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January 28th, 2009 - Notes from School Committee Meeting
January 27th, 2009 - Notes from Information Meeting with Dr. Lusi on School Closing January 22nd, 2009 - Joint School Committee & Town Council Meeting Blog January 14th, 2009 - School Committee Meeting Blog I attended the School Committee meeting this evening at 7pm in the Portsmouth Town Hall. The topics were varied and I plan to cover over those most directly affecting the Elmhurst community. NECAP scores are in as reported by the Newport Daily News - in all but one category Portsmouth has improved. The one category we did not was level. Elmhurst did achieve the highest scores in the elementary category and I want to stop and thank the teachers, staff, students and parents for achieving such a positive result. Dr. Lusi mentioned to the Committee that she attended our information meeting Monday and thank us for our courtesy and for being involved in the future of our school. There was a small mention of Regionalization meetings which continue to take place. This involves the discussion of a single district that would cover at a minimum Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth consolidated. This would allow for cost savings such as shared services - there was a mention meetings continue. Mr. Carpender asked Mr. Buddemeyer a the start of the Facilities Committee update what would the process be going forward? Mr. Buddemeyer responded that he will not be going over the four options in detail but giving a more general update. First he would like to expand the existing Facilities Committee to include: representatives from each of the school's PTO's, an elementary principal, a representatives from administration, and (2) additional community members (if my notes are correct). The expanded Committee would then tackle the following questions: - What is the best educational environment? What is the most cost efficient manner to reach that goal? What resources are available to us to offset those costs? How would we redistrict? What impact will there be to transportation? Will there be staff savings? What is the timeline to completion? He would like this committee to be solidified by the beginning of March - giving one month to finalize the candidates. There was a reiteration that the Facilities Committee was tasked with a 10 years plan - 3-5 years would be the shorted term vision they have. A school committee member asked if 1) the time frame for making a decision on the selection option be swift (sooner rather than later - Gym example given) and 2) that if so many people are involved in the new expanded committee will this impede the ability to achieve the long term goals? Obviously Mr. Buddemeyer felt he could achieve both and the motion to move forward to expand the committee passed. Ian Mitchell, a parent, suggested an "online think tank" that would assist the committee to offer ideas, but yet is highly structured and guided. Lissie Dillenbaugh (forgive any misspellings!) spoke in regards to the agenda item regarding closing Elmhurst. She related a story of how her son is asked to
"show his work" - and how she felt the School Committee and Administration needs
to provide the same example to we as a community. That they need to show how transportation issues would be resolved (distance). That they begin this type of analysis now - the budget figures for next year do not need to be 100% and finalized for this to occur. Need to formulate some projects for 2009/10 school year now. Show us additional to revenue for any site changes - Elmhurst or otherwise. What is happening with salaries and benefits should the schools close? Salaries should not be going up when budgets are going down. If we can't "show our work" - are we ready to make a decision? Mr. Carpender responded that it would be irresponsible for him to commit to keeping Elmhurst open. I then spoke that I felt as a business person you
engage the budget process with the "best case", "worst case" and "most likely".
Why are we waiting so long to begin this detailed work when we know the basic
potential outcomes of the budget process already? What would it hurt to begin to
do the analysis now and not wait for all the details from the state? Dr. Lusi did give clarity that the budget decisions will not be made on the 25th of March - but that the process will be resolved for her recommendations as of March 25th. She went on to say that she and Mr. Buddemeyer (also head of the Finance Committee) are going to match schedules to setup a series of budget meetings - which I believe are open to the public and are posted on the www.PortsmouthSchoolsRI.org website. They all stated they planned to make the process expeditious and effective. Later in the meeting Mr. Carpender proposed, and Mrs. Tague explained, that the S3050 cap be lifted on "new growth" taxes. This would include new buildings (not renovations or additions) and related tax/building permits for those new town taxable properties. Explaining that in a growth town such as Portsmouth, any "new growth" taxes are put back into the "pool" so to speak to reduce our taxes levied the following year. Instead this proposal would take the "new growth" taxes and allow them to be used as revenue to the Town. This would not increase taxes and would be parsed out between the Town and the school district. This could be a solution for the budget gap but it requires the state to approve it. Mr. Carpender was going to notify the Town Council after this meeting. At the end of the day we all need to remain engaged and to follow this process in detail. There are areas of concern that I'm not sure why we do not already have answers on the table. The S3050 was proposed only days ago and warranted a "quick and dirty" analysis from Mrs. Tague. However, well over a month ago there was a suggestion to close Elmhurst yet seemingly no due diligence has begun on this or any other budgetary remedy other than adjusting the S3050. I would like to urge our leadership in the School Committee and administration to immediately begin the scenarios for "worse case" and if we are pleasantly surprised by "best case" - so be it. We are all the wiser as to the details of our expenditures. However the longer we wait, the affect a decision such as closing a school might have will impact thousands of households in our district. Students, parents, faculty, staff and all those who participate in the education of our children. Unlike last year I feel the order of magnitude of the decisions that might stem from our budgetary shortfalls is far higher. We are not talking a coupled of students here and there, we are talking all major schools with the exception of the High School will be influenced by a closing of Elmhurst. That will affect a solid majority of our community and therefore warrants immediate analysis and action.
