Westfield

From the Desk of Superintendent Scallion

Needed: one working crystal ball! It’s budget season and our team is hard at work trying to close the books on the fiscal year 2014-15. With nearly six weeks remaining in this fiscal year, it’s a busy operation to close out the thousands of accounts in our budget. Hats Off to Mr. Ron Rix, Mrs. Pam Kotarski and the rest of the staff who are scrambling to get us a bottom line.
We are pleased that our personnel side of the budget looks to be landing smoothly and accounts for nearly eighty percent of the school budget. The expense side is much trickier in a year like this with increased utility costs, overtime for our hard-working maintenance staff and all the things that break over the course of a year and need repair or replacing. Winter might be a thing of the past but the bills are still arriving. I’m still hoping for a year when the costs actually go down…
All said, we have been able to close the gap between the Mayor’s anticipated budget for fiscal year 2016 and our anticipated budget of need. The current gap sits at about 1.5 percent of our total budget (about a million dollars and shrinking) and we hope it closes even further as we resolve all of our open accounts for this fiscal year.
Over the next month, there will be lots of banter about the city budgets, cuts and the like. We urge you to read between the lines of fact, opinion and politics. Our schools have been making progress and we are still catching up. The second half of the tech bond never happened and the needs are still there. We are grateful for the ongoing support from the City and will keep the lines of communication open on both the needs and successes in our schools.
The new school is still much-needed despite rumors to the contrary. Again next year, there won’t be a single open classroom in our elementary schools. It has been 6 long years since the start of the new school project. During that time the conditions in some of our other schools has continued to decline. We must be prepared to face renovation and facelifts for Fort Meadow, Highland and Southampton Road after the Abner Gibbs and Franklin Avenue facilities are closed or re-purposed. And our high schools still need significant upgrades to the Science labs.
The sky is not falling but the needs are real. This budget season will come to a close and we will do the best we can to maintain a challenging program of studies for our students. The greatest investment this city can make is educating the next generation. And, the progress being made in educating our students with special needs in our own city schools is remarkable. Instead of hours on a bus each day going to and from programs in neighboring communities, our students are receiving first rate services right here in their hometown many of which are coordinated in a partnership with the University. The quality of our programs is gaining attention and I look forward to the day when the staff receives the appropriate recognition.
Of course, I was saddened that a member of our own teaching community took an anonymous jab at our schools. Our high school class size averages are well below 24 except for the Social Studies department. You might find 18 in one section and 28 in another based on the combination of other courses the student is taking. And, as I reiterated twice at the School Committee meeting, the ideas of implementing or raising fees should be explored by a committee gathered to look at options once we know the final numbers. The bus fee was mentioned as a way to determine a more accurate count of our ridership at the secondary level. With a new bid coming out next year, we owe it to the citizens to identify exactly how many buses are needed. With a small fee, parents will demonstrate a commitment to the bus and we can adjust bus runs accordingly. Right now, we have secondary buses running with low ridership because we have each student scheduled for a bus unless their parent has opted out.
Behind every anonymous jab there is another story. As President Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs…. if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” Our team works very hard and have pride in the successes in our schools.
We will get through the budget season and onto the challenge of meeting the needs of all learners. As always, it is my honor to serve the City of Westfield and work with the outstanding team of educators whose focus remains on the prize… our students.
Sincerely,
Dr. Suzanne Scallion

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.

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