1.         Why don’t LS teachers teach more sessions (5 not 4)?

This is an educational practice that was determined many years ago by the L-S School Committee and administration, and the faculty, as the most effective way to deliver the curriculum, and it is a practice consistent with that of most other high-performing schools in the area.

Teaching four classes, though, does not mean working only 80% of the time. When teachers are not teaching they are working with students and providing them with extra help, collaborating with colleagues, and communicating with parents and colleagues in an effort to see students succeed.  When teachers are not in front of a class, they may also be grading, planning for upcoming lessons, and developing curriculum. The high level of availability of teachers is regularly cited by L-S graduates as one of the strongest and most distinguishing characteristics of the school.

Teacher statement regarding teaching at L-S

a.         Wouldn’t teachers teaching 5 classes not 4 reduce salary costs by 20%?

First of all, the professional staff consists not only of classroom teachers, but counselors, clinical counselors, special education teachers, librarians, etc, so any increase in teaching responsibilities would only involve those educators who actually teach classes.

There would be some savings, of course, but it would be offset by the need to hire more tutors, aides, and special educators. This is because classroom teachers would not be anywhere near as available to provide extra help, tutoring, advising—which is one of the benefits of the current teaching load. So, while there would be some savings if teaching loads increased from four to five classes, there would be other less quantifiable costs associated with this change. The richness in curriculum, which students currently experience, would be negatively impacted with a reduction in the time available for collaboration, preparation, and planning. Finally, the close, supportive, staff-student relationships made possible in part by teacher availability would be affected.

Statement from teacher on the hidden costs of cost savings

b.         What does the teacher contract say teachers do when they aren’t teaching?

According to the contract, “contact with students, represented by class time, individual and group conferences, seminars, labs, etc. are the focal point of a faculty member’s efforts.  For these efforts to be effective there is research, preparation, correcting of student work, extra help sessions, parent contact, and faculty discussion.”  The contract states that 25% of a full-time faculty members schedule will be reserved for research, preparation, correcting, and other tasks and responsibilities.

According to the Superintendent/Principal, “one of the hallmarks of L-S is the fact that the vast majority of the staff work far in excess of what is formally required of them by contract.”

Statement from English Department Coordinator regarding teacher load

2.   Why are there so many choices for electives when we could be teaching more curriculum-based subjects?  Isn’t the breadth of the curriculum overly expensive in a tough economic climate?

Offering a range of electives does not increase, or affect, the operating budget. In order to meet graduation requirements, and the State’s requirement of 990 hours of learning time per year, 9-11th graders must take seven courses a year, and 12th graders six courses. Ultimately, the cost to the school is in providing 990 hours of learning time. Eliminating any or all “electives”* would simply be cost neutral, for students would need to take other classes to replace those that were eliminated.

Finally, the Massachusetts’ Department of Education “Core” program of studies for high school students must include Arts and Physical Education, two curricular areas often perceived as “elective” [www.doe.mass.edu/hsreform/masscore/summary.pdf].  We offer FATA and Wellness “electives” to provide our students curricular breadth, but offering these “electives” is also a State requirement.

Lincoln-Sudbury is a comprehensive high school, serving all learners.  The value of having a range of electives is to engage a diverse student population in meaningful way.  For some, finding success in an elective offering may be the “hook” that truly connects the student to school, thereby allowing them to be successful and flourish.  While most of our graduates attend traditional four-year colleges, and many further passions that blossomed at L-S by attending conservatories, art schools, and technical institutes.

*What most people mean when they say “electives” are courses in areas other than Math, Science, History, English, and World Language.  Most would say our electives are offered in the following three departments:

• FATA (Fine, Applied, and Technical Arts) ‑ offers Art, Music, Drama, and Tech Ed courses),
• Wellness ‑ expose students to the many dimensions of fitness, health, and decision-making, thereby benefiting student’s well-being throughout their lives,
• Computer – where students can learn how to program, design content for the Web, or simply master using computers as multimedia tools that can be used to present knowledge.

a.   There aren’t enough AP classes - some students can’t get in.

