Budget Process in Full Swing

by Lynn K. McMullin

        In the past week and a half, Superintendent Kevin Case has introduced his 2010-2011 Education Budget at several different public forums. Mr. Case held four meetings at the Community Center and the elementary schools.  In addition, about two dozen members of the community attended when he presented the budget to the Board of Education at its February 22nd meeting.
        I know the expression seems trite, but there really is no better way to say it: This is a bare bones budget. The 1.94% increase in the Superintendent’s proposed budget includes:
        • Contracted salaries: $287,958
        • Employee Benefits: $120,547
        • Instructional Materials: $7,090
        • Athletics: $10,894 (league contracts for officials, timekeepers, dues, etc.)
        • Pupil Transportation: $90,813 (including out-of-district transportation and a recalculation for transportation which is off-set by a reduction in out-of-district tuition below)
        • Utilities: $32,325
        • Capital Expenditures: $9,085

        Despite predictable increases for textbook and desk replacements, for building maintenance, property insurance, professional development, postage, legal fees, and other items, most of the budget lines have remained flat with a 0% spending increase over last year or have been decreased. The decreases include:
        • Out-of-District Tuition: $95,722
        • Plant Maintenance, Equipment: $11,500
        • Other (includes Dues, Office Supplies, Legal Fees, Consulting): $19,389
        • Professional Development: $729


        The 2010 – 2011 Education Budget currently includes no new staff.  Despite the fact that class sizes will rise slightly, all class sizes will remain within BOE policy. Every program and budget choice has a well-thought out rationale, and none of the cuts have been painless. You may have heard me make this analogy before, but in our education budget, we’re not choosing between caviar and champagne; we’re choosing between bread and milk.
        Next, Mr. Case will present additional cuts in tiers to the BOE Finance Sub-Committee; a 0% budget increase is likely to include the loss of staff positions, as the budget will need to be reduced by an additional $432,911.  That’s why Mr. Case included important reminders about the mission, accomplishments, and goals of the school system in his budget proposal.  His objective was to remind the community that all decisions are being made thoughtfully, responsibly, and with reverence to the strong educational foundation that has been built in Canton over the years.


What’s the Difference Between “Savings” and “Fluff”?
        The citizens who have attended the budget presentations have commented on the fact that there is no wiggle room or “fluff” in this budget.  Fluff is a negative term which denotes the presence of vague items in a budget which have no substance or importance.  With that in mind, it’s very important for us to distinguish between savings and fluff.
        Often the school district can save money in non-predictable ways. If a veteran teacher retires in May or June and a replacement teacher is hired lower on the salary scale, there can be a savings of almost $40,000.  If at the time of purchase, the Technology Administrator negotiates a great deal on replacement computers, the total cost for the equipment can be lower than was budgeted.  If a student who was out-placed for an educational program successfully returns to the district, then his or her services may become less expensive.  If a Professional Development trainer combines services with a nearby district, we might be able to split the travel expenses by half.  These kinds of savings are not “fluff.”  When the budget was built, the people involved used the most accurate information available to them. We never budget extra money, or “fluff,” because we might need it or want it.  Savings are a continual goal; and when they occur, they do not indicate anything other than excellent management of the district’s resources.


Where to Get More Information

~~ The Superintendent's presentation materials are now available on the webpage.
~~ The Superintendent’s Proposed Budget can be found by clicking here. It will be replaced in about two weeks by the Board of Education’s Adopted Budget.
~~ A PDF presentation of students across the district can be found by clicking here.
~~ The schedule of upcoming meetings can be found by clicking here.


What are Your Thoughts?
        At this time, it’s important for all of us to know your suggestions or thoughts. Please read the budget documents linked above and comment below. If you have a question, I’ll do my best to answer it.

A Parent’s Guide to the CMT and CAPT

by Lynn K. McMullin

        For teachers and administrators, it seems like the standardized tests are no sooner over than they are upon us again. Here we are preparing for March’s CMT and CAPT tests in grades 3 – 11, and every school in the district is involved.
        The CMT and CAPT will take place in Grades 3 – 8 and Grade 10 from March 2nd – 12th. Make-ups will occur over the following two weeks.

