http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120319/NEWS02/703199939
Published March 19, 2012 in the Rutland Herald
Committee trims Springfield school budget
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield School District Budget Committee met last week to determine their next step to pass a school budget. The solution includes more cuts that may take place in educational programs, supplies, staffing and school activities.
In an effort to pass a budget most voters will agree on, the budget committee slashed an additional $153,892 in school programs. If approved by the School Board and voters, the new budget will be $26.9 million.
The biggest proposed cut was $41,392 in administrative travel expenses. Board members thought training, conferences, and various memberships could be scaled back in the coming year but administrators disagreed.
Superintendent of Schools Frank Perotti said teachers and staff are required to attend conferences “as part of their contracts.” Riverside Middle School Principal Becky Read agreed.
“The quality of your teaching staff is the biggest factor in student achievement. The way you keep them fresh is through professional development. I just don’t think you’re going to get a bang for your buck on this,” Read said.
The cuts were approved on a 5-3 vote.
Other cuts included $10,000 in the technology replacement fund. The money was earmarked for electronic devices such as iPads and Kindles for mathematics instruction.
School Board and Budget Committee member Bill Harbeson suggested the cut. While he believed they were great tools for learning, Harbeson also thought they were “luxury items” and should wait another year.
“At this point, we’re painted into a corner (with this budget),” Harbeson said. “I don’t like suggesting this but those are places we could cut. It would be less of an impact there.”
Steven Hier, Springfield School District director of fiscal services, said the school district saved another $4,000 due to a drop in administrative cellphone use. Many phones were not used, according to Hier, and a number of phones will be eliminated.
The budget committee also cut a Gateway Program para educator position and special education summer programs for a total of $49,000. Another $3,000 was cut from the Riverside Middle School athletic director’s budget and transferred to Springfield High School.
Budget Committee Chair Puggy Lamphere said he “couldn’t see two athletic directors doing the same task.” The budget committee agreed.
School district field trips were also scaled back by $3,500, while the remaining $43,000 includes miscellaneous administrative and operations costs.
The Springfield School Board will have the final say on the budget cuts before turning it over to residents for a second vote.
The $27 million budget failed by a 31-vote margin on Town Meeting Day. While some voters thought the budget was too high, others believed it didn’t pass because of unresolved issues and a lack of trust.
Lamphere said he understood there were a variety of reasons for the budget’s failure. He said the budget committee was responding to the voters’ concerns and was required to act.
“These are only recommended cuts. We had an obligation to do something,” Lamphere said.
The next School Board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on April 2 in the Springfield High School Library.
Originally I had some concern about the concept of eliminating a para position at Gateway, but the Special Ed Director apparently volunteered and recommended the cut. These seem like sensible cuts.
ReplyDeleteYeah Alpin they relied on the Special Ed Director's recommendation...oh wait, isn't she that tall clueless woman who described the "cloud rooms" as handball courts and kept the discussions going while Ken Vandenburgh was trying to get his motion to remove the doors acted on. From what I have been reading, I think rather than dismissing another para they should get her working on the paperwork to transfer some of those small angelic minds at Elm Hill over to Gateway rather than cutting staff at Gateway
ReplyDeleteInteresting Article
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/schools-report-condoleezza-rice-joel-klein_n_1365144.html
I am sorry the cuts are not enough. A good start but not enough. I think that the comittee should look at the raises they gave the administrators AND they should move a vice principal over to Elm to cover that position to save an additional 90k AND THEN THERE IS FRANK! SCHOOL BOARD GET HIM OUT!
ReplyDeleteIts not sensible to expect the school board to remove Dr. Perotti before his contract expires, that is an unacceptable condition to put on the budget since it would most likely require them to buy out his contract. If you feel that Perotti should be removed (I am not necessarily recommending that), then by all means put pressure on the board to give him notice of non-renewal at the end of his contract, but don't punish the students by holding the budget hostage. What will happen is they will cut more paras and staff. It is fairly clear that Elm Hill has some problems that they need to get worked out, but not sure an Asst. Principal is the way to get those worked out.
DeleteOh, by all means, with the parents from Elm Hill already on the warpath let's deal them short on a principal. That makes a lot of sense. How about we recognize that the budget got voted down for reasons having nothing to do with the amount included in the budget, and just pass the darn budget.
DeleteAethelred they could send the Special Ed Director over there as an interim principal for a year, or maybe the curriculum director.
DeletePlease before you blast the wrong people, get your facts right please. The Budget Committee had nothing to do with the raises the administration received, it is the school board who votes on contracts. Also the teachers took a 0% raise this year so don't blame them either. There is a Vice Principal at Elm Hill already along with a principal.
DeleteAnonymous just above. Don't confuse them with facts they have their pitchforks out and are ready to parade. Never mind that the contracts don't expire this year, let's breach them anyway and trigger a lawsuit.
DeleteAnd the witch hunt begins! Don't forget your pitchforks and torches!
DeleteBegins? Where have you been, this has been going on ever since the budget failed and before. They are just revving up to build up a full head of steam. Every once in awhile someone throws in something constructive just for a change of pace, but that soon gets smothered.
