Community Corner

School Committee, Superintendent Note Westford's Cost-Per-Pupil $2,000 Lower Than Comparable Towns

Part Two of a transcript recapping the Nov. 4 Westford School Committee meeting.

Part Two of a transcript recapping the Nov. 4 Westford School Committee meeting. For a full video of the meeting, check out the Westford CAT website (approximate times on the video in parentheses)

For the rest of the meeting, please check out our main article.

8:19 p.m. to 8:32 p.m. (49:53 to 1:02:19)

Additional staffing requirements included….

·         A $12,500 request for a .2 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) math teacher position

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·         $12,500 toward the Bridge Program, 6 FTEs for required special education and preschool needs that would be cheaper to do in house than send out of district

·          Approximately $12,500 toward .2 English and .2 math FTEs curriculum support coordinator for Westford Academy, Stony Brook and Blanchard Schools

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·         $22,000 for .4 FTEs in an ELL teaching position

Assistant Superintendent Christine Francis elaborated on the need for these positions.

8:32 p.m. to 8:35 p.m. (1:02:19 to 1:05:30)

Westford is seeing more special education students and more students overall, coming from out of town or moving into town due to the quality reputation of Westford’s schools, and a larger overall special education population as well.

Olsen told the board that Westford has the only special education-specific transportation service in the state and also noted that the request for an additional van is due to increasingly complex and long transportation routes for special education busses.

8:35 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. (11:05:30 to 1:10:18)

Olsen presented a slide on comparable school districts’ expenditures per pupil, with the average in Westford at $11,449; or $2,213 less than the state average for comparable districts.

He said one of the few weaknesses compared to other districts was operations and maintenance, due in large part to recent building projects and out-of-district placements for certain students, even though Westford had fewer out-of-district placements than comparable districts.

He concluded saying that the proposed positions were only half of one percent of the additional funding requesting.

8:40 p.m. to 8:47 p.m. (1:10:18 to 1:17:05)

Keele was pleased that the final recommendation was so close to the town manager’s expectations given how early the proposal was in the budget process, noting alarm at the expected size of Westford Academy, saying 1,700 students was comparable to a college campus.

School Committee Erica Kohl noted her understanding over the ELL position, citing a statistic stating that last year over 10 percent of students had English as a second language in the home, and requested additional itemization on possible risks on things like less school choice funding for emergencies.

Kohl also asked questions regarding the special education nurse, the textbook fund and Westford Academy English class restructuring.

8:47 p.m. to 8:48 p.m. (1:17:05 to 1:18:49)

School Committee member Tom Clay wanted the public to understand that while Olsen said earlier in the evening that the United States is around 20th in the developed world on test scores, he said if Westford were a country, it’d be around sixth.

He continued with questions and comments regarding the Westford Academy enrollment crunch as well as asking for additional details on larger fluctuations on currently funded items not included in the four percent increases.

8:48 p.m. to 8:53 p.m. (1:18:49 to 1:23:00)

School Committee member Arthur Benoit asked a question about school library circulation and whether that would be impacting instructional funding.

Olsen said that stimulus money helped with the libraries, but there had been no funding since then and more funding would need to come soon.

Murray asked said a more detailed list of fees was appreciated and asked a question on why it was good to see a breakdown of the numbers given that there would be a new kindergarten class with enrollment declining, specifically regarding special education enrollment increasing.

She also said that one-on-one aides should be avoided when possible. Olsen said in most cases it was not possible. 


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