In the present tight fiscal times, it’s not just certain AP classes that “students can’t get in.” The present budget situation requires that we maximize scheduling efficiency in ALL courses, which means many classes are “filled to the brim.” Having so many courses running at the class capacity this means that students occasionally don’t get the course that they requested during the scheduling process.

We currently offer AP classes in history, mathematics, and science. The number of AP sections we offer is based on the number of students who initially sign-up for the courses based on the recommendation of their previous teacher within the discipline.

b.    What are the class sizes for AP classes currently?

There are currently two sections of AP Calculus with 36 students in each. There is one section of AP Calculus BC with 33 students. The two AP Physics sections each have 40 students. By comparison, this year relatively few students signed up for AP Biology, and the class size is only 20. Lastly, the two sections of AP US History each have 24 students.

Statement from Wellness Department Coordinator

3.    Wouldn’t it save money to have electives with bigger class sizes?

Most of our teaching spaces are designed to accommodate at most 28 students. While we have had to add in extra tables in order to accommodate a few additional students in AP Calculus courses, students in many electives (like a typical “art” class) need appropriate space to function. We would have to reconfigure the walls (which is costly) to create larger teaching spaces in order to enable bigger class sizes in most electives. Second, safety may be a concern if class sizes become too large, particularly in some experimental Science electives or electives that utilize machinery (like a woodshop class). Third, at some point class sizes become too large to be effective learning environments.

Statement from FATA (Fine, Applied and Technical Arts Department)

a.         What are the class sizes in electives currently?

The class sizes in electives vary, depending upon the nature of the course.  Some examples across the breadth of our electives follow.  Our instrumental music instructor has a student load of 183, teaching classes as large as 88 students in Concert Band along with smaller ensembles or a Guitar and Piano course of 24.  A typical pottery, drawing, or media teacher could have a student load of 131, teaching six classes ranging in size from 21 to 24.  A computer teacher might have a student load of 137, teaching six classes ranging from 21 to 24.  A typical Wellness teacher would have a student load of 151, teaching six classes ranging from 20 to 29 students.

b.         If some elective teachers were part-time, would we save money on benefits?

By contract, if a teacher is employed half-time or more they are eligible for health insurance benefits with the school paying 75% of the plans offered.  Ideally, the best way to save money on benefits is to increase the proportion of teachers that are full-time.  One full-time teacher is eligible for one benefit package; whereas, if two half-time teachers replaced this full-time teacher, the school could incur the costs of two benefit packages.  The full-time teachers are often more available for students and more invested in the institution itself.

c.         Why is class size important? 

There is a lot of educational research on the benefits of smaller class sizes.  Most of this research has been aimed at the importance of small classes in the elementary years; however research and initiatives show that limiting class size in high schools has similar benefits.  In California, the Morgan-Hart Class Size Reduction Act provides funds for districts to reduce the class sizes in high schools for courses required for graduation.  The premise of this Act is based on research evidence and dictates that average class size should be no more than 20 students, with no more than 22 pupils enrolled in any class.  The benefits seen in schools that have implemented these changes include:

• Student achievement increases as class size decreases due to increased individual student attention, increased class participation, and more personalized feedback from the teacher.
• Time in class becomes more productive and less time is spent on discipline.
• Students who traditionally struggle (“at-risk” students) truly benefited from learning within smaller classes.
• Instructional strategies that have positive effects on student performance (like increase teacher contact/individualized instruction) are more readily implemented in smaller classes.
• Reductions in class sizes have positive effects on teacher morale and student attitudes about school.

Statment regarding the impact of class size in Science instruction

Statement regarding the impact of class size in English instruction

d.     Are elective teachers paid as much as core class teachers?

Yes.  All teachers are paid on the same salary schedule based on their education and experience.

4.   Why not cut one of the four Language offerings?  Wouldn’t this save money?

Lincoln-Sudbury has a two-year World Language graduation requirement and World Language education is a Massachusetts Core requirement. Financially, it doesn’t matter whether the students take German, Spanish, French or Latin. What “saves money” is running Language classes that are full. Reduction of some Latin offerings and strategic scheduling next year should greatly increase the efficiency in which students are scheduled into Language classes.

5.         Last year, the School Committee and Superintendent threatened us with cuts if we didn’t pass an override, but the cuts never happened. 

