This blog was created to address concerns of the PVRS teachers, parents and children.
Share with others to get the word out to all taxpayers in Northfield, Warwick, Bernardston, Leyden and School Choice Vernon. We also dedicate this page to Mike Duprey, you will always be PVRS to us and in our hearts .
Nice Mess Pat. You and the SC lack of ethics and inability to handle situations have caused this disaster. YOU and MILLER destroyed these schools and whats worst were you were warned. First, you force out Dorion, than you decided to SETTLE with Miller knowing you were warned by Templeton and your own committee not to hire her, than.....the meeting in May 2015 you heard from hundreds of people to end this. We lost teachers, Admins, and more teachers and you just allowed the dominoes to fall. You protected Miller knowing full well what was going on. It should be YOU and this SC who pay this money that's needed or be made to work free till it is and of course supervised. Instead, you put this on taxpayers. SHAME ON YOU ALL. Pat you and this SC heard about the abuse from Administrators Miller was causing and teachers and all you said was and I quote " what do you want me to do? It would cost us over 200,000.00 to pay out her contract" No concern for teachers or students, NONE! Not to mention how many times have you been sued? Do taxpayers know about this or what you did to Mike Duprey? I am betting not, but we do :) A once great happy school full of pride and spirit has now become rubble. GREAT JOB! You're at least good at destruction. ALL of this is on you Pat Shearer, ALL OF IT! If you had an ounce of respect for yourself, this school or its facility you would step down before you do more damage.
NOPE, not done yet.
NORTHFIELD — A draft of a new Pioneer Valley Regional School District agreement should be ready by the end of the year, and it may eliminate a section that requires local elementary schools in each town.
The draft is being developed by Stephen Hemman, assistant director of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, and his team of consultants hired by Pioneer’s HEART Committee. The consultants are to study and rewrite the district agreement. Hemman has been in contact with the HEART Committee for about a month, he said, but the consultants are only now beginning their work of reviewing the agreement.
“It’s going to be a very open process, very transparent so everyone sees it,” Hemman said.
The process will involve community meetings explaining what sections were changed, what was added and what was removed, Hemman said. He expects to have a draft of the agreement ready to present in community meetings by October or November.
The consultants’ work is partly directed by the HEART Committee’s requests. Among a change considered is the removal of the section requiring each town to have its own elementary school.
“Removing that section would open up options for the School Committee to look at,” said HEART Committee member Bob Keir. “There’s no requirement (to close schools) involved, but it opens up options.”
He added: “We’ve been dragging our feet, dragging our feet, dragging our feet for months and months and months, and I feel it’s time to take a stand.”
But Leyden and Warwick’s elementary schools won’t necessarily be doomed without that protecting requirement of the district agreement, Hemman said. There are options for individual towns to fund their own elementary schools without withdrawing from the district, options that can be incorporated into the new district agreement.
The issue of closing smaller elementary schools has come up again most recently as the district has discovered it has been running a $1 million deficit, and is now under pressure by the sate to find ways to rein in spending over the next two years. Closing elementary schools in Leyden or Warwick might be seen as a providing significant cost savings, but likely be resisted by the individual towns for whom local schools are a major source of community pride and identity.
“If it’s an expensive school to run and the other towns are having to help subsidize that, they have to look at that and see if they’re willing to pay to keep that open,” Hemman said. “When you have declining enrollments and small numbers, it becomes difficult to provide the types of services that you want for those children. But it’s the idea of having a school in your town. I clearly understand how people feel about having a school in their town.”
Other areas to be reviewed include a recall process for school board members, term limits and a change in the size of the committee.
DO NOT and I mean DO NOT let Pat Shearer get away with playing this " I didn't know the game". YES, SHE DID! Pat has known since May 2015 what was in front of her, she heard from parents, teachers, Admins, and TEMPLETON MASS AS WELL. She was warned to watch the budget under Miller and instead of listening to US she hired her as a BUDGET MGR as well. She was told NOT to hire her to open a new search but she settled even against recommendations NOT to. She was warned not to let Mike Duprey go or Cathy HH and others if so she would lose school choice. Mike Duprey and others warned Pat what was going on in the school and what did she do? She ignored him, allowed Careers to be destroyed and gave Miller a raving report! Thousands of dollars were given in raises as teachers were being given pink slips, LOOK AT THE BUDGETS! She was warned in 2016 that PVRS would lose over 500,000.00 when the kids from school choice would graduate, again ignored. She was warned no child would choose this school with how it was now being run, she ignored it. Vernon has the students but parents and kids do not want to use it. Which FYI prior to this was what 96% of kids choice. You have ZERO from school choice this year. Millers first year was spent lying to the community by newspapers and was even called out on it. No, Pat, you will not walk away from this - you lied to parents, teachers, taxpayers, and even the IR of Mass. You are unfit to be in this position and YOUNG as well and NO we will not let you. Check out the blog on the school it's all there from the beginning. Suggestion PVRS get Duprey and Cathy HH back it's your only hope to save this school.
