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Student Accounts Flush With Cash “We should use funds to reduce burden on parents”
By David Hamacher
November 17, 2006 — During his
presentation of FY ’06 finances to the school committee meeting
last night, Business Manager Geoff In addition to the operating funds, there are three other areas that comprise the total financial statement for the district. Those areas are, Revolving Accounts, Capital Accounts, and Grants (which include both state and federal grant items). The item that generated most of the discussion was with the closing balance as of June 30th of $151,361.00 in the High School student activities fund. Superintendent, Dr. Jack Phelan remarked,” We should use those funds to reduce the burden on the parents.” Committee member Phil Totino agreed. “Madam Chair, if I have to make a motion to get a better handle on the fees for the student activities funds, then I’ll make it. Couldn’t we offset user fees with this account? We have got to get this under control.” In addition, the balance left over in the Middle School activities funds was $94, 612. Analyses will be conducted on both accounts, and adjustments to user fees may be made in the future. The total balance carried over from FY ’06 under Revolving Accounts was $1,073,646 which is reflected by an opening balance of $938,820 with receipts of $2,600,814 and expenditures of $2,465,988. Mr. MacDonald remarked, “This is the lowest level of revolving costs in years.”
The total Grants section of the financial statement showed an opening balance of $312,287 and a closing balance of $268,284. A total of $757, 538 was received from both federal and state government grants, and $801, 541 expended. Looking at the current fiscal year following the first quarter ended September 30th, “We seem to be a little ahead of the game, “Mr. MacDonald reported. “The mild weather so far and savings in the staff openings and late hires are contributing to that.” Middle School Principal, Mr. William Lynch, along with new Vice-Principal, Geoff Bruno reported to the committee on the Middle School update which emphasized building space and enrollment. There are currently 813 students this year and 849 are projected to be in next year with 900 projected for 2009-2010. Mr. Lynch reported that, “All rooms are currently utilized and in the case of Special Education and other subjects, shared. With the addition of new staff, perhaps as many as three or four additional teachers for the next four years, additional rooms will be needed, so consideration should be given to moving Pre-School to a different facility.” Referring to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Colombo’s report on curriculum at the last meeting, Mr. Lynch said that, “Stage One in the core curriculum areas is well on its way to completion, and CMP2 for 6th and 7th grade levels is underway.” Advanced math students have been as much as possible, placed back on their teams in grades seven and eight. “Our goal is to teach Advanced Math on all levels, he said.
Every 8th
grader will participate in the new LEGO robotics programs
through Integrated Technology. CAD drawing and related
activities are now part of grades six and seven curriculum.
Because the advanced math students are back on their teams, the
Math Overlay teacher is now free to give students identified by
MCAS scores and team recommendation He replied that there just wasn’t enough time given just six periods of classes. “You don’t want to take him out of math or language arts, because that’s probably where the student would need it most,” Mr. Lynch responded. Because the Middle School Crisis Response Team had earlier recommended the adoption of security measures to insure student safety, a camera and buzz-in system has been implemented and now all doors will be locked down from 7:30am to 3:30pm. Member Nancy Burdick said,” Now with the Middle School on board, these security measures are now becoming a part of the community and is to be expected. They worked well for me, now that the few glitches have been fixed.” Community Service Learning (CSL) was introduced to the Middle School faculty during the October Professional Development Day, and two staff members, Tom Dowd and Carrie Scott have agreed to take leadership roles with this initiative. The Communiteen club has begun working with the Youth Commission representatives to assign students to community projects. This program will last throughout the year. Director of Special Education, Dr. Trudy Sack reported that the Hopkinton School District is currently home to 26 special education students; 12 of whom are in the 18-22 year old group. Dr. Sack reported that all teachers (except for those new this year) have studied the reading initiative for core researched based reading. Also identified as new initiatives for this year are new regulations for Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which has undergone revisions with amendments in 1997, 2000, and 2004, with the newest ones released just last month. This law states that monies can be used to support children who have academic and behavioral problems in regular education but are not disabled where previously the student had to be failing because accessing help through special education. Now all special education teachers must be fully certified in special education or pass State special education licensure exams, hold a bachelor’s degree and demonstrate subject knowledge. Teacher Mr. Christopher Arienti added, “According to Chapter 57 of the Acts of 2006 says now we have to consider the whole student and not just the educational aspects”. In part that law says whenever an evaluation indicates that a child has a disability on the autism spectrum...the IEP (Individualized Education Program) team...shall consider and specifically address...verbal and nonverbal communication needs, develop social and interaction skills...change in daily routines, etc. Read the entire chapter here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/seslaw06/sl060057.htm. Dr. Sack continued with mapping out three issues for future planning: Rising out of district tuition and transportation, need for quality programs for the 18-22 year olds who will not graduate from high school, and hiring and training new special educators. “We’ve done a good job in hiring and retaining qualified teachers, mainly because of the strong administrative support we can provide with the help of grants we’ve received that support our current team through August of 2007,” she explained. “It’s a two year cycle and we’re always reapplying, so hopefully we’ll be able to continue.” Many tools are now available to the Special Ed department through the Universal Design which is an approach to designing environments and products so that they can be used by the widest range of users without adaptation. Coupled with Kurzweil 3000 software program that supports the principles of Universal Design for Learning which ‘provides the scaffolding needed for struggling students to access the general education curriculum, Kurzweil 3000 can access text from a variety of sources included printed material, electronic files, or the Internet. It also provides multiple and flexible ways for students to demonstrate what they know through digital technology, accordingly to its information brochure.
Superintendent Dr. John Phelan made several announcement and recognitions at the opening of the meeting noting that Tim O’Connor and Cara Maresca were selected by the senior class to act as Student Government Day Representatives, David Shapleigh had been awarded a full scholarship through the “Vermont Studio Center Fellowship Award,” Middle School teacher Bill Meehan has just published his second book, Fife, and will be signing books at the Barnes and Noble in Bellingham, before congratulating all of those who participated in the Middle School Special Olympics State Soccer Team where our team can home with the silver medal. And, Dr. Phelan noted that 287 students at the High School were recognized for outstanding academic achievement. Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Mary Colombo (Photo, left), gave a review of the recent STEM Conference which highlights and updates the world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math students and classes. Currently we are not filling 20% of students in the STEM system. “she said, “Whereas North Carolina is graduating 32%, which is still not enough.” Chair Rebecca Robak, who also attended the conference, reminded everyone that she learned that, “STEM classes are fun!” “Still, Dr. Colombo reported, “Fewer women are now in this area than were involved in 1980.” |
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MacDonald (File photo) reported that of last year’s annual
operating budget of just over $28 million, a balance of $69.00
was carried over to the current fiscal year. “There was a
significant savings in payroll expenses because of late starts
of teachers and administration personnel and we were able to
move around other funds,” Mr. MacDonald reported. The total
revised operating budget for FY’06 was $28,134,666.
A balance of 98K was left in Capital Accounts excluding the
design costs of the new elementary school that have been
appropriated and earmarked for that specific project.
additional support. “For every student who has failed or scored
in the Needs Improvement range in MCAS results, and anyone else
seeking help, that help will be provided in lieu of an arts
related class, so that score can improved, Mr. Lynch explained.
There is now capacity for 30 students from each grade to get
extra support every other day until the end of the year.
Committee member Lyn Branscomb wondered aloud to Mr. Lynch, “Is
there was a choice for the student who needs the help on MCAS
but favors arts related classes, so we don’t put them at a
greater disadvantage by taking him away?” 
Kurzweil 3000 has been previously installed in the High School,
and is new to the Middle School this year.