Last year, L-S faced a shortfall of roughly $1,100,000, and the school published a list of all the cuts that would need to be made to deal with this shortfall. It was not a threat, but a description.

Subsequently, the impact of this shortfall at L-S was ultimately lessened by three unusual and unique factors. First, the School Committee used a one-time only strategy to recapture fee-generated revenues in order to support the school’s budget, rather than returning these revenues to the towns as had happened in the past – this practice is now built into the current budget and therefore does not benefit us again.

Second, the Town of Lincoln also voted at their annual Town Meeting to approve a “grant” of $111,000 for Lincoln-Sudbury, which further diminished the size of the no override budget. At the interim stage of developing and voting the school’s budget, the school still had a $704,000 budget shortfall to cover (see below).

As a result, Lincoln-Sudbury needed to make $704,000 in reductions, which are detailed in the list below. Some of the reductions included supplies, equipment, and operational expenses; the elimination of the summer curriculum development funds that our teachers use each year to enhance the classroom instruction; and the reduction of the “emergency fund” contingency by more than 50%. The substitute teacher budget was reduced significantly, which greatly increased the number of classes that would be canceled as a result of a teacher’s illness/absence, and professional teaching and support staff FTEs were reduced.

Reductions Made by L-S in FY09

* Teacher reductions would have been 4.0 FTE without the Lincoln grant

The third factor occurred after the budget was voted at Town Meeting. While the School Committee had voted to increase various fees during the budget process, reductions were still required in Athletics and Activities (as noted on the list above). Parents petitioned the School Committee to increase the fees even further in order to restore the $145,000 Athletic and Activity cuts. As a result, the final approved parking fee increased from $200/year in FY08 to $300/year in FY09; the final approved Athletic fee increased from $165 to $300 per sport; and the final approved Activity fee increased from $35 to $60.

In the end, L-S had to reduce a total of $560,000.

a. Did you actually cut teachers? In other words, did you cut back on different people's hours to cumulatively cut the equivalent of 2.5 positions, or was an actual teacher let go who did not return?

In order to distribute the reductions across the departments to have the least damaging impact on students, we reduced portions of people’s jobs, rather than whole jobs. This was not a decision to “save” positions, but rather a decision to deliver the curriculum and course offerings that students need. Also, the reductions did not result in the elimination of 2.5 specific positions or people because normal attrition, retirements and maternity leaves helped to facilitate how the reductions could be made. In one of the support staff categories, one specific position was eliminated resulting in the person being laid off.

b. Did LS take a small percentage of the budget last year (as compared to SPS) to help contain some of the cuts to K-8. Is this accurate?

Yes. Just before Town Meeting the Legislature committed to State Aid figures for the towns and schools that were higher than we had anticipated. The L-S School Committee chose to use the increased amount of State Aid to reduce the assessments to Sudbury and Lincoln, which had the effect of giving Sudbury and the K-8 system a bigger percentage of the overall budget, thus allowing SPS and the Town of Sudbury to be spared some of the reductions it would have otherwise had to make.

Statement regarding LSRHS computer technology infrastructure

6.         What has been done to trim the budget already?  What cuts were made last year?

For several years now, L-S has “trimmed” the budget by not adding staff proportionate to the increasing student population.  Over the past six years, student enrollment has increased by 18.3%, while staff growth has increased by only 5.1% (see graph below).  The long-term effects of this “trimming” has resulted in increasing class sizes, overall teacher loads, and increased caseloads for counselors, clinicians, and administrators.

Enrollment vs. Staffing Growth

FY03 to FY09

Increases in Teacher Load Over Past Ten Years

(Note: Percentages are increases since 1999-2000 based on an FY09 Teacher FTE reduction of 7.25)

As a result of not hiring staff to keep up with enrollment growth, overall teacher load (the number of students a teacher is responsible for) has increased on average by 20% over the past ten years [see chart above]. Currently, just as an example, nearly 60% of the courses offered in the English Department have 25 or more students in the class.

In addition to the above, we have steadily reduced expenditures in materials, supplies, curriculum development, professional development, and technology.

