Buckley talks moving grades to WDHS
WASHBURN, Maine — At last Tuesday night’s SAD 45 board meeting, Superintendent Ed Buckley said the David J. Lyon Washburn District Elementary School is “packed to the gills,” anticipating a potential move of the seventh and eighth grade to the high school.
“With proficiency-based education, students need to be instructed based on their individual level of knowledge. This will require more teachers to share the load and our district is not in a financial position to be able to hire more teachers,” he said. “This move will allow for at least two more teachers at the high school with no additional cost to the district.”
The move, Buckley said, will also ensure that students are taught by fully certified, highly qualified teachers teaching within their content areas.
“This move may allow us to add more instructional support in the areas of math, English, social studies and special education,” he said.
Buckley noted that the district’s Least Restrictive Environment rates are not in compliance with special education regulations, and said the move will allow SAD 45 to become compliant and “get our LRE rates where they need to be.”
In addition, the move may allow the district to offer a foreign language to middle school students.
“That’s something they have not been able to take in the past,” said Buckley. “We may also be able to offer woodworking to middle school students, if possible. High school students may have the opportunity to take additional classes like economics or civics which is not an option for them at the present time.”
Other reasons for the move cited at the meeting include:
• More physical education time for elementary students. “We might be able to extend physical education time for our youngsters which they very much need during the early years,” said Buckley. “Currently, with so many classes having to be taught at the elementary school, the PE times need to be fairly short. Young people need plenty of opportunity to be physically active which also helps them focus during instructional time.”
• Possible Title I support at the high school.
• Space at the elementary school for 21st Century Afterschool Program, Title I instruction, and outside services.
• Additional faculty at the high school to help with instruction and supervision.
• Hopefully eliminate multiple students and teachers having to travel back and forth between buildings during different times throughout the school day. “Our teachers need to have their own classroom and space in which to work,” said Buckley.
• Help ease with the “freshman slide” issues that ninth-graders deal with every year. “Research indicates that ninth-graders are more successful when transitioned to the high school setting at an earlier time,” Buckley said.
• Increase in technology at the high school. “Our Maine Learning Technology Initiative agreement ensures that adequate technology be provided for seventh- and eighth-graders, which will mean an increase in devices and Apple TVs for our high school,” the superintendent said.
• Additional enrollment at the high school will hopefully help sustain the high school. “With such small enrollment, it will become more difficult each year to keep our high school open. The state will likely continue to pressure us — possibly through a decrease in funding — to send our students to Caribou and Presque Isle in future years,” said Buckley. “We need to increase enrollment at the high school and do everything we can to ensure its future.”
• Cost savings to the district. “We know that we can eliminate one teaching position, which will save between $35,000-$40,000, and we know that under the present circumstances, we will have to eliminate more than that … whether we have to cut some positions back to half-time remains to be seen,” Buckley said, “but we cannot continue with class sizes in the neighborhood that we have now. I would estimate that we’re going to have to come up with $150,000 … maybe more. We’ve got to be cost efficient. We’re going to have to run a tight ship.”
Recognizing that grade leveling is not a popular suggestion, Buckley told directors that it would save thousands of dollars.
“If we could somehow level classes, we could cut three positions. At $50,000 a piece, that’s $150,000 if you could level these classes,” he said. “Combining grades isn’t a popular suggestion, but that will come as the numbers get smaller. I don’t think we’re at the point where we need to do that yet, but that would be an idea.”
In terms of class size, Buckley said 26 students is the “top figure” in terms of the number of students in one classroom.
“I’m sorry to be blunt, but if we’re looking at cutting a teacher, let’s be real and say, ‘OK, this class has got 30 kids. We need to look at it. This class has 24. One teacher can teach 24; we don’t need two teachers for 24 kids,” said director Tammi Easler. “I think we need to increase our classes here [at the elementary school] and not look at cutting off at 26 students. It’s been done before … I know because my kid was in that class. They survived it and so did the teachers and nobody lost their job. I think we need to increase our class size over here.”
