Such is the strategy behind the elimination of “encore” teacher Arthur Bakopolus. After searching far and wide for a teacher capable of teaching a wide variety of instruments who was willing to work part time (read: without benefits) for the Haverhill Public Schools in order to cobble together the barest of feeder programs in the middle schools – the position doesn’t last past its pilot year.
I learned of this cut and others from this article in the Haverhill Gazette. I hope the School Committee and the administration and our citizens remember this cut when no new children are looking to join the Haverhill High School Marching Band. Of course, we haven’t had a band in years – so what’s one more year? Haverhill’s lack of a band is just one more mark against an already struggling system.
I hope the parents who purchased instruments for their children to take lessons with Mr Bakopulos saved their receipts or can find another place for their children to take lessons.
Other cuts and fee changes listed in the article were:
“eight special education aides and four high school teachers in the areas of art, science, foreign language and language arts.
An adjustment counselor’s position was left unfilled.
Another 109 teachers who received layoff notices in the spring have been called back to work this fall, said interim Superintendent James Scully.
At Haverhill High School, students are going to be asked to pay a fee to participate in school clubs, including yearbook, drama and band. The fees will cover the stipends for teachers to act as advisers to the programs. Stipends range from $1,500 to $4,000, said Kara Kosmes, assistant superintendent for finance and operations.”
I do fear that by the time my children reach Haverhill High School there will be nothing left.
The next piece of the meeting I’d like to examine further is the privatization of the night custodians at HHS. To cut through the deliberate obtuseness of Mr Bevilacqua in his attempts to derail the issue let me state the following:
From my understanding of the issue we have a choice between limping along at HHS with the custodial staff the way it currently is or trying this company since we simply cannot afford to add machinery and staff and the upkeep of the machinery and the benefits packages for the staff.
Now, I hear Mr Simmons speak about how the HHS night custodians are the hardest working employees in Haverhill. I have to wonder why so many of the people I run into around town think this is a joke. I’ve been told time and again that the staff watches entire movies mid-shift or they leave early or just don’t care about their jobs. Perception doesn’t always equal reality but I’m not willing to completely dismiss the idea that more is lacking at HHS than just floor scrubbers!
The last part I want to mention about the custodial issue is that some of the committee members stated they can finally support this because it doesn’t cut the jobs of any of our fine staff. This notion is ridiculous to me. If privatizing the staff allows us to run more efficiently then that is what we need to do as a district. We lose staff every budget season and no one says they will not allow those layoffs to happen. We’ve sent pink slips to 136 teachers and expect to permanently lose about 28 of them. We’ve allowed positions to sit unfilled due to attrition throughout the whole school department – our custodial staff aren’t the only ones overworked and under provisioned.
Not with a bang but with a vote. A vote that ensures none of the students in the Haverhill Public Schools will get a quality education. A vote for a budget that on the surface looks to preserve the arts and the variety of classes currently at HHS but underneath has so decimated the programs that is really isn’t worth offering them at all.
We all have in our minds what a music class looks like. I remember my elementary school music classes very well. I remember singing endless songs based on the seasons. I remember tapping the triangle in time to the teacher’s baton, running scales on a xylophone, desperately trying to blow more than buzzing out of a recorder and finally mastering one small piece of Yankee Doodle on the piano. Did I become a world class musician? No. But I did learn a lot from my music classes. These classes also provided variety and relief in a very long day of sitting at a desk attempting to absorb and regurgitate all the lessons provided each day.
Again I think of my art classes and I remember the budget hitting art particularly hard when I was a child. Music was somewhat protected by the fact that I could bang a drum or play the piano or sing without consuming the instruments we used. Art cannot be created without consumption of paper, paint, crayons, markers, charcoals, pastels, pencils, cardboard, glue, feathers, buttons, cotton balls, and a million other things a child might imagine as medium for expression. I would never be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art but I did make it into many art shows at the Westgate Mall and once I was fortunate enough to perform on stage at the Fuller Craft Museum. I also have a book as a permanent reminder of two wonderful weeks spent working with people from the Fuller Museum – a book where the poems and drawings of all of my classmates were published.
