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| By Dan Cooper Staff Intern EAST LONGMEADOW Superintendent Dr. Edward Costa introduced a new database system for personnel to members of the School Committee at their Feb. 26 meeting. Designed by the state Department of Education, the Education Personnel Information Management System (EPIMS) will help answer questions such as retention rates for educators, demographic makeup of educators and how long educators stay in the education field. "This database meets the federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and will replace the three current and non-connected databases of ELAR (state licensure database), the District/School Staffing Report (DSSR) and Schedule 13," Costa said. EPIMS is a database system that all public schools in Massachusetts will be required to submit. Costa said this will not include private schools since they don't receive state funding. EPIMS will be looking at all staff and personnel in a school system with the exception of food service, custodial and transportation staff; coaches who do not work as a teacher in the school and daily substitutes. Each staff member will receive a Massachusetts Education Personnel ID that will be necessary to fill out EPIMS information. Costa said that one number would be given out per person to every educator in Massachusetts. "This is huge and it's coming at us," Costa said. "The first EPIMS report is due on Oct. 1, so we have to get started immediately." Costa explained that if a district fails to submit this report, they will lose their Chapter 70 fund allocation. "If one tiny element of this report is wrong, the entire database will be sent back to be corrected," Costa said. Costa had one concern with the system. "The Department of Education already has at least 30 percent of this information with the current DSSR forms. Now we have to resubmit it for EPIMS," Costa said. "I will be coming forward with a plan once I come up with one." School Committee members Thomas McGowan and William Fonseca both spoke for the committee and said, "We will support you in any way possible with this process." The School Committee voted to continue the Mountain View School Summer Magic Summer Enrichment Program, which is a program that gives children the chance to gain reading and math enrichment. The program was started last year. The program is open to all students in the town and has a minimum of 10 and maximum of 12 per class. The School Committee approved the base calendar for the 2007-2008 school year that will start in the last week of August. Costa then told the committee that the Capital Planning Committee will meet with the School Committee on March 7 at 6 p.m. in the Superintendent's office to discuss the need for the facilities in the schools. Costa also reminded the committee of a March 6 meeting with the Planning Board at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall to discuss the Mapleshade driveway, which has been left open to traffic. The School Committee approved a Mapleshade fourth grade field trip to the Rainforest Caf in Farmington, Conn. The next School Committee meeting is March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Superintendent's office behind East Longmeadow High School. |