The meeting took place at 7pm in the Elmhurst Music Room. Attendees included Dr. Lusi - Superintendent, Mr. Ettinger - Elmhurst Principal, Sylvia Wedge - School Committee Representative, Kelly Heitmann - EPTO President, Liz Harris - VP of EPTO and a large gathering that included the balance of our EPTO, our parents and faculty, as well a other representatives of schools in Portsmouth or the community in general. The meeting format was to include a 30-45 minute period whereby the audience could pose questions to Dr. Lusi. In turn we would take a break and she would provide her responses. The following are the notes from this format and the resulting information. I cannot stress enough the need for parents and all those who value a superior education in Portsmouth to remain intently engaged throughout the budget process. Attending School Committee & Town Council meetings, and resulting subcommittee meetings, will be ESSENTIAL to ensure our voice is heard and no rash decisions are made that cannot be unmade. QUESTIONS: When will Elmhurst parents/community know where our children will be attending school in the fall 2009? What is being considered as part of the move? Logistics, etc. Given the demographics, and forecast of population, how big with the class sizes be? Not just ratio – but class sizes? Dr. Lusi – are we aware of physical capacity problems when there is no time to make alterations (Ref RGB report)? - Sewer problems at Melville, navy increase in Portsmouth Would 4th and 5th grade move to Middle School? (Please give us all the information we can now…as much as possible.) Have there been worse case scenarios done along the lines? Like to see projections 25 questions on – how process work, and how it works with Board of Education process. Would funding come from bonding – and will we get reimbursement from state aid? Is there a threat to accreditation? Cross district school capacity? What referendums have been defeated in the past? Other suitable municipal building versus adding on to an existing school? Elmhurst – what is the date of the certification it was structurally sound? Is there a current school preventative maintenance plan? Potential impact of each alternative on transportation? Island traffic? Estimate revenue from the sale or lease of Elmhurst school? Changes in local tax rate as part of facilities project? What approvals are required? (see sheet provided of 25 questions) Would you provide the dollar
amount savings if the school is closed in 2009? Have you opened up negotiations with all unions as the governor directed to get concessions? As a community and a school – what can we do to keep the school open? Fundraising, petitions? Can we get all day kindergarten? New fire code went into law in 2005 – if the school closing has to do with fire code why are we finding out now? Real estate – imagine real estate values be affected by Elmhurst closing – and is there a study on the affect of real estate in the district? Has there been a study of overall housing stock and the demographics with those houses – as those school age children increases (senior citizens depart)? Will Hathaway and Melville be redrawn – will the children attend different schools should Elmhurst close? How can we possibly put the kids in Melville and Hathaway – will 4th go to the Middle school as well as 5th – (has problem with)? Why does Elmhurst have the highest test scores in Newport County? When is the latest we would possibly know of an Elmhurst closing? What to know what timeframe is
driving the closing of Elmhurst? Why not 2 or 5 years from now? Who is forcing the issue of the closure of Elmhurst – is it fire code? If this building is closed – we cannot bring students back – is the administration aware of this? (Can’t do an “oops”) If closing Elmhurst is due to state cuts, and we split kids to Melville and Hathaway, and we propose a bond that does NOT pass – what happens long term? If the state cuts the budget $800k (for example) and we do NOT close Elmhurst – where would the money come from? Need creative thinking? Has there been a number placed
on how much savings would result from closing Elmhurst? Has there been a net present value over 40 years to fixing schools – versus building a new school? Can Elmhurst become a charter school? What is the over arching goal for closing Elmhurst? Future Search was such a positive community event – so many good things came of it – can the results of it be shared with the community to see the 10 year plan? Is there a redistricting already taking place – given kindergarten is down to only 2 classes versus 3? Is the school shrinking silently dating back to 2005? Is there a way to strip down the facilities report to only do what is absolutely mandatory to keep it going for a few years? Is it true this asset is turned over to the town – so the value would not go to the students? How can you ensure continuing progress and achievement under this plan (if Elmhurst were to close)? How can you assure us that this temporary relocation would not be permanent? What information are those who make the decision really waiting for? Is it to see if we get financial aid, or Governor’s budget gets approved? If we are awaiting financial news – have we taken steps necessary to involve the community (including teacher’s union) to make this work? Why are not engaging all the parties required to meet our responsibilities? Is the