7.         Why were sports saved at L-S instead of other more academic subjects/teachers?

After the budget was passed with no override at Town Meeting, parents came forward requesting that the School Committee increase fees to restore the sports and activities. After several public meetings and much debate, the School Committee approved a significant increase in the Athletics fee from $165/sport to $300/sport and the Activities fee from $35 to $60. The new revenue from the fee increases was sufficient to avoid the Athletics and Activity reductions of $145,000. While the school can charge fees for sports, extracurricular activities, and parking, the school cannot institute fees to better fund the core academic budget.

a.         Why can’t sports be self-funded?

Athletics, clubs, and activities are integral to the L-S mission. These programs provide valuable learning experiences beyond the classroom. This year, instead of cutting certain athletic programs, like cheerleading or skiing, the user fee for athletics was increased from $165 to $300. More than half of the athletic budget is subsidized by user fees and gate receipts. The Athletics budget is only 1-2% of the entire school budget.

Creating an athletic program that is fully self-funded is a slippery slope. At this time, it would require user fees of around $800 in order to make ends meet. This could have several unintended consequences that would be detrimental: fewer students participating due to cost and, in turn, requiring an even higher fee; a sense of entitlement to control how the program is run by those community members paying such high fees; and a program that would no longer be integrated into the school as it is now.

8.         Why do we have Housemasters?

In simple terms, L-S is divided into four Houses, each with a Housemaster, two guidance counselors, and an administrative assistant.  Housemasters are responsible for the overall supervision of roughly 410 students, including parent meetings, scheduling, managing difficult cases, maintaining discipline and behavior.  Housemasters essentially function as Principals for their caseload of students.

Housemasters are responsible for building management, oversight of activities and programs, and are liaisons overseeing the academic departments.  Housemasters are also responsible for maintaining the quality of instruction through the supervision and evaluation process.  Each Housemaster supervises and evaluates approximately 35 teachers.  Every year, 17 of these teachers receive substantive written feedback through the evaluation process.  In many districts, evaluation is done by Department Heads.  The model of Housemasters serving as principals for a subset of students and evaluator for a subset of the faculty is an efficient means of supervising the school. 

a.              L-S needs four housemasters?

High schools need people to supervise both the students and the teaching – at L-S, the four housemasters accomplish this dual role of supervising both students and faculty.  Given the number of students and faculty to be supervised, we need four housemasters to adequately accomplish all that needs to be done.

In comparison to neighboring towns, L-S has more FTEs in the Housemasters/Assistant Principals role (see table below), but unlike our neighboring towns our housemasters supervise BOTH students and teaching.  In neighboring towns, the Assistant Principals play a lesser role in the supervision of teaching.  In many other schools, Department Heads are released from teaching responsibilities so they may evaluate faculty – this is a hidden administrative cost, which can significantly add up.  At L-S, Department Heads are only released from teaching one class (a .25 release), which enables the Department Head to administer the operation of the academic area and to serve as a mentor teacher for their department.  Accounting for the supervisory FTEs of Department Heads and Housemasters/Assistant Principals, the total number of supervisors of both students and teaching at L-S is proportionately less than our neighboring regional high schools.  In short, from a supervisory standpoint, L-S is comparatively more efficient. 

High School	Enrollment	# of Asst. Principals or Housemasters	Department Head Release*	Total Supervisors of Students & Teaching	Student : Supervisor Ratio
L-S	1625	3 4	.25	5.75	341 : 1 282 : 1
A-B	1950	3	.60	7.20	272 : 1
C-C	1250	2	.50	5.50	229 : 1

*The percentage of each Department Heads position that they are released to run their department and/or evaluate faculty.  There is one Department Head for each of the 7 academic departments: English, History, World Language, Math, Science, Art, and Wellness (Health & Fitness).  The release should be multiplied by 7 to determine the total FTE release of each school’s seven Department Heads.  Adding this number to the Assistant Principals/Housemasters yields the Total Supervisors of students and teaching.  The red indicates the supervisory ratio at L-S next year when the school will be operating with only 3 housemasters.

Similarly, the Massachusetts Department of Education reported that Lincoln-Sudbury’s FY06 total expenditures for administration as 2.89% of the budget.  This was considerably less than the percent expenditures on administration at Acton-Boxborough (3.76%) or Concord-Carlisle (4.79%).

