by Erica Plunkett
4/26/2013

First on the agenda, the School Committee voted to approve an Overnight Field Trip Request for one student to attend the Best Buddies Leadership Conference in Bloomington, Indiana this summer.  Next, the Committee voted to establish the final day of school.  This date will be a half-day on Wednesday, June 26th.  Keep your fingers crossed….

Business Manager Keith Buday then gave a brief presentation on School Choice openings.  He informed the Committee that the initial application period has ended.  From this, the District holds lotteries and develops waitlists.  The following request is Mr. Buday’s first for the 2013-2014 school year.  Holliston has had 102 requests for seats so far, which is slightly higher than the same time last year.  Holliston continues to be well-regarded by other towns.  Mr. Buday’s proposal adds a total of 34.5 FTE students, counting Kindergarten as a .5 FTE.  The District is graduating 11 School Choice students this year, offset by 4 students moving from K to First Grade.  The net potential increase is 25.5 FTE’s.  Numerous applicants are tied to prospective siblings so we will not fill all these seats.

School Choice seats are in the following grades: Full Day K (10), Half-Day K (5), 1st (2), 2nd (2), 3rd (5), 4th (1), 5th (5), 6th (1), 7th (4), 9th(5), 10th (2).  At this point, school choice revenues bring in about $700K.   

 

The last item on the agenda was further discussion around the FY14 Budget.  The Budget Sub Committee met earlier this week with their Finance Committee liaisons.  While the initial intention of the School Committee was to vote over $250K in cuts, with high hopes that the Fin Com would be able to close much of the remaining $445K gap, towards the end of the meeting, the School Committee learned that the Finance Committee voted in a school budget of $29,389,466.  With the School Committee previously voted budget of $29,866,219, that leaves a gap of $476,753.  The vote was tabled as the School Committee directed the Budget Sub Committee to go back and address the much larger gap. 

In the interests of giving the most complete information, these are the proposed cuts that were discussed last night and will very likely return next Thursday, which is the last meeting prior to Town Meeting.

1.      Reduce Out-of-District Budget to reflect more current student need:    $103,846

Explanation: two students who were slated to move out-of-district will be staying in-district)

2.      Reconsider plan to increase HS Band position to 1.0 FTE:                     $35,328

Explanation: several courses have very low enrollment for next year:

Beginning Guitar II (CP1)- 1student

Music as Protest (CP1)- 7students

Composition and Arrangement (CP1)- 7students

Songwriting (CP1)- 4students

Stage Performance (CP1)- 5

3.      Reduce .5 FTE HS Drama Teacher:                                                         $39,670

Explanation: three courses have very low enrollment for next year:

Drama in the Here and Now- 5students

Directing Workshop- 4students

Improvisation- 0students

Please note that ALL extracurricular Performing Arts program will remain.  This includes the Fall Musical, Globefest, the Spring Play, the Adams Spring Musical, Jazz Band, and Chorus (Harmonix, Act 11). 

4.      Reduce 1.0 FTE HS Spanish Teacher:                                                      $57,355

Explanation: student interest is lower

Add .5 FTE HS French Teacher:                                                                    -$39,670

Explanation: student interest is higher.  There will be some courses not offered next year, as well, due to low student interest, including French V Honors and French 1 CP1.

Reduce .33 FTE MS Spanish Teacher:                                                           $28,963

Explanation: able to make existing classes a little bigger

5.      Reduce K Unified Arts Teacher from .68 FTE to .52FTE:                      $10,517

Explanation: Phys Ed teachers will be able to take on some of these responsibilities

6. Assume Four (4) new School Choice Seats:                                               $20,000

Grand Total:                                                                                                $256,009

Again, with the most recent Fin Com vote, the School Committee will need to cut an additional $220,744, to close the entire gap of $476,753. 

The School Committee would like to thank all the parents and students who came out to speak so passionately on behalf of the drama and music programs.  As additional information on Drama programs in other Districts:

Medway- extracurricular only

Medfield- extracurricular only

Ashland- 1.0 FTE

Millis- extracurricular only

Keefe- extracurricular only

Hopkinton- in school- three classes

Needham- in school, three class.

We would like to reiterate that the plan was NOT to cut the program in its entirety, but to reduce the offerings in response to low registration numbers.  All members have high hopes that the affected teachers will continue to build up their programs and design offerings that meet the needs and interests of all our students.  The Budget Sub Committee and ultimately, the entire Committee, will be looking at everything now, with this large gap, but we will go to Town Meeting with a budget that meets the Fin Com guideline

The next School Committee meeting is next week, May 2.  This will be the last meeting before Town Meeting on Monday, May 6th. Central to this agenda is:   the FY14 Budget and the Superintendent Evaluation.  The last School Committee Office Hours for the year are Friday, May 3, 7:30-8:30 at Pejamajo.  As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact any School Committee member or Central Office Administration. 
 

Kindest regards,

Erica Plunkett

Chair, Holliston School Committee