The Marion School Committee on April 1 opted out of the school choice program for another school year, mostly because of uncertainty over the population of school children that the 40B housing at Marion Village Estates will likely bring to the district.
Superintendent of Schools Doug White recommended the committee forego participating in school choice for the 2015/2016 school year because of limited space and rising class sizes, something which White said is “very important to us” at Sippican School.
Information about potential new students moving into the district through the affordable housing is unavailable and unlikely will be available for some time.
“And hopefully we’ll have a better understanding moving forward in the future,” White said. “The current budget supports the current enrollment at this time.”
When it came time for a motion, it was followed by one resounding unanimous ‘aye.’
In other matters, Fiscal Year 2016 budget talks between the Marion School District and the Marion Finance Committee have concluded, and a budget that supports the restoration of the full-time enrichment teacher as well as an increase from part-time to a full-time vice-principal, totals $5,634,987, up a mere half percent from the FY15 budget.
White said the budget includes the use of $140,000 in circuit breaker funds, state money reimbursed to the town for individual students’ special education costs that exceed a certain threshold. The Finance Committee asked the budget subcommittee to use the funds to help offset the budget, which White said was not an issue since $60,000 remains in the district’s circuit breaker account with an approximate $90,000 still to come.
The committee approved the FY16 budget.
Also during the meeting, White apologized for a technology mix-up last week on March 23 when parents throughout all the Tri-Town school districts received an automated call saying their child was marked absent that day. White said the snafu happened while the schools were switching over to a new district-wide emergency alert system, and the action was unintentional.
“A lot of parents were concerned that afternoon,” said White. “My sincere apology for that.”
White told the committee, “We know exactly what button was hit.” He said they realize now that the phone system district-wide would be overwhelmed and would shut down again in the event of an emergency should parents call the schools all at once like they did Monday.
In other news, the committee approved the new elementary school library curriculum after a presentation by Sippican School Librarian Jessica Barrett. The curriculum is based on the contemporary ‘library commons’ idea of more of a media learning center, which Barrett said “is not your grandmother’s library.”
The library is a place for students to research, evaluate, and collaborate, said Barrett.
“It is an active place; it is not a place you’re going to walk into and hear me shushing the kids,” said Barrett. “If it looks like a hands-on children’s museum, then we’re moving in the right direction.”
The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for May 6 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