DeleteI understand the teachers took no raise. As they shouldnt have since the NECAPS are dismal. However, the budget committee could recommend to the school board about the raises and I KNOW they read these posts so they should gear up. Second-I wasn't talking about the current principal or vice principal at the current time I am talking about for fiscal year 2012-2013. Cut the interim lady out and either send Read or Cone over there. There is absolutely no need for two principals at Riverside. They should tighten their own belts for the district with their NEW raises.
DeleteIf we have to cut more staff then so be it as far as I am concerned. Let the teachers who we have held on too for so long show what they are made of cause Im not seeing it as of yet. Granted there are a few good ones whose hands have been tied.
So far as the problems...yes there are many in the district. Elm hill and Union are not the only issues at hand as we know. I have told that the "rooms" were not put on the blueprints and therefore are not firesafe including sprinkler systems? Is this true?
dey took der doors off n'em too and Johnny say ee canna play handball in 'em anymore..es jus nah rite
DeleteA nice token reduction. Remember, the budget did not only fail because of what can only be described as abuse through the use of those 'rooms'. It also failed because the taxes in Springfield are VERY high, and the school budget is the MAIN driver of the tax rate.
ReplyDeleteA question for those of you tied in to the school--why the dramatic decrease in class size between the junior and senior classes?? Are all these 'students' dropping out?
It failed by only a few votes, and there are enough of those votes that had nothing to do with the amount. Those people who made administration protest votes are not really looking to destroy the school system with more cuts as you suggested. They were merely seeking a chance for their voices to be heard. And, a person would have to be deaf not to have heard the voices, now we need to rally as a community and keep investing in education.
DeleteWhat's the matter Alpin, don't you subscribe to the idea that starving the school system for funds improves education?
DeleteNo I don't, its that kind of attitude that is crippling this town.
DeleteI have no idea where the anonymous poster is getting his or her information. Residents of Springfield only pay 1/3 of the school budget. The school budget costs LESS than the town budget to us. When you cut the school budget, you are cutting 2/3 of funding from the state and 1/3 from us. Do the math, we are not gaining here. Please look at the property taxes in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York before you suggest our taxes are high. Sorry, the positions taken in your post are flat out false.
DeleteJust a reminder. The state does not hand out free money. That so called 2/3 rds is also generated by taxes.
DeleteIt is sensible to remove him. His contract I believe is due to expire. Even if he had to be bought out who cares..I will pass a budget that pays for him to be gone.
ReplyDeleteSecond., the school board is WELL aware how the citizens feels. Let's not fool ourselves to think they haven't kept a close watch on this blog. I think it is pretty obvious. More than half of the votes should have told them this. So I think it is time for Janice and Scott to get off the Frank bus and DO WHAT YOUR CITIZENS HIRED(voted) YOU FOR!
If the budget and the citizens making the statements that they already have hasn't put pressure on the school board then I do not know what will. I think the residents should realize that when the day comes when these schools cannot afford to operate on their own because of the negligent spending then PLEASE understand that your child will be shipped to other schools, BUT, that means they are tuitioned out at the state rate which means your taxes are THEN tied to that rate and your choice ends at that point. There will be no saving the district or hiring a new super...it will be over and at that point you are forced to pay the tax rate with NO OTHER CHOICE of cost cutting.
We have been riddled with poor NECAP scores the 5 years Dr. Perotti has been in charge. Please by all means pull up the historical scores at the VT DOE website and do the comparison. They haven't changed. They are still around the same percentage within a percent or two of the original scores. In 5 or 6 years they should have seen some kind of dramatic improvement. In Washington DC when michelle Rea took over within 3 years the schools were showing impressive results. Was she tough? YUP Did the teacher's union hate her? YUP however we the taxpayers are the people PAYING the teachers so they might have a union. So let's move forward, make the necessary changes and get this district moving in the right direction. A direction for the future with a promise for ALL the students. It is very achievable but right now is your only chance to do this. If we wait it will be too late.
i tink if de teachers would jus help Johnny memoreez stuff fer de staanderd teest dat i cud cuff em enuf dat ee wud be able to do dat staanderd test...its not fair dat de test scores weent down same tiime as mee an my girlfriends moved to town ... we jus wanna visit our boyfriends wus all...and Johnny been verry busy deliverin dem bags fer de nice salesmen der on Union Street
DeleteNow hush Anonymous nobody is saying that the test scores started going down when the prison guard families and the families of the prisoners moved to town. They are saying it all coincided with Perotti being hired. I am sure that these good people will soon have the administration forcing the teachers to teach the test. So just calm down and let the pitchfork people do their work.
DeleteBoss is right this works very nicely. Real estate taxes are one of the most painful types of taxes to get passed, so we make sure that a large portion of the finances for public schools comes from real estate taxes. We then tell people that financing education through real estate taxes ensures that there is local control. Of course we really do not want there to be much, if any, local control so we adopt a lot of unfunded mandates at the State and Federal level, mainly requiring them to hire various administrators with certifications, and to perform social services for children that we might otherwise be required to pay for via income taxes. Then we impose standardized testing on them. It works beautifully, the populous reads about the negative test scores, not the positive ones and they turn on the local board members who have very little control over expenditures and ultimately they vote down school budgets. Just like we wanted them to do, and only the people who benefit from good public education get hurt. Its like talking about sex in U.S. Presidential campaigns, it gets people to vote against their economic best interest. Unfortunately, my competitor Rick seems to have figured that out before I did. Oh well...I'll just have to spend a few more millions on negative ads.