old Penfield school owned by the town of Portsmouth? (It is actually in worse shape…) Is there any plan for this property if the school closes down? Eye on water front property? Has there been a full research of the deed of the Elmhurst property historically? If sold, what is impact to surrounding community? (Sites Bristol) Who makes the final decision? School Committee? Dr. Lusi? Does Town Council need to approve? Will redistribution if Elmhurst closes be by neighborhood – and will there be a consideration for siblings being together? ANSWERS: We are seated in the state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, highest budget deficit in the nation relative to size, in a state where the Governor are discussing mid-year cuts ending June 30 – do not know cuts this year, let alone next year. Virtually no discussion at state level about what happens given some of the proposals for this year, what does that imply for next year. Only state in the nation without a funding formula for education. On the local side, a council was elected in November who believes strongly to keep costs down. S3050 not to exceed cap – and not even go to cap. $1.2 if we go to cap – on a $36m budget – is not a lot of money year over year. We had wild fluctuations this year – ended the year level. Cannot control all the factors as described – when people make the final decision on the budget, School Committee recommends to Town Council – March 25th. Timeline coming shortly – series of finance committee meetings. Process just starting now. Vote budget next to last week in June – later than most communities. Do not know budget until just before the school year starts – but can take into account state aid impact. Registration process has change – School Committee does not recognize any district or neighborhood in assignment of schools. However, it has been recognized. Look at cap size caps in contract and look for this in ratios. If there is not room in Elmhurst – they are moved to another school. Class size caps remain the same – class sizes would not change. Why are we talking about this now? Part of it is budget, but not all of it. We have a history of deferred maintenance in our buildings. We have clean buildings, but if you walk around the buildings have not kept up with the times as far as windows, etc. There has been a $350,000 bond each year for capital and maintenance issues. Compared to RGB report - $350k does not go that far. There is a history of deferred maintenance. If you look at the plans – there has not been a long term plan – reason for the Facilities Committee. Facilities Committee contracted with RGB to get the report on facilities. Need that report for housing aid now from state. State looking much more closely at entire master plan of district if looking for funds. We would not have a chance for a dime more if we did not have a comprehensive study. We do have older buildings, history of deferment, declining enrollment. Navy is predicting more coming to base, but do not predict families coming along. Most of the people would be here for a short duration and may not move, or may not have families, according to an event Dr. Lusi attended. NESDEC – enrollment projections a free service to members. Last year they were 6 students off –they are projecting declining enrollment. We are not in a period of increasing enrollment. As a state we are losing population. As Aquidneck Island we are losing population. Have we taken regionalization into account? We have not in the current facilities report. There is an Aquidneck Island committee from Superintendents, School Committees, and Town Councils, - to see cost savings, etc. report due in late February. The facilities plan does not take all 3 communities (Middletown, Newport, Portsmouth) into account. Future Search conference mentioned. Two days conference involving 65 members of our community – resulted in a report on the conference which should be out in a couple of weeks. Resulting in a strategic plan. The goals of the Future Search and the Facilities Committee was to have a long term plan for both education and fiscal responsibility. The budget process is just starting – and there are questions on trade-offs – scenarios will be developed. State aid impacts, Governor’s proposal, etc. We are in negotiation with our teachers. We have wonderful teachers in our community. Why do we have high test scores – we have phenomenal teachers and a community that works well together. Elmhurst also has the highest socio-economical demographics – test scores still very closely track socio-economic status. We have phenomenal teachers at all elementary schools. If you have high achieving children they will be high achieving in other schools, the support will still remain, and they will bring the same skill set. Dr. Lusi respects the right of parents to have issues with the process, have petitions, etc. Do not respect reaching out to the teacher’s union and then having others reach out to administration. Dr. Lusi does not want teacher’s put in the middle of this situation. When you reach out politically to a union you place teachers in the middle – Dr. Lusi strongly encourage to value our teachers and not put them in the middle. Real estate values. Flight from Portsmouth if Elmhurst closes. Expectations might bring about a self fulfilling prophecy that real estate values plunge actually happens. If it were the case