In the present no override scenario, one housemaster’s position is reduced to help close the FY10 budget shortfall.  The reduction of a housemaster will cause the caseload for the remaining three housemasters to increase by 33%.  Housemasters and their house office staff will need to support approximately 550 students (up from the present 410).  Next year, the housemasters will be stretched VERY thin and their current focus on supporting individual students will increasingly seem like triage.  While enrollment remains level for FY10, there is significant enrollment growth projected beginning in FY11, rapidly pushing the enrollment to 1850 students within a few years.  Running L-S with only three housemasters may not be viable in the long run.  At some point, either a fourth housemaster will need to be reinstated or Department Heads or similar administrative support would be needed to ensure both the students and faculty are adequately supervised.

Impact of closing a house from the house assistant perspective

9.         How does Lincoln-Sudbury compare to other similar districts, in terms of overall cost, including per pupil expenditure and teacher compensation?

Exact comparisons are always difficult, because a number of variables are involved. For instance, different systems have different steps and levels for teachers, and different benefits packages. However, in comparison to districts we view as “comparable” (see charts below), L-S falls in the very middle of the pack, both in terms of the DOE’s per pupil expenditure, and in terms of overall teacher compensation package.

Comparative Cost of Teacher Salaries

Note: salaries do not include the cost of the health insurance benefit

A Comparison of the Lowest Cost HMO Plan Benefit Offered

Comparing Per Pupil Expenditures is not exact either because our comparable districts have different grade structures (i.e., PreK-12 or 6-12). Concord-Carlisle is the only comparable district that has the exact same grade structure as L-S. High schools in general are more costly to operate due to the course offerings (versus one classroom/one teacher in elementary), guidance support for the college or post-secondary career process, and activities that are run at the high school level. Taking this into consideration, L-S would likely compare even more favorably if the per pupil expenditures of the PreK-12 districts could separate out the per pupil cost of the high school only.

Comparative Per Pupil Expenditure Costs

The following items are negotiated between the L-S Teachers Association and the School Committee.

a.              Do teachers contribute to their health insurance plans?

Yes.  Lincoln-Sudbury teachers contribute 25% towards their health insurance plans.

b.              Do teachers get sabbatical?

There is an article in the current teachers’ contract stipulating that the School Committee may, at its discretion, offer teacher sabbaticals for a full year at half pay, or a half-year at full pay. However, because of financial constraints, the School Committee has not budgeted for a sabbatical recently. One sabbatical request was approved in FY07 because savings through staffing changes in the fall occurred that allowed it to be funded but there had not been an approved sabbatical prior to that since FY01.

c.              Do teachers get retirement bonuses?

Another article provides an incentive for a maximum three teachers a year who qualify to retire, and receive a benefit of 50% of their salary in their final year of teaching.  The cost of this incentive has been minimal, because of the savings of replacing a senior teacher with a newer, and less costly teacher.

d.              Why are teachers who live outside Sudbury allowed to enroll their children in Sudbury schools?  What if we asked them to pay $2,000 or $3,000 for their kids to go to school here?

This is long-standing practice in Massachusetts schools and clarified in most teacher contracts.  Generally, so long as space is available and the school can support the child’s educational needs (not have to incur out-of-district or unusual costs), faculty members are allowed to send their children to the schools in which they work.  The intent of this practice is to provide faculty members incentive to stay with a school system and to be further invested in the community in which they work.

At present 13 students attend L-S who are children of employees of L-S, SPS, or LPS.  This represents less than 0.8% of the total population of students.  We legally cannot charge tuition.  L-S is not a School Choice school.  If we were a School Choice school, we’d have to open up enrollment to anyone from other communities who wanted to attend L-S (to the extent that we had space).

While school’s may not charge tuition, there is precedence to charge nominal registration fees.  For example, according the present teacher’s contract in Weston, there is a $25 registration fee per school year for each non-resident’s child attending a Weston school.

e.              How much are Lincoln-Sudbury teachers paid?  How do COLA and salary steps work?

