Gifts
The school board on Monday night had a bit of rare fiscal good news: the schools have been given a number of gifts recently, with a total value of over $32,000. The largest gifts came from the Harvard Schools Trust, with several other donations coming from the P.T.A. and parents. The Bromfield Trust gave $10,325 to the elementary school to purchase several SMART boards and visual presenters, School Superintendent Tom Jefferson told the board. He explained that the boards are special white boards that can be linked to a computer, to show what is on the computer screen to a class. In addition, the P.T.A. donated $1,950 to purchase a SMART board for a science classroom at Bromfield.
The Harvard Schools Trust also gave $6,600 for technology integration at Bromfield, $6,060 for a classroom performance system at H.E.S., and $2,150 toward a Bromfield seismology project. The P.T.A. also donated an additional $950 towards the seismology project.
The schools received a $1,000 matching grant from Raytheon, after Bromfield math student Kate Barry won a $1,000 scholarship in a contest sponsored by that company. In addition, John and Michelle Sullivan and Leo Blain donated $1,239 for laptops at the elementary school. Finally, David and Paula Brown paid for the installation of speakers at the Bromfield gym, valued at $1,064. The school board accepted all the gifts gratefully. As board member Paul Wormser said enthusiastically, “Getting all these gifts is wonderful!”
Condolences
Superintendent Jefferson began his report to the board on a somber note, saying he wanted to give condolences to the Lincoln-Sudbury schools for the recent murder of one student by another at that high school. “We’ve been given a reminder of how we must be cognizant” of how students are doing, and where extra support is needed, he said. While such an incident could happen anywhere, he added, he believes Harvard’s relationships among its students and staff and its intimate size are positive factors that help make an incident of that kind less likely here.
Devens update
The eight students from Devens now attending Bromfield have generally made a good adjustment, Jefferson told the school board. He attended the Devens Educational Advisory Committee (DEAC) meeting January 9, and the head of that group, Kathy Bernklow, also was in the audience at Monday night’s school board meeting.
Bernklow told the board that DEAC is focusing on where to go from here, now that the question of Devens disposition is up in the air. DEAC plans to pay tuition for Harvard to educate its students in grades 6 to 12 through 2011, and has a contract with Shirley to educate its elementary students through 2009. In the long run, Devens would like to build its own elementary school, but needs more houses to make that feasible, she said.
During a budget presentation later in the evening, Jefferson noted that Devens pays Harvard about $110,000 a year as a base amount, along with roughly $10,000 per Devens pupil attending Bromfield. Two of the eight Devens students at Bromfield this year will graduate, but probably two more new ones will arrive next year. Therefore the schools are expecting around $160,000 to $180,000 in revenue from Devens for next year. Of this, $110,000 is being earmarked for the learning center, $35,000 to pay for more time for an adjustment counselor, $10,000 for athletics, and $20,000 should go towards teaching salaries, Jefferson said.
H.E.S. phone system
The Capital Planning Committee turned down the schools’ request for a $25,000 warrant article to pay for an upgraded phone/intercom system at the elementary school, Jefferson told the school board. The capital planners argued that this purchase should instead be funded out of the Shaw Trust Fund, which was set up to pay for school equipment and furnishings. Board member Paul Wormser protested that funding the item with a warrant article seemed logical to him, but Chairwoman Willie Wickman noted that the town is now looking at a $1,000,000 override this year, so town boards are anxious to keep all spending and warrant articles to a minimum. Town Finance Manager Lorraine Leonard said the phone upgrade falls within the guidelines of what the Shaw Trust can fund, so the board agreed to pursue doing the work with the trust money.
