Next Budget Meeting Set for Wednesday Night, June 16

The next Lowell Public Schools Budget meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 16 at City Hall in the City Council Chambers at 7:00 P.M.

Topics on the agenda include:

Student Achievement Gains Across the District, District Strategic Goal #2: Promoting Community Involvement in Order to Enhance Educational Opportunities for Students, Student Middle School Intramurals and the Evaluation of the Superintendent of Schools.

For a complete agenda of the night's topics, please visit our homepage.

Lowell to Host Innovative Cities Conference

Lowell is hosting the Innovative Cities Conference. The conference, titled Innovative Cities: Best Practices in Urban Development, will be held June 15-17th. This exciting conference will be hosted by our community partners: Lowell National Historic Park, UMass Lowell, Middlesex Community College, The Lowell Plan and others.

Stakeholders from the following areas will share their successful strategies for promoting small to mid-size cities:

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Asheville, North Carolina
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Lowell, Massachusetts
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Portland, Oregon

Conference topics will include economic development, the creative economy, sustainability, transportation, housing, education, etc.

For more information, visit the Innovative Cities website or email info@innovativecitiesconference.com

By the way, while at the website, check out the section labeled "Lowell Attractions."

Special Education Parent Advisory Council

The Lowell Special Education Parent Advisory Council will hold its last meeting of the school year on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at the Butler School Library Media Center on Gorham Street at 7:00 p.m. This will be a general meeting.

Stay up to date on Lowell Public Schools Special Education information.
All Lowell Public School parents/guardians and educators are invited to attend.

For more information call 978-454-1967 or email lowellspedpac@aol.com

Community Partnerships: UMass Lowell's Alex Ruthmann speaks to Lowell City Council

Community Partnerships

Dr. Alex Ruthmann, Music Education professor from UMass Lowell spoke with City Council members at last week's meeting. Ruthmann stressed the importance of sustaining vibrant partnerships and continuing to develop long term relationships that will benefit both students and the citizens of Lowell.

Click here for Dick Howe's blog posting and You Tube video of the meeting.

Over the last six months, the Lowell School Department has been wrestling with a projected budget shortfall of between $7 million and $9 million. I feel it is my responsibility to ensure that the community at large realizes how devastating this level of cuts would be for Lowell Public Schools.

Lowell Public Schools for the past two decades have enjoyed positive growth in all areas. We have a higher percentage of new schools than any other urban district in the commonwealth. We are proud of the fact that this year we were ranked in first place of all urban school districts for our student achievement growth in the area of mathematics and in the top third for English language arts. The staff and programs that have ensured our success in the past have been significantly reduced over the past six years, and any further reduction at this point will result in the elimination of entire programs and key positions that have made our gains possible.

We have been working with our state delegation and the city manager in an attempt to mitigate this financial shortfall, but at this time no one knows what the final numbers will be. What we do know, however, is that any reduction in funds will have a detrimental and long-lasting impact on student achievement.

Given the amount of the anticipated shortfall, the Lowell School Department and School Committee have done a great deal of planning and budget analysis over the past six months so that the cuts taken do the least amount of damage. We have held numerous finance subcommittee meetings to discuss this dire situation. Many concerned community leaders such as George Duncan, president, Enterprise Bank, Jim Cook, Lowell Plan director and Kendall Wallace, chairman, Lowell Publishing Company, to just name a few, have joined us in these discussions over the past year. We appreciate their time and support of the Lowell Public Schools. Their commitment to a high quality education system is reflective of the support we have for the schools throughout the city.

There are no easy answers as we are still feeling the effects of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite this downturn, our students and their families are counting on us to be the best we can be even in difficult times. Granted, as your superintendent of schools, I wrestle with the complexities and difficulties of clearly communicating the damage of further cuts to Lowell Public Schools and the need to provide hope and inspiration at the same time. Please know that we are committed to educational excellence and collectively we will overcome. You are encouraged to attend the public budget hearings Thursday, May 27, and Tuesday, June 1, in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 7 p.m.

CHRIS SCOTT

Superintendent of Schools

Dear Staff, Families and Lowellians,

We are in the throws of our budget season which is very difficult given the budget shortfall the School Department is facing.

The School Committee will be presented with the Superintendent’s Recommended budget at the May 19th School Committee meeting. The Budget Hearings are scheduled for Thursday, May 27th and Tuesday, June 1st at City Hall, Council Chambers at 7PM. Please plan to attend, as the cuts will gravely impact our School District.



