March PTO Minutes

WEST PARISH PTO MINUTES
Meeting of: March 6, 2007

Yoshi Campbell, Co-President called the meeting to order at approximately 6:30 p.m.

PRESIDENTS’ REPORT

Recognition and appreciation goes out to Lori Smith for organizing Jalapenos night. It was packed, great turnout for eating in and taking out. Approximately $800.00 was made for West Parish. A big thanks to Kris O’Maley and Angela Marshall for organizing the PTO closet. Thank you to Vicki Lane for organizing the grade level bake sales. Our appreciation to Ed Dahlmer and John Churchill for organizing the West Parish Golf Tournament. Thank you to Tricia Reed for managing the 5th grade school store. Thanks to Theresa Whitmore, Maureen Collins, Gayle Movalli and Tonia Belanger for putting together the schools’ family directory.

Yoshi is looking for help with the school Newsletter. Friday morning coffee meetings are being planned for anyone who would like to help out with upcoming events. There are many big and little ways to help keep West Parish a great school for our children. These will be discussed at more length later in the meeting.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Linda Pata submitted the Treasurer’s report. There is $45,677.00 available in the general fund. $20,000.00 will be carried over for next year. Approximately $6000.00 in revenue will be received by end of year. Approximately $7000.00 is available for anything that arises during the rest of the year. Last month a motion was made and accepted to provide $1000.00 for the West Parish Reads program. The Treasurer’s Report was voted on and accepted.

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Guatemala school playground fundraiser ends tomorrow. Students, parents and teachers have been very generous. Our goal is to reach $1000.00. The Gordon College students will leave on Friday. A Banner is being signed by West Parish students which will be accompanied by photos taken by Tess Whitmore. Stephanie Caddle set up the bulletin board.

MCAS for grades 3, 4, and 5 start in two weeks. Schedule to go home Monday.

SCHOOL FUNDING CRISIS

Guest speakers: Jonathan Pope, School Committee Chairman, Greg Verga, Vice Chairman, Chairman of Budget and Finance Committee and School Committee Liaison to West Parish and Louise Palazzola, School Committee Member.

This is the beginning of the budget process. What is known is that for a level service budget, where everything would stay the same, the School Department would need $3,313,848.00. This level service budget will cost 3.3 million dollars more than last year. Healthcare costs are rising by 21.2% which accounts for 1 million of the increase. The cost of an out of district SPED student of $160,000 that was not in last years budget must be included. Energy costs are increasing. Under the Governor’s new budget, Chapter 70 money will see a nominal increase but will be offset by an increase in healthcare and other expenses. Out of the Governor’s 200 million increase in Chapter 70 money, 170 million is to offset inflation so only 25 – 30 million of that money is actually additional funding. The City of Gloucester’s tax levy is 48 to 50 million dollars, because of Prop
2 ½, the city can only expect an increase in new revenue to total approximately 1.5 million. New growth will account for about $700,000 - $800,000 in additional tax revenue. As of yet, the School Committee has not had any indication from the Mayor as to what they should use for numbers pertaining to the budget.

Many factors need to be taken into account when determining the budget and possible cuts to be made. Cutting twelve teaching positions could save ½ million dollars. Usually positions are cut from the bottom which means these are the lowest paid people and those also least likely to have health benefits with family plans. The city would also be liable for unemployment bringing the cost savings lower. Teachers’ salaries and benefits comprise 2/3rds or 22 million out of the 33 million dollar budget.

The School Committee has looked at cutting other things besides teachers. The Management Audit recommended closing Plum Cove School. The Planning for Effective Learning Communities has also studied how facilities match up. They recommended that split site schools are not optimal. Also that the K – 5, 6 – 8 and separate high school model works best. The ideal school has 3 classes per grade level. The schools should also reflect the community with no more than 30% of the student population on free or reduced lunch in any given school. The School Committee has made a commitment to follow these guidelines as closely as possible.

Fuller School is not for sale. The Sam Park development is just a coincidence. The Planning for Effective Learning Communities initiative has been in the works for a long time. It is uncertain how Fuller will be used in the future but some options are as a Middle School or City offices.

