends at 3:00.  The kindergarten schedule has children attending a full day program two times a week and half-time three days a week.  Tuesdays are early release days, when staff are involved in team and grade level meetings and professional development opportunities.  There are also six early release days on Thursdays, which are organized so that each grade level meets on a rotating basis. During that time students are involved in a variety of creative arts programs and curriculum enrichment.  She then talked about the literacy pilot programs in several of the schools, as well as looping and co-teaching models.  The general perception of the elementary school day is that it is fragmented by the scheduling.  However, they continue to work on this issue by reviewing supplemental and pull-out programs, as well as the daily schedule.  The adherence to core values is what form the school communities and is a vital piece of the school building.  The talent of the administration, staff, and parents are what make a successful program. 

 

Susan Albright would like some additional information that more clearly outlines specific people in the schools, so that she can have a better sense of the scope of the staff and how the buildings vary depending on their size. 

 

Marc Laredo wondered about their plans should the kindergarten grant not be forthcoming. 

 

Jeff Young replied that since there are no aides budgeted for this program, they would be eliminated if the funding were not forthcoming unless adjustments were made and the cuts were taken from elsewhere. 

 

Gail Glick asked if some information could be provided on what the kindergarten day would be like without the additional funding. 

 

She also requested that the Committee receive more information on the configuration of support staff who travel between buildings.

 

Susan Albright questioned the number of custodians per building.

 

Sandra Guryan, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Finance & Planning,  explained that at the time this material was prepared there were three custodial

 

 

positions unfilled.  This information does not include the placement of those people.

 

Leslie Schneider asked about the assessment and potential of expanding the pilot programs.

 

Roseli Weiss responded that they plan to present an assessment of these programs to the Committee in February.  Their goal is to increase the specialists' position to full-time at each of the schools.

 

Marc Laredo would like to see a reference to the benchmarks they plan to use to measure the achievement of that assessment.

 

Anne Larner asked if there are any proposed changes in the art, music, or physical education programs in this budget.

 

Roseli Weiss replied in the negative. 

 

Marc Laredo asked about the PIRP Program.

 

Roseli Weiss explained that it is a regular education program, with the goal of providing early intervention for students who are having difficult in reading.  The goal is to provide the support before special education services are necessary.

 

Dori Zaleznik would like to see if there is any way they can get information on what was gained and/or lost by eliminating the second early release day.  

 

Middle Schools

 

James Marini, Associate Superintendent for Secondary Education, talked about the similarity in programs among the four middle schools.  Each school has a principal, two assistant principals, and a secretary in their office staff.  The secretaries are vital to the smooth operation of the schools and the building could not function without their presence.  The middle school program is based on a team model, which consists of four teachers in the major departments (English, math, history and science).  However, because of varying enrollments, full teams are not always possible.  The goal of this model is that teachers have the same students for all subjects and share free common time for collaboration with each other.  The teacher, assistant principal and counselor meet on a regular basis to discuss issues, concerns and curriculum.  Team size is a topic of concern and math grouping plays a part in this issue.  Middle schools attempt to provide a wide array of extracurricular activities for students at this age, which is another factor that influences team size.  Guidance counselors serve an important role at

 

 

 

 

this level, as communication between teacher, parent, and student is key.  They stay with their students for the entire three years.  All the adults in the building are crucial to the educational program.  When students enter middle school in grade six, they are very dependent, but by the time they leave in grade 8 they have become quite independent and are making decisions about course load for the high school. 

 

High Schools

 

Jim Marini next moved onto an outline of the high schools.  Entering 9th grade at the high school is similar to entering 6th grade at the middle school.  Students are filled with excitement, anticipation, and fear.  The adults in the building play an important role in nurturing and protecting these students and in helping to guide them through their high school experience.  The principal is the educational leader of the school.  The high schools are organized around a house system, which is designed to break down the large building into smaller components.  Newton North utilizes grade level houses, while South has multi-grade levels.  Each house is composed of a housemaster and a secretary.  In addition to the administrative role, the housemasters also teach.  The houses at Newton North are approximately 500 students each, and at South 300.  Counselors are assigned by house and stay with the students for all four years.  Since students have different teachers for each subject matter, it is not as easy for staff to collaborate as they do in the middle schools, but they do attempt to schedule this whenever possible.  Department heads play a key role at this level.  They hire and evaluate staff and work on curriculum and staff development.  Just as at the other levels, the custodians play an important role in the lives of students in the building.  They not only keep the building clean and in working order, but are key to the setup of all the programs occurring in the schools.  In addition, the high school offers a career and technical vocational program, which is housed at Newton North, but involves students from both schools.  The principals are committed to finding a way to schedule the school day so that they can share staff and programs.  Breadth of program is very important and they continue to struggle with their ability to provide an array of opportunities while balancing class size.  The ability to provide these programs, services, and opportunities for students is not inexpensive.  Education is labor-intensive by its nature. 

 

Anne Larner asked if he could further elaborate on the initiatives to lower class sizes at this level.

 

Jim Marini explained that the principals made a valiant effort to attempt to reduce the number of low enrollment classes, i.e., those under 11 students. 

