To the Editor,

            Attention Families of Rochester Memorial School: I am the parent of a third grader who attends the Rochester Memorial School. I also serve on the RMS School Council. It was recently brought to my attention (and others) that our school stands to lose staff members—teachers and paraprofessionals because of dollar shortfalls in next year’s proposed budget. The positions that will be lost include classroom teachers, the Science Lab program, and six classroom assistants. As it stands today, class sizes in our upper grades could reach 27 students per classroom. 

In addition, parents whose children take instrumental music lessons will be charged somewhere near five hundred dollars for lessons. These are programs and activities that will personally affect my child and many others as well. My daughter has a passion for Science and Music. She loves her teachers. What a tragic loss for all of the students if they had to lose even one of these educators or educational outlets!

They help to make her the unique and happy individual she is. They contribute heartily to the unique school culture at Rochester Memorial. In the past several years, teachers have since retired and sadly enough they have not been replaced. This is also true of our Assistant Principal who has yet to be replaced, despite the school population of 550 students. Even if you are a parent of a preschooler, with these changes, when your child does enter RMS, it will affect your children’s learning experiences as well.

I would not have any of this information had I not been a member of the School Council.  Its meetings are open for any parent to attend.

I urge you to contact Mr. Ryan, Superintendent White, or school committee members personally with questions or ideas pertaining to the above information. Or, please attend the next School Council meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 7 at 3:30 pm at RMS. The public can also listen and maybe get a better understanding about these serious concerns at the next Rochester School Committee meeting being held on Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

It’s unfortunate that I could not attend the PTO meeting held on February 14 at RMS with the Superintendent speaking about the financial reasons for these possible losses. My eyes have been opened just by attending this recent council meeting and I will be attending the School Committee’s meeting as well because the best way to help our school and its children keep the tremendous learning experiences they have now is to be informed and to inform the committee members of our feelings and commitment to education. We as parents must have a better understanding of this serious situation so we know what we can do to help.

Sincerely yours,

Stacy Carreau, Rochester

To the Editor,

A school community is an integrated web of students, staff, and parents working together. Over the years the Rochester Memorial School community has had all three of these important elements and it has created a learning environment that has allowed our school to be considered a “high performing” school in our state. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing the Rochester Memorial School committee has been asked to cut over $400,000 from its proposed fiscal year 2113 budget.

In a one school town a cut of this size will hit at the heart of the school and its staff. There is a very real possibility that there will be loss of 10 staff members including 6 paraprofessionals, the instructional assistants that work so closely within classrooms to aid classrooms to aid students who need extra assistance, as well as 4 teachers. Retiring teachers would not be replaced and others let go, affecting class size and taking some classes to 26 or 27 students each. Growth could bring those numbers higher.

There would also be changes to programs that touch many if not all our students. The Science Lab program would be eliminated. Instrumental Music would become a “fee for service” with families paying the cost for a year’s lessons.

As stated earlier this information is current and accurate only at the time of writing this letter (February 15, 2012). This budget situation is an ever changing and ongoing process, which began with a $350,000 cut, that has now grown to more than $400,000. Throughout this process the students will continue to do their jobs and our very talented and dedicated staff will continue to do what they do best, be amazing teachers to our children. Parents, we must add making ourselves informed on this matter our job. The March 1 school committee meeting is a good place to start.

Sincerely,

Karen Ovian, Rochester

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.

To the Editor,

We want to express our appreciation to Marion resident Eileen Marum for advocating on behalf of senior citizens and appearing before the Fall River City Council recently to do so. Ms. Marum, president of the Bristol County Chapter of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, voiced the concerns of all those appalled by the new round of proposed budget cuts and its potential impact on the elderly.

Eileen Marum spoke out regarding the unfairness of our revenue system, and how seniors can’t afford more cuts. Already there is a proposed 25 percent cut for meals for seniors at Senior Centers and for homebound seniors. The $1.5 million cut out of a $6 million allocation to the Elder Nutrition Program translates into nearly 250,000 fewer meals available for seniors next year.

This is literally taking food off the table for older people, and it just happens to be one of the most visible and popular senior programs in the state, according Ms. Marum.

Also, proposed cuts to the Serving Health Information Needs of Elders (SHINE) program reduces counseling available to seniors regarding the type of Medicare plan that would best fit for their needs.

We must give priority to this population who were for our towns in voting for schools, fire and police projects throughout the years. We need to invest in programs for vulnerable and low-income seniors so they remain healthy and independent.

Thank you Ms. Marum for speaking out on behalf of all seniors.

Sincerely,

Roberta Tripp and Sharon Duggan

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.