Lanesborough School To Consider Preschool Subsidy Program
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Superintendent Kimberly Grady is reinvigorating the idea of a sliding scale for preschool.
The School Committee on Thursday approved the pricing for the preschool programs, which Grady says is lower than many programs. But there are still other free programs. Grady hopes to one day move to a free program but for now, she is bringing back the conversation about providing subsidies for families who can't afford the full price.
The school used to have a sliding scale option but over time the entire program had grown to be more expensive than the income it was taking in. A proposal was floated to end the practice altogether but that faced resistance.
Eventually, school officials shut the program down for a year and completely revamped and relaunched a new program. Now, the preschool is operating smoothly and the School Committee was able to keep the rates the same for this upcoming year — at $18 for a half day and $36 for a full day.
This year 16 students were enrolled and so far 13 have been screened for the upcoming year. Grady said she sent mailings out to 22 students. But Grady also knows that there could be more students in town from families that can't afford the program. She hopes to reach out to residents more to determine the true needs.
"The subsidy piece is just a further discussion," Grady said.
In other business, School Committee Chairwoman Regina DiLego kicked around an idea to address a longstanding question over capital repairs at the school.
DiLego said her interpretation of law changes on the state level allows for revolving accounts to be created from fees. She thinks there could be a possibility of creating one, funding it with tuition fees, and use it on future capital projects.
"Let's direct it into something useful to start saving for those large projects," DiLego said.
The School Committee has done some capital planning but hasn't had an account in its control to perform any projects. Instead, the Board of Selectmen has been approving and funding needed work. The School Committee has advocated for a reserve account for capital but to no avail. The ability to create a revolving account gives school officials another avenue to look at when deciding on capital projects.
The tuition, however, has been an issue with the Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen have long felt the tuition cost for students from New Ashford was way too low, and often compared it to the per pupil cost at the school. However, school officials have seen tuition as an additional revenue stream because the students fill up classes which weren't full. Either way, at this point the tuition funding goes directly into the town's general fund and not the school.
DiLego said the tuition agreement is in place until 2018 but in the late fall discussions will begin again. She told her colleagues to keep the Selectmen's views in mind.
At the same time, she doesn't know exactly what will happen. Right now officials in Lanesborough, Williamstown, and among the Mount Greylock Regional School District are considering regionalization. That would essentially eliminate Lanesborough's agreement and a new one would have to be crafted with the entire district.
DiLego says by the fall she should have a better understanding of what will happen with the regionalization efforts. The tuition agreement is aligned with the one at Mount Greylock Regional already.
The regionalization vote could also impact the bus contract. Right now, the three schools in the tri-district have their own bus contracts. The contracts are linked somewhat but still individualized. If that goes through, the entire district would negotiate only one contract plus the district would be eligible for state transportation reimbursement, which individual schools currently are not.
Lanesborough's contract with DuFour ends in 2019 but the School Committee will be keeping that in mind over the course of this year and into next. The price is going up this year by some $17,100, which is being factored into the budget being crafted now. That is because DuFour owed the town a credit after the School Committee eliminated one bus. For two years, the town received a lower rate. But that ended in 2016.
Also in other business, Principal Martin McEvoy reported that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing schedule has been set for April and May. The first tests being on April 4 with the England Language Arts test for third graders.
"The test is not timed this year, unlike the PARCC," McEvoy said.
The town is back to taking MCAS after being one of the schools statewide to pilot Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers tests that the state has scrapped in favor of a revamped MCAS. But, the state is still asking fourth-grade students to perform the test online, which Lanesborough plans to do.
The math testing will only be two days this year, McEvoy said, compared to three or four last year. That will be in early May. Science will be the following week in May.
The School Committee also approved $7,100 to continue a half dozen after-school programs including music, robotics, tutoring, drama, and math. The school has traditionally funds those after school programs and there is money in the budget for it.
The committee opened up three school-choice slots for the upcoming year, all for first grade. McEvoy said his recommendation included looking at enrollment in Williamstown Elementary to restrict class sizes as the students leave the elementary level and go to the middle school. The ideal seventh-grade class size is 90.
"We are cognizant of several factors," McEvoy said. "We thought three was a prudent number to recommend for the first grade... We still have a little cushion in case new families move in."
A joint meeting between the School Committee and the town's Finance Committee has been scheduled for March 6 to discuss the upcoming budget.
"It is not as formal as our budget hearing, it is more of an informal conversation with them so they know where we are at," DiLego said.