DeleteHow exactly does that work Anonymous? Let's see under Supt. Silver the State listed Park Street Elementary, then Silver made the Principal at Park Street the Curriculum Director, and the State lifted the listing status. Interesting, of course it is always the administrations fault and not a bubble of students going through certain grades at the time. Yeah, I think I really want to pay a lot of attention to those NECAP scores on tests the State and the Feds are about ready to abandon as being ineffectual...that makes a lot of sense.
DeleteOh Alpin, the purpose of those standardized tests was to give clueless people something to bash the teaching profession with. Anonymous is just using them for the intended purpose. Everything will be fine once we have an administrator who insists that all the teachers teach the test and forget about actual education. Except, of course, you are right that they are about ready to junk those tests as ineffectual, innappropriate, and innaccurate...but what did you expect the whole NCLB thing was intended to make Bush's brother in Texas a billionaire selling education programs.
DeleteSeems like three or four people have commendeered all the blogs about the school issue. What's up with that??
ReplyDeleteHow do you know given all the anonymous postings?
Deletewah dis commendeered meen?
DeleteWhich issue?
DeleteDo we divide that by the number of children involved in the Elm Hill firestorm?
DeleteI think he meant "commandeered".
Deletere: "What's up with that??"
ReplyDeleteJuvenile attention whores struggling to formulate a compelling argument for a YES vote on the budget.
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DeleteNice polite comments here. Glad to see you are all adults.
Delete"Struggling"? Looks like they succeeded to me, given the nay sayers are now degenerating to Imus and Limbaugh language.
DeleteThat's odd, none of the naysayers bothered to show up at the budget hearing tonight, guess its simpler to call people names on the internet.
DeleteWhy would they show up Jack? You guys already made your cuts and decisions. What would be the point? None of the communities suggestions or requests were honored or considered by your committee or by the board.
DeleteI think that we will just wait and see if the residents feel it was enough. And when is that vote BTW?
The public was provided with the opportunity to make comments at the meeting. Nobody spoke up against the cuts. If an individual wante to present suggested cuts they could have done so. They also set up a meeting for the Board to react to the proposed cuts for next week, Tuesday, I think. And BTW Anonymous I am not on the budget advisory committee, I just try to pay attention to what is going on and treat the Board fairly when it is unjustly attacked.
DeleteAlpin you whore...lol, don't confuse Anonymous with the facts, and he is uncomfortable calling people names to their face, he likes to crawl out from under his rock and throw insults on the internet instead.
DeleteWhat communities suggestions or requests are you talking about? Did you attend the budget committee meeting? did you attend the school board meeting? No cuts have been made or not made yet. All that happened is that the budget committee made recommendations after holding its meeting and after hearing from everyone who wished to speak at the meeting. The cuts proposed DO reflect what the community had to say.
DeleteDespite repeated requests at School Board Meetings, the administration has still not revealed what it costs to keep Park St. School open. Since the administration has no intention of closing the building, would it not be cost effective to stop leasing space for the Gateway program, and move it to Park St.? The administration does not think having "programs" in Park St. School is using the building as a "school", so moving another program there would be consistent with current use of the building. Also, the Director of Special Education would be able to keep a closer eye on Gateway's needs for para-professionals.
ReplyDeleteGood Point Christopher.
DeleteAs par usual..the board nor the budget committee so much as even considered any proposals from the community they just did the same as usual and ignored public sentiment.
It was very interesting to go to the board website and look at the minutes from the budget committee. I also noticed that the district has not placed their minutes from their board meetings online. Hmmm do we figure the less the public knows the better. I guess they think they will just say oh we posted them in the town offices or the library. I just find it odd that they have always posted those yet since this debacle came up they are not online for viewing. Just a thought....
Christopher, I agree with the concept of considering moving Gateway to Park Street. I do not agree with Anonymous comment. The Board asked several times for comments from the audience at the meeting and there were no comments. There may have been some confusion on the part of some people as to what they were being asked to comment on. But I do not believe the Board can be faulted for that. There were copies of the Administration's proposed cuts and the Budget Committee's proposed cuts made available at the meeting. The Board did not comment on the proposals, but they did ask for comments from the public.
DeleteNot to beat on dead horse (or in this case Dr. Perotti) but I assume this is all part of the “Transparency” he spoke of. A couple of thousand dollars here and a couple of thousand there may all add up but something tells me that Park Street as a vacuum for taxpayer dollars. Steve Heir looked like a deer dodging a car when asked about this at the board meeting on the 12th. And he said he can bring those numbers to the next meeting, I thing the 20th was the next meeting. So what do they come up with to solve the Park Street issue? Create a committee to figure out how to use it and pay for it, ah gezz not again! Personally I don’t even want to save that money, I would rather see it moved to better use, you know, like the kids!
DeleteChristopher, what was meant by: "Also, the Director of Special Education would be able to keep a closer eye on Gateway's needs for para-professionals." Could you clarify.
DeleteWell glad you cleared up that name thing "Not Alpin or Aethelred". Not sure Springfield needs another decaying storage building which benefits nobody either. Did we expect Park Street to just go poof and turn into something other than an abandoned building soon to be subjected to vandalism like the other empty buildings on that street when it contains a serviceable gym, an auditorium, shop area, cafeteria, etc.?
