image description

Williamstown Elementary Creates Math Support Position

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Elementary School Committee on Thursday discussed the possibility of adding a part-time math support position for the 2016-17 academic year.

The administration asked for a special meeting of the committee to approve the creation of the position in case the school district realize a cost savings from unexpected turnover on its staff.

"We may have a retirement," Superintendent Douglas Dias told the committee in a meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet. "When there are retirements, from a resource standpoint, you try to take advantage of that. When someone retires, typically, you replace at a lower cost, and that creates a resource."

Dias said Principal Joelle Brookner decided the top priority for such a windfall would be replacing a math support position that was cut from the fiscal 2016 budget.

"This past year, because it was targeted so well at students with special needs, they did quite well on the MCAS test," Dias said. "That position is no longer there. But math is always a challenge at the elementary school."

The proposed position would work a little differently than the position that was cut, Brookner told the committee.

"It's targeted to the younger grades," she said. "Our position last year was grades 3 through 6. And it was very targeted for children who have [individualized education programs]. One of the things we learned last year is that it was a wonderful position and very helpful for that cohort of children. But there are many regular education students who need extra support.

"Frequently, it was the students in the lower grades who needed numeracy development and basic concepts with the hope that by the time they're in third, fourth, fifth grade, those gaps are filled."

Neither Brookner nor Dias could say which staff member alerted the school to possibility he or she might retire. Nor could they say with any certainty that the retirement would occur. But Dias said he wanted the committee to sign off on the part-time position in case the funds became available.

"This position would be hourly, fixed rate," Dias said. "We did the math, and let's say someone retires at $80,000 [per year], and you hire someone with a salary if $60,000. We anticipate this [part-time] position to be be approximately $18,000 or so. So we've replaced the teacher, and we get the math support as well."

School Committee Chairman Dan Caplinger asked whether the hypothetical $20,000 could go elsewhere: specifically, rebuilding the district's School Choice reserve fund which was the focus of much of the FY17 budget discussion.

"In all our budget discussions last year, we were aware of the need to think long-term about what our fiscal needs would be," Caplinger reminded Dias. "Retirement opportunities like this will be the easiest way for us to identify long-term money. ... You and the business manager identified that as a way for us to find sources of money to put into a reserve.

"I'd be interested in having a longer discussion and tying those things together. Is this how we want to spend this money? In general, are we going to want to replace things we cut or build up the reserve or some combination of the two?"

Dias agreed that Caplinger's concern was valid and said that the declining reserve fund is his concern.

"If something happens or if nothing happens, I will come back and inform the committee," Dias said. "I'm optimistic there would be a little left over that we could put back into Choice eventually.

"I will have a lot of those answers at our next School Committee meeting. I will be able to be more specific from a fiscal standpoint."

Committee member Joe Johnson enthusiastically supported the idea of adding the math support position back in the budget, noting that Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System numbers could just as easily go the other way if students and teachers are not supported as they have been in the past.



Caplinger said he did not have a question with this spending priority as much as the fiscal strategy of the district.

"This is the first case where we've identified potential savings [since the budget was cut], and in some ways it sets a precedent for how we're going to handle similar situations," he said. "I want to make sure we don't miss that. It's an opportunity to be thoughtful about considering not just the importance of the proposal at hand but the broader implications going forward."

The four committee members at Thursday's meeting voted unanimously to approve the creation of the math support position.

In other business on Thursday, the committee had its first reading of several proposed policies — several of which are mandated by state law.

The state this summer handed down several policies regarding drugs and alcohol that must be adopted before the start of the school year, Dias said.

A new "Drug Free Workplace" policy replaces one the School Committee adopted in 1990. New policy items for the district include: "Teaching About Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs," "Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use By Students," and "Administering Medicines to Students."

The last policy relates to the administration of anti-opioid drugs like Narcan, Dias said. It would allow districts to stock the anti-opioids and allow first responders to give them.

"Mount Greylock does have it," Dias said. "Not that we necessarily expect students to need it, but frequently schools are the heart of a community and a town, and this one is no different. If someone came in here and there was a crisis, we want to be able to respond."

The committee agreed to meet again on Monday, Aug. 29, for a second reading of the mandatory policy and a vote in time to have them in place and posted on the school's website before the first day of school.

Dias also asked the committee to consider a policy on student activity accounts that would institute monitoring and auditing procedures for such accounts.

"This helps to make sure we comply [with state law] and don't end up having too much excess funds in small accounts that are not part of our operating budget," he told the committee. "It clarifies that when a class leaves it cannot leave that money behind. They can take it with them or gift it to the school."

Brookner told the committee that the school does not have any accounts that resemble the ones outlined in the policy. Currently, the school only collects money for specific activities, like field trips.

The committee questioned whether a policy needed to be created to cover the kinds of accounts the school never has had.

"If we adopt it, does it mean we have to change the way we do things," Joseph Bergeron asked.

"For me, the answer had better be no," Caplinger responded. "If the answer is yes, I'd have to understand the implications of that and make sure we're not making the business manager's life more difficult, the bookkeeper's life more difficult and the principal's life more difficult."

Dias said he did not disagree with Caplinger's point, and the committee left the policy to be considered along with the others at the Sept. Aug. 29 meeting.


Tags: math,   WES,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories