As you know, the School Committee voted unanimously at their April 14 meeting to continue remote learning instead of pausing for the April break. We are thankful we have dedicated educators who support continuing school through a normally scheduled break in order to best serve our students. I want to remind you per state guidelines, Belmont Public Schools will still observe the Monday holiday on April 20. Have a good, long weekend. Remote learning will then pick back up on Tuesday, April 21.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
FY20 and FY21 Budget: The budgets for this year (FY20) and next year (FY21) were discussed at the April 14 School Committee meeting. The town and school departments are freezing any new purchases for FY20. The school department will prioritize and limit the expenditure of text, materials, and supplies funds to only those items related to remote learning. Any new purchase orders are going through Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias. We are also enacting a hiring freeze for FY20, which means no new staff for this fiscal year (which concludes June 30, 2020). As you know from my previous communication, we hired our new Burbank and Winn Brook principals, who will begin on July 1, 2020 (FY21), and we currently have our Search Committee in place taking part in remote interviews for the Chenery principal.
The FY21 budget may look different from what we presented in January. State and town budgets will be impacted by lost tax revenue from payroll, restaurant, gas, etc. At this time we do not yet have a clear picture of how much funding the state or federal government will provide to schools and towns in the form of relief. We fully recognize and anticipate that some students may have different needs when they return to school in September. As we review and make necessary revisions to our budget due to any loss of revenue, we also must keep in mind our future student and teacher needs. These needs may include increased support for three key areas: academically fragile children, social-emotional support, and nursing. In addition, we are reviewing any and all technology support for our educators. Our educators adapted quickly to our pivot toward a remote learning model, however we have more to learn and will need increased support to scale up work effectiveness. As a school district, we are preparing in case our school year encounters intermittent closures, and we are currently working on what a Phase 3 Remote Learning plan might look like for possible use next school year.
Our School Committee Finance Subcommittee, along with the Warrant Committee Education Subcommittee, met on Thursday April 16, 2020. We discussed the impact of COVID-19 on our FY20 and FY21 budgets. The FY20 discussion was centered around “fees” that some of our families have paid for services such as transportation, full day kindergarten, spring athletics, and other fee-based programs. The Finance Committee will meet next Thursday (April 23) to discuss this matter in more detail and bring the topic to our full School Committee on April 28 with a decision and vote. We appreciate the patience of those families who have reached out to the school department with their concerns. As you know, at this point our schools may open this year, and the decision from the state and Governor as to whether our closure extends or not has an impact on some of these decisions. Belmont and all other districts await the Governor’s decision on this important matter.
GOOD NEWS FROM THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
Butler continues Spirit Days virtually to recognize what a great job students are doing remote learning from home. Butler teachers showed their love to help celebrate the day.
Butler teachers also had a special morning greeting for students on April 14 and sent their virtual hugs through this video to let students know they are thinking about them, and they miss their students and families.
BHS PTSO WEBINAR
BHS PTSO is organizing a free webinar to virtually continue their parent speaker series. The topic is Applying the New Science of Purpose in School, Career and Life, and is held on April 23 at 7:00 p.m. EST. Registration is required for this webinar. The webinar features two award-winning educators, Dr. Belle Liang and Tim Klein, LCSW, who will share evidenced-based best practices to guide parents of teens in a rapidly changing world.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The Superintendent's Newsletter will be coming out on Tuesday and Friday afternoons with a section dedicated to your questions. The newsletter will allow us to stay connected as a district and offer quick updates, information, and school news while we are physically distancing. Your questions can be sent to Newsletter Questions Google doc.
BHS Principal Isaac Taylor has started his own FAQ document families can view. They have broken the document down into sections for all students, each grade level, and will update the document as more questions arise.
Is BPS is considering adopting some of the models being used by Private/Catholic schools/Colleges where classes are being taught via video conference? Classes start at 8:00am - end of school day. This could be really valuable to keep students learning and focused.
We recognize that there may be a need a "dual-learning" environment in the future. Currently we don’t see virtual all day classrooms being implemented this school year. It is a challenging expectation to scale up this model in only a few short weeks. Our goal is to learn from our experiences this year, spend time thoughtfully reviewing the feedback we receive, and provide professional development over the summer in an effort to be prepared for a potential dual-learning environment for our 2020/21 school year.
Is the construction project still fully funded irrespective to the budget shortfalls due the COVID-19 situation?
The Belmont Middle High School Building Committee (BMHSBC) has been meeting with public remote sessions. At this point in time the construction project is moving forward with workers on site each day. Please see the Town’s website for the next meeting as the BMHSBC is the body to address any questions related to the project.