Following Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue’s presentation of her proposed 2020-21 budget, the Board of Education heard administrators speak about proposed individual school budgets for the coming year.

Representatives from most of the schools spoke at the board’s January 14 meeting, and the Newtown High School budget was discussed at its January 16 meeting. A story on discussion of other areas of the proposed budget from the January 14 and January 21 meetings is available here.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue shared her proposed 2020-21 budget with the Board of Education at the January 14 meeting. The $79,281,774 spending proposal represents a 1.51 percent increase from the current budget. As previously reported in The Newtown Bee, the Board of Education is expected to review the superintendent’s proposed budget before approving its budget proposal for further review by the Board of Finance and Legislative Council, ahead of the town’s April referendum.

Elementary Schools

“The elementary principals compiled this document as a team,” the superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21 reads. “Though each of our schools is unique, we value working collaboratively in our monthly [professional learning community (PLC)] to ensure that all of the elementary students in Newtown have shared experiences.”

Newtown’s four elementary school principals presented their budgets together. Middle Gate Elementary School Principal Christopher Geissler said the addition of a Director of Teaching and Learning to the district this school year was a “valuable asset” for professional learning and students. He also said having full-time counseling positions “absorbed” into the school budgets this year after grant funding expired was a “fortunate blessing.”

Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dr Kathy Gombos said the elementary school principals work to try to make sure all Newtown elementary school students have similar experiences in schools, with the understanding that each school has its own differences.

“We work very hard to focus on our social/emotional learning, which includes this year additional communication, collection of data, and a careful look at the programs we are delivering,” said Dr Gombos.

Mindfulness rooms, like the newly created one at Middle Gate, will be added at the other three elementary schools next year, according to Dr Gombos.

Staff requests outlined in the superintendent’s January 14 budget presentation included one full-time equivalent (FTE) kindergarten teacher at Sandy Hook School and one FTE classroom teacher at Head O’ Meadow. Proposed staffing reductions included one elementary FTE music position that will in turn reduce a portion of the music teaching positions at each elementary school, a .6 FTE physical education position, and a .5 FTE elementary Spanish teacher.

Board members asked a range of questions regarding different needs at the schools, including some projected class sizes at Middle Gate. Mr Geissler shared that the situation is being monitored and he will notify the district’s central office if a need arises.

The combined elementary school budgets proposed for 2020-21 are $11,125,434, a 3.58 percent increase from the current year, according to the Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21.

Reed Intermediate School

Reed Intermediate School Principal Dr Matt Correia said there are many things to celebrate at his school, like the passage of a new Project Adventure curriculum and a planned effort to rework the school’s fifth and sixth grade curriculum. The science curriculum will also be a focus in the coming year.

Dr Correia also highlighted daily community meetings held in homerooms to build “that bigger culture outside of the classroom in a cluster.”

The proposed budget at Reed includes an addition of a Spanish teaching position, which will expand the district’s growing lower level world language courses to fifth and sixth grade, according to Dr Correia. To a question from a board member, Dr Correia explained the Spanish curriculum for sixth graders will be finalized if approved within the budget.

Overall, Dr Correia said the Reed Intermediate School budget approach included “being fiscally responsible and looking at what we have in our budget and our team. We know we can restructure a little bit to make sure we are getting proper supports to students who are in need.”

Class size was brought up during discussion with board members, and Dr Correia said if he has a concern about a particular situation he would speak with the central office about it.

According to the Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21, Reed’s proposed budget is $4,558,317, a 2.78 percent increase from the current budget.

Newtown Middle School

When speaking about his school’s budget, Newtown Middle School Principal Tom Einhorn said students have been using Google Classroom, a web service for schools, more thanks to Chromebook carts previously supported in the district’s budget. He noted that students tend to respond more, when using Google Classroom, to notes teachers make on writing pieces, rather than when teachers make notations on printed copies of writing.

“The middle school, like all of the schools in the district, has been asked to bring forth a budget that supports both our academic and social/emotional learning and being fiscally responsible,” Mr Einhorn said. “We’ve had to make some hard decisions at the middle school. As we know with declining enrollment there needed to be some adjustments to our staffing.”

Proposed changes were based on looking at current enrollment in sixth and seventh grade, according to Mr Einhorn. Class sizes for eighth grade will be similar with no adjustments to cluster teachers, and in seventh grade the plan is to reduce by half a cluster, two teachers. A typical cluster at NMS has four teachers.

“We’ll be looking at two clusters with four teachers each,” said Mr Einhorn, “and then one cluster will have six teachers.”

An additional .6 position for math support is also being requested in the NMS budget, according to Mr Einhorn.

According to the Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21, NMS’s proposed budget is $5,239,257, a 1.04 percent decrease from the current budget.

Newtown High School

Staffing reductions at NHS outlined in the superintendent’s January 14 budget presentation include an assistant principal, a .6 FTE English teacher, an a .8 FTE Spanish teacher, and a .2 FTE French teacher.

NHS Principal Dr Kimberly Longobucco spoke at the board’s January 16 meeting about projected declining enrollment during her presentation. She also shared highlights of “exceptional work” happening at NHS, including STEM and Project Lead The Way classes, 66 clubs and activities, a mindfulness room, and students working on Capstone Projects.

A “one to one” rollout of Chromebooks for next year’s incoming freshmen is planned in the 2020-21 budget, and Dr Longobucco shared that details of how the technology will be distributed are still to be worked out. Once students are given a Chromebook, Dr Longobucco said the plan is to have NHS students use those same Chromebooks throughout their four years at NHS.

“We’re excited with the forward momentum at Newtown High School and are committed to the continued success and well-being of our students,” Dr Longobucco said.

Staffing addition requests at NHS for next year include a dedicated staff member to oversee detention, according to Dr Longobucco’s presentation, and an athletic site supervisor.

NHS’s proposed budget in the Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21 is $12,229,764, a .53 percent increase from the current budget.

The Board of Education also began inspecting other areas of the proposed budget at its January 16 meeting.

The Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Plan 2020-21 is available on the district’s website at newtown.k12.ct.us/BOEBudgets by clicking “Superintendent’s Proposed Operational Budget Plan 2020-21 (PDF).”