Gov. Wentworth District not ready for 4-day weeks
Fosters.Com
WOLFEBORO — The Gov. Wentworth Regional School Board determined there wasn't enough time to resolve all the issues to make any drastic changes in the school calendar before classes begin in two weeks
District officials heard from Superintendent Jack Robertson and listened to more than 100 area residents, including parents, teachers and district staff, as board members discussed adding 45 minutes to the school day, moving to a four-day school week during the winter months and other less drastic means to save on energy costs.
"The purpose of this is not about adopting this (proposed) calendar, it's about saving energy," Robertson said.
Robertson said the average annual costs for fuel and electricity in the district — which includes the communities of Brookfield, Effingham, New Durham, Ossipee, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro — are significantly higher than last year and more than initially budgeted by officials. For the 2008-09 school year, the district budgeted $290,000 for oil, $470,000 for electricity and $292,000 for diesel fuel, but estimates the projected costs to be $368,000, $580,000 and $347,000, respectively — resulting in a total shortfall of $243,000, according to Robertson.
District officials know it is not a short-term problem since fuel and heating costs have increased 450 percent in the past decade, he said.
Robertson said the district spends more than 99 percent of its budget, leaving very little left over to pay the expected shortfall. He added the district can reduce some of the amount by 5 to 7 percent — possibly $47,000 to $66,000 —
if it enacts energy-saving measures. If the district added 30 to 45 minutes onto the school day, which the staff preferred to shorter or longer times, it would save seven to 11 days on the calendar, Robertson said
District officials drafted a 155-day calendar which extended the school day by 45 minutes, proposed to have four-day weeks in January through March, merge April vacation into a two-week winter break and end the school year the first week in June, depending on snow days. The proposal also called to hold school on Columbus Day, but not the Monday before Veterans Day, moving parent-teacher conference days to Thanksgiving week and having Christmas week off.
Robertson said the state requires districts to have at least 180 days in school, which can be waived by the New Hampshire Department of Education if the commissioner feels the districts justifies the request. He added districts must provide 990 instructional hours for secondary students and 945 hours for elementary students, which is not
able to be waived.
A change in the school calendar could cause conflicts with collective bargaining agreements, athletic schedules and day care needs, Robertson said.
Area residents asked officials to consider what federal funding was available, how parents could afford more day care expenses if they are already struggling, what the potential impact on education was, whether students could volunteer their day care services, what the effect would be on after-school sports, activities and jobs and how the staff would be affected.
Anika Hastings, a parent, taxpayer and guidance councilor for the district in Tuftonboro, supported making changes to the school day and school week. She applauded the board for trying to take action and leading the charge against high energy bills rather than waiting to see what other districts might do to save money.
"I was hoping more people would stand up and express their ideas,"
After two-and-half hours of discussion, the board decided not to accept the proposed calendar since there wasn't enough time to identify and resolve all of the issues that would result in increasing the school day or cutting back to four-day weeks in the winter.
Board members saw the potential of the proposal but agreed there were too many "tentacles" to deal with before classes begin Sept. 2.
The board unanimously agreed to enact energy saving options that do not effect the calendar, including having students and staff wear more layers, encouraging car pooling, stop idling buses, coordinating trips and sporting events and lowering the temperature of rooms and water by 5 to 10 degrees, as proposed by Robertson.
The board also asked Assistant Superintendent Kathleen McCabe to create options to readjust the school calendar slightly for consideration next month, including using some of the suggestions discussed Monday night.
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In my day, after school activities meant playing in the yard. It wasn’t up to the school or the town to take care of the kids. I realize more parents work in today’s society than in the dark days of the 1960’s, but let’s be realistic. Who do you think pays for the fuel that heats the school? Taxpayers. And don’t think for one minute that they don’t intentionally have the entire school staff show up for Town Meeting to approve their budgets!! They just make sure they yell louder than every and anyone else. Believe you me, one way or another, we are going to pay, and pay big time. It’s about time someone took responsibility for the future instead of putting it off for someone else to deal with. We have enough of that in Washington, we don’t need it here in NH.