Public forum on superintendent position set for Monday, Sept. 9
The School Committee has scheduled the next steps in considering Dr. Linda Dwight’s candidacy for superintendent of Harvard’s schools. Dwight, who is currently principal of Hildreth Elementary School, met on August 1 with two outside evaluators from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. Forums for faculty and staff to meet with Dwight are planned for next week.
Parents and members of the public can ask questions or raise topics for discussion with Dwight at an open forum on Monday, September 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Bromfield School library. The forum is expected to last about an hour, after which the School Committee will interview her at a public meeting at 8 p.m. in the Town Hall Meeting Room.
Dwight has been principal of Hildreth Elementary School since July, 2011. Before coming to Harvard, she was principal of an elementary school near Lancaster, Penn., for nine years.
Teachers hear about new crisis plan
At faculty convocation on August 26, Harvard teachers heard a detailed presentation on the district’s new Emergency Management Crisis Plan. Superintendent Joe Connelly reported to the School Committee that he, the school principals, and the police and fire chiefs had gone over the plan “page by page” with teachers.
“It’s a very important message to see school and town officials working together on this,” Connelly said. He explained that the plan deals with many different potential emergencies, ranging from a gas leak or a chemical spill to a missing child or a bomb threat.
Connelly suggested that a presentation of the plan be put on the School Committee’s agenda during September, so that the public could be made aware of it.
State funds will help offset rising special ed costs
Five new out-of-district placements for special education students will add about a half-million dollars in tuition expenses for the Harvard school district this year, Connelly reported to the School Committee. However, state circuit breaker funds for fiscal 2013 and 2014, plus savings from personnel changes elsewhere in the budget, will cover almost three-fourths of that amount, he said.
The new costs total $518,118, according to Connelly’s memo. But after factoring in money from other sources, the remaining deficit is $129,837. Moreover, Finance Director Lorraine Leonard told the committee that the district may also be eligible for extra state aid because of the sudden, sharp rise in special education costs from last year to this year.
Knowing that special education expenses are difficult to predict, the Finance Committee has usually set aside a $200,000 contingency fund to help the schools cope with new needs during the year. The schools have not needed to draw on this sum in recent years, but School Committee Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger noted that she would inform the FinCom that funds might be needed this year. “We want no surprises for FinCom,” she said.
