School Bd Cuts Costs With Schedule Changes And Pay-To-Play

By Larissa Lytwyn

On June 17, just before midnight, the Board of Education came to the end of its 2003–2004 budget deliberations with the approval of a number of changes, paring school costs by an additional $400,000-plus to comply with the $49,407,147 school spending plan approved by voters in May.

The changes included a new bus and school schedule, more sports and extracurricular programs operated on a pay-to-play basis, the reinstatement of a third grade teacher, further cuts in its technology budget, and an alternative Discovery Program schedule.

The board decided to begin the school day 20 minutes later while changing the four-tier bus system to a three-tier system, consolidating middle school students on sparsely-populated high school buses while busing elementary and Reed Intermediate School students together, saving the town an estimated $141, 213.

Over the past few weeks, many parents expressed concern over the possibility of an earlier start time for middle and high school students, contending that numerous studies indicated that adolescents performed best during the midmorning and would benefit enormously from a later start time. As evidence for this trend, several parents cited a June 15 New York Times article on the Wilton school system’s decision to move the high school students to a later start time based on increasingly voluminous child development research by sleep clinicians and other experts.

Others were worried about having extracurricular opportunities for older students getting out of school earlier. Some research contends that drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity, and other illicit behavior occur when students have “free time,” which, for many of the town’s youth, is mainly in the afternoons.

“When a cause is important to us,” said Wendy Leon-Gambetta, proponent of maintaining the four-tier system, “we find a way to make it happen. Or at the very least we expend a lot of energy trying to come up with a solution.”

While a 20-minutes delay in the school day may benefit some, the board is concerned about its effect on extracurricular and athletic programs, as well as busing students on time to schools outside the system.

The board also scheduled the Discovery Program to take place before or after school instead of during the school day, reducing costs by about $80,815. There will be no cost to the families of Discovery students. Parents had been very vocal about sustaining the Discovery Program, freshman sports, and student activities –– even at pay-to-play rates. One Discovery Program parent, Denise Kaiser, was among several who expressed the opinion that the program is an essential part of the school system’s academic core, and should not be treated as an extracurricular activity.

The two Discovery Program teachers will now teach the program on a stipend while teaching additional subjects during the school day. Freshman sports and student activities (with the exemption of those connected directly to the school, such as the school newspaper, yearbook, and the charity-based Key Club) will be operated on a pay-to-play basis. Freshman sports ordinarily cost $54,000. With pay-to-play implemented, however, the board estimates that about $24,000 will be generated, reducing the cost to $30,000.

The board estimates student activities, involving more than 2,000 students, costs Reed Intermediate School about $13,000. Middle school costs are about $11,900, while high school costs are estimated at $35,000. With the institution of the pay-to-play system, however, the board estimates that about $150,000 will be generated — resulting in significant savings. “But, we are really asking a lot of the parents here,” said Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff.

An estimated 20 percent participation drop, differing cost levels for various activities, and other concerns complicates the pay-to-play program, according to school officials. In addition, the town faces increasing taxation, rising population rates, and employment uncertainty.

Toward the end of the meeting, an additional $35,000 was cut from the technology budget. “If we operate any lower,” said Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson, “the programs will be obsolete.” This means that the schools’ software will be more likely to fail and the school will not have resources to remedy the resulting problems. Efforts to streamline teacher email and other data systems now threaten to be compromised.

Yet, as Dr Pitkoff said repeatedly throughout the meeting, “No one wanted this budget. This is not the budget we originally planned.”

Despite the impact of the various cuts, the board was able to save a third-grade teaching position from being compromised, maintaining student-teacher ratios that already are relatively high in comparison to similar districts.