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Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
(220,241,255)
(past stories in Archives section; often stories move to the Archives within days
of initial publication to make room for new front page material)
I have taken the past couple weeks to ponder the ramifications of the Bridgewater Over-ride vote, the overwhelming majority of Town residents who consistently vote against tax increases, and what it all means.
First of all, I am pleased that nearly 6000 people came out to vote on a Saturday. The 3500-4000 residents who have each and every time (four attempts now) make a point to come out and vote – you deserve credit for coming out and making your voice heard. The over-ride proponents (who have gotten close twice), also deserve credit for bring an issue forward with a proposed solution. This process is what Democracy is all about.
Now, as a community, we are left with moving forward with the choices made. Some of the issues now evident:
(a) Bridgewater Selectmen now looking towards a Special Town Meeting to balance the Town Budget. This is necessary since some of the revenue presented by the Selectmen to the Town in May now appears (although the feeling is not unanimous since one Selectmen stated “not willing to concede the issue yet”) to be theoretical. The first issue is the $200k in ‘snow & ice mitigation’ from the State; Rep. David Flynn came before the Selectmen and told them not to count on it. And now, there are questions of when we might see the $600k for the 40R Project we voted.
(b) Bridgewater-Raynham Schools will be losing all regular education (special education aids will be kept, by law) aids for Grades K & 1. The Aids are present to assist the regular teachers as class sizes have gotten larger. This step was necessitated by the budget amounts approved by both Towns at the respective Town Meetings.
(c) Loss of large amount of funding for the Library – further reduced hours. Loss of funds for the civilian dispatch program at the Fire Dept – meaning firemen will continue to man the phones rather than assisting in emergencies.
(d) B-R Schools Summer Reading Lists now “Recommended”. To many, this was something of a surprise. It is something that the B-R School Committee and Administration have been aware of as a very real possibility. With the reduced hours at Bridgewater Library, and for the purposes of this requirement, more importantly the loss of borrowing privileges at any neighboring town libraries, there was no way hundreds of students could read the required books. As a public school system, we cannot require payments for materials to certain groups of students; thus in order to have required book, they would need to be provided to some of the student body. And this cost could not be borne by the District. Yes, the College has said residents could utilize their library, but there are not many of the summer books in their collection.
So, where does the Town go from here? Hopefully the Government Study Committee will have recommendations. The Town has struggled for the past years to determine a direction and method to get there. My primary concern is no clear chain of command and ability to set a direction. Some Town Department Heads are appointed by Selectmen, others by other Boards, and still others by direct election. The “Town” cannot set a direction when the chain of command and follow-thru on direction is not required.
I believe the time has come for a Town Mayor and nine-member (one each of seven precincts and two at-large) Town Council to run Bridgewater. Further, that the Town Mayor have control over all functions (with approval by Town Council) to hire/fire and set policy. If we do not like the direction, then at next election we elect someone else. However, I want to stress this again, it would only work if there is hire/fire power to make sure goals and plans are implemented. The Town is a nearly $50M enterprise, without any clear plan. It is time to run the Town like a business.
Donations now being accepted to fund the 2008 celebrations
New website --
www.Bridgewater4th.com
Donations to:
Bridgewater 4th of July
P.O. Box 390
Bridgewater, MA 02324
Please contact Jeff Fowler at the BTV-9 Cable Office if you would like to help with the 2008 festivities.
At about 8:20 pm, Town Clerk Ron Adams announced the results of the balloting. With 5553 votes cast, representing 38% of eligible voters, the tally was YES=2024, NO=3529. It is enlightening to look back at the four operational over-rides considered since 2004:
July 30, 2004: $2.2M -- Yes=1933, No=4030
June 16, 2007: $2.9M -- Yes=3504, No=3893
Sept. 8, 2007: $2.2M -- Yes=3303, No=3553
June 14, 2008: $1.3M -- Yes=2024, No=3529
Some things can be estimated from the results: (a) The dollar amount does not effect YES votes; (b) The NO votes consistently turn out with 3500+ votes, or 25% of registered voters; (c) For a YES result to occur, proponents will need to convince 4000 registered voters to vote YES.
Jun 8, 07: New HS Powerpoint tour
Aug 10, 07: New High School layout
Oct 22, 07: Letter from DOE: de-Reg
Nov 13, 07: Powerpoint on de-Reg
Feb 13, 08: EQA Rept B-R
Special Bridgewater Links
www.BetterBridgewater.org
www.BridgewaterCitizens.com
*Today is National Flag Day - please remember to fly your flag proudly.
