School Board Delays Decisions On Budget And Calendars

By Eliza Hallabeck

With information pending, the Board of Education postponed decisions on both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school calendars and on its 2011-12 budget during its meeting on Tuesday, June 7.

Board of Education Chair William Hart said the school board is waiting to learn whether $150,000 set aside for the school district in a capital nonreoccurring fund with the town will be available for use in the 2011-12 budget. The Legislative Council, he said, was then set to decide the matter during its scheduled meeting on June 14. The decision to act on the school’s 2011-12 budget was therefore postponed until the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, June 21.

Mr Hart said key numbers in the budget will be renegotiated once the board knows whether it has access to the $150,000.

The original 2011-12 spending package for the school district was $68,703,427, but after the first round referendum failed on April 26, the school board reduced its budget by roughly one percent. During a meeting on May 2, the school board looked into options to meet the reduction in spending.

Items looked at as possible changes to the school’s 2011-12 budget included two behavior therapists could be cut from the school budget for a savings of $48,000, funds for supplies may be reduced by $60,000, costs for equipment could be reduced by $33,000, money for furniture would be reduced by $10,000, an expected paving project at Newtown Middle School would be moved to another budget year saving $95,000, a third grade teacher position at Middle Gate would be removed for $67,000, a Hawley first grade teacher would be removed for $57,000, and the budget for educational assistants not associated with special education would be reduced by $244,000.

The Legislative Council decided the school board can access to the money during its meeting on June 14. The school board will finalize its decisions on how to reduce spending areas in the 2011-12 budget during its next meeting.

School Calendars

After hearing from Democratic Registrar of Voters LeReine Frampton, the school board also postponed a decision on the 2011-12 school calendar until the date for the presidential primary vote is scheduled. The date currently being looked at for the primary vote, April 24, is also the date set for Newtown’s annual budget referendum.

“It looks like that is going to be the date,” said Ms Frampton. “It is in the legislature right now.”

If the primary is held the same day as Newtown’s referendum, students may be impacted at Newtown Middle School or other options for voting areas will need to be determined.

Since the board postponed a decision on the 2011-12 school calendar, Board of Ed Vice Chair Debbie Leidlein said she would also like to hold off deciding on the 2012-13 calendar until the next meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said early release days were already scheduled into the 2011-12 calendar, which was already passed by the school board, but the board would be asked to decide on making changes to those days.

“The reason I brought the 2011-12 calendar forward, Debbie,” said Dr Robinson, “was for exactly what you are looking for.”

Dr Robinson said she will suggest the school board change the scheduled professional learning community meeting early release days for teachers from Wednesdays to Friday next year, and will also ask the board to approve removing one early release day from the Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School conference schedule.

Dr Robinson also explained changes to the 2012-13 calendar that will be brought before the school board for a decision during its next meeting were made to reflect a regional calendar with surrounding school districts, including Danbury.

Since Tuesday’s meeting, schools were closed on Friday, June 10, due to roads being closed from fallen trees and other complications from a storm the night before. The last day of school in the district remains set for June 22.

School district parent Laura Roche has also shared calendars she created for three schools, including Reed Intermediate School, where she has been active during this school year in looking over the school’s schedule. Ms Roche said she has also shared her calendar with Board of Education members and Reed Principal Sharon Epple. Ms Roche said she plans to speak at the school board’s June 21 meeting about her calendars, which mark time spent outside of the classroom, and more.

Of the 182 school days, with Friday’s school cancellation due to weather, the district will have 182 instead of 183 days of school this year; Ms Roche marked students at Reed attended 139 full days of school. Her calendar took snow days, early release days, delayed school openings, emergency early releases, conference days, and days set for Connecticut Mastery Testing, special events at the school, and vacation days into consideration.

Dr Robinson said vacation days and snow-related school cancellations do not subtract from the overall school year. School cancellations are added back at other times during the year, minus the one cancellation from last Friday.

In terms of snow cancellations and delays, Dr Robinson also noted this was an unprecedented school year.

Ms Roche said she is not against the individual reasons students were pulled out of the classroom during the school year, but she questions whether there is balance within the system.

Ms Roche also explained she began looking into Reed’s calendar specifically at the start of the school year when she became aware of marked assembly time then in the school’s schedule. Once she started looking into scheduling at the school, Ms Roche said she began to notice more and more reasons to be concerned.

Her calendars, she noted, do not take a number of things into consideration, like mandated state requirements that may pull individual teachers out of the classroom to attend different events.

“There are so many unknown factors that I can’t put on there,” said Ms Roche.

Dr Robinson said each school monitors how many hours students are in school, and each school submits those hours to the state yearly. The state, she said, requires students are in school for 900 hours over the course of the school year. She also noted Newtown’s school days have been lengthened by 15 minutes a day over the course of the last three years.

Ms Roche’s three school calendars are attached to this article online at NewtownBee.com. Dr Robinson’s proposed 2011-12 school calendar that will go before the school board on Tuesday is also available online.

Honoring Retiring Teachers

At the start of the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson acknowledged the six educators retiring from the school district at the end of this school year, four of whom were in attendance.

“We do tend to have teachers stay with us for a long time,” said Dr Robinson, with four retiring educators standing next to her. “I think it is a good place to work.”

Newtown High School English teacher Jeanetta Miller has spent 18 years in Newtown, NHS English teacher Linda Buonaguio has taught Newtown students for 41 years, NMS foreign language instructor Nicole Morris has taught in the district for 33 years, Reed fifth grade teacher Joan Cunningham has been with the school system for 23 years, Head O’ Meadow reading/language consultant Julie Birch has taught in Newtown for 38 years, and Middle Gate Lead Teacher Judy Beers has been with the district for 37 years. Ms Cunningham and Ms Morris were not present for Tuesday’s meeting.