Now I want to look at the current offerings for Art and Music in Haverhill. As I said in public comment on May 20th:
As much as I favor the encore programs as important in providing real world application for the skills we require our students to master in math, science and language I have noticed that while technically we still have all of the offerings of gym, art and music at the elementary level the courses are cut so drastically that I don’t understand why we kept them at all.
For example if one looks on page two of the budget the fy11 request for art supplies and divide those dollar amounts by the total children in the enrollment projection this means we spend per child in elementary $4.10, in middle school $2.50 and at the high school $5.98 for an entire year of art supplies. What kind of art are they doing for under $6 a year?
I challenge everyone reading this to take a walk past the art supplies when next they are in Target or Staples or AC Moore or wherever you might shop. I challenge you to find $6.00 worth of supplies that will allow a child to create art for an entire school year. Using the 2010-2011 calendar and the five day schedule with art on a Wednesday for the purpose of my math, each student would have art 37 times over the year. This means that for an elementary school child every class the teacher has 11 cents to spend on that child. For a middle school child they have 6 and 1/2 cents. And for our high school students who could very well be working on a portfolio to show colleges there is a whopping 16 cents in supplies available each class.
Now one could argue that these are “just the encore programs” and surely the funding streams for the core subjects are more solid. One could not be more wrong.
Take page 12 – the Foreign Language section – and check the numbers. Since Foreign Language is only offered at Haverhill High School, and not all students will take 4 years of a Foreign Language; I am going to assume half of the students at HHS are currently looking to take these classes. The 900 students would then divide the supplies and textbooks totals to get $1.89 and $15 respectively. Adding to this the $1.13 in AV supplies per student and the total supply expense to teach students a second language at the high school level is $18.02 per child for the year.
Examining Math on page 21 we get the following: For Math at HHS (where all 1800 students take math for four years) we get these lackluster numbers. For supplies they’ve budgeted $10.04 per student and for textbooks $11.11 per student. I’m assuming the AP students purchase their own textbooks and from what I remember of buying my own AP Physics books and years of college texts – Math and Science books are the most expensive texts out there.
Lastly, I want to examine Science on page 29. We find the science supplies and the science textbooks budgeted at $15,171 and $5,500 respectively. From what I understand from the Massachusetts DOE materials, science is a core subject everyone needs to take 3 years of a lab based science. Assuming the 1800 kids at Haverhill High School are distributed evenly over the four grades this means we have about 450 students in each grade. So 1,350 students are taking a lab based science at any one time with $11.23 spent in materials per child for the full year. I’m not sure what lab based sciences are able to function on that kind of supply fee ( frogs go for about $4 each!) and there aren’t a lot of textbooks to be purchased for $4.07 per student.
Again I implore the members of the School Committee to harness the energy of parents who are willing to work to help our students. Give us direction and leadership. Send us to Beacon Hill. Present information clearly and honestly. Don’t give us any more pithy rhetoric about doing more with less in this economy. Stop being politicians and start being people, citizens, parents, leaders!
Budget Review is again on the table for tonight’s School Committee Meeting but there’s no agenda to post yet. I’m sure there will be cheers about the Meals Tax vote but considering how much of the School Department Budget is based on wishes I don’t see the funds from the meals tax as a bonus – I see it as a band-aid.
I’m not sure I will be able to attend tonight’s meeting but I will certainly be recording it so I can relax and enjoy the long weekend with an iced coffee and hours of scintillating debate over the budget. Where might I be this fine evening instead of City Hall? Why I will be at Chuck E Cheese crocheting a blanket while my children spend time with their friends for Golden Hill’s Family Fun Night. I looked at both events and decided taking the children to enjoy a night out trumped heading to City Hall – especially since we took the children to City Hall on Tuesday.