*Voting will be from 7am until 8pm at the former B-R High (future Bridgewater Middle) School, on the $1.36M over-ride proposal. Word is that over 500 absentee ballots were cast, out of about 14,000 registered voters. The additional funds would be provided as follows:
dept #188, Community Development, adding $40k to existing $40k budget
dept #220, Fire, adding $100k to existing $2,130, 943 budget
dept #306 (B-R), Schools, adding $275k to existing $19,990,577 B-R budget
dept #610, Library, adding $326k to existing $500,513 budget
dept #914, Med/Life Insurace, adding $20k to existing $2,503,050 budget
dept #990, Stabilization, adding $600k to existing zero dollar budget
*Acknowledge the passing of NBC commentator Tim Russert yesterday. He added so much to the discussion of matters so important to the country. Thoughts go out to his family.
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional
School Committee Meetings
Meeting:Wednesday June 16, 7:00pm
location: Raynham Town Hall
Next meeting dates: tba
Bridgewater Board of Selectmen Meetings
Tusday nights == 6/9; 6/17
all 6:30 pm at Memorial Building
Raynham Board of Selectmen Meetings
Every Tuesday night
all 7:00 pm at Town Offices
(558 South Main Street)
The polls will be open 7am to 8pm on Saturday, at Bridgewater Middle School (the old B-R High School). For or against, you should plan to vote. The vote will set the tone and direction for the Town for the next fiscal year, and perhaps beyond.
There has been some dialog in the community about the ballot question, but for the most part it has been "quiet". I have seen few letters in Enterprise or Independent (two local newspapers), some lawn signs out (most saying NO), and low attendance at public forums (not overflow crowds for a 'pocketbook' issue). Thus, it is imperative to get out and vote on Saturday. With a nice day, and ball games, and yard work and - and - and, it might be easy to forget to vote. The decision could be decided by your one vote.
From the information I have on file for B-R, the following are years, teaching staff, total staff:
2002-03, 393, 688
2003-04, 367, 601
2004-05, 323, 567
2005-06, 370, 650
2006-07, 373, 647
2007-08, 376, 652
So, for 2004-05 there was a tremendous drop-off in teachers and overall total staff for the B-R School District. Also in that year, both communities provided "gift/grant" funds not included as part of the operational budget. Thus, as I look back, it is not clear if these "gift/grant" teachers that were re-hired are included in those numbers for 2004-05. Because the teachers were not paid from operating funds, but from directed "gift/grant" funds, it is conceivable that they were on B-R staff but not included in those calculations.
I do recall in early 2005, B-R needed to recalculate the way positions and those "gift/grant" funds were handled. The Towns did not want them considered as part of Operations, and thus perhaps a baseline for future years. The State Dept of Ed, in reviewing numbers, determined that one or both Towns dropped below required Net School Spending. B-R therefore shifted some or all of the "gift/grant" funds back to the Operational Budget (to keep the two communities in legal compliance).
I know, it sounds convoluted and confusing. I was on the Board at the time and it was hard to track it all back then. Staff was laid off, and over time many were re-hired. That leads to other mathematical calculations where if a teacher is re-hired for half a year (December) , they only count as 0.5 FTE (full-time equivalents) when determining annual staffing.
However, for 2005-06, the number of teachers was back to 2003-04 levels (although still slightly off form 2002-03).
While the over-ride failed in 2004, additional funds from both communities were sent to the B-R Schools via the "gift/grant"
(I think I have the dates and dollars correct - newspaper archives might be able to assist)
Aug 2, 2004, Raynham votes to send $1,240,000 to B-R for Raynham K-8
Oct 5, 2004, Bridgewater votes to send $520,000 to B-R for Bridgewater K-8
Dec 14, 2004, Raynham votes to send $92,233 to B-R for shared B-R High School
Dec 14, 2004, Bridgewater votes to send $184,464 to B-R for shared B-R High School
So, while Bridgewater's 2004 $2.2M over-ride, with $1,776,714 failed - it triggered a matching reduction in Raynham. Therefore, the B-R budget would have been reduced by about $2.6-$2.7M (estimate - will need to research to find precise amount) based on the proportional share of funding. However, the "gift/grant" funds totaled $2,036,697 - thereby restoring many of the "lost" positions.
As far as Bridgewater's failed over-ride in 2007 with $1.495M to B-R Schools, the money was ultimately funded to the School District by the action of Special Town Meeting on July 30, 2007. Thus, there was no change in operations.
