Board Still Considering Fees for Programs

With the end of the school year approaching, school officials are still trying to figure out a way to re-instate middle school sports, perhaps by including levying a fee on students who participate, as well as close out some other key initiatives undertaken this year, most notably making some changes in special education.

At last week's meeting, Superintendent Dr. Brad Draeger updated the board on the special education forums he held in February and March with parents; he also held meetings with principals and child study teams.

 The purpose of the forums, Dr. Draeger reiterated to the board, was for him to meet with parents so that he could  get a sense of what parents like and dislike about special education in the district.  

According to Dr. Draeger, most parents are pleased with Livingston's special education services, in particular the P.R.I.D.E program,  yet he acknowledged that there were groups of parents who were dissatisfied.  Some frustrations voiced by parents include the difficulty in getting children screened for special services, for example, along with problems in scheduling IEP conferences with staff members and in communicating with teachers.  

Dr. Draeger, along with members of the board who discussed the findings after the presentation, agreed that steps need to be taken to improve communication between parents and staff, for example, and that teachers could receive more training.  The district will work over the coming months, Dr. Draeger said, to continue the initiative.  To view Dr. Draeger's presentation, click here.

Dr. Draeger will repeat his presentation on June 15 when he hosts a Superintendent's Forum at Livingston High School.

Following the budget cuts that voters approved in April, which called for the reduction and elimination of some extracurricular activities and programs including the middle school sports program, the board has been considering implementing a fee structure to reinstate some programs.

Although the discussion on fees is ongoing, at last week's meeting the board listened to the ideas that the advisory committee set-up to discuss fees has been researching and recently presented to Dr. Draeger.

Dr. Draeger indicated that there are a number of options the board could consider to reinstate the middle school sports program and GT music and art programs, for example. For the sports program, outsourcing the program to save money or reducing the current middle school sports program by 20 percent (reducing it from a five day to four day schedule) are some ideas being floated, although the committee noted that if the current program is reduced, it would still not save enough money to reinstate the entire program and fees would still need to be charged.   Pricing seems to be the sticking point; that is, the board and committee are unsure what, if any, fee to charge students to participate in programs.  Another idea being considered is to charge a universal fee to all students in the district to participate in activities; this is intended to spread out the cost.  To view the committee's presentation on fees that Dr. Draeger referenced, click here.   

The  next Board of Education is on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Livingston High School.