Published in the February 16, 2018 edition
MELROSE — School officials are getting down to the difficult task of coming up with a spending plan for next year that reflects the values they have set for a quality Melrose education.
In a budget message delivered last month to the School Committee, Supt. of Schools Cyndy Taymore said the district is facing increasing enrollment, a more diverse student body requiring English Learner program expansion, a growing number of kids with significant disabilities and/or behavioral challenges, and the need to meet new curriculum requirements in computer science, digital literacy and civics, among other challenges.
Acccording to a schedule, a first draft of the spending proposal will be presented on March 13.
“When setting priorities for the district,” Taymore wrote, “both the School Committee and the administration are also mindful that there is a synergy between the goals we set for our students, ourselves and the district and the internal and external variables that impact planning, budgeting, teaching and learning, and our ability to reach our goals. When we plan the budget, we are aware of current and future variables and the challenges they present…An integral part of this process is the discussions and choices we make as we reconcile competing interests and the inevitable constraints of the city’s finances with our goals.
The city has addressed some immediate needs with enrollment increasing in the elementary schools with the construction of modular classes at the Winthrop and Hoover Schools and a partial renovation of the Horace Mann.
Next year at the middle school, enrollment is expected to be 795, up from 778 students, and the high school’s enrollment is projected to be 1,037, up from 1,003 this year. Taymore says these projections do not “account for the students who may move into Melrose or return from private, parochial and charter schools. For example, last summer we had 25 students return to the high school. This year we provided additional teaching full time equivalent positions at the high school by sharing staff between the middle and high schools. As the enrollment at each school increases, this is not realistic. The increase in enrollment will also require us to add student services staff to address students’ individual academic and social-emotional challenges.”
Parents will begin registering their children for Melrose kindergarten at the end of this month, and officials will be watching the numbers closely. In the last three years, the city has had 15 kindergartens. If that happens again in 2018-19, Taymore writes, “we would have 15 classrooms at grades K, 1, 2 and 3. We need to provide additional materials at grade 3 regardless in order to meet the larger class size moving up the grades. We would also need additional staffing as our capacity to provide equitable access to (art, music, wellness and digital literacy) is increasingly constrained as the enrollment grows. We can never underestimate the importance of these content areas to a student’s engagement and success in his/her learning.”
While nothing is set in concrete, Taymore said this could mean adding two full time teachers, one full time specialist, a Student Services coordinator, a full time Humanities teacher, a full time music/art instructor, an academic facilitator and a half time Student Counseling and Guidance professional.
Taymore anticipates that there could be a need to add a .5 English as a Second Language instructor in the district for next year, and will need funding for curriculum materials for increased enrollment and funding for translation and interpreter services in the English Learner area.
Additional funding could also be requested to handle anticipated curriculum changes and more professional development, particularly in the area of computer science.