DeleteApparently we did. We could walk and drive by it with our eyes closed, if we can't see it then it's not there, right? Kind of like the old house in front of McDonalds, oh wait that isn't there. Lesson learned here for the school and town, have a COMPLETE plan, build the new but be ready to deal with what's left over. It does not go away if you ignor it. i.e. the raccoon that laid in wait in th park.
DeleteAfter going through all the proposed budget reductions and listening to Puggy's presentation, I remember Scott Adnams asking, "Any questions?" One person asked a question, seeking clarification of a proposed reduction in spending. Perhaps comments were solicited, but since there was a room full of people who usually have comments, it was surprising that only one person asked a question and there were no comments. I was waiting for a request for comments, which perhaps I didn't hear.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the next budget vote will be very important. I hope that voters use it to express their opinions regarding the current focus of education in Springfield. What statewide NECAP scores reveal is educators are using a failed strategy in an attempt to meet the NCLB mandate. Teaching students how to memorize information to pass tests, which obviously has not succeeded in Vermont, does not teach students how to ask intelligent questions; does not stimulate their curiosity and imagination; does not enable them to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills; does not teach them how to access and analyze information; does not teach them how to collaborate in problem solving networks; does not teach them how to be intellectually agile and take the initiative; and does not teach them effective oral and written communication skills. In short, educational strategies intended to prepare students to pass NECAP tests, even if they succeeded, do not provide them skills required for employment and adult lives in the 21st century.
The question that should be foremost on the minds of Springfield voters is how can we wake up administrators? How can parents and voters make administrators realize that repeating the same failed strategies (with reduced staffing) and expecting different NECAP results, closely resembles Einstein's definition of insanity?
Can we agree that defeated budgets result in staffing cuts, and that staffing cuts does not improve NECAP results? And btw, it is my understanding that NECAP is not going to be around much longer since it and NCLB failed to have a positive effect on schools, and was used mainly to beat on teachers, paras, administration, and school boards rather than actually improve education. It was intended by Bush to justify privatization of schools, which is translated don't give the working class a decent education.
DeleteChris, I agree with a lot of what you have said and it made me think about this blogpost I read a while ago:
Deletehttp://zenhabits.net/kid-skills/
But, the way I interpreted your post was that you were advocating that Springfield voters vote NO on the budget to send a message to the administration. I hope that wasn't the case and I read your post incorrectly.
Chris, I am sometimes not clear as to where you stand with regards to supporting the budget. I assume you want the budget to pass, is that correct?
DeleteIf the NECAP and NCLB are not going to be around much longer, what measurement of progress will be used? The problem remains with uneducated students trying to get jobs that pay more than minimum wage. The Springfield School District will continue to be known for underachievers. Isn't it time that we the tax payers get what we want. For example, we want our kids educated to be able to go out into the world obtain a higher education for reputable schools, obtain a professional job that pays more than minimum wage and be able to afford their own homes. Not much to ask. I would hope we would also want our children taught by individuals with a goal, not just going to work for the "JOB". We need to have a method of releasing teachers that are just there for the paycheck and really couldn't care less that our children get a good education. We need new blood in the school district. We need to release those teachers who do not challenge our kids with new ideas, that are just plain boring and those who have been able to float along in the system that can't teach. Yes, we have some in the district.
ReplyDeleteWe the tax payers only have one method to show our displeasure with the school district and that is our vote on the school budget. It is unfortunate that the district has to follow state and federal mandates that are not appropriately funded. But there is no reason for the current issues at Elm Hill or the misappropriation of funds in the student activities at the High School. This gets back to the leadership of our school district. The leadership, top down not bottom up, needs to be evaluated by all the people involved not just by other administrators in the "Good Ole Boys Club". Remember Frank has hired two administrators from Hartland that he has worked with before. I am curious just how many people are really disatisfied with our Superintendent?
Uh, no the other remedy is for people to run for school board if they are dissatisfied with how the District is being run. But there tends to be a willingness to not run for office and not come to meetings, but stand back and throw bricks at the administration. I realize, however, in your case Roger you have served on the Board and have run for office. And, I bet you have some knowledge as to how difficult it is to make changes in administrators or anything else for that matter when you have to spend time defending the budget or cutting the budget. Defeating school budgets is not the way to improve the school system it simply sends a negative message that Springfield is unwilling to spend the money to educate their kids so they can succeed. However, in the past they have successfully educated the kids only to have the kids leave the Town because of all the negativity and inability to fund the needed improvements.
DeleteAlpin you are correct. I served a 3 year term on the Springfield school board in the early 2000's right when NCLB was thrust down our throats. Not everyone can be on the school board as there are only 5 seats. Those voters that do not have the time to make that commitment have their vote as a way to make their voice heard. I am also aware of problems with a few ineffective teachers who only go to the school for a paycheck. As for making changes in administrators, right now I only see one administrator that there is a problem with and that, my friend, is the chief honcho, Frank Perotti. As for making that change the school board can, at their will, either release him of his duties and pay off the remainder of his contract or inform him that his contract will not be renewed and pay him to sit around for a year until his contract is over. Mr. Perotti is the Administrator in charge of the District. He is the one responsible for the lack of leadership. He is the one who needs to take responsiblity for the teaching methods at the Springfield School District, the low NECAP scores, the issues at Elm Hill, and the misappropriation of funds in the student activities at the High School. Ultimately Frank Perotti, as Superintendent of the Springfield School District, is responsible to the voters of the Town of Springfield, through the Springfield School Board, to prepare our youth with an education that will allow them to be constructive members of society. That is a minimum requirement.