Teachers are paid according to Schedule A in their contract.  The salary a teacher is paid is based on their experience and level of education.  Each year Schedule A may increase (based on a negotiated percentage); generally this increase is reflects a COLA (cost of living adjustment).  With each year of experience, teachers move up a “step” on Schedule A – after 17 years of experience, there are no more steps and teachers receive only the COLA increase.

10.       How do the pensions work?

Employees of Lincoln-Sudbury do not contribute to Social Security. Those who work 20 hours per week or more qualify to participate in one of two retirement systems, depending on their position. Participation in a retirement system is mandatory and is not subject to collective bargaining. All professional teachers and administrators are required to belong to the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System (MTRS), which is managed by the State. Currently there are 169 employees in this system. This is a defined benefit plan to which each member contributes a percentage of salary. Lincoln-Sudbury, as the employer, does not contribute to the employees’ retirement benefits under this system. When a teacher or administrator retires, he or she qualifies for a fixed pension amount based on a formula that takes into account the number of years of service and the three consecutive highest salary years. All other staff – administrative office assistants, buildings and grounds staff, teaching assistants, library aides, etc. – belong to the Middlesex County Retirement System. Currently there are 67 active employees in this system. This is also a mandated, defined benefit plan to which each member contributes a percentage of salary. In addition, Lincoln-Sudbury, as the employer, pays an assessed amount each year based on actuarial factors associated with its membership, the unfunded liability for its current retirees and future retirees, and the income on investments. The FY’09 assessment is $358,507 and the FY’10 and FY’11 assessments will be $379,075 (5.7% increase) and $396,133 (4.5% increase) respectively. The impact of the decline in the stock market on the funds invested by the Middlesex County Retirement System will be reflected in the FY’12 assessment based on the cycle used by the System in its valuations. Any employee who works less than 20 hours per week, thereby not eligible to participate in either Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System or Middlesex Retirement System, is required to contribute to an account permitted under OBRA (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990). For L-S employees, this is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ “SMART” Plan and employees contribute 7.5% of gross wages per pay period. The funds can be distributed to the employee upon resignation or termination from employment, or to a designated beneficiary(ies) upon death.

11.       How does Collective Bargaining work?

Collective bargaining is the process of negotiating a contract for salary, benefits and working conditions between an employer and a union.  At Lincoln-Sudbury the only organized employee union is the Teachers’ Association.  The following description reflects general bargaining practice as well as the specific requirements under the L-S collective bargaining agreement.

Collective bargaining is governed by labor laws with respect to the allowable term of a contract (up to three years), what constitutes fair (or unfair) bargaining, and how to resolve conflicts that prevent the two parties from reaching an agreement.

At Lincoln-Sudbury the approach to collective bargaining has been for the employer (the School Committee) to establish a bargaining team consisting of two or three School Committee members and a representative from the Administration that meets directly with the members of the Teachers’ Association (“TA”) who have been selected to represent it.  In addition, the law requires the municipality to have a representative to have a seat on the School Committee for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining strategy and voting a contract.  In the case of the regional district, one person is selected as the representative for both towns. The School Committee may or may not select this municipal representative to sit on the bargaining team.

Both the School Committee and the TA prefer to negotiate directly without the use of outside legal counsel or other professional representation “at the table”, although there is nothing that precludes either of the two teams from enlisting professional representation to be part of the team.

The collective bargaining process typically begins in the year preceding the end of the current contract term.  Either party may notify the other in writing of its request to begin bargaining.  Once the notice occurs, a series of meetings is scheduled.  The meetings are conducted in executive session – i.e., they are not open to the public to attend.  The parties may choose to establish ground rules for how the bargaining sessions will be conducted, when proposals will be submitted to each other, how data will be collected and shared, how the status of the negotiations may or may not be communicated to others, etc.  The two parties meet until such time as the terms for a new contract have been agreed upon.

In the event that the School Committee and the TA cannot agree on a new contract before the existing contract expires, the existing contract terms pertaining to salary and working conditions continue in effect. The School Committee cannot unilaterally change terms and conditions of employment. There may be some terms of the existing contract that do not automatically continue but labor law defines what constitutes the terms that must carry forward.

