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Date: 7/28/2020
SOUTHAMPTON – The town of Southampton has asked Norris Elementary School to make budget cuts for this upcoming school year.
Greg Bennett, a member on the school committee, shared that the reduction amount that was agreed upon would help reduce the overall town budget. “The town is anticipating a 1 percent Chapter 70 funds reduction and a 3 percent general aid reduction,” said Bennett.
The committee’s concern is the town has announced this as the first step, while the state finalizes its budget. If the state cuts more than what the town planned for, then further cuts will have to take place. The town budgets for both Norris and Hampshire Regional High School (HRHS) but with the way the high school is governed, the town cannot cut from their budget. Bennett said that leaves Norris to shoulder a disproportionate share of school reductions.
“Historically, this has gone on for decades,” said Bennett.
The committee has agreed to cut $40,000 from their budget. This results in delaying the hiring of a math interventionist and behavioral interventionist. They also revised the fuel and electricity costs by $24,000.
Superintendent Aaron Osborne said students will come back with social-emotional challenges and trauma on top of learning gaps that schools will need to help them recover from. The math interventionist would be used to narrow gaps with targeted students and act as a resource for classroom teachers, and the behavioral interventionist would help their young learners make the transition back to school. Osborne believes it would be ideal to have the behavioral interventionist position on the first day that students are back.
“While we understand this is a fiscally challenging time for municipalities, schools are facing an unprecedented and daunting challenge of reinventing education on three fronts at once,” said Osbourne.
Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley is mandating that the district prepare three separate scenarios for schools reopening in the fall. They need a plan for full in-person, a hybrid option and a full remote option.
“We are in the process of procuring PPE for full in-person and hybrid models while at the same time acquiring technology and resources for remote education. Losing funding while having to spend more on programs we may never fully actualize truly burns the candles at both ends and impacts our ability to provide the level of service necessary to meet our students’ needs while keeping everying safe,” said Osborne.
In a virtual meeting that took place last week, the School Committee presented their plans on reopening Norris Elementary School.
First, their in-person learning plan includes all students returning to Norriss with safety protocols in place. All students in grades second through sixth are required to wear masks. Students in Pre-K through first are highly encouraged. Every student has to wear a mask on the bus. Families are being asked to provide a mask for their child, but if a child forgets their mask, one will be provided for them. The classrooms have been cleared to provide at least 4 ½ feet between desks and tables and all students and staff will remain a distance of 4 ½ to 6 feet.
There will be no visitors or parents allowed in the building. All IEP, 504, and family/teacher conferences would take virtually unless special accommodations are needed.
Their second option is the hybrid model which is a combination of in-person and remote learning, where they alternate between the two through an agreed upon model. All procedures and plans outlined in their in-person model will remain the same for this option. The hybrid schedule represents two days of in-person learning and three days of remote.
If a student identifies as “high needs” through the IEP process in grades K-6, they would attend school Monday and Tuesday and Thursday and Friday. Pre-K students would maintain their regular schedule of Mondays through Thursdays. They would not follow the hybrid schedule.
Lastly, the remote learning model is in the event schools need to close, online learning will be required throughout the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. After reviewing their strengths and challenges from their former remote learning experiences and are making significant improvements to their delivery and student participation.
Students in Pre-K through third grade would use the online platform SeeSaw and grades 4-6 would use Google Classroom. School officials are going to try to offer more one-on-one technology for students. That would mean each student has either a laptop or tablet.
Norris Elementary School has been advised by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to hold off on choosing a plan until August. The committee advised parents that they anticipate frequent updates that may require changes to any of their reopening plans.