School Committee: Ensuring Communication is Key

Communication was the unspoken theme of last night's School Committee meeting.

With appearances by Rep Garrett Bradley, D-Hingham,  and Sen. Robert  Hedlund, R-Weymouth, along with a report from the Technology Department on the agenda, the meeting  focused on making sure that the right messages were relayed.

A brief visit by chairman of the Board of Selectmen was a reminder that the Track Project will be discussed by the Selectmen tonight at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. 

With on  April 25, the available budget to Hingham is of some concern.

Although Bradley and Hedlund were unable to provide actual figures until their release on Wednesday, there was some acknowledgment that the State Budget submitted to the House in January may have set some “lofty goals” with “aggressive targets” likely to filter down to the local level.

While the School Committee had the attention of both Bradley and Hedlund, the issue of unfunded mandates from government was also addressed. The general consensus at the meeting was that it was unfair to mandate organizations such as the School Committee with having to provide training for the monitoring of students especially if the financial burden was left to the town.

Also at the meeting Joe Andrews, manager of the Technology Department at Hingam High School, gave an in-depth report into what is being used currently in the district.  Andrews also gave a preview of what students might use in the future. In 2007, the Technology Department conducted a through examination of the hardware and software available to Hingham Schools. Four years later the technology available has changed dramatically.  According to Andrews,  utilize approximately 1,000 computers with the emergence of wireless networks and cloud computing starting to reduce the reliance on internal servers, there is no shortfall in the technology currently available,  with the possible exception of some extra staffing needs.

The issue of the Project, a model for a new school, was also discussed on Monday and the Committee stated that the issues will be up for discussion at Town Meeting. Although the projected costs have been discussed, the project needs a positive vote for a feasibility study.

With so many issues still to be decided, Town Meeting will be the forum for School Committee to clearly communicate its message.