What are “High-Stakes, Standardized” Tests?

        Many people cite President Bush’s 2002 NCLB Act (No Child Left Behind) as the beginning of standardized testing. That’s simply not true! Granted the NCLB Act stated that by the 2005-06 school year, all states needed to test students yearly in Math and Reading, grades 3 – 8 and one grade in high school, and by the 2007-08 school year, in science, as well; but, the truth is Connecticut has conducted the CMT (Connecticut Mastery Test), now in its 4th generation, since 1985 and the CAPT (Connecticut Academic Achievement Test), now in its 3rd generation, since 1994. The CMT was originally administered every other year, in grades 4, 6, and 8, and given in October versus March. It’s gone through three revisions since then.
        “High-stakes standardized testing” sounds ominous; but, in Canton, from your student’s and family’s point of view, you should not be worried about the kind of fallout and horror stories you read on the Internet. Your kids are not sitting through hours of kill-and-drill workshops and our teachers and administrators are not changing answer booklets to save their jobs. The term “high-stakes” means there is the intention of a tighter accountability for each state’s and district’s educational system -- although, interestingly enough, each state developed its own tests. Regardless, “high-stakes” means the results of the tests can be used as determinates of funding, licensing, sanctions, interventions, and so on.
        In Canton, we have not lost funding and no educators have lost their jobs due to the CMT or CAPT.  Neither are your students’ test results ever used for grade promotion … nor as the sole data point for placing them in programs or courses. The term “standardized” means all students take the same test and are measured against the same grade-level learning expectations as all other students across the state. It was taken for granted in the NCLB Act that the states would set challenging, but reasonable, expectations for student learning. Connecticut has done so.

What are the CMT and CAPT?

        Both the CMT (grades 3 – 8) and CAPT (grade 10) are multi-day tests in Reading, Math, Writing, and Science that take approximately 500 – 625 total minutes to administer and complete. The tests are designed to accomplish several goals:
1. Establish high expectations for all students at each grade level
2. Identify students who need extra help
3. Help schools and teachers identify weaknesses in the curriculum and improve daily instruction
4. Help families monitor their children’s achievement from grades 3 through 8, and high school.

For a parent brochure about CMT, click here.

For a parent brochure about CAPT, click here:

So, What Can You Do to Help Your Child?
        A lot of the following suggestions are simply common sense. Most kids want to succeed and will naturally strive to do their best. You simply need to nudge that natural tendency along.
        First and foremost, engender confidence in your child’s ability to do well. Help them to see the tests as their chance to shine rather than as tasks they must suffer through. Tell your child that they're not expected to know all the answers. They should work hard on what they know and not worry if they find some things hard to do.  Encourage your child to take their time, to listen carefully to test-taking directions, and to ask questions if any of the directions are not clear.  In other words, when you talk to your child, find the happy medium between taking the tests seriously and being overly anxious about the test and its results.
        Secondly, make sure your child is well-rested during the testing window and eats a well-rounded diet. Hunger detracts from performance; and, at the risk of sounding corny, the more protein and less sugar your child consumes in the morning the better. Make it fun!  To boost morale or alleviate stress, surprise your child with something they love.  For lunch, include a positive message or something along the lines of a "test survival reward."
        Finally, it’s very important to make sure that your child attends school on time during the testing sessions. Do not plan doctor or dental appointments on test dates.  Research shows that students perform much better when they begin comfortably and calmly and when they take the test in a familiar setting along with their peers. Remind your child that there’s no prize for finishing first, and when they do finish, they should review their answers and check their answer sheets for errors.
        Your child’s teacher or school might have additional suggestions for at-home support. Watch for information in the school newsletter, on the website, or in the backpack notices. And please, feel free to call the school if you have any questions.

