**Comments and input on the direction of this group are welcome**. Post comments or email csiscituate@yahoo.com - thanks!
Mission Statement:
The Central Source of Information (CSI) is dedicated to promoting timely, accurate and meaningful communication between the parents, teachers, school administration, school committee and the voting community of Scituate through all available channels of communication. CSI supports a partnership between all parties to create community advocacy for the schools and improve communications:
(1) FROM parents, teachers and the community TO the school administration and school organizations and;
(2) TO parents, teachers and the community FROM the school administration and organizations
CSI endorses the concept that community participation in the efforts of the schools is essential if the school system and the community are to maintain mutual confidence and respect and work together to improve the quality of education for students.
CSI will keep local citizens regularly and thoroughly informed on the policies, programs, problems and planning of the Scituate Public Schools. CSI is committed to working towards the betterment of the entire school system, not the needs of individual schools or students.
The goals of CSI are to:
1. Support and enhance communications FROM parents, teachers and the community:
a. Maintain a blog which allows active and timely communication of issues and concerns.
b. Work with the School Committee Communication sub-committee for input.
c. Survey parents, teachers and community members to obtain their input on (1) the quality of the schools, (2) their ability and willingness to actively support the school system via volunteer efforts and/or funding requests and (3) what the most effective and preferred ways to communicate the school’s goals and events. Publish the results and use the input in developing long and short term goals for the schools.
2. Support and enhance communications FROM the school administration and organizations:
a. Support the school administration in delivering its message regarding goals and initiatives through the timely and accurate use of electronic media (CSI blog) and printed media (increased coverage in the Mariner featuring collaborative school efforts and a editorial from the Superintendent). A one time printed community wide brochure is planned for Fall 2006. Increased use of Channel 22, the public education channel, is also being considered.
b. Organize core members to attend school committee meetings and then present brief minutes or updates via the blog. This is also an opportunity for parents to have bi-monthly representation during the public speaking portions of the school committee meetings.
**Comments and input on the direction of this committee are welcome**
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17 comments:
Interesting idea. We shall see if this becomes a forum for open dialoge or only a source of propaganda geared towards raising the budget of the school system.
Although this is a great concept and as important as it is to inform families with children in the school system, its even more important to educate the people of this town not in daily contact with the schools as to what is happening. This information needs to be in the papers weekly as well as a mass mailing to all residents in town.
I have some questions for the school administration and finance. How much of the overall school budget is for Health Care for the school staff, and how much has it gone up per year for the last 5 years? And do teachers and staff contribute to the cost of their health plans? When was the last time that a health care consultant evaluated the plans and looked toward more affordable health care?
Lastly, I found this article about how Lexington saved the town 3 million in health care cost, and could Scituate benifit from it too? http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/20060413/FP_003.html
I will begin by throwing out some ideas for discussion.
If the parents want more programs such as string instrument instruction and they are presented with a finite amount of money, maybe the school system should look to removing unneeded staff and administration to pay for it. Smaller classes mean more teachers each getting benifits. smaller classes mean more classroom space is taken up in the schools leaving no room for music or art. since the teachers we hire can't teach we have to hire specalists for each subject and aids to help in the classroom. they all cost money too. We have assitant everything, principals superintendants, the list goes on. We have a facilities manager that manages the school buildings that the Scitute charter says are suposed to be managed by the Town. So you have a choice. Do we go bankrupt giving you everything you want or do we make priorities and provide you with what you need?
The following is a response from Paul Donlan - Scituate Public Schools Business Manager
Health Care costs are administered not from the school side but the
town side Treasurer/Collector's office. Each teacher, aide, bus driver, cafeteria worker or administrator that qualifies (over 20 hours per week) is eligible for health insurance. The current cost for a family plan
Preferred Provider Plan (PPO) is $745.00 per month per person and $
745.00 for the Town or a 50/50 split. For a single plan the same 50/50 split between employee/employer and the cost is $ 314.00 per month. An HMO
family plan on the other hand is a 53% employer, 47% employee or $
646/573 split. Dental Insurance is 100% paid for by the employee and costs $ 99.00 per month for family and $ 39.00 for individual. One of the things to remember for health care costs is that once an employee retires the Town has an obligation to continue that person's health care costs until death and if there is a spouse until that person dies.
Health Care over the last three years that I have been involved in
public finance has gone up dramatically 15%, 12%, 12% and projected to go up 12% in Fiscal Year 2008.
Overall health care costs for FY08 are projected to be $ 4.3 million
dollars or 11% of the town and school's operating budget.
