By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
5/7/09
Students in the French Immersion program would be reassigned and 38 teaching jobs would be eliminated next school year if voters reject an override on
June 8.
That’s the latest scenario school officials are presenting to school parents. There would be a $2.3 million shortfall in the school budget without the passage of an override.
“We don’t want to do this. It isn’t our choice. We had to get to a number,” School Superintendent Mary Gormley told parents at a public budget hearing last week.
Gormley said school administrators are forced to plan for a non-override budget the Warrant Committee has drafted. That budget, which Town Meeting is to consider this week, would give schools about $465,000 less than their current budget of around $31.7 million.
School officials have said they need about $2 million more next year to maintain current services, which involves paying $1.3 million in negotiated teacher raises.
The original proposal was to take one of the four elementary schools out of operation to absorb some of the revenue shortfall. However, state officials said they would seek to recoup school building grants if Milton were to close a school.
The new plan, which would group French Immersion students in different schools based on grade level, would maximize staffing, with 38 fewer teachers in the system, Gormley said.
“We’re not changing the amount of French Immersion you’re getting. We’re just changing the location,” said Gormley, who spent the week handing out layoff notices. Those layoffs would only take effect if the override does not pass.
Under the plan, a new assignment plan would take effect next school year. Students entering the French program in first grade would attend Tucker, second- and third-graders would attend Collicot, fourth-graders would go to Cunningham and fifth-graders to Glover. Students would remain in the chosen school until they complete the program, which runs from grades one to five.
Families with more than one child in the program could go to different schools, Gormley said. It would also increase classroom sizes and the number of teacher aides to be reduced, she said.
However, the measure would save nine elementary teaching positions, something that Gormley said is “the absolute last thing we look to cut.”
“This is a very, very difficult situation. We try to think of the child first,” she said.
Under another scenario, French Immersion students would alternate schools each year throughout the program. One group of students would switch between Tucker and Glover and another would go from Cunningham to Collicot each year. That plan would save eight elementary teachers.
Both plans would put most classrooms over 30 students.
Resident Sarah Mills complained that proposal would be unfair. She said officials should look at equally sacrificing the elementary schools’ English program.
“It goes up to 35 [students] in French and highest number is 27 in English. It’s totally disproportionate,” she said of the class sizes.
Gormley said her administration deemed there was no cost savings to be had from reassigning students in the English program. They also considered other options, such as housing all French students in one building, she said.
“We explored eight options. These two were the best for us,” she said.
Lynda-Lee Sheridan, newly named chair of the School Committee, said she understands larger class sizes will affect how education is implemented.
“Every study I know of says small class sizes are the best way to go,” she said, but added, “This is the reality. We’re looking at an incredible amount of money we have to cut.”
Former School Committee member Laurie Stillman called the budget scenario “painful.”
“I’ve seen a chipping away over the years” of school services, she said.
Stillman said she is most worried about the guidance department at Milton High School, which helped her children get into college.
“It’s such a small office. It would be decimated,” she said.
Under the non-override budget, school officials plan to cut 1.5 guidance employees and 12.4 positions overall at the high school.
That would result in the cutting of elective offerings and the implementation of study hall, something Gormley disapproves.
“I do not believe any parent wants their child to go to school to be in a study hall with 100 other students,” she said.
The cuts could also mean a reduction in course requirements to graduate, Gormley said.
Julia Ricardo Varela, a resident who is leading a pro-override campaign, praised officials for being “transparent this year.”
“No one in this room wants these options. There are no agendas here,” he said.
Brian Kelley, also an override supporter, said residents should be aware of the cuts schools and the town are facing.
“If you can’t sell your neighbor [on an override], it’s your own fault,” he said.
Visit www.miltonps.org for more information.