2010-2011 BUDGET information coming NEXT FRIDAY

Adolescents, Sexting, Social Networking, and School

by Lynn K. McMullin

         In the mid-1960’s, teachers reported their biggest discipline concerns as chewing gum in class, running in the hallways, and smoking in the bathrooms. Rising hem-lines were also an issue; and I can remember kneeling in the nurse’s office, and if my skirt didn’t touch the floor, Mrs. B. stapling a crepe paper steamer to the hem. In the 1970’s, when I entered my own classroom, teachers were reporting disrespect in the classroom, T-shirts with references to drugs, and public displays of affection (PDA’s) as their major concerns. Times certainly have changed; and this century’s educators are faced with issues no one could have imagined 40 years ago.        
        Among those issues is the far-reaching impact of today’s technologies. With Internet research, what’s a reliable fact? Should cell phones be banned from classrooms? Or, used as instructional tools? Should classroom discussions be extended through blogging? Also, of concern is the impact of social networking on the school environment, especially when negative on-line messages and questionable content spill over into the hallways and lunchrooms. On-line bullying, which takes place off school property and during non-school hours, has become both a worry and a disciplinary quagmire for school administrators, particularly in middle schools.
        Canton is trying to respond with proactive solutions. We developed an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for the Internet several years ago. The Intermediate School held an Internet forum for parents in October; and the Canton Middle School Quality Council, a committee comprised of educators, parents, students, and Principal Joe Scheideler, is studying the impact of electronic communications on the school environment. Their goal is determining how Canton Middle School can best help parents and students navigate the electronic landscape of cellphones, Facebook, and the Internet. Since providing as much information as possible seems like a step in the right direction, I’d like to answer a few questions here.

What is Social Networking?          
       Online social networking occurs when a website is used to create an on-line community of Internet users who share a common interest through culture, music, age, gender, hobbies, religion, politics, etc. Once you “join” a social networking website, you can begin to socialize with other members by sharing your own information in a “profile,” by reading the profile pages of others, and by contacting them. MySpace, FriendWise, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, Facebook, Orkut, and Classmates are examples of social networking sites. Recent research suggests that 93% of American teens (ages 12 to 17) use the Internet (no surprise there!) and that 55% of those teens use social networks (also, no surprise!). The 12 – 13 year-olds are the fastest growing group of social network joiners.         
       Social networking is still too new, however, to have a strong research base about its positive and negative impacts on teens. But, opinions abound. On the positive side, some experts feel teens are safer now than when they were entering private chat rooms, because their "network" of friends, friends’ parents, relatives, and others “follows them around the site” and can thwart bad decisions and “intruders.” In other words, social networking is more public and less secretive than the chat rooms of the past. Supporters feel teens are also reading and writing more and are more actively-involved with their friends than they were when they passively watched TV and played video-games.         
       On the negative side, detractors say adolescents are trusting; and thus, they are too forthright in providing information about themselves and too non-discriminating about the information they read from others. They also can be secretive, impulsive, and mean to each other when friendships go wrong, sometimes resulting in gossip, lying, and even “cyber-bullying.”  At the very least, opponents argue, social networking is a worthless activity; it contributes no “product;” does not make teens smarter, happier, or healthier; and therefore nothing of merit results.       
       Families should weigh the information carefully, become informed about their teens attitudes and usage, and make their own decisions.

What is Sexting?         
       On Monday, February 8, the Today show offered a brief lesson for parents in adolescent sexting, which is the transmission of nude, semi-nude, or sexually provocative photos or videos by cellphone. The largest growing group of “sexters” is 13 – 15 year-old girls, which makes both the sending and receiving of “sexts” child pornography, a criminal offense. Yet, when adolescents who "sext" were confronted about their sexting behavior, a surprising number did not see their actions as having been “sexual” in nature.         
       In brief, parents should know the photo and video capabilities of their teen’s cellphone, and then talk to their teen about its use, and particularly about the act of sexting. Many teens who engaged in this practice claimed that no adult had ever discussed sexting with them, and they had not considered the consequences of sexting prior to engaging in it. Basically, they trusted the receiver of the sext (usually a friend or boyfirend), and did not think that the photos or videos they sent would be shared, copied, posted to the Internet, or viewed by an adult. They also had no understanding that sexting was against the law.         
       Clearly, teens today live in a technology-dominated world. Clearly, parents and schools must help them understand the pros and cons of electronic communications and teach them to become informed consumers. The Canton Middle School Quality Council has accepted this challenge, and their findings and recommendations will add another dimension to our educational programming. In preparation for future program development, on February 17th, Mr. Drew Bartkiewicz will be conducting proper Internet use seminars with middle school students and sharing the results of these workshops with the Quality Council members who are able to attend.