The School Committee finally posted their goals on the Haverhill Public Schools Website. I’m not going to comment on all of them and there are some wonderful ideas in this document but a few things stood out:
5. Ensure a stable financial environment with a multi-year budget as presented by the administration.
I don’t know of any administration who can ensure financial stability considering the way schools are currently funded. Every year the State provides less local aid, reduces the reimbursement for Circuit Breaker funding and debates the matter later and later into the year. Federal funding is all in the form of grants and stimulus which have strict rules for how the money can be used. The only guarantee currently out there that I can see is that each year will be worse than the one before it.
6. Create a school system and not a system of schools to ensure that all Haverhill schools operate as one concise, comprehensive system. This goal will result in better coordination, effective expenditure and utilization of human and financial resources.
Whomever wrote that rhetorical little gem about Haverhill being a system of schools and not a school system deserves to stand in the center of town and allow us to throw tomatoes at them. This is dragged out every time someone talks about our schools and has become meaningless through overuse. If the School Committee wants Haverhill Public Schools to become a school system then they must foster community and cooperation instead of pitting schools and families against each other for resources in each budget debate. We need to have more city wide events to bring people together. We need to stop thinking of ourselves in terms of what separates us and focus instead on the goals we’re all trying to accomplish – bring the best education possible to all of the students in Haverhill Public Schools.
9. Continue efforts to make Haverhill High School, our “Flagship” school, a school of Academic Excellence, with attention to updating Textbooks and educational resources, class size, communication, and discipline issues.
Having seen the budget this goal is unreachable. With the limited number of classes for each section a greater number of students will be unable to participate at the level of Academic Excellence. With the decimation of the “encore” programs our Classical Academy is in jeopardy. With no money for textbooks or resources there will be no updating any time soon. With the loss of our Resource Officers discipline issues will not improve. With the class size projections approaching 40 especially at the higher grades I don’t see how that will foster Academic Excellence either. The only flag on our High School Ship is the white one signaling surrender.
A few days ago I discussed school choice and why I made the decision to keep my kids here in Haverhill and fight to make the School Department here stronger. In reading today’s news I wanted to followup on some of the items from the other post.
Groveland did not pass the override to provide $350k in funding to the Pentucket Regional School District. I’m not surprised. Parents make up a small fraction of the voter pool. People like to forget that their own education, or their children’s education or their grandchildren’s education was funded by people who did not have children currently in the system either.
I hear a lot around town about the HHS renovation. I hear much also about the lack of funds for a roof at Tilton, flaking paint, poor landscaping, lockers that need painting, and fences that need fixing. Generally I don’t hear about the other town’s problems. I found the comment on the above linked article to be telling: Part of the buzz around Groveland is that they don’t want to spend money on capital school improvements either. “Memo to all those folks who want to build an $8 million addition to the Bagnall School by taxing the Groveland citiziens with a huge override: take a look at Monday’s vote, it won’t pass!” (I quoted Sachemmon – the spelling and grammar are hers)
Now that the override has failed – Merrimac also said no to the override; West Newbury was the only town to support extra taxes – what will the Pentucket Regional School District do? The options are limited and are the same ones we’ve debated in budget meetings here in Haverhill. Pentucket plans to lay off teachers and support staff. Course offerings have been lessened and enrollment numbers are being watched at the elementary level to see if any cuts can be made there. Unfortunately, the upper grade levels will probably feel the greatest loss from these cuts. I find the comment by “Gone Fishin” interesting as the points he makes are ones I hear over and over about Haverhill: Failure abounds in the school’s leadership, the town’s government, the teacher’s union and society as a whole.
