L-R (rear) Committee members Marily King, Cynthia Perrotti. Front: Supt. Sue Lusi, Asst. Supt. Colleen Jermain, Fin. Dir. Chris Tague.

The Portsmouth School Committee decided not to vote this evening to close Elmhurst, a process which would have had to start tonight, according to Superintendent Sue Lusi, in order to give the schools enough time to execute. And one of the reasons, I believe, that they were able to take this decision was an innovative suggestion put forward by brand-new School Committee member Cynthia Perrotti: instead of moving 4th and 5th grade to the Middle School, she asked, why not just move the entire Elmhurst population.

While the idea will clearly need further studay — the committee gave Lusi direction to investigate the details — the reduced logistical complexity would allow for a much quicker implementation should "the bottom fall out of the budget," as Chair Dick Carpender put it.

Ms. Perrotti's first night on the Committee, and already she's come up with an out-of-box idea that just might make a forced consolidation possible with less stress on the students and reduce the angst spread across three elementaries. Well done, and welcome aboard.

[update]

The question of Elmhurst gained additional significance last night as Lusi and Finance Director Chris Tague reviewed the status of budget projections for 2009-2010 with questions still outstanding about how the district will close a projected gap.

While the District will be receiving approximately $425 in ARRA (stimulus) money, that is being used by the state to "supplant money we were projected to receive," meaning no net gain. The other component of the stimulus, IDEA grants, could bring the district about $300K, Lusi said, but this money may not be used to supplant, but only to supplement.

With a likely increase in the Regional Special Education District assessment of around $340K due to increased percentages of Portsmouth students in that program, Lusi suggested to the committee that the IDEA grant might be the only place to close the gap, although she cautioned them that the district would ned to think carefully about "an exit strategy" for when the simulus funding expires in two years.

Lusi also revised the estimated savings associated with potentially closing Elmhurst, as further work with the bus company showed a need to add 3 additional busses, at a yearly cost of $50K/each. There would also be costs for bus monitors of $105K, unless the district received a waiver from the state. Taken together, these changes would bring the savings down to $227K without monitors, $122K with. "The savings are not as great as originally projected," Lusi said, but added, "They are still not inconsequential."

Lusi told the committee that if all assumptions hold, she would prefer to wait a year on the closure. "That would allow the Facilities Committee to make a recommendation, projected enrollment for FY2011 is smaller, and there would be more time for planning." However, she cautioned that approach was, "Not without risk even if assumptions do hold."

That's the point where Perrotti made her suggestion, noting that moving the entire Elmhurst school would be less classrooms, less students, and would have less impact on district-wide busing. Calling it a "very creative idea," Lusi said the district would need to look into some of the logistics (toilets for Kindergartners, etc.). I also asked Lusi later about recess and playground space, and she noted they would need to investigate that as well.

But Perrotti's proposal seemed to give the committee needed breathing room in the face of Lusi's assessment of moving grade 4 and 5. "I don't think we can deliver on the other plan later than tonight. [School administration and staff] originally wanted a May first decision. I don't think we can responsibly do that kind of move later than today."

Carpender advised the committee that they did not need to vote, in fact, advising against taking any action like voting to keep Elmhurst open which they might need to revisit later. He asked for motions, and with none forthcoming, the decision was made to leave Elmhurst open by default, with a "worst-case scenario" being Perrotti's proposed relocation.

Also on last night's agenda, IT Director Rose Muller provided an update on her team's work over the past year. With 4 IT personnel, Muller said, her group supports 3,000 students, 400 staff members and a wide-area network comprising 1,200 workstations, handling 1,800 tech requests while also executing major project work. Among the prior year's accomplishments, she said, were migrating to electronic report cards at the elementary level, implementing iParent secure real-time grade access at the middle school, creating online appointment forms for registration, using the RIEPS portfolio system (based on the open-source Sakai) to support collaboration among teachers, consolidating servers, setting up AlertNow for emergency communication, and implementing a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system at 3 out of the 5 district buildings to reduce cost.

Noting the progress over the past year, School Committee Chair Dick Carpender said, "Where we have gone is just a phenomenal jump, and I commend you and your staff." He had only one tongue-in-cheek question. "Could you put a restriction for me on AlertNow so I don't hear Dr. Lusi at 5:45 am?

Without missing a beat Muller responded, "You'll have to put in a tech request."

In other news, Lusi updated the committee on the RI Dept. of Education ongoing revision work on the state Basic Education Plan (BEP). This document, which sets out the minimum requirements for all schools had not been updated in years, Lusi said, and is of particular importance in setting absolute criteria for what schools cannot cut (as, for example, when faced with a Caruolo action). Lusi encouraged the committee members and public to read the document and suggested that the state might still be willing to take comments. (I sure hope so; they did a pitiful job at publicizing this important process, and nobody covered the proceedings except Middletown blogger Eileen Spillane.)

Resources:
RIDE Board of Regents
Direct link to download draft Basic Education Plan (648K PDF)

Full disclosure: I am a parent volunteer member of the PSD Technology Committee. I am an appointed member of the Facilities Committee