Click here to view the Today show segment from February 8, 2010.

Science Center Classroom Planned for Cherry Brook’s Courtyard

by Lynn K. McMullin

The excitement is beginning to grow over Cherry Brook’s new outdoor classroom planned for the courtyard. This week, Principal Andy Robbin, Math and Science Curriculum Specialist Lisa Deltano, and PTO President Kim O’Brien were happy to accept a $4,200 check from Westinghouse’s Charitable Giving Program to be used for the purchase of a new 10’ x 10’ utility shed, a space-appropriate lawnmower and snow-thrower, and recycled benches for the area. Along with the PTO’s ongoing financial support (and time and energy!), and the expert contributions of Jarlath Connolly, owner of Lawn Tailors, the science center is well on its way to becoming a reality.

What’s in the Works?

For awhile now, the CBPS community has talked about turning the existing, rather overgrown courtyard into a vibrant learning center where teachers can take their classrooms of students to experience and appreciate nature and earth science with a curriculum that is tightly-aligned to carefully designed features. Picture this: groups of students with magnifiers, rakes or shovels, and their writing notebooks, charting what they find and making predictions. They could be digging for earthworms, recycling in the compost bin, or growing food. They could be planting seeds in the greenhouse, noting how a solar panel takes in sunlight and produces energy, or releasing the butterflies they grew from larvae. They could be noting which plants have their seeds on the outside (a sunflower) and which plants have their seeds on the inside (a pumpkin). Where do you find the seeds of a milkweed? The over-arching objective of this project -- we want our youngest students to wonder about the natural world, to participate in it, and to begin to understand their ecological footprint.

If you’re not familiar with this space, the CBPS courtyard is in the center of the building, lined with classrooms on three sides and a corridor with floor-to-ceiling windows on the other. It is very spacious, 120 feet by 92 feet, and has some interesting nooks. After studying the area, we have mapped out two paver-stone pathways with teaching stations at either side. Each station would feature a semi-circle of recycled plastic benches for seating 24 students.

At one end, we’re planning to install garden features; at the other end, renewable energy features. Both are aligned with our K – 3 curricula. A composting bin, for example, would support science objectives for soil testing, recycling, conservation, and earthworm study. Students will plant and keep a simple garden. Naturalized daffodils (1000 bulbs were already planted by the PTO last fall), will illustrate “the life-cycle of a plant.” Milkweed, daylilies, and asters will support lessons on indigenous plant-life and plant classification. They will also provide habitats for butterflies (raised in the metamorphosis unit), and for other insects, toads, and birds. Kindergarteners will plant pumpkins and sunflowers in the spring, then, as first graders, measure the height, weight, circumference, and volume in their first math unit, checking their predictions about whether the largest pumpkins and the largest sunflowers faces have the most seeds. Solar-powered vents on the greenhouse we’re hoping to install and many solar-powered lights will support units on renewable energy sources. If all goes well, the area could also see a water pump, powered by a photo-voltaic cell, for a fish pond habitat, as well as bird houses made by the Garden Club and even a bat house.

Our teachers and an active group of parents who currently lead nature walks will be trained to use the courtyard science stations. We also have the commitment of Liz Butner, K-8 Science Consultant for the Connecticut State Department of Education, who has agreed to provide on-site professional development to help teachers get the most out of the new outdoor classroom, including during the winter months.

While beautification isn’t the primary goal, the newly-redesigned area will be beautiful, and certainly will offer wonderful opportunities for art, reading, and writing classes as well. Cherry Brook’s Garden Club, advised by Ann Atwood, will find many active ways to enjoy the center, and a bird house building workshop planned for the Torrington Lowe’s will only be the beginning of their involvement. Rick Murawski, the Manager of Lowe’s, is the newest member of the planning team.

So, that’s what all the excitement is about! Watch for an Open House event this spring.