“The majority of us did not have any idea until Mary Jane Handy came out from (the Department of Revenue) and spoke to us (in May). At that point, I became aware,” Shearer said. “I’m not sure if other people on the committee knew or not, but as chair, I did not know.”
In retrospect, Shearer said, poor communication with former Superintendent Ruth Miller, who also served as the district’s business manager, had a strong hand in creating this situation.
FOR THE SAKE OF PVRS SHEARER AND THIS COMMITTEE MUST BE REMOVED.
Pat Shearer, you have balls of steel to actually run for a school committee seat. Do not act like this is NOT your fault the position PVRS is in because it is! Lets review.
When you forced out Dayle Dorion and went on a new Superintendent search instead of doing due diligence on this you chose to just accept Miller because you didn't want to open up another search. YOU were told by your own damn committee not to hire her.
You had the largest turn out of taxpayers and parents show up at Pearl Rhoades in May 2015 telling you to get rid of her. You chose to close your ears to the truth and not listen. You actually had the nerve to give her a raving review when in fact it was all bullshit!
You had Administrators and teachers jumping ship without life jackets, telling you of the abuse they were enduring and AGAIN YOU CHOSE NOT TO LISTEN!
You were warned by Templeton to WATCH YOUR BUDGET .. again you ignored the warnings and you hired Miller as budget/business mgr! WHAT!
You were shown proof of Miller's track record - abusive- unable to lead - blowing up budgets- nuclear options, asked to leave all her past employment and Miller knew she was NOT getting asked back by Templeton. Now, what did you do Pat? You allowed peoples careers to be destroyed, you ignored all warnings that this day was coming and supported this nightmare! Your words were we cannot afford to buy her contract out, well as it looks now it would have been cheaper and saved PVRS if you would have done just that.
You knew that the largest class of school choice was leaving in 2017 - You also were aware that after what happened to Mike Duprey and others school choice was no longer an option with Vernon kids or parents. You did NOTHING to prepare for this, instead, you used VY as an excuse... ah, no..it was the corruption of this school and still, you ignored the warnings.
Pat Shearer and Young are bad for PVRS and should not be voted back in. If you allow this the future destruction of PVRS is on all who voted them in. They are just as guilty as Miller due to they allowed Miller's destruction of our beloved school.
Go over the blog, read the warnings. We foretold this day for over 3 years.
NO TO PAT SHEARER RE-ELECTION TO SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Few people like to see themselves on the front page of the local newspaper. It often means bad news, and that’s what School Committee members of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District have had to endure in recent weeks. The unfolding of the district’s budget woes has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion: You know what’s coming and you know that people will be hurt.
Moreover, there’s a sense of impending doom among parents in Leyden and Warwick, whose small elementary schools might as well have targets painted on the sides of their buildings. The effects of possible school closures are ubiquitous: Homesellers worry that talk of school closings deter families from moving into town; homebuyers worry about the viability and future quality of the school system; and homeowners calculate the impact on property taxes. Fault lines divide neighbors as the escalating price of educating our children is thrown into high relief.
Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes Elementary School and Warwick’s Community School, with 33 and 51 students, respectively, have the highest per-student costs in the district. According to PVRS district Treasurer Tanya Gaylord’s estimates, Warwick and Leyden’s elementary schools respectively cost about $22,750 and $24,600 per student. Warwick Town Coordinator David Young, who is on the School Committee, said in his own calculations, Warwick Community School’s cost per-pupil is closer to $32,000. Statewide, the average per-pupil cost is about $15,500, according to the Department of Education’s expenditure report of September 2017. In Gaylord’s calculations, Bernardston and Northfield’s elementary schools cost about $16,500 per student, and Pioneer Valley Regional School about $17,500.
In an effort to maintain the status quo, there have been calls for the Selectboards of all four towns to hold Proposition 2½ tax cap override votes. The last time a Proposition 2½ override vote was held in Northfield was 2014, when the Pioneer district was threatened with as many as 46 layoffs, or 25 percent of professional and paraprofessional staff, according to then Superintendant Dayle Doiron. The resulting vote was tied. A recount netted four votes in favor, and the override succeeded — hardly a mandate. That same year, fiscally conservative Bernardston, sick of ever-inflating school costs, looked into leaving the Pioneer Valley Regional School District altogether. Leyden and Warwick have the most at stake, but an override vote solely to save the schools is a tough nut for any town, anywhere, to crack.
There are, however, some areas of agreement in the current situation. In the face of Draconian cuts to music, the arts, sports and extracurricular activities at Pioneer, more parents and residents seem to be wrapping their minds around the loss of the two lowest-enrollment elementary schools — Pearl Rhodes School in Leyden and Warwick Community School. The alternative would be a high school hollowed out by cuts to programs, making it less attractive to School Choice or, indeed, any students.
