Accentuating the positive
Published on November 9th, 2005
While budget development has not been an uplifting experience here in Stoneham over the last few years, the School Committee has decided not to let the constant flow of negative financial issues overshadow the good news about the Stoneham Public Schools.
At the School Committee meeting last Thursday, School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly emphasized a point made at the recent Massachusetts Association of School Committee Fall Conference that hit home.
"We heard that school committees should not get bogged down with the financial issues and legal issues that are just overwhelming in this day and age, and we have to continue to promote and make the community aware of the good things going on in the schools."
To that end, the committee invited Middle School Principal Christine McMenimen and Middle School parent Karen Kelly to speak about an exciting program going on at the Middle School sponsored by Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS).
McMenimen, Kelly and Middle School Nurse Traci Mello recently secured a $9,000 grant over a three-year period from BCBS to bring its Jump Up & Go program to Stoneham Middle School students. The aim of the program is to encourage middle schoolers and the town as a whole to think more wisely when it comes to physical fitness and nutrition.
Stoneham Middle School PTO received the first portion of the grant, in the amount of $5,000. As long at the school meets the minimum requirements of the program, the balance of the money will be paid out over the next two years.
To start, Mello weighed each Middle School student last year and the results of the weigh-in were astonishing. Forty-two percent of Middle Schoolers were in the 85th percentile or higher for weight, meaning those students are at risk for being overweight or are overweight.
"That's an astounding statistic," Kelly said.
Another troubling statistic Mello found is that 50 percent of surveyed Middle School students did not eat breakfast before school. To that end, Food Services Director Sue Lacey has agreed to pilot a breakfast program at the Middle School beginning in January.
Lacey is also in the process of evaluating and modifying food choices in the snack bar in favor of more nutritious options.
The program works with a 5-2-1 message. 5 stands for five servings of fruits and vegetables per day that should be consumed. 2 represents no more than two hours of "screen time" per day, referring to television, computers, and video games per day, and 1 represents the one hour or more per day that should be spent on exercise.
Some policy changes within the school are necessary for the program's success. Recently, the Middle School PTO decided to stop selling soda at Middle School dances, despite that fact that sale of soda is a revenue generator.
"It's such wasted calories. It's the worse thing we can offer our children," Kelly said.
The program also requires implementation of after-school activities such as cooking and dance classes, as well as power walking. More after school activities are planned for the spring.
Middle School teachers will also be instrumental to the success of this program. Several have signed on to take an after school class with a BCBS nutritionist to learn about various methods of integrating the program into the Middle School curriculum.
Capital Plan
Following this uplifting news topic, the agenda proceeded to the inevitable discussion of the FY07 budget, specifically the five-year capital plan.
"This is a five year plan that identifies what we see as major purchases that we'll face over the next five years," Connelly explained.
While some items from the last five year plan remain on the list, having been bumped due to lack of funding or other priorities, others have made their way to the top when Stoneham's Building Department mandated fast changes for the sake of community safety.
"It's important to note for the community the reason why a lot of these initiatives have not been funded over the last five years is because there hasn't been money. We've been prioritizing and reprioritizing.It's not a lack of diligence. It's just we don't have the money," said School Committee member Marc Grimaldi.
"Many of our major capital needs - year after year because of our budget constraints - get put on the back burner," Connelly agreed.
Most of the identified capital needs stem from the Middle School and High School, since both are aging structures, but the plan also includes textbook adoptions and technology upgrades. While the new elementary schools have been enjoying somewhat of a honeymoon period where the new structures require little or no upgrades, that will not last forever and some needs may surface in the next five years.
Each year $75,000 is budgeted to maintain existing capital equipment, consisting of $25,000 for the high school, $25,000 at the Middle School and $25,000 among the four elementary schools.
"The town is appropriating money for us to do some repairs (including recent replacement of the Middle School boiler, repair of the high school roof, and repair and replacement of bleachers), Connelly said. "Unfortunately we need about $3 million in capital money to renovate the Middle School and high school, and that kind of money just can't be appropriated on one lump sum."
According to Facilities Director Max French, current priorities include electrical upgrade of the high school, refurbishing the high school auditorium, and replacing windows at the Middle School.
"The list keeps getting longer," Connelly said since much of the needs continue to go unfunded.
The five-year plan being developed for the FY07 budget does include many of the pending capital issues, but Connelly warned that the trend of not addressing many of these needs would likely continue in the current financial climate.
"The fact that it's on this five-year plan doesn't necessarily mean that it will be funded
In a perfect world, this is what we need over the next five years. But many of the decisions will be based on what the town can afford."
In other news, the special education department has been searching high and low for a speech pathologist, in the wake of a recent resignation. Despite extensive advertising of the position and following a couple of interviews, the position remains open, resulting in inability to service some students.
An alternative under consideration is to fill the position through use of a contracted service, an expensive proposition that the town is unable but required to afford.
"It's a very, very difficult area to find staff to meet your needs," Connelly said, explaining that such a shortage is being experienced by many school systems. Contracting for the service could cost up to $25,000 more than budgeted.
"We've tried desperately to fill this position for over a month and we've been unsuccessful. Were concerned about providing the services for the children.we may be forced to go way over budget to fill this because we have a legal obligation to provide the service to the children."
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!