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Eighth Grade Trip Guidelines Leaves Garrison School Board Divided
$475,000 undesignated fund balance at close of 2005-6
by Margaret Sternberg
The November 1, 2006 meeting of the Garrison Board of Education was wide-ranging in scope - covering everything from the school's audit report to a singing tribute to the Board in acknowledgement of School Board Recognition Week, which had occurred the prior week.
Brought before the Board a second time and again provoking the most discussion were the recommendations for the 8th grade trip. Recapping previous recommendations of the Education Committee, Board of Education Trustee and Chair Marilyn Palefsky said the Committee continued to recommend Boston for having the most variety in activities. The trip would take place during mid-May based upon testing schedules and the weather, and the trip would be limited to two days and one night, addressing the issues of expense and amount of class time lost.
Students will be responsible for selecting from a list the activities they would like to attend. According to Palefsky, this provides the students "the opportunity to be directly involved in their trip and use persuasive writing/speech to promote their preferred activities. A problem-based activity, with guidelines...provides an...educational experience for the 8th grade students...[who] will also need to participate in fundraising activities as well as follow the school's Code of Conduct." Only school personnel will be allowed to be chaperones for the trip.
Trustee Eric Jacoby made the point that fund-raising and behavioral requirements should be written down so that children and parents know the expectations. Superintendent Gloria Colucci said that what is new this year is the requirement to participate in five fund-raising events - a recommendation from parents - and that other expectations had been "known" but had not previously been in written form.
Jacoby also elicited that an unspoken reason for cutting back on the second overnight stay was that there is a history of "something always happen(ing) on the second night."
Trustee Jim Cannon, appearing visibly distressed, took strong exception to the barring of parents as chaperones for the trip, citing a history of volunteerism on the part of parents and arguing that their exclusion sent the wrong message: only their efforts to raise funds were welcomed. Cannon felt the choice to decline parent volunteers as chaperones represented a rebuff to people whom the school should value.
Superintendent Colucci responded, saying she hoped that was not the way the choice was perceived, adding "our parent volunteers are extremely important to us." She said that the fact that they are having faculty chaperone this trip has nothing to do with "our value of what parents bring to us or a lack of desire to have parents as partners." She said all of the Middle School trips leave with faculty chaperones and "there is a more global perspective that teachers have and school staff has in terms of district policies and procedures and what needs to take place...especially when you're in a looser environment...that really helps us in managing..."
Cannon also disagreed that the way in which the trip was constructed conferred more responsibility on the students, arguing their choices were circumscribed in terms of both destination and activities. Cannon added that he had been approached by students concerned about the trip. He described them as trying to take ownership of the trip and "being diminished and dismissed because of it." Cannon said the "rubric runs both ways...our expectations ...and their expectations." Cannon also cited the $37,000 raised last year as an indicator of the children's commitment to the process.
The discussion ended with no action taken.
In other business, Don Colsolo, representing the school's independent auditor, presented the audit report for the 2005-6 school year. Consolo reviewed total revenues and expenses, highlighting deviations from expectations that resulted in an undesignated fund balance of $475,501.
Among the factors contributing to the balance, which was 2-3 percent over the 2 percent maximum allowed by the State, were four hikes in the interest rate over the year, the moving from the district of several special education students, who are generally high cost and for whom monies had been allocated, and the retirement of several teachers, who were replaced by less senior teachers.
Consolo said the district has the entire 2006-7 school year to correct the overage. President Anita Prentice noted that the conditions that had contributed to the excess in the fund balance were "not something we can count on every year," also commenting that some monies would be needed for litigation with St. Basil Academy.
Both Superintendent Gloria Colucci and Principal Stephanie Impellittiere outlined their goals for the 2006-7 school year.
Goals fell within broad areas: support of an educational environment encouraging academic, intellectual and creative development through the use of differentiated instruction, instructional technology and a strong arts program; promoting and supporting the social, emotional and physical development of the whole child; developing an effective means of communication in order to inform all in the community through technological and other means; promotion and support of recreational, extracurricular, instructional and co-curricular activities during and after the school day for students, parents and community members and, in the case of the superintendent, to continuously seek to improve fiscal and operational management of the district.
Among specific goals Superintendent Colucci proposed for herself were providing professional development opportunities in understanding learning styles, the benefits of active learning opportunities and the development of strategies for differentiating instruction; refining and improving inclusion services for students with special needs; working with the Technology Committee, facilitating the integration of technology into daily instruction and defining the technology curriculum and identifying, collecting and analyzing data to improve instruction.
In the same area, instruction, Principal Impellittiere outlined supporting the teachers in the technology area by providing in-service training; providing support and allotting time for teachers to become comfortable with the new Math textbook series; supporting faculty in reviewing and rewriting the ELA and Library curriculum and supporting and implementing the Spanish program in the 5th grade as well as supporting the Education Committee's efforts to bring the program into the lower grades.
Goals listed under supporting the development of the whole child included continuation of the K-8 guidance program, encouraging the PTA and staff to begin parent workshops, providing appropriate staff training and monitoring during less structures times before, during and after the school day and continuation of the Cafeteria and Recess Committee, an idea that had originated with the students.
Within the realm of communications, the administration planned to provide opportunities for open forums at the school, electronically, and at other key locations in the community and to encourage personal contact with the community at large; expand the use of the District web page to include timely information and links to other relevant websites and to research and investigate means and opportunities to reach out and communicate with the community.
Superintendent Colucci announced the school is reviewing options for financial software for the business office, looking for a secure system that, aside from updating the current system from DOS to Windows, could be used as backup in the event of a disaster. Superintendent Colucci said two systems, currently being used by other districts, are being considered but are expensive, with first year start-up costs almost $50,000 for a district Garrison's size. Annual costs thereafter would be $22,000. No decisions have yet been made on the systems.
In recognition of Board members' service to the community, Liana Culp and Chloe Wareham-Gordon presented Board members with a group thank-you card followed by the drama club singing The Best of Times to the Board members. Each member then received a personalized thank you card from a grade level or class.
There was no news regarding the lawsuits between the district and St. Basil. The next meeting of the Garrison Board of Education will be Wednesday, November 15, at 7pm.
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