MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:

* Pumpkin Delight School needs an elevator.
* Milford Public School Capital Improvement Plan received the BOE’s approval unanimously. The Mayor will select and recommend those projects he views that the city can afford.
* Early Dismissal Wednesdays deemed successful and necessary by the school administration.
* Response to Intervention (RTI) will eventually replace the present way of classifying special education students.

DETAILS BELOW:

Okay, this may be boring for many. But, I believe that in order to understand who is responsible for what and how decisions are made as well as how things are accomplished, it’s important to know and understand the process. The following is my account and interpretation of the Monday, December 14, 2009, Board of Education meeting. The views in this post are mine.

To begin with, there are two divisions of the Milford Public School administration: Operations and Instruction.

At the December 14, 2009, Board of Education meeting, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Phil Russell, gave the new Board of Education a brief and general overview of how the operational side of the school system works. No one had any questions or comments. Conclusion: They all must understand that the school administration can move money around within the same account series, but needs to ask the Board of Education permission to move money from one series account to another.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, a few members of the public voiced their concerns over the need for an elevator at Pumpkin Delight School, the only elementary school with two floors. Apparently, there are students who have permanent physical disabilities as well as students, teachers, parents, staff members who have suffered from temporary physical disabilities which inhibit their movement around the building. Moreover, it was stated that the school system is technically in “compliance” with the handicap access law since they move the classrooms of the effected student(s) or teacher(s) to the first floor when needed. Last year, just like this year, the addition of an elevator for Pumpkin Delight School was included in the Milford Public School Capital Improvement Program. Last year, the school Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) was frozen by the Mayor due to the recession and budget concerns.

Mr. Russell explained to the new Board of Education members that once they approve the CIP, it will be forwarded to the Mayor for consideration. The Mayor then reviews it and selects certain items that he considers affordable for the City. His recommendations move through the following Boards: Planning and Zoning, Board of Finance and onto the Board of Aldermen. If it is approved, the selected items from the CIP are forwarded to the Permanent School Building Committee that has Tracy Casey and Bob White as the BOE liaisons to advocate for the work to be accomplished. Most of the CIP projects are eligible for state funding at a reimbursement rate of approximately 40%. The BOE unanimously approved the CIP. I suspect that the Mayor will be hearing from the Pumpkin Delight School community advocating for the inclusion of the elevator project. By the way, the estimated cost of the elevator is $350,000.

It will be interesting to see which items the Mayor will select. Aside from the various infrastructure improvements and renovations for Foran High School, various schools need more asbestos removal and tile replacement and East Shore Middle School still requires major renovations. That’s just for 2010-2011. The CIP is a 5 year plan.

Another issue of concern was that of the Early Dismissal days for teachers and staff to meet to improve instructional planning. The goals are consistency, engagement of students and rigor of the curriculum. According to Mike Cummings, Acting Superintendent, meeting for three hour blocks of time allows for a necessary conversation between teachers because they learn best from each other. No data was presented at the meeting. Tracy Casey was under the impression that the Early Dismissal days implemented this year for the Elementary and Middle Schools were to help implement RTI. Mr. Cummings disagreed with her recollection and believes that the Early Dismissal days are beneficial and necessary to remain competitive. In February, the administration will present to the BOE for their consideration to continue these early dismissal planning days. It was noted that some school systems have early dismissal Wednesdays every week and have extended the school day the other four days to deal with the loss of instructional time. Extending the school year may be another way to deal with making up the lost time. Contractual obligations/negotiations will have to be factored into any future changes. Thirty hours of instructional time is lost each year due to the 10 Early Dismissal Wednesdays.

Mr. Cummings also announced that Response to Intervention (RTI) will eventually replace the present way of classifying special education students. He believes that RTI assessments are a good way to ensure that all students are receiving what they need. Dave Amendola asked for the school administration to put together a presentation regarding RTI for the committee of the whole meeting.

In theory, RTI appears to be a proactive means to meet the needs of struggling students. However, I hope that the use of data to determine classification for special education is not the only criteria. Data does not reflect the full nature of the individual nor the other mitigating circumstances that may inhibit educational success. My hope is that RTI will be used as a tool and not as a barrier to access for necessary special education services.