To date the School Committee has been asked to examine numerous reduction possibilities. The following chart illustrates the potential savings from reducing 24FTE teacher positions and reducing the current 4-house configuration to a 3-house configuration at Lowell High School:

24 FTE Teacher Staff Reduction
$ 1,385,328
Mean class size of 24 students

1 House Office Reduction
$ 366,716
From 4 to 3 House Offices
Total Savings:
$ 1,752,044

Following are additional budget reductions that are being considered and evaluated for recommendation within other employee groups at Lowell High School:


Interscholastic and Intramural Athletics
FY10 Budget $ 747,915
Potential Reduction $ 249,305

After-School Clubs & Student Activities
FY10 Budget $ 142,000
Potential Reducation $ 71,000

Instructional & Support Specialists
FY10 Budget $ 235,851
Potential Reduction $ 159,254

Building Custodians
FY10 Budget $ 850,543
Potential Reduction $ 195,670

Security Guards
FY10 Budget $ 273,938
Potential Reduction $ 39,134

Clerks and Clerk Schedulers
FY10 Budget $ 594,859
Potential Reduction $ 183,335
Total: $ 897,698

The following chart illustrates the potential savings from 3 FTE and 4 FTE reductions at the elementary and middle levels respectively. There are currently 14 elementary schools and 6 middle schools in the district. As the Bartlett Community Partnership School and Pyne Arts Magnet School are 2-strand, K-8 schools, please note that they are included with the elementary level reductions.

Per School Savings
Elementary Level Reduction:
1 FTE
$ 808,108
2 FTE's
$1,616,216
3 FTE's
$2,424,324

Per School Savings
Middle Level Reduction:
1 FTE
$ 346,332
2 FTE's
$ 692,664
3 FTE's
$1,038,996
4 FTE's
$1,385,328

There have been many administrative changes in the school district for the 2010/11 school year. Below are the announcements that have been made in the last few weeks.

Jason DiCarlo, McAuliffe School New Position: Murkland School Principal
Marianne Bond, Murkland School Principal New Position: McAvinnue School Principal
Matt Stahl, Moody & Washington School Principal New Position: Pawtucketville Memorial Principal
Kelly Clough, McAvinnue School Principal- Resigning
Alison Corner, Pawtucketville Memorial Principal- Retiring
Bill Manolopoulos, PyneArts Principal- Retiring but will return for one more year
Linda Lee, Shaughnessy Principal- Retiring but will return for one more year
William Samaras, LHS Headmaster- Retiring
Edward Rozmiarek, LHS Headmaster Starting July 1, 2010
Susan Mulligan, Bailey Acting Principal
Please feel free to contact me at any time – my door is always open.

My best to you,
Chris Scott

Superintendent Scott's Statement on the Budget

Over the last six months, the Lowell School Department has been wrestling with a projected budget shortfall of between $7 million and $9 million. I feel it is my responsibility to ensure that the community at large realizes how devastating this level of cuts would be for Lowell Public Schools.

Lowell Public Schools for the past two decades have enjoyed positive growth in all areas. We have a higher percentage of new schools than any other urban district in the commonwealth. We are proud of the fact that this year we were ranked in first place of all urban school districts for our student achievement growth in the area of mathematics and in the top third for English language arts. The staff and programs that have ensured our success in the past have been significantly reduced over the past six years, and any further reduction at this point will result in the elimination of entire programs and key positions that have made our gains possible.

We have been working with our state delegation and the city manager in an attempt to mitigate this financial shortfall, but at this time no one knows what the final numbers will be. What we do know, however, is that any reduction in funds will have a detrimental and long-lasting impact on student achievement.

Given the amount of the anticipated shortfall, the Lowell School Department and School Committee have done a great deal of planning and budget analysis over the past six months so that the cuts taken do the least amount of damage. We have held numerous finance subcommittee meetings to discuss this dire situation. Many concerned community leaders such as George Duncan, president, Enterprise Bank, Jim Cook, Lowell Plan director and Kendall Wallace, chairman, Lowell Publishing Company, to just name a few, have joined us in these discussions over the past year. We appreciate their time and support of the Lowell Public Schools. Their commitment to a high quality education system is reflective of the support we have for the schools throughout the city.

There are no easy answers as we are still feeling the effects of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite this downturn, our students and their families are counting on us to be the best we can be even in difficult times. Granted, as your superintendent of schools, I wrestle with the complexities and difficulties of clearly communicating the damage of further cuts to Lowell Public Schools and the need to provide hope and inspiration at the same time. Please know that we are committed to educational excellence and collectively we will overcome. You are encouraged to attend the public budget hearings Thursday, May 27, and Tuesday, June 1, in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 7 p.m.

CHRIS SCOTT

Superintendent of Schools