Support Our Schools

Hi, Everyone,
As you may know, our state Rep. Brad Hill has co-sponsored a “SPED circuit breaker” amendment to this year’s state budget that has the potential to bring some state money back to our towns.
Essentially, it lowers the amount our school district has to spend on Special Education costs before we get [...]

Read Full Post »

To Avoid Redistricting 45 Elementary School Students from Cutler and Winthrop.
If the override fails, 45 students will be redistricted from Cutler and Winthrop in grades 2-5.
To Keep Our Language Arts Support Programs in the Elementary Schools.
If the override fails, the language arts support programs in the elementary school will be [...]

Read Full Post »

It is imperative that all school supporters in your household attend Town Meeting from beginning to end. It is possible that a motion may be made to:

lower the actual dollar amount of the School Override.
have silent ballots and/or recounts.
change the order of the articles as listed in the warrant book.
reconsider the override after a positive [...]

Read Full Post »

Teachers:
We have cut positions every year for the past five years, eliminating over 75 staff positions - the majority of which have been teachers but has also included administrators, secretaries, custodians, and nurses. Last year alone 17.5 positions were eliminated. The result is class sizes at all levels that already exceed [...]

Read Full Post »

In April of 2007, the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School received a letter from the New England Association of Schools & Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) — a letter that represents an objective, third-party assessment of the status of our current services. The news was not good.
A high school [...]

Read Full Post »

In the email we sent 4/16/08 and the subsequent posting to this space, we gave the wrong meeting time for the Hamilton Town Meeting. It starts at 7:30 P.M., not 7:00. To recap:
Wenham: Saturday, May 3rd 1:00 PM, Buker Elementary School
Hamilton: [...]

Read Full Post »

Mark your calendars now and get your babysitters! It is CRITICAL that ALL registered voters in every household attend town meeting this year to insure that the School Budget Override gets on the Ballot. Each voter needs to stay for the ENTIRE Meeting so there is NO chance of a later motion to reconsider [...]

Read Full Post »

WBUR aired a Radio Boston show Friday 4/11 called “Money Woes” which focused on this years round of overrides. It’s available as a podcast at http://www.radioboston.org/index.php/2008/04/08/money-woes.html (about 50 minutes).

Read Full Post »

How Did We Get Here?
Our district’s funding crisis is not a spending problem. It’s a revenue problem.

For one, Massachusetts spends less than the national average on schools.
Second, the state has determined that, based on our income and property values, Hamilton and [...]

Read Full Post »

There will be a Support Our Schools meeting on Monday, April 14 at 7:30 pm at the Community House.
A few of the agenda items include:

Update on lobbying efforts at State level
Additional Sources of Revenue Committee
School Override

Important Dates:
April 30:
On Wednesday, April 30 at 7:00 PM in the Buker Multi-Purpose Room there will be a Town/Schools [...]

Read Full Post »