Board of Education Agrees on Budget Increase at Final Workshop

The Board of Education held its final workshop on the Thursday night and agreed to increase it from the 2.99 percent that was originally proposed to 3.54 percent.

The Board of Education kept an elementary school teacher, made the math supervisor a year-round position and added money for SMART Boards into the budget, which were all added at the .

In total all three items would add $161,437 to the proposed Board of Education budget of $30,192,498. The new budget is $30,353,935 with a 3.54 percent increase from last year. 

A third-grade teacher at  was originally eliminated in Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Villar's proposed budget, however the board believed the position should be kept.

The board also made the proposed math supervisor, whose main function would be to develop curriculum, into a full-year position. Villar originally budgeted for a math supervisor, which was cut from last year's budget, for only half of the year.

The board added $40,000 to the budget for SMART Boards that would be placed in mostly second-grade classrooms. SMART Boards are digital whiteboards that can allow teachers to manipulate the information on the screen by touch, project video and be used with tablets, according to Villar. The original proposed budget already had allocated $15,000 for the SMART Boards to be added to the third-grade classrooms.

Since Thursday's meeting was a workshop with no board action on the agenda, they could not vote on budget. The board will vote on the budget at its meeting on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. inside the Council Chambers at .

However, one board member will not be supporting the new proposed budget at the next meeting. Following the workshop, Republican Chris Buckbee told Patch that he would have supported Villar's original budget, which he thought was conservative. However, he would not support the latest budget because the board has to be "sensitive to the times we are in" and not overspend.

"Overspending is why our country is in such a bad spot," Buckbee said. "Throwing money at a problem won't help."

Villar Reception

Before the workshop, a reception was held for Villar, who is leaving Rocky Hill Public Schools after accepting a  in November.

Villar was presented with a proclamation from the town that was written by Mayor Anthony LaRosa and read by state Rep. Antonio “Tony” Guerrera. Villar was also given a plaque from the Board of Education and a present from the board and the Central Office staff.

Bedlack Motion

At the start of the workshop, board member John Bedlack made a motion to accept the budget with one reading and math coach with them splitting their time at  and West Hill Schools.

"Why are we only focusing on reading, is not math part of the CMTs (Connecticut Mastery Tests)?" Bedlack said. "Are we, in Rocky Hill, at the level in math that we are happy with?"

In Villar's original budget, two reading coaches, which would cost $115,546 between the two positions, would be placed at Stevens School to help close the learning gap between the elementary schools.

Bedlack wanted to spread resources equally between the two schools and the disciplines along with adding a full year math supervisor.

"We are putting a team in place, not individuals," he said.

Villar said reading coaches collaborate with teachers on lesson plans and instruction and have been effective at improving reading in schools nationally.

"It would be a good first step," Villar said.

He added the board should be focused on helping improve the reading levels at Stevens School, not sharing resources.

With math, he added that the board should start with the infrastructure and focus their resources on bringing in a math supervisor before adding coaches. Bedlack felt the coaches would be more important, according to the No Child Left Behind Act.

Bedlack also wanted the board to hold off on the introduction of SMART Boards in the second grade until the boards were “being fully implemented” and all teachers had been trained.

"I am convinced that the need to keep up with technology will outlive all of us," he said.

Villar said the SMART Boards, which can be used for math and science, are being used effectively in classrooms already. He also gave the board an example of the importance of technology in education by telling them how his 11-month-old son plays with his iPod.

"That's the future. That's whom you need to worry about educating," he said. "Four years from now, he will be in a classroom bored out of his mind if we are using paper. And that's a reality we need to embrace."

Board member Frank K. Morse talked with several teachers earlier in the evening about SMART Boards. The teachers told him that students are focusing better with the SMART Boards, which leads to improved learning.

"They are used to the technology and that is what it takes to keep them stimulated in the classroom," Morse said. He added that the board has waited on adding more SMART Boards because of the possibility of a referendum on the elementary schools.

Board member Maria Mennella told the board her 9-year-old nephew, who lives in Newington, was using a SMART Board in kindergarten while her son did not start using one until this year in the third grade. 

Bedlack would later withdraw his motion because he was able to get the clarification on the budget he needed.

"I got the answers I wanted," he said.

Chairwoman Raffaella Calciano-Coler was glad that Bedlack withdrew his motion.

"We have experts at this table (referring to the Central Office staff). We have managed to cut, add, cut, add because we are responded to an economy that is not going to change," she said. "So anything that we vote for or want to do, doesn't just affect the public, it affects us personally ... We don't lightly look at these numbers."

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