At the High School level cuts have already been made in the past. There is only one gym teacher and one vice principal. High School students are required to have 990 classroom hours, study halls do not count. There is already a shortage of teachers making this requirement difficult to fulfill.

The School Committee has worked hard to keep low class sizes at the Elementary level. If 22 teaching positions are lost, class sizes will go up across the district. Those numbers are as follows:


Grade Total Students Current # of Classes Future # 07/08 Avg. Class Size

K 277 15 12 23 students
1 276 14 12 23 students
2 247 14 11 22.5. students
3 244 14 9 26 students
4 265 14 10 26.5 students
5 264 15 10 26.5 students

Along with losing teachers and increasing class sizes, all schools would also lose art and music rooms.

Making all of these cuts will still not solve the entire problem. By closing Fuller School but keeping the Preschool and Administrative Offices where they are, the School Department would see a savings as follows:

22 Teachers $805,000.00
Nurse, Custodians, Admin. Staff 290,000.00
3 Specialists 148,000.00
Administration 131,000.00
Secretary 64,000.00
Nurse 35,000.00
$1,473,000.00

O’Maley will be reduced by 4 teachers to save $200,000.00.

The Facility needs for the entire city need to be assessed. The School Department cannot sell anything. If a facility is not going to be used by the School Department they can decide to give it back to the City as surplus. If a School is ever sold the money goes to pay off debt, not back to the School Department. Right now no decisions regarding Fuller School have been made. Greg Verga stated he would like to see the School Department hold onto it for a year so there is time to figure out what the best use of it will be. This could include renting the space, although the Maplewood School had been rented to the Head Start program for $1.00 per year. When they moved out, The School Committee declared it surplus so it reverted back to the city. The city now has the right to decided what happens to it. Putting temporary modular classrooms at Plum Cove and Beeman was looked at because of the amount of property at these schools but this was determined to not be cost effective.

This year it is anticipated that 1 or 2 Elementary Teachers are retiring. The Superintendent has been instructed to work with the Gloucester Teacher’s Association to provide incentives for early retirement as a way to retain some newer teachers.

Jonathan finished by stating that nothing will get better until the inequality of the Chapter 70 money distribution is fixed. This formula, based upon property values and average income is flawed. Three ways to solve the problem include:

New Growth in Gloucester
Changing the funding formula at the State House
Tax Override

School Committee members can be contacted by finding their information on the website http://www.gloucesterschools.com/. There is a link to the School Committee members on the left hand side.

Jonathan encouraged everyone to support the Stand For Children Organization. They are holding a meeting in the Friend Room at the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, March 15th at 6:30pm. Stand for Children’s website is http://www.stand.org/.


BIG AND LITTLE WAYS TO HELP

Stand for Children: Attend the meeting at the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, March 15th at 6:30pm.
Get on the bus: Represent our children at the State House on April 25th.
Say “Yes!” to the future of West Parish: Sign on to be an Officer/Teammate for 2007/2008 or 2008/2009.
Book Fair: Volunteer for a time slot at the Book Fair and help to raise money for the library.
West Parish Reads Festival: Help kick off the festival following in the footsteps of the Gloucester Reads program.
Earth Day Hands-on Exploratorium: Friday, April 27th from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. Become a volunteer to help make this a truly fun event for all!
Skate Night: Saturday, March 10th. Attend this fun event for the whole family, organized by Beth and Ed Dahlmer and Annette Spanks. There will be a bake sale offering goodies including Girl Scout cookies.
WP Golf Tournament: Find a sponsor, sign up a foursome or donate a raffle item. This great event is being organized by Ed Dahlmer and John Churchill.
Newsletter: Volunteer an hour or two to help get the newsletter up and running.
Bake sales: Support the grade level bake sales. Still to come: 5th grade on March 28th, 2nd grade on April 13th, Kindergarten May 8th and 4th grade on June 6th.


NEXT PTO MEETING

Tuesday, April 3 from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m.



Respectfully submitted,



Tonia Belanger, Secretary.