DeleteDefeating the school budget should not mean that the voters of Springfield are unwilling to spend the money to educate our children. It should give notice to the State that the Springfield voters are not happy with current way the district is operating and that they are unwilling to pass a budget until the operation of the budget is fixed.
The problem with the School Board is that they think a defeated school budget is all about the money. They should realize it is not always all about the money.
Young people don't leave town because of negativity and unfunded improvements, they leave town because there is nothing here for them. Young poeple want good paying jobs, it costs a lot of money to go to college. Young people want things to do in their community. "We have a great theater, but not much else goes on in this town" to quote my own children.
Except it turns out to be all about money, because the response to a budget defeat is that they cut the budget. They do not increase the budget with a costly buy out of a Superintendent's contract, and when they cut the budget that nearly always reduce staff. The staff that gets let go are the young and newest teachers. Last year we had a highly competent applicant that decided not to accept a position because Springfield had a reputation for budget defeats. The applicant opted to stay the applicant's present school system rather than accept employment at Springfield because the first to lose their positions are the latest hired. The budget defeat has resulted in an increased number of RIF notices going out, we may well lose more young bright motivated teachers because they have received RIF notices. This is not how you get rid of an administrator (not that I am suggesting that we need to get rid of one), this is how you cripple a school system. There were no contested seats for the board except a write in candidate -- if people are upset with the way the school is being run, they need to put up candidates for the board.
DeleteRoger,
DeleteI appreciate that you had the courage to put your name behind your words. At the same time I am dismayed that you, as a former school board member, have taken such an irresponsible position. As a former school board member, you should know that we have forums for voicing concerns and raising policy issues, commenting on test scores, etc... The budget vote is NOT that forum. It is a vote on the budget, not on school performance or agreement with any policies. Think about it. If you vote a budget down, the school board has two choices; 1) cut the budget which only hurts the schools; 2) put the budget back up and try to mobilize voters who see the value of education. If you want to see change, then go to a meeting and propose the change. You do not have to be on the board to use a proper forum to be heard. People spoke out in force regarding an issue at Elm Hill and it was addressed that very night. If you want change, ask for it in a forum that can actually get that change to occur. If you want to aggravate the difficulties our schools face, then keep voting down the budget for non-budgetary reasons. That is the surest way to drive down property values in Springfield, prevent growth in our grand list, and ultimately increase the tax burden on the residents we have.
I am hearing a lot of talk about the NECAP scores from the few negative posters on this blog. Do you know how many schools increase the faulty test scores? They work at pushing students with special needs to other districts, they work at driving low performing students out of school entirely, and they develop curriculum to pass the specific test rather than prepare the students for college or life. The test has not been proven to correlate with preparing students for college or life. Test scores aside, I'm curious, do you really believe that students who apply themselves at Springfield high school graduate unprepared for college? I have not met that student. I do know many SHS graduates who own their own businesses, or who excelled in undergraduate school and graduate school, and who found good jobs even in this tough economy. The schools give our students the skills and upward mobility to leave Springfield if they choose to. If you doubt this, just look around. Lets help the town figure out how to get Springfield going again and bring people back rather than disabling our schools. I do agree Springfield deserves better, but it is better support, more acknowledgment of our successes, not just our challenges, and better understanding of NCAP scores, most importantly, BETTER understanding of what forums to use for policy and personnel change versus fiscal issues. Please do better, you are hurting our schools and our town by voting down a budget for the wrong reasons.
Roger, a better approach would be to support the creation of an Omsbudman for the District who is evaluated and reports directly to the School Board. The Omsbudman could hear complaints from citizens who are too timid to speak up at public meetings, parents who fear retaliation, spouses of school personnel who fear retaliation, etc. This person could then act as an articulate spokesman for those concerns preserving annonymity. This would be a better way of addressing your concerns and Christopher Coughlin's concerns than defeating school budgets.