Buckley cautioned that when you go beyond 26 students in an elementary school classroom, “you’re not giving them the individual attention that they need.”
“When we used to have 40 kids in grade four, we’d have two rooms. When you have 30 kids in grade four, what do you do? Two rooms. That’s what’s killing us,” he said. “We have lost enrollment; we used to have most of our classes between 40-50. Now they’re in the high 20s or low 30s. They still require two rooms. We haven’t gained any rooms because our enrollment is still in that 28-30 range. If we get down to 25-26, we could maybe go to one room, but unfortunately every time we’ve done that, we get three or four transfers in and suddenly we have 29 in that room.”
The district is planning to hold an open house at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 at the high school giving middle school parents the opportunity to come tour the building and ask questions.
Mike McIntosh, board chair, said it’s important to vote on the possible move next month.
“We really need to make a decision in April so that the next year’s classrooms — one way or the other — can be scheduled. Last summer we kind of held the decision up for a long time and made the scheduling extremely difficult for the folks that have to do it,” he said. “If we vote in April, that still gives a reasonable time for the guidance counselors, parents and students to make their plans for next fall.
“I have no idea how this vote is going to go, but we need to make a decision,” said McIntosh.
SAD 45 directors are imploring community members to share their concerns with them.
“I’ve been on the board for about a year now,” said director Cherri Fitzpatrick, “and I’ve had nobody approach me — except for friends — and share their opinions. That’s why I’m here … to represent the voices of Washburn, but I have not had anybody come to me to discuss their concerns. I’m here to listen, and I’m here to consider what you have to say.
“The folks of Washburn have elected me into this role … to be some sort of conduit for your opinion and I’m not getting it,” she said. “Without getting that, I have to try to guess what most people might think, and it’s a very difficult position to be in as far as trying to make assumptions based on hearsay and what I hear from public forums like this. Oftentimes people only come when there’s a concern, so the perspective is skewed. Feel free to contact me and share.”
Also at the March 10 meeting, directors:
• Were notified that the district has filed an appeal as it pertains to the $384,000 decrease in state subsidy.
“We have received an initial response from the Department of Education,” McIntosh said. “They have recognized that we are owed for one more bus, which is about $25,000. They accepted our appeal, ran the numbers, and said that now they owe us an additional $7,000.
“Mr. Buckley is now going to take his time to rerun the numbers and check the formulas,” he said. “The good news is that the appeal has been filed and the elements of the appeal have not been challenged.”
Buckley said the district is now looking at a $350,000 hole.
“We got a lot of money last year from Maine Care; if we get as much this year, that would leave us with a $150,000 hole assuming that nothing else changes,” he said, “but other things are changing. We’ve got increases in salaries for a lot of our employees built in, and we’ve got increases coming for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, so we’re going to need more than $150,000. That’s why we know that we have got to cut a significant amount of money out of operational budget.”
• Were given an update on the superintendent search. Easler said the interviews have started, and one of the candidates has already accepted another position. “Hopefully when we come back in April, I will have a name to bring to the board,” she said.
• Acknowledged board member Jennifer Olson, who is not running for re-election.
“Jennifer has been on the board for 12 years, and she is retiring from the board,” said McIntosh. “She’s done a great job on the board. I think it’s fair to say that over the years we’ve both been on the board we probably voted against each other more than any other two combination here, but it’s never been personal with Jennifer. If she disagrees with you and you vote opposite sides, you’re just as good friends afterwards as you were before.
“She’s also kept the board part of her life separate from the rest of her life … she doesn’t let it run off and cause any difficulties outside of the meetings, and I’d like to say that she’s always willing to compromise,” he said. “I want to congratulate her on one instance in particular. She fought for years to reduce the potato harvest, and two years ago she had enough votes to do it. It was very controversial, and at the very last minute — with the farmers dead-set against it — a compromise was offered and Jennifer was willing to accept that compromise. I think that exemplified her service on the board, and was much appreciated.”
The board then gave Olson a standing ovation.
The next regular SAD 45 board meeting will be held Tuesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. in the elementary school cafeteria.
