By James Lomuscio
From continuing education to special education, from laptops to team teaching, Westport’s Board of Education Tuesday night discussed potential cuts in next fiscal year’s proposed $98.64 million budget as it steels itself for the Board of Finance’s fiscal ax.
Ellliott Landon: cutting team teaching “step backwards.” Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The perennial question: What cuts could the school system sustain without adversely affecting quality?
School Board Chairman Donald O’Day said the board would commence line item votes Monday on School Superintendent Elliott Landon’s proposed 2011-2012 budget, a more than $2.56 million increase, or 2.67 percent, over the current budget.
With more than two dozen people present at Tuesday night’s meeting in the Staples High School cafeteria, Landon and Nancy Harris, assistant superintendent of business, fielded myriad questions from O’Day and other board members.
Subjects included: adult and continuing education, team teaching, computer equipment, substitute teachers and interns, even outsourcing the ESOL (English speakers of other languages) program to save money.
Brian Fagan, assistant superintendent of curriculum, noted that the school system could not outsource ESOL since it must be taught by certified teachers, “and the WEA (Westport Education Association) is the sole bargaining unit.”
“So, I’m not seeing anywhere to go with this on outsourcing,” Fagan said.
O’Day also questioned the planned purchase of 900 laptop computers, an amount he said would cost $1 million, when most students have their own.
Natalie Carrigan, director of instructional technology, and Michael Miller, a member of the Strategic Tech Committee, said while that may work in the future, expecting today’s students to bring their laptops to school has inherent problems.
First, he said, “Some students will forget to bring them.” Also, the curriculum is not web-based. He also said laptops lack the battery capacity to go a full school day without having to be recharged. The end result would be the need for charging stations and help desk personnel.
Laptops coming in from the outside would also bring risks of viruses and hacking.
“You have more control over them if you own them,” Miller said.
Another area O’Day pointed out for potential savings was to have school system employees more than 65 to apply for Medicare, thus reducing the healthcare costs.
“You can’t force people into Medicare,” Landon said, noting that individuals usually opt for it after they retire.
O’Day said abolishing the internship program would save the schools $112,000. Still, he wondered if doing so might increase the need for substitute teachers. Landon said it would not since interns are often the last on the list to substitute.
There were also discussions throughout the evening of increasing the revenue from continuing and adult education, even finding ways to access $500,000 both have in their reserve account. Landon cautioned against “pricing ourselves out” of continuing education students to programs in Wilton.
While Landon estimated the school system could save more than $1 million by eliminating team teaching at the middle schools, he said it would be an educational step backwards.