The School Committee and Teachers’ Association are required to bargain in good faith in an attempt to reach agreement. If either party refuses to do so, the other party can file an unfair labor practice charge. If the two parties cannot reach agreement after a good faith effort, the law allows for the two parties to mediate. If mediation fails to result in an agreement, the next step is fact-finding. In both mediation and fact-finding, the goal is to reach resolution. However, if no resolution can be reached through these steps, the parties may seek arbitration. Unlike with public safety arbitration, the arbitration of teachers’ contracts is not binding unless the parties have agreed in advance to be bound by the arbitrator’s findings.

12.       Why cut classroom teachers when you can cut maintenance, secretaries, administrators, and custodians?

Our main principle, in making reductions for this year, and for next year, has been to protect the core mission, which is teaching and learning. We benefited from the three unusual one-time “cushioning” factors described in the response to question 5, and made significant reductions in other areas, including supplies and equipment. Thus, we were able to reduce “only” 2.5 professional staff from last year to this.

We are using the same principle this year, and there will certainly be major cutbacks in support staff, administration, supplies, equipment, and athletics. Even after doing everything possible to retain professional positions by making reductions elsewhere, we face the prospect of cutting 11.78 total FTEs. This includes cutting one Housemaster, 7.25 classroom teaching FTEs, 1.0 teaching assistant and the .50 career center position (educational support staff), 1.0 Building and Grounds staff, and 1.03 clerical staff. It is anticipated that the 2009 “Stimulus Package” will provide Lincoln-Sudbury funds for FY10 and FY11 that will mitigate some, but not the majority, of the above cuts. These “Stimulus” funds specifically have IDEA/Special Education restrictions on use and cannot be used to supplant spending in these areas in order to augment the general budget. The administration is determining the most appropriate way to use these funds, but the amount of funds won’t actually be known until mid- late March.

In order for classroom teachers to do what they do best – which is educating their students - they need the support of administrators, secretaries, support staff, and custodians. That said, our main principle in making reductions for this year, and for next year, has been to protect the core mission, which is teaching and learning.

Statement regarding the role of the guidance counselor

Statement for L-S Nurses

Statement about the Career Center

13.       What is No Child Left Behind and why is it a problem for our budget?

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the principal federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school.  NCLB is built on four pillars: expanded local control and flexibility; doing what works based on scientific research; accountability for results; and more options for parents. The main goal of NCLB is to help all students in the Commonwealth to reach proficiency in English language arts/reading and mathematics by the year 2014.  While the intent of the legislation was well meaning, NCLB was an unfunded mandate that has significant indirect and direct costs to school districts.

The full financial impact of NCLB is very difficult to quantify fiscally because the indirect cost has been in the significant manpower hours needed to meet greatly increased levels of data reporting to the state and federal government.  For example, once the Federal NCLB legislation mandated clearly specified changes in teacher licensure, a whole level of bureaucracy was introduced at the state level (EPIMS) to track teacher qualifications, increase licensure standards, test teacher competency, monitor the courses that teachers instruct and insure that only appropriately certified people teach each class.  Countless clerical and administrative hours have been reassigned to the collection and reporting of this data to the state in order to meet new requirements and to organize the district’s efforts to get teachers certified in all appropriate areas to satisfy the new standards.

Similarly increased reporting demands have been instituted to track general school census information like graduation rates, disciplinary actions, racial profiles of students, etc under the new state’s new SIMS reporting system, and data is carefully cross-checked against a similar reporting system for students with disabilities.  MCAS administration (planning, scheduling, tracking of student success, plans for remediation, providing accommodations for disabled, etc.) has represented yet a third area of enormous clerical and professional time demands.  Larger systems have found it necessary to add staff positions in order to manage the ever-increasing requirements under NCLB, but smaller systems are forced to accomplish the significant increase in requirements with existing staff.

Probably the most quantifiable aspect of direct cost associated with NCLB is the penalty system associated with student achievement as measured by the MCAS and the Federal requirement for meeting AYP (Annual Yearly Progress).  Regardless of how high the system scores as its baseline, failure to make AYP in any subgroup areas results in significant financial penalties:

• The initial penalty requires the school to provide additional tutoring to students outside of school
• Subsequent penalties require the school to offer the parent placement of their students in another school that it better performing
• If repeatedly unsuccessful, the state can take control of the schools district in order to mandate whatever changes they deem necessary to improve student performance.  State and federal funding can be withheld and in some cases, the district is required to issue vouchers for students to attend private school at public expense.

