2012 Annual Report
Dear Citizens of Yarmouth,
The year 2012
was busy for Yarmouth Schools. Our new full day kindergarten program has added
valuable instructional time for our youngest students. The mid-year reading evaluations
for kindergarten provide evidence of success. We are also nearly finished with implementation of a
Department of Justice grant that has allowed for new locks on classroom and
exterior doors as well as a comprehensive safety audit identifying additional
steps to improve safety and security at each of our schools.
This
spring we will begin the turf renovation project, which will be funded by a
$1.5 million bond approved by Yarmouth voters on November 6th. The
11 year old turf field, used by both high school sports teams and community-based
sports and activities, reached the end of its useful life and had settled over
time. Turf field renovations will
include the replacement of the existing turf carpet, adding an underlying pad,
repairing and improving field drainage, re-spraying and re-striping the
existing track, and adding new ball netting as well as a new game management
box and ramp.
Our teachers
have begun to make changes to instruction and assessments to meet the more
rigorous Common Core State Standards. While some might think that this
change is insignificant, for the United States, this is the first foray to a
national set of standards, which some consider revolutionary. A
comparison of the Maine Learning Results to the Common Core Standards verifies
that a change to these standards will enable the development of higher level
thinking skills, increase instructional rigor, and consequently better prepare
students for higher education and success in an increasingly global work
environment. We must resolve to continue the work we have begun, as these
changes, if done well, will require a considerable amount of time and effort.
At the time of
this writing, we are developing the 2013-2014 school budget in consideration of
state aid that is anticipated to be lower than this year’s values. We recently responded to a
$172,484 mid-year curtailment of FY13 state aid (this means that we are
receiving $172,484 less in state aid than we expected and budgeted for)
resulting from Gov. Paul LePage’s executive order reducing state spending by
$35.5 million to balance the state budget. Federal budget issues may also
result in a loss of over 8% of federal aid for the next fiscal year. We
cannot assume that the burden of both making up a state and federal funding
reductions as well as covering increases in salaries, benefits, energy, and
other school expenses can be easily borne by local taxpayers. We will be
working hard to develop a FY14 budget that maintains programming as fiscally
conservative as possible
Whether it is the consideration of
a bond for turf replacement, filling the gap in state aid, or encouraging and
supporting innovative projects, Yarmouth's commitment to the schools is
evident. In turn, it is our
responsibility to the community to be transparent in our fiscal operations and
in our vision for the future for Yarmouth Schools. I invite you to learn more about our schools through
our websites; by speaking with our administrators, staff, and School Committee;
or by attending School Committee meetings.
Sincerely,
Judy Paolucci