While Haverhill’s School Department budget crunch is just beginning – North Andover’s seems to be winding down. When the dust clears they will have lost: “Under the Finance Committee’s proposal, Hottel said School Department layoffs will include a part-time special education teacher, roughly seven classroom aides and one social worker. Hottel said there will be no major cuts to educational programs and no layoffs of classroom teachers under the Finance Committee recommendation. Fee schedules also will remain in place, he said.” Nine jobs lost, no major cuts to educational programs – I have to wonder what that means … major is really determined by those who won’t have programs to go to in the fall, and fee schedules will remain – Is the DESE criticizing North Andover as it does Haverhill for charging fees to students for programs? I guess even affluent towns are feeling the recession!
Methuen’s mayor has decided to turn funding of the a new high school into Methuen’s very own Hale Debt Fiasco. He’s taking the tax increases from building three grammar schools that the people are already paying and extending them out beyond the 2018 end date to some as yet unnamed date. I had to double check the article to make sure they weren’t discussing HHS when they quote Manzi saying: “The chief complaints about the high school are the open concept, outdated science labs, and parts of the building that are not up to code. Failing to fix the building will threaten the school’s accreditation, Manzi warned.” Of course this all hinges on not having budget shortfalls that cost Methuen public safety. Councilors are hearing the city will lay off police officers and firefighters as it deals with budget cuts, “so I don’t know where we’re going to get money to put into the (high school) stabilization fund,” Cronin said. Its like deja vu all over again!
Lastly, lets check the grass in Andover, where a former Superintendent laments about how that town is handling its budget woes. He also mentions the need for a strategic plan for the schools – something we hear about at our own School Committee Meetings. In his call for a strategic plan, Ken Siefert even speaks to the need to conduct an audit! We’ve heard much about audits during the last few School Committee meetings as well.
Life is similar all around the Merrimack Valley; and I’m going to guess that other than the weather, life is similar throughout much of the United States. Certainly we can do better here in Haverhill – I believe in the city even when it doesn’t believe in itself. But do not assume we’re an anomaly of budget woes and school department issues and tax burdens for those items fertilize the lawns of our surrounding towns too!
I really wish I had a copy of that email circulated about all the problems at Haverhill High School. Its too bad there’s no version with the names removed circulating in the press. I’ve heard so many rumors and allegations and partial quotes that I desperately want to resolve with the actual letter but instead I’m left with a sparse accounting by the newspaper and some discussion during the last school committee meeting to draw my conclusions.
The first question I have is this: Did this letter somehow get lost in the internet for the last five years? The MCAS cheating allegations are five years old. Governor Romney left office in 2007. Where has this email been?
The second question I have is whether or not this letter really came from a group of teachers at Haverhill High School. Absent actually viewing the letter, I need to rely on accounts from others who have. Listening to the comments made at the school committee meeting on Thursday I get the impression that grammar and spelling and sentence construction were lacking in this letter. Combine that with the lack of knowledge about who our current Governor is and I sincerely hope this letter was not indeed written by anyone teaching children any subject at any grade level in our school system.
The anonymity issue brings with it problems. Without being able to verify who brought these accusations it is difficult to assign merit to them. Certainly I understand fear of reprisal however teachers are union employees who can grieve any unjust treatment and I do believe the government also has laws specifically to protect whistle blowers – which if these allegations were true the complaining parties would qualify for protections using those laws.
Anonymity also makes it more difficult to request more information from the complaining parties. They were willing to name specific people in the letter and force those people to undergo investigations into their conduct but they were unwilling to stand behind their words and open themselves up for questioning as well. One of the founding principles of our justice system is that we have the right to confront our accuser – while none of this has found its way to a courtroom yet I do believe knowing who is setting forth accusations and why would help uncover the truths behind the issues presented.
Could the accusations be true? Maybe. What if the accuser is a student who is unhappy they failed MCAS and looking for revenge? Or what if the accuser is someone with a vendetta against someone mentioned in the letter? What if they are indeed teachers and there are huge problems at the school but no one will come forward because of the poor press surrounding this fiasco? What if this is a political move by disgruntled members of the school committee to undermine the leadership at the high school and of the school department? Motivation matters and can only be determined when you know who the letter writer really is.