Clearly, districts do all that they can to avoid these consequences, but if found to be underperforming, the districts must comply with these penalties which only further deplete the resources.

While Lincoln-Sudbury generally enjoys strong scores, it is consistently threatened with the impact of not making AYP in subgroup areas.  Just one underperforming subgroup can impact the district’s status.  Subgroups like Special Education and English Language Learners are a particular risk because many of these students are remediated within 3-5 years, and leave special education and English Language Learner programs because of their success.  Students entering the program with beginners’ skills, who now become the basis of the measurement by MCAS, fill the “seats” of those who had already been remediated.  Subgroup performance on the MCAS (the AYP measurement tool) cannot reflect progress because it does not measure the progress of the same sample of students.  This presents a major threat to Lincoln-Sudbury and to many similar districts as the district approaches 2013, when proficiency levels are mandated for all students.

Statement from a history teacher regarding the impact of NCLB

14.       Why doesn't LS charge a bus fee like SPS?

As a regional school district, L-S receives reimbursement from the State for the transportation costs of students who live 1.5 miles or more from the school.  If L-S charged a fee, it could only charge for students who live 1.5 miles or less from school or our reimbursement would be jeopardized.  Between high school students that drive, get rides, or walk, the number of students that live within 1.5 miles of school AND actually ride the bus is quite limited.  Because SPS, and all municipal school districts, no longer receive any reimbursement they do not face any sort of restrictions with regard to charging a bussing fee.

15.       Why are L-S students given unsupervised free time and are allowed leave campus?

One of the founding principals of the school was that all students would have some free time in their schedules.  This was to help students make decisions about how to use free time, whether to do homework, visit the library, catch up with a teacher or spend some down time reading or hanging out with friends.   Over the years the feedback we have received from graduates, particularly those in their first year of college, is that they are already equipped to deal with the kinds of decisions about time management demanded of them as collegians that many of their peers do not possess.

In terms of supervision around the L-S campus, teachers, administrators, campus aides, staff, and other students, supervise students. L-S students appreciate the overall social and physical environment of the school.  An example of their response to this is that there is virtually no vandalism at L-S.

Only juniors and seniors are permitted to leave the L-S campus, and then only with a Max Ed card. This card has to be signed by the student’s parents as well as the student’s Housemaster. Any ninth or tenth grade student leaving the campus during school hours receives 5 detentions. If an underclass student is taken off campus by an upper class student, the upper class student will also receive 5 detentions, lose their Max Ed privileges for one month, and possibly have their parking permit suspended.

16.       Why are the lights at the high school on all the time?

The transom glass and skylights at the high school do a wonderful job of bringing daylight into teaching spaces and hallways during the school day. In the off hours, all of this glazing gives the appearance that ALL of the lights are on in the building. In reality, the lights operate on occupancy schedules. The building is occupied school days from 6:30 am-11:00 pm. While the school day begins at 7:50 am, our Building and Grounds crew begins its day at 6:30 am preparing the facility for the students. Similarly, the school day ends at 2:39 pm, but extracurricular activities take place after school and a cleaning crew finishes its job at 11:00 pm. During the hours outside of the regular school day, classroom and office lights automatically shut off at 4:00 pm and this energy saving shut off must be overridden manually by having someone operate the light switch in the room. The lights then automatically shut off two hours later and must be manually turned back on. This ensures that the lights don’t remain on if someone is no longer working in the room.

Hallway lights turn on at 5:00 am in a “Life Safety” mode, in which only half of the lights are illuminated; the remainder of the hallway lights come on at 6:00 am. Classroom and office lights do not turn on until occupants switch them on each day. After hours, the hallway lights return to a “Life Safety” mode from 11:00 pm to 11:30 pm before shutting down for the night. Exterior lighting turns on from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and from 4:00 pm to 11:30 pm (with times adjusted for changes during daylight savings). Occupancy schedules for the lighting are done weekly, so the lighting is adjusted on weekends and during vacations for further energy conservation.