Superintendent Susan Lusi addresses Elmhurst PTO.

More than 100 parents and local residents packed the Elmhurst music room tonight for a question and answer session with Portsmouth Superintendent Susan Lusi, and all the questions focused on the future of their school. With rumors about closing Elmhurst swirling in the community, there were dozens of questions, and Lusi warned everyone up front that there were still many unknowns.

"You will leave here with questions," Lusi said.

The meeting was organized by the Elmhurst Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and president Kelly Heitmann chaired the session and scribed questions with an LCD projector as people took their turn at the microphone in a very civil, orderly process. Then the meeting broke for a few minutes as Lusi organized responses. What follows is a rough transcript; if you were there and spot anything I got wrong, just let me know.

Responding to questions about why closing Elmhurst is being considered
I'm going to start with context. Mid-year budget cuts [from the state]. I don't know our budget for THIS year, not to mention next year. We are the only state without a funding formula for education. On local side, you have a Council elected in November that strongly believes they were elected to keep costs down and not even go to cap. [The S3050 cap on the increase in total tax levied by the town.] Total budget is $36M, [and at cap next year there would be a] $1.2M increase. While a million is a lot to a person in their home, on a $36M budget, that's not a lot of money. For anyone in this room to think that I as your Superintendent can control all the factors, you are sadly mistaken. When people make the final decision on budget, the School Committee recommends to Town Council by March 25. Then the Town Council goes through their review. Prior to March 25, there will be Finance Committee meetings, just starting now. Council does not vote budget until next to last week in June.

Questions about districting and class sizes
The official School Committee policy has never recognized community boundaries. Was done as matter of practice. But in the past few years, we have [moved students to maximize class sizes] and used staff to maximum possible. The maximum class size for Pre-K-Kindergarten is 21, Grades 1-2, 22 and Grades 3+, 25. Question about class size cap remain the same. Fact of the matter is, most of our classes are very close to cap.

Why now?
Part of it is budget, but not all. We have a history of deferred maintenance in our buildings. We have clean buildings, we do not have buildings that have kept up with the times. The history of capital projects in this town, there is a $350K bond each year for capital and maintenance. When you look at the RGB report, $350K doesn't go very far. There has not been a solid plan for where we're going in the future. That's why the Facilities Committee hired RGB. The State, over past few years, recognized housing aid is a very large expense and is looking at the master plan of a district if they are asking for additional funds. We would have no chance for a dime without plan. [In summary, why now] Budget, deferred maintenance, declining enrollment.

What about new Navy staffing projected for Newport
Navy not anticipating new families. We do look at housing starts. Send to NESDC. They do enrollment projections. Last year, their estimate was six students off. The best information we have now is that we are not in a period of increasing enrollment. We are, as a state, losing population.

Have we taken regionalization into account.
Not in the current facilities report. There is an Aquidneck Island group [looking at regionalization]. We have contracted with RIPEC to do a study of regionalization. Supposed to be done in late February.

How does this track with the Future Search conference.
Report out in a couple of weeks. Will result in a strategic plan. Goals of Future Search and the Facilities Committee were to look long term at what we wanted and needed in this community. The budget discussion is just starting. We will be putting together scenarios. If state aid is level funded, if it's cut 10%, if it's cut by the total $1M, then we have this discussion.

Are we talking with the teachers
We are in negotiations with our teachers. We have wonderful teachers in this community. Why do you have high test scores at Elmhurst? Teachers and community. Also the highest socioeconomic status in Portsmouth, and possibly Aquidneck Island. We have phenomenal teachers at our other elementary schools too. Your children, if you have high achieving children, will be high achieving in these other schools. I respect the people who are concerned about what's happening to their kids education, respect the right to do petitions, come to meetings like this. I do not respect reaching out to teacher's union asking them to get involved. I don't want teachers put in the middle of this. We would have a problem, given state aid, if nothing happened in the contract. You can do whatever you want. But strongly encourage you to value our teachers and not put them in the middle.

What would closing Elmhurst do to real estate values
At a recent meeting, a person asked about flight from Portsmouth if Elmhurst closed. I was an economics major. You know [economies] are driven by expectations. If all of us run around saying property values will plunge we may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. If it were the case that those people felt it intolerable to have their children educated with children from other schools, then you would see an exodus between elementary and middle school. That is not the pattern I see here in Portsmouth. Our collective behavior will have a dramatic influence on the outcomes that result.

Has any decision been made?
Absolutely not. Closing a school is the third rail of the superintendent's job. It's not like I woke up one day and said, oh for fun, this year I'm closing Elmhurst. Were it not for the budget picture, i would love to say to you we would do nothing with Elmhurst for at least a year. The problem is that i can't give you and the rest of the community the list of tradeoffs, so i cannot in good conscience recommend to the school committee, absent a fuller discussion, to make that proclamation right now. Trust me, if i thought i could in good conscience make that recommendation, i would make it tomorrow night. I did not come to Portsmouth to create unrest in our community. I did come here and discovered issues that I don't think anyone anticipated.

Classroom space for closing vs. estimates in facilities plan
When RGB talks about classrooms, they used class size of 22. The RGB approach makes sense from a planning perspective. You don't want to plan so tight that if you have 5 more kids you can't put them in the rooms. If we were in a system in crisis, which I'm not saying we are, I'd go around counting classrooms. [This is] A budgetary approach in tight times, not planning.

