Granby Schools to Face Tough Budget Year

Increases in the costs of health benefits coupled with the loss of several grants will result in the Board of Education having to make up an additional $700,000 to the 2012-13 school budget, according to a school official.

“That’s a significant challenge for us,” said Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley, who made his remarks at the Board of Education’s regular meeting on Wednesday evening.

In response to the projected increase in costs, Addley said, school administrators have already offered to freeze their salaries, something that teachers have already agreed to in their collective bargaining agreement for the upcoming fiscal year.

Even with those measures, the Board of Finance and the school board still will have to find ways to make up the $700,000 increase.

“We’re going to be as creative as we can,” Addley said.

In other business, the school board heard presentations from the principals of F.M. Kearns Primary School, Wells Road Intermediate School and Kelly Lane Intermediate School concerning their 5-year school improvement plans.

Kimberly Dessert, principal of Kearns, which goes from grades K-2, said that the focus was on improving the students’ performance on the Developmental Reading Assessment, a standardized test promoted by the state that is scored within the district.

Overall, the school has seen solid gains over time in the reading assessment test, with 86.7 percent of the second graders from 2010-11 performing at goal, compared with 74.1 of that cohort reaching goal in 2009-10.

First graders in 2010-11 leaped from 48.3 percent reaching goal in kindergarten a year before to 75.9 percent.

While only 55.8 percent of kindergarteners in 2010-11 reached the benchmark, that is still much higher than the 48.3 percent and 38.5 percent of kindergarteners from the previous two classes.

“You’ve seen some nice progress over the last three years,” school board member Kevin Ohannessian said.

“Yes, but we are still concerned that only 55 percent [of kindergarteners] met the benchmark last year,” Dessert replied.

Dessert said that time was a factor, as there is only half-day kindergarten in the district. As such, recess was eliminated to assist in meeting classroom demands.

“Something needed to give,” Dessert said.

Robert Gilbert, principal of Kelly Lane Intermediate School, which runs from grades 3-6, revealed that students scored high on the Connecticut Mastery Test - which tests in reading, writing, math and fifth-grade science - virtually across the board.

For example, in 2010-2011, fifth graders submitted the following results: 94 percent performed at or above goal in reading, 89 percent in writing, 95 percent in math and 91 percent in science.

Fourth graders last year yielded similar results: 88 percent performed at or above goal in reading, 94 percent in writing and 96 percent in math.

There was some concern in third grade and sixth grade writing performances: 75 percent of third graders last year performed at or above goal, while 77 percent performed at those levels in  sixth grade last year.

Gilbert said that techniques would be examined as to how the district’s fourth-grade teachers were so adept at students perform so well in the writing portion of the CMTs.

“The secret will be in the conference and consistent delivery of the curriculum from room to room,” Gilbert said.

Prior to Gilbert’s presentation, Addley praised Kelly Lane for being named a National Blue Ribbon School.

As such, Gilbert, along with another school employee, will travel to Washington, D.C. Nov. 14-15 for a conference.

Gilbert said that a celebration for students, faculty, administrators, school board members and parents was scheduled for Nov. 21.

Dr. Anna Forlenza-Bailey, principal of Wells Road Intermediate School, gave the final 5-year school improvement plan presentation, which revealed more inconsistent CMT scores than Kelly Lane’s.

“Some [of the results] were perplexing, which caused us to do some reflection,” Bailey said.

Just 65 percent of third graders performed at or above goal in math last year, while 66 percent of fourth graders performed at or above goal in reading.
There were certainly positive results, however, particularly in the older grades.

Sixth graders in 2010-11 submitted the following results: 94 percent performed at or above goal in reading, 85 percent in writing and 91 percent in math.

Fifth graders also turned in strong performances: 84 percent in reading, 82 percent in writing and 95 percent in math.

“We’re looking at gaining some traction in third and fourth grade,” Forlenza-Bailey said.

Addley put the test results in some perspective.

“With respect to examining test results from grade level to grade level, we’re still in our infancy,” he said.

The school board’s next meeting is on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.