District 13 to receive roughly $440,000 in stimulus for special education
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - 9:24am
At the May 27 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Susan Viccaro said Regional District 13 will be receiving somewhere in the neighborhood of $440,000 in stimulus money to be used toward special education.
Viccaro told the board she spoke with pupil personnel director Amy Emory on taking a prudent approach in spending the $440,000 because the money is “highly prescriptive” in how it can be used. She said the money can go toward areas such as vehicles, technology and some staffing for students with disabilities, but she stressed even these areas are very restrictive and there are still many unknowns.
When board member Mary Jane Parsons suggested using the money for a camp, swimming pool or a facility for special needs kids like High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, Viccaro said these areas have already been looked into and will not comply with the requirements and restrictions.
“This is uncharted territory, and we’re all trying to figure it out and learn what we can and cannot do,” she announced. Viccaro said she hopes the money can be used in a way that could go directly toward the special education program but would benefit the school as a whole, such as the purchase of technology. She noted that the $440,000 is still a moving target, and the money will need to be used all in one budget year and will be expended in 2010.
Viccaro noted that some of the money could theoretically be used in 2009-2010 to offset the budget but would need to be added back into the following year’s budget; however, she did not recommend this.
“Ron (Ron Melnik, business manager) and I would rather use the money to purchase things with no impact on the budget in future years and will last long term in the district,” she said, adding that using the money in the 2010-2011 budget would produce a funding cliff. For instance, $50,000 can be taken out of the 2009-2010 budget in an allowable area, but the $50,000 would then look like a new expense when it was needed in 2010-2011 with presumably no stimulus money available.
Not to mention, the district is required by state and federal law to “maintain effort” each year for special education, Viccaro explained. In other words, the budget can’t be reduced below a certain level because the district has to fund what the students require.
“Some towns will offset the money, but they will be caught short going forward,” Viccaro said.
Regardless if the board wanted to offset money by taking some out of the 2009-2010 budget, the budget is currently locked right now as it awaits referendum on June 2. However, board member Nancy Boyle pressed that, if the budget fails again, and the district will have to cut elsewhere, “Four hundred and forty thousand dollars is a lot of money, and we can use at least $100,000 if we had to.” The board agreed with Boyle.
Finally, Viccaro confirmed that in addition to the $440,000, the district also knows it is receiving $16,000 or more in stimulus money for the preschool program.
Technology standards, benchmarks and plans
The board heard a presentation from district technology integration specialists Bill Kurtz and Michelle Burke on technology integration standards and benchmarks. According to Kurtz and Burke, the youngest grade levels are “simply introduced” to technology integration; by third grade students begin developing proficiencies; in grades five through eight technology integration is really pushed so that by grades nine and above students are very proficient and ready for college and beyond.
Kurtz and Burke demonstrated how each of the schools in the district are integrating technology with presentation projects, classroom communications, interactive classroom activities and explained plans for the future and how grants are being used for classroom technology purposes. They said there are workshops offered to teachers in the district after school for starting classroom websites, etc. and tech-related grants enabling teachers and students to collaborate with other schools.
Rich Fielding, director of information technology, briefly explained the district’s technology plan to the board. He described the plan as being similar to the strategic plan, with goals that are worked on by the District Tech Council.
The board unanimously approved both the technology integration standards and benchmarks explained by Kurtz and Burke and the technology plan outlined by Fielding.
Other business
Viccaro passed out material on the cost of running the football program, including a breakdown of uniform prices, for when District 13 will take over the Vinal/Coginchaug Hawks football team in the fall of 2010. The percentage of Coginchaug Regional High School players to Vinal Regional Technical School players is much higher so Coginchaug will have its own team. The board wanted to learn more about the new football program budget, so athletic director Ted Lombardo will speak at the next regular meeting on June 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Coginchaug.
In new business, the board approved a seventh grade field trip request for an event at Camp Jewell.