DeleteI do not agree with Roger. NECAP scores have always been unreliable and can be adversely affected by a number of factors over which teachers and administrators have no control. I remember that just before I came on the board we lost one of the better literature teachers that Springfield High School has ever had because of a misallocation of blame based upon a misdiagnosis of the reason for a fluctuation in NECAP scores. Springfield has been providing good educational opportunities for students. I can testify to that, five of my children graduated from Springfield -- they all went on to post-secondary schools. Two are teachers, one is an attorney, and one is a physician. The problem is that it is very difficult to find union scale employment in Springfield anymore, so most of the product of our schools go elsewhere to find employment. There is no doubt that we need to improve our schools, but NECAP scores and defeating budgets is not the way to do it. Nor is defeating the budget an effective tool to express disatisfaction with an administrator -- it creates too much collateral damage. As you know from having served on the board, Administrator removal is not best achieved in this manner and it is normally done best by quiet signals from the board. It does not happen overnight, and there is no guarantee that replacing an administrator is actually going to improve anything. You should also remember that the primary activity of boardmembers when faced with a budget defeat is not working on educational problems, but rather defending the budget and eliminating discretionary spending. It is a huge distraction from what should be the primary focus of the board and the administrators namely, improving the educational program. Standardized testing is a vicious tool that stifles creativity and experimentation in school systems and frequently breaks things that are not broken. The premier class for college bound students at Springfield High Schools has for decades been the American Studies Class -- a class which taught not only about our country, but taught students how to write at a collegiate level. That class was constantly under attack because it was unique for a high school. Uniqueness is bad in a standardized testing situation, if a subject is not readily reducible to objective measurement or worse yet is not included as a test subject, then it tends to get ignored or eliminated. The tag team Aethelred and Alpin, although annoying at times, nevertheless are making some valid points, and even on occasion offering some legitimate ways of channeling some of the energy which is currently either ineffectual or counterproductive. As I recall from my time on this school board, and my earlier school board experience elsewhere, there were often heated debates over policy and competing visions as to where the school should be going, but we always came together to support the budget because that was the right thing to do, because we knew that it was going to be impossible to carry out anyone's vision for the future of education without discetionary funds to try out changes. I agree with Alpin that budget defeats do not improve our school system, rather they cripple it. Keep up the clamor if you will for change, but support the budget.
DeleteGeorge,
DeleteI have no issue with the budget. I have an issue with the budget as administered. Including wasteful spending on trips accross country for training, as well as, the the ineffective teachers that are still employed in the district.
Roger, glad you cleared that up. Voters tend to read some of these posts and then go out an vote against the budget like some of the Anonymous posters urge them to do.
DeleteRoger, I couldn't agree more. It's imperative that every voter recognize they have leverage against the board and status quo. Vote NO. Demand our schools weed out poor teachers, waste and make academic excellence a priority. Springfield deserves better.
ReplyDeleteThe post above this is an example of what happens when attacks on administration get intermingled with budget discussions. Neither the school board, nor the administration can focus on academic excellence when they are busy counting paperclips because the budget got voted down. You want to reduce the quest for academic excellence, the urging of Anonymous above is exactly how to reduce excellence.
DeleteI will only vote for the school budget when staffing cuts and instructional courses cut from the budget are restored. I think reducing staff and courses as a method of improving education in Springfield is nuts.
ReplyDeleteThe Springfield School District must redirect its focus, must concentrate on implementing the teaching strategies of successful schools, or our community is doomed. Without excellent schools, Springfield will never attract intellectually and economically motivated young people. Budget issues, while important, are secondary to quality issues in education. What good is it to pay a reduced price for an ineffective program?
Springfield does not need another study based on computer generated data to reveal the problems in its educational system. Central administration doesn't know what the present problems are because administrators have not been visiting classrooms.
I think Powerschool will be used as an expensive alibi by administrators who will be "studying" the problems and issues, procrastinating until they retire.
Central office staffing in Springfield is in line with that of other school districts, in both numbers and pay scales. If teachers and other staff were not losing their jobs, I would have no criticism of central office pay scales. However, the job of the central office staff is to design and help implement effective teaching strategies, and NECAP scores demonstrate that has not happened. What are taxpayers receiving for the central office salaries paid?
The School Board needs to become informed regarding how successful schools educate students, and then make certain similar methods and programs are implemented in Springfield. It is vital that the School Board remembers it is responsible for more than passing a budget; it is reponsible for providing the children of Springfield with a quality educational system. It should accept no excuse for failure.
Christopher, have you not been reading the many Anonymous posts? Budget defeats are always construed as calling for a reduction in spending. Reduction in spending almost always results in a reduction of teachers and staff. It was only because a few stood up and pleaded with the Board not to make drastic cuts, that we did not lose even more staff. While I sympathize in some respects with what you are saying, the budget committee and the board are not going to come back with an increased budget to restore staff in the face of a budget defeat.
DeleteAdmirable concepts Chris, improperly applied. Defeated budgets accomplish exactly the opposite of what you are hoping to accomplish. Budget defeats simply put the Central Office into financial crisis mode and everything starts to be about saving money rather than educating kids. If we want to distract everyone from educating the kids, this is exactly how you go about it.
DeleteSince the demise of the machine tool industry in Springfield, many residents have concluded they are riding a melting "ice berg", a community on an inexorable path to oblivion. Many children (but certainly not all) in our community are infected with the prevalent pessimism. Their families are stressed; their lives are difficult; and like their parents, they are convinced their futures are bleak.
ReplyDeleteFor many, the most positive light in their lives is their time in school. Why? Because in school they feel safe, listened to, and provided for. The needs met by the Springfield School District go far beyond teaching students math skills, and how to read and write.
Meeting the needs of struggling and also high performing students requires teaching staff. It does not require executive perks, support of obsolete real estate, and a host of other expenditures that have little to do with staffing.
When a budget must be trimmed, the School Board should ignor the hostility that some have towards teachers in general. This group of critics is gratified when any teachers or paras are dismissed, no matter who they are. They do not understand or care that the backbone of a school system is its teaching staff, not sports. Eliminating teaching staff is like removing vertebrae, very dangerous, with at best a poor prognosis for recovery. To continue the analogy, would anyone want their surgeon to operate without a surgical nurse trained to assist?