that it were intolerable to have their children educated with other elementary schools. Dr. Lusi would expect more children not attending Middle School when the time comes. Not the pattern in Portsmouth. Our collective behavior will have an influence on real estate outcomes that result. Has a decision been made to close Elmhurst for Fall 2009? Would you support keeping a school open. Closing a school is the third rail of a Superintendency. No decision has been made. Were it not for the budget picture right now and the unknowns – would love to say we would do nothing for at least a year. That normally would be the most sensible thing to do. Problem is we cannot give the list of trade-offs right now given the unknowns. Cannot recommend to the School Committee they box themselves in right now and not close Elmhurst. Dr. Lusi is not sure we can physically do it. Difference between RGB report – and the current situation – they used a K-2= 22, 3rd+=25 class size. RGB’s approach makes complete sense. Do not want to plan to limits of room/class size. If you get to a system in crisis – then physically counting classrooms – would recommend to School Committee. What happens if they never pass a bond – very legitimate question. History – H.S. gym took years. Were Dr. Lusi in our shoes, what is the long-range plan and what is the chance that plan will be acted on. Her job is to put recommendations forward to the School Committee based on “not so great” circumstances. Our job a parents is to ask great questions. Will be involved and will we be heard. Wouldn’t it be great if this many showed up to a Town Council meeting? If elected officials do not hear from you – they will support the people they hear the most from. She respects the Town Council – when she is told they were elected to keep the costs down – she cannot dispute that. She recognizes that she needs to show the trade-offs. If we decided to make a move –what would the process be? Dr. Lusi would be soliciting input from us and others for questions raised. For instance would every set of schools be re-districted or just Elmhurst. Her personal thought would be to look at the whole community. Do we do that all at once? Or transition it for kids already in the building? Discussion among three schools, parents, administrators, etc. Teachers – last time a move was made where they wanted to move, who they wanted to team with, and fortunately they could honor those preferences. Would try to do that again. Will put cost savings numbers together – mostly operations – and one-time moving costs. Look at staff. Staff savings would be quite small – while there would be an administrative savings – teachers are driven by the number of kids. By closing a school do not by definition reduce # of teachers. Nursing would not be likely. Custodial likely. She is going to put those numbers together. They will NOT be available tomorrow – but will be presented to the School Committee or Finance Subcommittee meeting. All meetings are public. What happens to the building in the near and far term if we move kids out of it. It depends on how we leave the building. If we abandon the building for educational purposes – moth balled a building – have to look closely at this situation. Have not done an analysis of the value of the property – land or building. Reason 1) it seemed premature given report just released, and 2) not our property – Town’s property. Who would do the appraisal, how it would get done, etc. Up to Town Council what happens to proceeds if anything were done – sale or lease. School department does not control these decisions. Why did we – administration/School Committee – start the conversation without the information. Catch 22 – if we wait for all the information and full blown plan. If done this way – “snuck up on us” – then not a part of the plan. Debates when to start conversations on alternatives – err on the side of alerting everyone prior to having the full plan rolled out. Cannot provide a drop dead date when we will know about Elmhurst’s future. Present to Town Council March 25th – communicate it to them. At very least we will have discussed in subcommittee meetings by then. MORE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Music, art and enrichment – will this survive in a consolidated model? Dr. Lusi could not guarantee it would but would desire there be no impact. Fire code – supposed to do one a year to get up to code. Could we get an extension on the fire code work due to the larger facilities plan? Newport did – can Portsmouth. Meeting later this week with Town Administrator and Fire Chief. How do we keep the school open? Stay engaged, ask questions, lobby, look at trade-offs. Longer term everyone look at where we want to go in the future. Continuing to repair, renovate buildings of a certain age – especially with “green” – is not cost effective. Future Search stated that people want appropriate, green, technologically advanced facilities. It is not clear we want to stick with this configuration to reach that goal. Are we looking 3 years down the line before we need to focus on Elmhurst for the fire code. What are the other driving issues from a facilities standpoint – moving kids to a different school taught by the same teachers – where is the cost savings? Analysis needs to be done. Not sure we can even do this – “not getting it”? Why are we doing this? Not just next year – period. www.PortsmouthSchoolsRI.org - reminder on where to locate the Facilities Reports. Dr. Lusi encourages everyone to read the Facilities Reports. Backup detail is there as well. There are three priorities: 1 – is immediate attention. $1.4 for Elmhurst. Priority 2 - $1.6m – 1-5 years, and Priority 3 – 5+ years (no figure - need to look up). Why is closing this school the short term options? Renovating the schools planning option 4 – extended over 10 years – was the second cheapest option. However investing in an old building. Terri Cortvriend– there are many items in the options are “need further study” particularly in Option 4. Why was there not talk of closing all schools and building a new school for all students? There was quite a bit of discussion on that but did not become a final recommendation. It was a concern of overall cost and getting a bond for it. Sale of properties help? Facilities Committee did not consider the land sale in funding a new building. Town owns the building. Melville however Navy has some right-of-way issues. Dr. Lusi to check on that. Budget planning process – 1
year – strategic plan is 5+ years out. What is the long term budget plan – is
there one? Current and strategic should go hand in hand. Massachusetts charges extensive user fees – RI does not. Some states have independent school districts – have taxing authority for schools – not here. Public sector is a little different from the corporate. Sen. Rice – process is a beast with the state. State is different from town, different from school district. Governor presents his budget and the house – finance committee – analyses it with testimony. Items such as bus monitors – but not decided due to waiting to hear from all parties. Sen. Rice opposes the cuts – however there is a large deficit. School Committee makes the decision, Dr. Lusi and administration makes recommendations to the School Committee. This in turn is present to the Town Council for approval. Vocalization of transportation issues – long bus rides – and personal impact to children. SUMMARY: Liz Harris, VP of ETPO, closed by stating this is obviously a real threat. That the petition exists because the Town Council is listening. The School Comittee is listening. We need to keep the momentum up and the engagement of our community high. The petition can be found here. Last night, I attended the joint meeting of the
Portsmouth Town Council and the Portsmouth School Committee, inclusive of Dr.
Lusi and her financial director, Mrs. Tague.
The Facilities Plan is to be discussed in
more depth next Tuesday, January 27th at the next School Committee meeting. Last night many of us attended the School Committee meeting at 7pm in the Portsmouth High School. Initially normal business was discuss however the main topic on everyone's mind was the outcome of the Facilities Report as issued by RGB and the Facilities Committee. First there was an overview of each facility and an explanation of what was deemed #1 priority, urgent, #2 - needs to be done in the next 1-5 years, and #3 - needs to be done in the out years 5+. From this the following was determined:
After this information was presented, and please bear in mind my notes could be a little off on some figures, Mr. Hughes went on to discuss the four options the committee would propose. These ARE in order of the committee's preference. The options were reviewed by Mr. Hughes of RGB, the firm conducting the analysis. Options 1-4 were presented, highlights are as follows: (please read the facilities reports at the school district website for the details): Option 1: $31.9m
Option 2: $48.8m
Option 3: $25.8m
Option 4: See text - "Do Nothing" or Stay the Course
Until I have the time to read through the report in detail I have to take the committee at its word on these costs. Please bear in mind these are only construction costs. Nothing was said about labor issues, teacher's unions (which teachers will we lose?), busing or any soft costs related to community concerns.
Although assurances were given at last night's meeting that parents will be able to voice their opinions and that there is a pace this will all take, the School Committee was unable to commit to one specific and important fact: Will our students be at Elmhurst this fall of 2009?
Further, in light of the Governor's cuts which were reviewed and continue to be assessed by Dr. Lusi's staff, the administration is already estimating an $800k+ shortfall for 2010 time frame, I wonder how much closing Elmhurst would yield in savings per year? I personally am connecting some dots on why there is urgency. I do hope to get more answers at our Informational Meeting on the 26th with Dr. Lusi.
If our School Committee truly has the best interests of our students at heart, they will follow a logical, well-thought-out timeline that involves those who are most affected by these discussions: those with children in the Portsmouth Public School system. A spreadsheet alone will not convince me the plan is whole and sound - and the process needs to accommodate my questions and provide detailed answers to all those who have interest in this topic.
The options on the table are valid, the work is commendable, however the Future Search strategy results, the community and all Public School stakeholders must be engaged to democratically reach the consensus BEFORE changes are made.
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