The Town of Scituate belongs to Plymouth County Health Group which is made up of over 10,000 members made up of various towns of which
Scituate is one of the larger groups. The Plymouth County Commisioners administer the plan and are advised by Cook and Company as the county and
plan's health care consultant. I belong to an advisory group to the
Plymouth County Commisioners and we meet once a month to go over the plans administered by Plymouth County. This group consists of Town Administrator's, Treasurer/Collector's and School Business people like myself. We
are charged with making recommendations from the members of our organizations in regards to plan enhancements and deletions. Enhancements to the plan are few and far between as cost for these is a factor that is always on all advisors and health care consultant's mind.
We in Scituate believe that Plymouth County Health Group is the most advantageous for our needs, having said that we are always looking to save the town of Scituate taxpayers money and will look at all avenues available to us.
I think the town should be focusing on how it's health care cost that are the cause for the additional needed funding. This isn't an issue of school system propaganda, this is an issue related to the longevity of senior citizens and their right to promised benifits.
As reported in the Boston Globe "Property tax specialists point to a variety of causes for the steady increases, including rising health care costs, which have soared in most cities and towns."
To read the full article here is the link. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/02/property_tax_bills_rising_across_state/?page=1
This forum can be used for all town issues
not just the school budget. If most
of the posts become school budget
related than so be it. As far as the town going bankrupt to fund the school maybe the town should sell off underperforming assets like the golf course or the boat yard. How much money does the golf course lose every year?
calling this forum a tool for propoganda is propaganda.......
The CSI:Scituate blog can not at this time be an overall town forum. Our mission relates to the Scituate Public Schools only. Any Town related matters linked to the schools will be be posted.
If enough interest is expressed, hopefully someone will start a Town of Scituate blog for this type of discussion.
I haven't seen any mention of the Scituate METCO program and I was wondering if they are/will be part of this Scituate Public School community fourm? The reason for asking is I wasn't even aware that Sciuate had a METCO program until my daughter started 2nd grade and I found that I had to research on my own about the program on-line and I still don't understand how the program works. I was also surprised that Scituate METCO has its own web site because I don't think that any of the Scituate school web sites have a link. I don't think the CSI newsletter mentions a link as well. Just curious as to what impact METCO participation has on the school budget.
The following response was provided by Mark Mason regarding the Metco Program.
The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), founded in 1966, is a state funded, voluntary educational desegregation program that receives its funding through the racial imbalance act. The program was designed to eliminate racial imbalance through the busing of children from Boston, MA and Springfield, MA to suburban public schools in the 38 communities where the program operates. Scituate has been a participant in the program since 1968.
METCO program placement in Scituate is based on available seating; therefore, students are accepted into Scituate METCO based on class size. Since the 58 students currently involved in the program are spread across twelve grades throughout the six schools, their presence does not impact staffing needs. Transportation, instructional and support services to students, program supplies, and administrative costs are covered by the annual grant. Additionally, based on the number of participating students, the METCO program helps annually to offset the cost of instructional staff.
RE: Metco question - For clarification purposes, is the $380,538.00 (per pupil expenditure) paid for entirely through the Metco grant or just the instructional aids, supplies etc?
I asked for clarification for Mr. Masons answer to the Metco question a couple of weeks ago and it was never posted???! I wanted to know who pays the per pupil expenditure for the 58 Metco students. In the event the overide does not pass this is going to be a program that we can no longer afford.
This is a response to the above questions regarding the METCO program. Mr. Mason is crafting another response to your questions, sorry of the delay. We were not sure where you were getting the $380,538 per pupil expenditure figure from, but I now assume that figure represents all 58 METCO students at our average cost per student. I do know that Scituate was one of the first towns in the state to welcome METCO students and the program has been very successful in Scituate. As Host Parent to a METCO student at the High School, I have seen first hand what a great program it has been for our METCO student as well as my own children. I will get further clarification as to what the ramifications might be to our METCO program if the override fails. Sorry about the delay and thanks for using the blog.
The cost of educating students in the METCO Program is covered by the state legislature, which has funded the METCO program every year for the past forty years. The state legislature will continue to fund the METCO program next year. Thus, regardless of whether the override passes, Scituate will continue to have METCO. The METCO program offers a wonderful opportunity for 58 Boston students to receive a high caliber education in Scituate. It should be noted that our Scituate students also benefit from this program since it allows them to interact with many students from different backgrounds and experiences, which is an important part of their education.
Thank you for the clarification - I am happy to have the program in Scituate but was worrying about impending cuts. In the event this overide fails we won't be offering a decent education to children in town let alone kids from out of town.
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