Some think that defeating budgets that reduce teaching and support staff will result in more staffing cuts. If the School Board does not wake up, that will happen. However, I am reminded of the boy who stood in front of a buzz saw and lost another finger each time he was asked how he lost the last one! Perhaps if the boy learned from his first mistake, immediately sought a surgeon to restore his finger to his hand, he would have been able to continue to milk cows. Despite having been brought up on a dairy farm (as I was), educators in Springfield have apparently forgotten that beefing off milkers and not replacing them does not improve production.
Christopher, back around the turn of this century the school experienced student walk-outs in protest of a school administrator they had at the time. I believe it was the high school principal, cannot really remember. In response to those walk-outs, the school board called for the students to elect an advisory board member from the student body to represent them on the board. As I recall a couple of those appointees became ardent advocates during budget debates. I didn't see the student representative at the recent board meetings, but an articulate student representative could help advocate some of the things you are mentioning. This would be a more effective approach than defeating budgets.
DeleteAlpin, I believe the first such student representative was active in facilitating the exit of that principal. There was a later one that waged war with the Tech Center Director and the Superintendent. Wasn't there some kind of dust up when Roger Ward, as Board Chairman, tried to put a gag order on one of them, can't remember the name of the kid -- seems like Ward got upset with him because he attacked the Tech Center director and some of his staff.
DeleteWhoa, Whoa Aetheired I never put a gag order on anyone. As Board Chair it was my responisbility to make sure the board meetings stayed on task and flowed smoothly. The young man you are eluding to was an excellant student representative and I believe he now works at the Tech Center.
DeleteRoger, my memory faulty I guess. But don't know of any former student boardmembers who work at the Tech Center. The first one was a Trombley I think, there was a Graham, Brigham McNaughton, Jeremiah Goyette, not sure who the others were. I don't think the Trombley or Graham girls went to work at the Tech Center, not sure where Brigham McNaughton works, but its not in Springfield, last I heard Jeremiah Goyette was working as an EMT or something in a helicopter ambulance.
DeleteNo, No, No, we do not want you to do simple things like appoint an omsbudman or put advisory student board members on the board. These are straight forward things that are easily done and might actually improve the schools. We want you to keep voting down school budgets, that gives you the illusion that you are doing something constructive for education -- but actually does the opposite, which in turn generates more criticism of the school and the administration. All of this helps poor billionaires like myself who send their kids to private schools, as middle class parents mortgage their homes to send their kids to private schools and thereby lowers the tuition at private schools. If you put a student on the board, he or she might advocate to protect programs popular with the kids and parents, and to eliminate non-productive personnel. We can't have that, it is much better to defeat the budgets which frequently causes broad based harm to the district. Remember no matter how many times you defeat the budget, you will always have some teachers who have been there forever and can't afford to retire, and some teachers who no one else will employ to fill any mandated vacancies. So keep voting NO on the budget.
DeleteChristopher by removing vertebrae we create spineless teachers who will react to every clueless suggestion to save money on the budget. Isn't that what we want in our community. How else do we hold onto Special Ed directors who think kids play handball in the "cloud rooms"?
Delete@Aethelred: The first one wasn't Trombley. It was another girl who lived on South Street somewhere, and they were going after Doc Sharrese [sp?]...seems like the Valdictorian that year thanked all the teachers and administrators by name, but intentionally left the SHS principal off the list of thank you's. She left shortly thereafter.
DeleteWe do not want student advisory boardmembers, they tend to actually say what the adults are thinking but are afraid to say in public. Better to keep the citizenry guessing what the adult boardmembers are thinking. Remember we want our schools to be bastions of conventional thinking.
DeleteThe School Board can be certain of one thing: voters in Springfield who work for the Springfield School District who fear they will be dismissed, their spouses, their resident relatives and friends, and those who think teaching staff should not be reduced, will continue to vote "no" on any budget that reduces teaching and support staff. It is a fact, whether the School Board and the Superintendent want to recognize it or not.
ReplyDeleteIf the School Board manages to get the new budget with additional staff reductions passed, what will its position be next year regarding continued academic failure in our schools? Will the Board continue to wring its hands, because NECAP scores did not go up? Will it accept responsibility for its poor leadership, for its failure to gather support for teaching staff, for its resigned attitude when faced with vehement demands for budget reductions? Will it blame Springfield voters? It is very unlikely the Board will accept responsibility for dismissing teaching staff in favor of providing central office staff air conditioned offices over the summer months.
Springfield elected School Board Members to provide very necessary leadership, not to provide the School District with a rubber stamp. Who is leading whom is the big question. Does the School Board work for Springfield parents, students and tax payers, or does it work for the Springfield School District and its supervisor? Is it necessary to pass the budget so central office employees can get on with their careers and lives, or is it time to examine where education is headed in Springfield, and stop pounding money into ineffective teaching strategies that do not adequately prepare most students for adult lives.
The immediate task is to save teaching and support staff, then pass a budget. After that, the real work begins: reshaping our educational goals and techniques to meet the demands of the 21st century.
What if the best way to reshape the district involves using less people but in a more effective way?
DeleteWhat if pigs could fly?
