Newsletter #1 - Superintendent's Message by Mark Mason

Superintendent’s Message by Mark Mason

The schools of Scituate have endured, and overcome, restrained budgets over the past five years. We speculate as to the reasons for the lack of support and funding. Some say that our local school system is under-supported because we continually demonstrate success and achievement. Others say that there is incompatible funding for state and federal mandates. Others state our shortfalls result from economic pressures on local taxpayers. Still others claim that it is a lack of resolve from political, community or administrative leaders. Whatever the reason, the Town of Scituate schools can not continue to meet the demands placed upon it with another year of minimum budget increases.

Funding for the Scituate Public Schools should be a priority for the entire community.
Although the school department has shown consistent and continual progress in a number of areas, it can be rightfully said that we have reached our potential for growth and may very well begin to regress. This is a direction no one in this community wants. Yet, the school community cannot secure greater funding without the support of other local constituencies. Each year, the school department builds its budget in concert with other municipal departments, ever-sensitive to the restrictions of available resources. We have accepted minimal budgets, recognizing that our community has limited resources. We have proven we can manage our limited funds to provide an exceptional education and compete with some of the best school districts.

We must join together in teaching the public about the importance of education for both students and the community at large. While educators must stay committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning, we must also become more politically aware and active. We must unite families in the cause of high quality staff and programming; we must seek greater support from local business and civic alliances in realizing that the spirit of a town emanates, in part, from its schools; we must join with taxpayers and homeowners who understand that good schools equate to good real estate values. The effort will be demanding, but the results will be consequential.

We have the ideas, the people, and the determination to make the Scituate Public Schools, your schools, better. We just need the resources to underwrite our cause.