Unfortunately I doubt we will ever know who wrote this letter. We can only then look to the issues mentioned and prove or disprove them. Certainly we need to be watchful of our system and protective of our students and ensure the best possible education for all of them. Are we really providing that by jumping through hoops placed by someone anonymous and spending already scarce resources on what may very well be someone’s idea of a really poor practical joke? Are there issues at Haverhill High School that need to be addressed? Absolutely! Can we please work on concrete, verifiable issues affecting the students today instead of five year old vague allegations?
I want to start this week with a positive post and our experience Friday evening at the HHS performance of Little Shop of Horrors is the perfect subject for such a post!
After dinner I ushered the kids off to the high school to see the play. We talked about the play as we drove because I knew some of the subject matter could be a little scary. Plus my kids absolutely love the dentist and I didn’t want to ruin that
We got to the high school early so we could get our tickets and make the obligatory bathroom trip and get dessert at the concession stand. For three people to see a live show and have snacks for under $30 total I consider this a bargain on top of being a lot of fun. We stopped at all the tables and my daughter is confused by the selling of carnations. I keep telling her they are to buy to give to the performers after the play as a way of saying “good job” but she just wants to get one and take it home. Dr Buchanan arrived shortly after we did and to my kids he’s a local celebrity so they made sure to wave and say hello and ask him a dozen questions about nothing in particular.
The play was fantastic. The young lady who played Audrey has a wonderful singing voice and played her part very well. Some you tube videos can be found here. The gentleman who played Seymour did a fantastic job as well – and I remembered him from his equally impressive job as Scrooge in the HHS version of A Christmas Carol. The gentleman who played Audrey’s boyfriend, the dentist, had my children so utterly convinced that he was a mean guy that we had to stop after the show and see him and say hello. He couldn’t have been more gracious in taking the time to talk to them and thank them for coming and he apologized for scaring them. All of the performers did a wonderful job and my kids stopped a few of them to tell them so. I really want to give credit to those students for all taking a minute to say hello and thanks for coming to two little kids they didn’t know who stopped them out of the blue.
The work done with the set was also very good. The four versions of Audrey Two were well made. The audience enjoyed the dancing plant when Audrey Two was small enough to be carried around by Seymour. The big versions were quite convincing to my kids – they were very concerned about the people who were eaten. I kept trying to explain to them that they were really giant puppets. Thankfully at the end of the show when everyone took their bows the people who were inside the plant came out and that ended the whole debate about the puppet plant.
The one wish I have for the performances is better attendance. I think the house was about half full when we were there Friday. I wonder if sending home notices of upcoming performances to the kids in the lower grades would help? Generally I don’t see the articles in the paper until the very last minute and by then I often have other things happening. These plays are a great way to get kids excited about going to live performances and about attending HHS. While talking about the scenery before the play, I mentioned they could be in the drama group when they got to high school. Each one thought a different aspect of the performance was more for them. My daughter wants to sing and get dressed up and my son likes building things. Both of them were asking if this school was the one they would be going to and what else could they do there. We had a wonderful discussion about extra curricular activities and high school.
Thanks again for the great performance, the night out and the opportunity to discuss school and the future with my kids.
From the newspaper:
Haverhill High students will present the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” March 25 through 27.
In this popular spoof on 1950s horror and sci-fi movies, a hapless florist shop worker raises a plant resembling a Venus’ flytrap, which feeds on human blood. He names it Audrey II in honor of his coworker, Audrey, who he secretly has a crush on.
…
Performances, in the high school auditorium at 137 Monument St., are March 25 and 26 at 7 p.m. and March 27 at 1 and 7 p.m.
Tickets are $8 and $5 for students and senior citizens, and are on sale at the high school during all lunches and will be available at the door.
We had an amazing time when we took the kids to see the HHS performance of “A Christmas Carol” so I am looking forward to fitting in time next weekend to take the kids for this show as well.
