2007-07-12 School Committee Minutes

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Regular Session 2 July 12, 2007 ,f FY08 BUDGET Ms. DeLai updated the committee on the Special Education reimbursement program. Mr. Robinson asked if this was the first year we have had a surplus. Ms. DeLai stated that we have shown a surplus in the Special Education Revenue Fund, the regulation was recently clarified to allow for carry-over. Superintendent Schettini clarified how the unanticipated special education costs were determined. Ms. DeLai updated the committee on the FY08 budget. ELEMENTARY ENROLLMENT Kelly Bacon who has a child in a first grade class of 24 at Barrows presented questions about the decision to use the last available classroom at Barrows for a full day kindergarten and the distribution of educational assistants in the first grade classrooms at Wood End and Barrows. Kent Hattery who has a first grade child at Wood End presented questions as to why there are larger class sizes in K-2 versus Grades 3-5 and what is the Superintendent and Committee's position on class size. Karen Janowski gave comments regarding the impact of the high class size at Wood End on special education students and inclusion. Terry Teixiera gave comments regarding the increase in the size of the ILP Program at Wood End with no corresponding increase in the number of teachers and that the addition of a regular day teacher could positively impact that program. Superintendent Schettini gave a presentation on the history of class size in the Reading School District and discussed the FY08 budget development process which included as a priority two additional elementary teachers to address class size but for which funding was not provided and additional needs which were not able to be addressed in the final approved FY08 budget. The Superintendent recommended using any funding that might be made available to him to address this issue through adding a 0.5 teacher at Wood End and at Barrows and using a team teaching model based on student to teacher ratio to deliver the necessary services to ensure success of students in the classroom.