Easton MA town
Raynham MA town
Bridgewater-Raynham Schools
The Enterprise
Taunton Gazette
Bridgewater Independent
BridgewaterCommon.blogspot.com
Cape Wind Project
Citizens for Limited Taxation
FairnessForGoodDrivers
BTV-9 Cable Access
Plymouth County Republicans
gopnews.blog.com
other good links
At tonight's School Committee Meeting, updates were read concerning the project at the Bridgewater Middle School. Several points were again emphasized:
(1) That it is a REPAIR project, and not general work
(2) Cannot be compared to other school projects as they were COMPLETE projects
(3) Comparing Bridgewater Middle to Raynham Middle is not appropriate since Bridgewater Middle is a $6M Repair project, while Raynham Middle was a $24M Construction project
From the Bridgewater Building Committee, and Rick Pomroy as the Project Manager, two important documents on the project:
{click here to download Project Scope}
{click here to download Project Budget}
Joseph Gillis, Jr.
Recently several questions were asked concerning the Bridgewater-Raynham Excess & Deficiency account, how it could get to be $1million, why it did not figure into the current year budget, and why did B-R ask Bridgewater for $1.4M last year when this could have been reduced by the $1M in the E&D account.
The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School budget is built and voted upon based on data through month-ending February, as the B-R School Committee votes during the month of March. As such, B-R is still in the third quarter of the year.
There are some areas of the budget that the School District truly has no control over how much is expended, and does not know of any remainder until our fiscal year is closed, the auditors review, and the State certifies our accounting and accounts. Some of these areas are:
Substitute teachers (fy09 budget=$360,000): April-May-June can have a large number of days required.
Special Education tuitions (fy09 budget=$4,911,000): there is fluidity in number of students enrolled in various programs.
Special Education transportation (fy09 budget=$1,767,000): as with previous category - tuitions and transportation costs are related.
Health Insurance costs (fy09 budget=$9,840,000): laws allow employees to enter plans or change plans during the year for qualified events (such as marriage, job change). With over 600 employees, if 1% (six people) decides to join the family plan, this would be about $100,000 in new expenses.
Careful spending throughout the school/fiscal year, and especially as the year concludes, can create an overall excess for the year in aggregate. Beware that individual line item categories can and do exceed initial plans [like gasoline, snow & ice, utilities, Special Education tuitions this past year], but were offset by lower than expected costs elsewhere [substitute teachers, health insurance, teacher salaries].
To the question of the B-R funding request, the following is the approximate timeline relative to Bridgewater:
(a) March 29, 2007, B-R School Committee votes fy2008 budget
(b) May 8, 2007, Bridgewater Town Meeting approves budget and contingency budget
(c) June 16, 2007, Bridgewater defeats over-ride vote and funding for contingency budget
(d) June 20, 2007, B-R School Committee re-certifies fy2008 budget (requiring Bridgewater to hold a town meeting to decide on assessment)
(e) July 30, 2007, Bridgewater Town Meeting approves B-R School budget and by this action agrees to assessment amount
(f) approx. Nov-Dec 2007, B-R receives notification of certified Excess & Deficiency (same as Town Free Cash) from the State
Some question, myself included, why it takes so long for the State to certify our numbers. The answer from the State is that they prioritize municipal (town) documents prior to reviewing data for regional schools. (Perhaps in deference to communities trying to close out prior years and thus to set tax rates?)
So, even into July, the B-R School Committee did not know the final amount that would be established by the State as E&D. We can only allocate to our budget E&D amounts that are less than or equal to our most recent Certified E&D Balance. Further, for the past couple of years, the majority of these funds are then assigned to the next school year budget to offset expenses thereby reducing Town Assessments. For fy2008, B-R voted to apply $800,000 of E&D to offset expenses, and for fy2009, B-R voted to apply $1,000,000 of E&D to offset expenses (and reduce the Town Assessments).
It is important to note that funds in E&D are the result of assessments paid by both towns. They are therefore returned [added 5/27/08--> applied to Assessments, not actually 'returned'] to both communities. Thus of the $800,000 used in fy08, $504,800 was the pre-rata share for Bridgewater and $295,200 was the share for Raynham. For fy09, $631,000 is Bridgewater’s share and $369,000 is Raynham’s share. [added 5/27/08 --> E&D funds are from the operational budget, and are not connected or related to school building project funds.]
{click here to download the letter from B-R website}
Dear Parents,
I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the progress of our ongoing facilities work and related plans for the next school year. The Bridgewater School Buildings Committee was informed at the May 13 meeting that the “repair” work at the Bridgewater Middle School has been completed by the general contractor. A Certificate of Occupancy was issued by the Bridgewater Inspector of Buildings on May 13. We are very pleased with this news, as school district personnel may now begin their work of preparing the building for the next school year. Much of the remaining work is related to: minor repairs and upgrades; painting and cleaning; technology related work; and the moving of supplies, materials, and furniture. I would like to thank the Bridgewater School Buildings Committee and the project manager, Pomroy Associates, for the fine job they have done on this project.