However, the number of classes over 25 have increased significantly and their efforts in this budget are focussed on reducing that number.  The 8.5 FTE request in this budget will allow them to make a good dent into this area, although it will not completely eliminate all classes over 25.  Their goal is to make sure that there

 

 

are not more than 15% of classes over 25 in any  department and not more than 30% over 30 in physical education.  Some courses can absorb the larger numbers, such as aerobics and in others they are even preferable, such as in the pop culture class.  Of the 8.5 FTEs, 5 are for enrollment and 3.5 are to address the class size issue.  It is also important to remember that these are not new staff members, but are a shift from the elementary staffing, where enrollment is decreasing. 

 

Nancy Levine asked about reconciling the imbalance in staffing between the two high schools that was alluded to at the last meeting.

 

Jim Marini replied that they are not going apply new staffing with the traditional ratio, but will implement it according to need.  This will address the skewing between the two schools that has compounded over the past few years, when projected and actual enrollment differed but staffing was not adjusted.  Both principals support this effort.

 

Nancy Levine asked how many additional teachers would be needed to address all large classes.

 

Jim Marini responded that he would probably be requesting 15.5 vs. 8.5.

 

Susan Albright reiterated her concerns about students slipping through the cracks at the high school level and the fact that this budget does not address this in any concrete manner.

 

Carol Daynard, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, mentioned that there is a slight increase in the guidance counselor staffing ratio and they would certainly lobby for lower numbers in this area in a better economic climate.

 

Susan Albright commented that there has been a major focus on increasing the number of adults in the elementary schools, as well as new program initiatives.  She would like to see the attention shift now to the secondary level.

 

Jeff Young agreed that more support is needed at the secondary schools.  He was clear in his budget presentation that this budget does not meet the standards fully because of fiscal constraints, but does begin to make inroads.

 

Gail Glick how many of the staff have certification in more than one discipline.

 

Jim Marini stated that while he does not have specific numbers, he knows that there are not that many and that there are more at the middle school level.  He could conduct a survey to gather this information. The concern lies in the fact that teachers feel the program is being compromised when people are teaching out of their discipline. 

 

 

 

Gail Glick asked about the disparity between the number of custodians at the middle schools.

 

Sandy Guryan reiterated that this has to do with the three unfilled positions at the time the budget was drafted.  These three are not listed in the material and her guess would be that they now cover the schools that appear to be under-staffed.  The other issue has to do with where the custodians are actually located vs. where they are assigned to pick up their paycheck, which can skew the information.  She will review this further and report back to the Committee. 

 

Marc Laredo commented on the number of assistant principals being the same at each middle school, despite the differences in size of the buildings.

 

Jim Marini mentioned that the FY03 budget has a .5 reduction in the assistant principal's position at Bigelow because of lower enrollment.  However, Day has large number but does not have an increase to reflect that enrollment, which means current staff are stretched thin. 

 

Dori Zaleznik asked how many students are served by  tech-voc program and how many travel from Newton South to Newton North to participate.  She also asked if they have ever investigating linking resources with other communities as a cost savings measure.

 

Jim Marini noted that this program is evolving in very significant ways.  There is a new director overseeing the program who is filled with ideas.  Students who major in the program attend shop during the morning and academic classes in the afternoon.  Last year they closed the auto body shop because of low enrollment.  The Child Care program continues to remain and the Ploughshares nursery on the premises serves as their laboratory.  Culinary arts is another popular choice and auto mechanics has growing numbers as well.  Two or three students annually come from Newton South to major in the program.  Some transfer to Newton North because of traveling issues.  There are very large numbers of students in the exploratories, where students take courses two times a week in a specific field.  All programs are gender neutral.  They do explore sharing of programs with other communities.  For example, Newton students attend Blaine Hairdressing School in Waltham for cosmetology.  The new director is also exploring a connection with Mass. Bay Community College for students involved in the computer program, as well as a new program in medical laboratory/technicians. 

 

Marc Laredo asked where the smaller classes are concentrated.

 

 

Jim Marini explained that foreign languages often have smaller class sizes, particularly the third and fourth years of the language.  Otherwise it tends to be

 

 

course specific and often a result of the vagaries of scheduling and students changing courses.  Curriculum II courses, by their nature, are designed to be smaller and they attempt to keep them below 20.  This is because students in these classes need more hands-on work and more teacher attention. 

 

Anne Larner asked about the needs of the drama program.

 

Jim Marini stated that a new person was hired for this position at Newton North and is doing a tremendous job.  The program is probably going to need some additional support in the future.

 

Nancy Levine has heard great things about the new theater person.  Many more students are involved who never participated in the past.  She then asked about the possibility of athletics replacing physical education classes for credit.

 

Jim Marini stated that a committee is currently studying this issue and he will report the findings to the Committee as soon as possible.

 

Susan Albright asked about the numbers in physical education classes.

 

Jim Marini replied that they are growing, particularly at Newton North.  It would require a .6 or .7 FTE to reduce the numbers to where they would be comfortable.  If athletics can counted toward physical education, this could be one way to solve the problem. 

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.