The Essex Westford School District Board will next meet on Tuesday, December 19 starting at 6:30 p.m. in the EHS Library.
Agenda items include:
*Presentation - Equity Report and Promise of the Merger
*Board Task Team Updates
The public is welcome to attend.
The Board last met on December 5, highlights of the meeting included:
-The Board received a presentation delivered by Liz Subin and two of our high school students, Jamaal Hankey and Tess Hastings. They reviewed the results of the Voices for Education community conversations held during the month of October. These findings were also presented in a public meeting earlier in the month. In the presentation, we saw how the VFE group has progressed from it's '4 words for EWSD' campaign using those focus words as a guide to more in depth conversation regarding what the Essex and Westford communities want to see in their school district. A large cross section of members of our community took part in these conversations including community leaders, elected officials, school board members, administrators, students and teachers. I encourage folks to look over the presentation (http://bit.ly/2zfcWei), it will be clear how much work and thoughtfulness went into this community effort. The next steps, after receiving the data from the presentation, will involve using the themes to craft the vision for our new District.
-Transportation continues to be at the forefront of the administration's and the Board's collective minds. EWSD COO Brian Donahue was able to give us an update regarding progress made on contracts and leasing information as we phase transportation to a partial 'in house' model. Discussion are taking place about whether to use a designated ridership model (ie: while we will assume 100% utilization, the reality is many families will opt out of transportation and we want a firmer number to design routes). It is also critical to note that we are developing a draft regarding start and stop times for all schools within the district to best align for student and transportation needs. There are no concrete proposed time changes yet, but given the importance to the school community we expect to be actively communicating updates throughout this process.
-The Board was given a draft budget calendar. Work on the budget will become a major focus of our meetings once the new year begins, including additional (weekly) work sessions well into February. it is a challenging time for local school boards in Vermont as the governor has requested level funding for any districts with declining enrollment to help mitigate Education Fund shortfalls at the state level. Critical to our work is determining if we are within this category of districts. We will be receiving our official equalized pupil count in mid December. The effects of shortfalls in the state's Education Fund and continuing with our consolidation efforts will impact how we budget. We are acutely aware we must balance a quality education and educational opportunities against the burden placed on our taxpayers. Please see the relevant slides on this topic (http://bit.ly/2BbIH7o).
For more information on the work of the Board, which includes, agendas, minutes, and meeting takeaways, please visit the following link:
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