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get our pupil/teacher ratio to a good, satisfactory working condition,” said Paul Nichols, attending his first meeting since his hospitalization for a heart attack four months ago. “Now when we’re where we hoped 14 or 15 years ago we’d be,” the superintendent suggests “squeezing the teachers” and dropping the elementary school “barely within state mandates” on class size, Mr. Nichols added.
Administration also a concern
Reaching what he called “the crux of the matter,” Mr. Estabrook said he is concerned about administrative staffing as well as class size. He noted that instead of eliminating the position of special services coordinator, he proposes an eight percent increase in Pam Rowe’s salary. The superintendent said it’s a “myth” and “patently untrue” that her only responsibilities are supervision of special education, gifted and talented and Chapter I programs, but he did not elaborate on what those other responsibilities might be. “There’s been significant movement in gifted and talented programs,” Mr. Estabrook said, adding that ‘It’s a more time consuming matter than it was five or six years ago.”
With special education, “there’s a very real need for attention to detail,” he continued, warning the School Board of “very real consequences” if time limits for testing and placement get “off track.” He called it “absurd” to think, as the supervisors suggest, that the “time consuming” duties of the special services coordinator can be divided between building administrators and the assistant superintendent.
Retaining that position is especially critical in light of other central office departures, Mr. Estabrook said, reporting that neither assistant superintendent Tom Campbell nor adminsitrative secretary Judy Atkins will be returning next year.
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