As part of the educational plan for the Bridgewater Middle School, we had proposed the inclusion of a new special education class to be housed in the facility. We have met with, and toured the building with representatives of the Massachusetts Department of Education. I am please to report that we have received encouragement and preliminary approval for the program.
In keeping with past practice, principals will be scheduling “tour days” for students. The intent of these days is to allow students to visit the school building they will be attending during the next school year. The facility tours will be scheduled during the month of June. In addition, principals will schedule “an orientation day” to be held during the week prior to the start of school in August. The orientation day in August provides the opportunity for students and parents to see in more detail the classrooms they will be assigned to.
We are continuing to work on staffing assignments for the next school year. Our anticipated budget allows all current teaching staff to be placed in appropriate assignments, with the goal of balancing class sizes. Once the assignments have been finalized, principals can continue with student and classroom assignments. Please keep in mind that for a number of reasons staff vacancies do occur throughout the summer months, and may result in reassignments or the hiring of new staff.
We have been working closely with Bridgewater State College officials to ensure a smooth transition as the college takes control of the Burnell School. Packing of some materials and supplies has already begun. On the day after school closes, supplies, materials, and furniture will be moved to the appropriate other school buildings.
Packing of supplies and materials that will not be needed during the remainder of this school year has begun in the Mitchell Elementary School and the Williams School. Our custodial staff will begin moving specific teacher materials and furniture to the designated locations as soon as possible. Clearly, we have a great deal of work planned for the summer months.
Principals, along with our Director of Business Affairs, are currently working to prepare the necessary data for the creation of bus routes for the next school year. This is an annual process necessitating the compiling of bus related data for each student in each grade of each building. Once completed, the data will be utilized by our newly contracted bus company to create the routes. Final bus routes are usually distributed to parents in mid to late summer. Due to late registrations, some routes will normally require revisions.
The starting times for school next year should be very similar to this year. Some adjustments will be required due to changes at the high school and the revision of bus routes. We do not anticipate any major changes in the starting and ending times for the school day. The high school is on the schedule, Raynham Middle School, Bridgewater Middle School, and Williams Intermediate School will be the second schedule, and all elementary schools will be on the latest schedule. Bus routes have not been determined, and they are an essential part of determining school day times.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s building principal.
Dr. George C. Guasconi
Superintendent of Schools
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District
Forbes selected to lead Bridgewater schools
Providence Journal, By Alisha A. Pina (Journal Staff Writer)
The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School Committee unanimously selected East Providence Schools Supt. Jacqueline Forbes as its next leader. Chief among their reasons was her “apparent strength” in curriculum, which the district plans to focus on in the coming years. She and Ann Bradshaw — who leads the Mashpee, Mass., school district — were the two finalists vying to replace Schools Supt. George Guasconi, who is retiring. The extensive search for a school leader for the district — which has seven schools and about 6,000 students — began in November. The process included a consultant, a search committee, research from news articles, interviews and site visits to the finalists’ current district.
“These two applicants are extremely well qualified,” member Geoffrey Domenico said at the special meeting where neither finalist was in attendance. “… Either one would be a good superintendent anywhere.” He seemed to prefer Forbes’ “forceful” leadership style over Bradshaw’s approach, which he described as “low-key” and “less visible,” and was impressed with Forbes’ willingness to testify repeatedly before Rhode Island’s General Assembly for unfunded mandates and educational reform.
Committee member Joseph Gillis Jr. said it was apparent only one of the two had a “clear understanding and focus on curriculum and instruction,” which is what’s most important to him. Forbes began as a teacher 34 years ago and moved up to be a principal in Barrington, one of Rhode Island’s leading school districts. She became East Providence’s assistant superintendent eight years ago and was given the top spot two years ago.
“Who is going to take us to the next level, bring us to the forefront, as we focus almost all of our attention on curriculum?” Committee Chairman Gordon D. Luciano asked, and then answered with a nod for Forbes. Member Ronald W. Pacy said, “… I think she will give us the leadership we need to take us to a place of excellence.”
Forbes accepted the job, pending a successful negotiation of a contract, after she was called last night. The regional district advertised it would like the new hire to begin July 1, but Luciano said it will try to meet Forbes’ needs as well. There isn’t a residency requirement to be its superintendent, so Forbes said she will make the 45-minute daily drive in the beginning and reassess afterward.
“I hope to transfer the success that I had in East Providence to this school district,” Forbes said in a phone call last night with The Journal. She said she will focus on curriculum and said it is what she’s “best at” given that was the subject of her PhD work. As for leaving East Providence, she said, “I have mixed emotions because eight of my best years were in East Providence. I won’t forget the connection I made here and I’ll be a phone call away.” She plans to announce her retirement from the East Providence school district soon.
{original story link available by clicking here}