Parents of students attending Narragansett and Village elementary schools received letters from Superintendent Heather Perry last month outlining plans under consideration to meld the attendance zones of these two schools. In discussing the proposed plan, Perry explained that it “addresses issues of class size, a district priority, and one which will be ongoing.”
By equalizing class sizes between Village and Narragansett next year, classes will have no more than 22 students and most will be smaller. This plan also frees up three classrooms for future growth. Currently, as smaller classes are moving up to middle school, larger classes are coming in. Perry is anticipating an increase of 100 students in the district in 2017-18, and estimates there will be at least an additional 300 over the next ten years.
In her communication with parents, Perry assured them that no families would be split up. Whenever possible, they would place a student new to the district outside of the original attendance zone rather than move an existing student. If students are moved, care would be taken to group them based on student profiles as is done every year within each school. Additionally, the current appeal process related to student placement would remain in effect.
If attendance zones remain the same, the district will likely need to hire three or four more teachers next year. Under the proposed plan, only one would be hired in addition to the one “un-budgeted” from last year. The cost of each teacher is budgeted at $70,000 a year to the district, so the savings is considerable.
More than 30 parents attended a budget workshop on March 27 where Perry explained the proposed new attendance zone. As the meeting was a working School Committee workshop, parents did not have an opportunity to speak, but will be able to do so on April 5 at 6:30 pm before the scheduled workshop. Parents with concerns and questions may also email School Committee members through the Gorham School Department website.
At the workshop, School Committee members and district administrators continued discussing specific budget issues, including the possibility of introducing world languages in elementary schools. In the proposed FY18 budget, the administration has asked for a 4.28% increase over this year’s FY17 budget.
The School Committee asked Superintendent Perry to bring specific ideas to the next meeting that would reduce the increase to 3%. They stipulated that any suggested reductions should come from the operating budget. This would reduce the proposed FY18 operating budget by $577,345.
Once the School Committee members approve a budget on April 12, they will take it to the Town Council for approval and then to the voters in June.