Cafasso - from the enrollment numbers we see, I know how hard this would have been to figure out. The 30 reductions would be 25 teachers and 5 support.
Mullen - How many kindergarten teachers would be affected?
We would lose 9. With the 8 possible coming back, it would still be better to go with half day and improve the class sizes elsewhere in the elementary level.
Mullen - There is not a lot of items to play with at the elementary level. Teachers generally teach self contained, need prep time, etc.
Mullen - we haven't really talked about what are the "sacred cows"? We need to talk about where we want to invest the teachers back into the district.
Ogden - We did not proportion the addbacks. We targeted the two areas for reasons of class size.
Armenio - this is just devastating period. We haven't heard yet from the middle school and high school. If we go to half day, what does that do to preparation on the frameworks. We aren't teaching to the test but we do have MCAS to consider?
Kindergarten will only get half the material. Time in 1st grade would be spent going over material that could have been covered under the full day plan.
Ogden - Facilities is already visiting the classrooms to see how we could deconstruct to fit the amount of students into the classrooms. Computers, centers, etc would have to be moved out.
Goal is to reduce class size from K-5. The lower class size, the better academic success. Anything you see up there is higher than what we have seen this year.
Ogden - If the revenue picture improves, we can consider adding teachers back. This is the most dynamic budget we have worked with in years.
Rohrbach - if we add back the 8 positions, you're still recommending going with half day kindergarten. What would be the tipping point?
About in the 20's, you can't really teach 4th grade with 30 in the class.
Sabolinski - going to half day saves $700,000, closing Davis Thayer doesn't come close to that.
We don't want to do this (go to half day kindergarten).
Unemployment costs would be approx. $1.2 million. The Town may not cover that. We should be prepared to absorb that within the school budget.
This magnitude of cut would affect every teacher in their first three years and get significantly up into those with 4, 5 and 6 years of experience.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Live reporting - Elementary schools
36 grade level configurations, six elementary schools, six grades at each school
Red indicates class size exceed the school committee guidelines; only five of the 36 would meet the guidelines
The high class sizes will be costly for academic success
To meet guidelines, needed to think out of the box, how? Change kindergarten from full time to half-day.
The second elementary slide shows how the nine kindergarten teachers would be re-positioned to help reduce the class sizes in the worse cases. This would still leave 24 classes with size exceeding guidelines.
Switching to half-day would be devastating, we have been a model district. Others in the state have visited us to see how it works.
This would also eliminate library across the elementary level!
No resources for library in this draft.
Would loose the kindergarten grant, associated aides, and loose of NAEYC accreditation.
If some of the million in additional funds came through, that would add 20 teachers to the district. 8 of those would be allocated to elementary, 8 to the high school and 4 to the middle schools.
The major update is going from full day to half day kindergarten!
Red indicates class size exceed the school committee guidelines; only five of the 36 would meet the guidelines
The high class sizes will be costly for academic success
To meet guidelines, needed to think out of the box, how? Change kindergarten from full time to half-day.
The second elementary slide shows how the nine kindergarten teachers would be re-positioned to help reduce the class sizes in the worse cases. This would still leave 24 classes with size exceeding guidelines.
Switching to half-day would be devastating, we have been a model district. Others in the state have visited us to see how it works.
This would also eliminate library across the elementary level!
No resources for library in this draft.
Would loose the kindergarten grant, associated aides, and loose of NAEYC accreditation.
If some of the million in additional funds came through, that would add 20 teachers to the district. 8 of those would be allocated to elementary, 8 to the high school and 4 to the middle schools.
The major update is going from full day to half day kindergarten!
Live reporting - FY 2010 overview
This is the text live reporting that accompanies the presentation just posted
Original cut of 3.5 now reduced to 2.9 million
Worse case scenario = 60 staff cuts (teachers, etc.)
Ogden says that there is a storm brewing at the State House, rumor today was that the Fed Stimulus dollars announced on Friday may be deducted from the Chap 70 funds which would leave us in a net zero position.
Other sources of revenue are still under discussion at the State level
Possible $250,000 if school employees agree to co-pay changes
School Committee class size guidelines are posted in the presentation for reference.
With the cuts, there will be some changes to these class sizes
Original cut of 3.5 now reduced to 2.9 million
Worse case scenario = 60 staff cuts (teachers, etc.)
Ogden says that there is a storm brewing at the State House, rumor today was that the Fed Stimulus dollars announced on Friday may be deducted from the Chap 70 funds which would leave us in a net zero position.
Other sources of revenue are still under discussion at the State level
Possible $250,000 if school employees agree to co-pay changes
School Committee class size guidelines are posted in the presentation for reference.
With the cuts, there will be some changes to these class sizes
Live reporting - FY 2010 Budget
Here is the document used in the presentation/discussion on the FY 2010 School Budget.
Franklin, MA District Budget 3/24/09
View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.
Live reporting - Strategic Planning update
- Maureen & Miriam – Strategic Planning Update
200 draft logos were initially created by students within the district. That total was whittled down to a couple of dozen that the high school students have then taken to create a digital version of the art. There are now 5-6 logos for the committee to select from.
Live reporting - Capital projects at FHS
3. Discussion Only Items
Mike is talking to the items on the listing above.
Lots of energy reductions in lighting and heating processed in last several years. The utility companies have contributed to those efforts.
Cafasso - When you look at the last five years other than the generator, there really hasn't been much done for the building itself. Can you explain why the Town has not invested in this period?
D'Angelo - When we got the capital in 2005 for what we did, we know that the school building projects were going to be started and pending what that was going to result in, we held off. If something could be replaced and saved in a renovation, we would do that. If something would not be recoverable, why spend money since we don't know whether there was going to be state funding and at what level.
In an unoccupied building, the renovations would take 2 years. In an occupied building like at King Phillip, they were there five years.
We are approaching the crossroads where the State is going to have to say something to us. If they don't, the Building Committee, School Committee and Town Council are going to make a decision.
- Budget to Actual - no questions, discussion
- Mike D’Angelo – Capital Projects at FHS
Mike is talking to the items on the listing above.
Lots of energy reductions in lighting and heating processed in last several years. The utility companies have contributed to those efforts.
Cafasso - When you look at the last five years other than the generator, there really hasn't been much done for the building itself. Can you explain why the Town has not invested in this period?
D'Angelo - When we got the capital in 2005 for what we did, we know that the school building projects were going to be started and pending what that was going to result in, we held off. If something could be replaced and saved in a renovation, we would do that. If something would not be recoverable, why spend money since we don't know whether there was going to be state funding and at what level.
In an unoccupied building, the renovations would take 2 years. In an occupied building like at King Phillip, they were there five years.
We are approaching the crossroads where the State is going to have to say something to us. If they don't, the Building Committee, School Committee and Town Council are going to make a decision.
Live reporting - presentations
2. Guests/Presentations
Certificates for Maddie Gordon and Jake Sargeant – ASMS 8th graders honored at MA Make A Difference award program for their volunteer work in Best Buddies.
Certificates for Maddie Gordon and Jake Sargeant – ASMS 8th graders honored at MA Make A Difference award program for their volunteer work in Best Buddies.
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