DeleteAethelred -- everybody knows that pigs cannot fly. What he is saying is keep firing teachers until the school improves, and the more paras they fire the more time teachers can spend on social service functions for children. Its important that we get the teachers fully engaged in these functions so that we don't have to pay for this service through income tax funded programs. Besides, people like me don't have to worry about children with social issues disrupting classes and tying up the teachers, we send our kids to private schools.
DeleteAbsolutely Mittens! We need to be careful to protect these small minds, so they grow up with their small minds perfectly intact. The best way to do that is to protest school performance while stripping the budget of more money. It's consistent with the motto expressed previously by someone: "The beatings shall continue until morale improves."
Deletedon ya beat my Johnny ee was jus playin handball in the cloud room he wouldna bit that teacher if shee hanna tole em to be quiet an sit down ee's a sweet chillin afern ya cuff em around a bit jus ast dem nice salesmen down on Union street ee delivers bags fer
DeleteWhen Springfield finally achieves its short term goal of passing a school budget, it will have the opportunity to look ahead and define its long term educational goals.
ReplyDeleteNECAP tests are scheduled to be discarded. Teaching strategies used to prepare students to take the NECAP tests should also be scrapped, since they failed to achieve their goals. What will follow should be strategies and teaching methods that have worked in Springfield in the past, and are presently working in other countries.
Central Office staff is fond of collecting data, and should be on notice that Springfield voters will need the following information from the last 25 years of the District's history: the number of students in the Springfield School District; graduation statistics; SAT test score satistics; statistics regarding how many graduates completed college degrees; and staffing levels that were in place for each of the last 25 years. Those interested in helping design new goals will also be interested in the educational philosophies that were used during the last 25 years.
Armed with the crucial data, we can then determine what worked, what did not work, and what was required for the District to perform its duty to the public: to educate our children.
I am looking forward to that discussion. If you think feathers have flown discussing budgets, just wait until foxes get into the next henhouse!
Yes, lets pass the school budget and then use the momentum to provide constructive input to the Board and administrators as to how to continue to improve our schools.
DeleteSo, CC are you saying that if the schools just did whatever they did in 1987 then all would be okay? Of course, that assumes that kids in general haven't changed in 25 years, that the kids in Springfield schools haven't changed in 25 years, and that what kids need to be able to do in 2012 is the same as it was in 1987. I wonder if those claims are true.
DeleteOne other interesting idea: "The School Board can be certain of one thing: voters in Springfield who work for the Springfield School District who fear they will be dismissed, their spouses, their resident relatives and friends, and those who think teaching staff should not be reduced, will continue to vote "no" on any budget that reduces teaching and support staff. It is a fact, whether the School Board and the Superintendent want to recognize it or not."
Based on this I also wonder if you want the 1st goal of the schools to be the providing of jobs to people in town, or the providing of the best possible education to the children of the town? At times those two goals can be in opposition to each other. When that happens, where do you fall?
tis confusin me mind, tweren't here in '87 my boyfriend dinna get ere till ee moved into dat big hous on de hill me an ma girlfriends moved in to be close ta visit em like sooo don know wha it were like back den Did dey hav those nice fellas on Union street back den da ones Johnny makes deliveerees fer? Boss he says we to keep votin no so everyone can get dos stamps ta buy foood wit
DeleteJUST VOTE NO!
ReplyDeleteWhen Springfield decided to replace the high school on Park St., the taxpayers built a superb high school on South St.. It had all the "bells and whistles" an educator or student could want. As part of its final plumbing inspection, the water valve that controlled flow at the street was turned partially on, not fully, to inspect the system for leaks. There were no plumbing problems. Just before students and faculty were scheduled to occupy the new high school, somehow it caught on fire.
ReplyDeleteWhen fire trucks arrived at the scene, firemen found insufficient water pressure at the school's fire hydrants to fight the fire. Tank trucks were used to bring water pumped from the Black River, but despite strenuous efforts by firemen, the new school burned to the ground.
As the ashes cooled, two discoveries were made. The first was the water main valve at the street had never been turned fully on, so water flow available at fire hydrants was insufficient to fight fires. The second discovery was the new school had not been adequately insured, so a stripped down version of the lost facility was constructed to replace it. Lack of foresight and penny pinching are characteristic of public policy in Springfield.
Teachers and teaching assistants are vital to children's education, as vital as adequate water pressure is to fighting fires. The Springfield School District is expecting a 20% increase in the number of children entering kindergarten for the first time next year. There are presently five classes of kindergarten students. The additional students entering the School District justify adding an additional class, an additional teacher and an additional teaching assistant. Instead the extra new students will probably be divided among the present 5 classes. At the same time, the administration is proposing reducing teachers and teaching assistants overall by 12. It sounds like a recipe for increased teaching difficulties, increased disappointment for parents, and reduced learning for new students.
Does anyone who has ever seen a classroom think students will learn better in a more crowded classroom with fewer teachers? If so, apply for a doctoral degree in education. Apparently your thinking is the current vogue! In the meantime, I will continue to advocate for a fully staffed School District, and hope that voters insist cuts are not made to teaching staff.
So all we need to do is hire more people at minimum wage, because more people equal better results. Therefore if we just hired three adults to be in every classroom--regardless of their training--we would be one of the best in the state. I would suggest that we should just hire people at minimum wage--no benefits--and throw them in to the classroom, because in the end it is all about bodies.
ReplyDeleteYes sir, the rest of the state won't know what hit' em!