What if we close the school and the bond for renovation/construction fails
That's a very legitimate question. The Gym took years. Were I in your shoes, i would be pressing very hard for what's the long range plan and the guarantee that plan will be delivered on. We may be at odds at times. I will be bringing to committee recommendations, your job to ask these questions. Wouldn't it be great if this many people were at a town council meeting. If elected officials do not hear from you, they will naturally support the people they hear the most from. I respect every member of our Town Council. When they say they were elected to keep the costs down, below the cap, looking at election results, I can't dispute that. I have to show you the tradeoffs before you can decide you want to do that.

If we did make move, what would process be.
I would be trying to get input about the questions you raised. Would all schools be redistricted? We would ask parents. What about moving teachers? We would ask them first and ask their preferences, i would try to consult with teachers as well. We will put cost-savings numbers together. Take our moving costs, look at staff. The staff savings would be quite small. There would be maybe some administrative savings. [Sorry, Bob] By closing school you do not, by definition, reduce the number of teachers. And we always present financial information to the School Committee first.

What happens to building.
Depends how we leave the building. If we abandon for education, it goes back to the town. There are times school committees have mothballed a school without abandoning it. We have not done analysis of value; it seemed premature, it's not our property, it is the town's. Who would pay for appraisal. It's up to the Town Council what happens to the proceeds if anything were done. The School District does not control those decisions.

One last thing
You may be wondering why did we start this discussion at all given that we don't have all the information. From where I sit, that feels like a Catch-22. If I wait, people feel like I snuck up on them. But you put it out at this point in time, people feel all riled up. Throughout my career in public service, i have had a debate about when to start these conversations. Absolutely reasonable people can disagree. I would like to be able to give an absolute drop-dead date. We present the budget to the Town Council March 25, hopefully have more information by then. At the very least we will have discussed a number of scenarios.

Question & Answer session
Q: Music, art, enrichement?
All of our schools have enrichment. Really thanks to all of you, the PTOs and others who put it on. I do not see enrichment changing. Music is a very big issue in this community. Certainly not looking to cut them.

School Committee Vice-Chair Sylvia Wedge reminds question on structure.
The building is structurally sound. Engineer said the building is sound. About the Fire code and why we're "just hearing now." It's true that it changed in 2005. Portsmouth and many communities have been struggling. About two and a half years ago we entered into agreement with state fire code board of review to sprinkler one building a year. We've done Middle School, PHS, and now will do one elementary a year. At the joint meeting with the Town Council the question came up about the Fire marshall and could we get extension because of facilities plan. I have a meeting later with Town Administrator and the Portsmouth Fire Department to discuss. Before we go to the state, it's important to have support of own Fire Department.

Q: Is there anything we can do to keep school open.
Do what you're doing. Stay engaged. Ask questions. Lobby. You will also need to look at the tradeoffs, once they're apparent. If i could in good faith say that we will not [close Elmhurst] next year, i would love to do that. In the long term, everyone here should look at future. Continually repairing buildings of a certain age is not the right approach. [In the Future Search conference] one thing that came through loud and clear, people want appropriate, green, and technologically advanced schools. It's not clear to me that we want to stick with our current configuration in the long term.

Q: [About the fire code] if we do Hathaway then Melville, we're 3 years down the road. So we have 3 years before we'reup against it. What other issues than fire code.
A: Operational costs, transportation.
Q: You said that you haven't counted the rooms [how do you know you could fit in the remaining schools]. My 7-year-old said don't let them close my awesome school.
A: Respectfully, I didn't say [we hadn't counted the rooms].
Q: I don't see how you can make decisions without proper information. We're talking about closing a school this year. I'm just missing it.
A: I would encourage everyone to go to web site. Full facilities report is there. At Elmhurst 1-5 years, need to spend $5M.
Q: Are these classified as must-dos.
A: [Description of Priority 1 and 2; suggestion to look at the report]

Q: When i looked, the option for renovation of the three elementary schools was least expensive.
The facilities committee was asked to look at what we need in the long term.

Q: You're talking budget. The strategic process is different. [In business] I have to have a long term plan.
[They] should go hand in hand, except in the public sector when you don't have a funding formula. I can't, for example, charge user fees. Some states have independent school districts that have taxing authority for schools. [Ideas like this need to be addressed to the legislature]

Representative Amy Rice:
I'm your state representative. Please don't throw anything. You had touched upon [budget] discussions with state. [And why not all the information was available to make decisions] The process is a beast, for lack of a better word. That state process is different from town process. Governor presents budget. Then the House Finance committee analyzes it, taking testimony. I'm working hard to keep bus monitors on board. I opposed the Governor's proposed cuts to cities and towns and schools. I'm a strong believer in supporting public schools. We are going to try to do the best we can, but we don't know yet. That is why discussions haven't yet begun, we're in the process of analyzing. It's a hard thing to come up with money. I also served on the Town Council locally, and you ask "what can you do," it comes down to 4 votes on the council. No matter what the School Committee does. It's the hand they get dealt. Whatever we come up with, it comes down to 4 votes on the Council [...] Engage the council.

Wrap up
Kelly Heitman said that the questions and answers would be posted on EPTO Web site, and reminded the group that there is a petition there as well.

Liz Harris, EPTO vice president. "If nothing else, I hope this reinforces a very real threat." In response to a question about how useful signing petitions would be. "I think the Town Council is listening, I believe the School Committee is listening."

Full disclosure: I am an appointed member of the Facilities Committee.