Failure to confront the problem could result in a state oversight board making decisions for the district. As School Committee Chairwoman Patricia Shearer put it at a recent meeting, “If they told us to jump, our only response would be, ‘how high?’”
Finally, per Shearer’s invitation, there is the opportunity to be part of the process by running for a seat on the regional School Committee. There are seats up for re-election in all four towns this fall. To get on the ballot, you have to be a registered voter in your town, pick up a petition form from the district superintendent’s office at Pioneer Valley Regional School, get at least 27 signatures of registered voters in your town, and turn in your petition to your town clerk by 5 p.m., July 24.
Northfield Town Clerk Dan Campbell advises candidates to get extra signatures because those forms are scrutinized by the clerk, whose ruling is in turn validated by two registrars appointed by the town. Signatures that are illegible, or not of registered voters, would be disqualified. Campbell points out that just living in town is not enough — you have to be a registered voter for your petition signature to count.
We second Shearer’s call to run for a School Committee seat. It’s a demanding job, but its members are shaping the future of the district’s schoolchildren. Surely that is worth the commitment.
If your gonna report makes sure that the report is correct.
The main causes of these over expenditures have been inadequate funding for district employees’ health and life insurance, inadequate assistance from the state for transportation costs and declining enrollment due to the closing of Vermont Yankee.
Declining enrollment from school choice has VERY little to do with VY. What it does have to do with is incompetence. These parents have watched closely since 2015 what has been happening at PVRS, administrators leaving, loss of valuable teachers, police officer in school, loss of programs, unhealthy environment among students, and teachers due to a poorly run school by principal and Superintendent, not to mention and I make this clear an unhealthy School Committee that did nothing to stop it or help the students and teachers. PVRS has been a school choice till 2015. The SC and its choices are the reason, not VY, we have the students to send its just no longer the school of choice due to its rapid decline and like I said unhealthy environment. I would also like to add the majority of students from Vernon ( before you lost your large class in 2017) were driven to school by parents, not the bus.
As for this school lunch program, how is it possible to lose so much money? You were paid by the state for kids who received FREE lunches, and if you did not pay you did not eat and that's a fact you have left out. Seems someone hands are dipping here. Maybe the Mass Internal Rev should take a look. Oh, that's right they are! This should make every taxpayer stand and pay attention, due to the fact Mass IRS does not normally do this.
Did you also make it clear to taxpayers that even if you closed the school it still will cost them just as much if not more to undo what this SC and Millers destruction has done? No, I am sure you didn't.
Bernardston Selectboard Chairman Stanley Garland I am gonna go with the assumption you never knew what Miller did in Templeton. Ask her about the Nuclear option she pulled - Ask her about how emergency services from it were on call only- or how the Towns Sports and swimming pool were closed for the summer due to no funds- the list is endless - so if you think for a minute that mattered to her during her destruction think again- Ask her how she had removed a memorial in Templeton for children who died in accidents or sicknesses and how she made it about drugs which were not involved ever! This is what has been running your schools, oh and your SB.
If nothing else scares or worries you this should. - This audit was given to the Internal Revenue Service because they found something.
Other information on the state of the deficit was also provided at last night’s meeting by Mary Jane Handy, director of accounts at the state Department of Revenue. In 2016, the “school lunch deficit” was $210,000. In 2017, there was a shortfall of about $400,000 in various operating expenses, plus about $45,000 more in the lunch deficit, for a total of about $640,000. And for 2018, Handy said, she anticipates another $400,000 in debt — bringing the total amount of missing money to roughly $1,061,000. Mary Jane Handy -The Bureau reviews audit reports of various Massachusetts local governments submitted by independent CPA firms.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME! The main causes of these over expenditures have been inadequate funding. The only issue ofinadequacies is your SCHOOL COMMITTEE and RUTH MILLER.
Just curious - but when are you gonna be smart enough to follow the money? Go back to the beginning 2015 and start doing traces- pull her bank records ( IRS will ) - go thru the books ( Templeton found a lot of misplaced money when they did ) but for God's sake don't sit here and whine and play the blame game when it doesn't have the answers you seek. For once do your damn jobs.
We are watching you.
NORTHFIELD — With budget cuts looming over the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, residents are becoming more vocal about how the district should begin to address its financial problem.
According to a list of possible cuts prepared by district administrators, the district would save $300,000 by closing Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes Elementary School, and $400,000 by closing Warwick Community School.
Abbi Pratt of Leyden read a letter at Thursday’s school committee meeting, which she said was signed by most parents of Pearl Rhodes students, saying that closing Pearl Rhodes “would cause lasting damage to our town and the school district as a whole.”
Instead of closing the school, the letter said, the School Committee should investigate a tax increase to the four member towns.
Deborah Potee of Northfield similarly advocated asking the towns for more money, whether it would come from reserves or tax increases.
But, said Bernardston Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Dutcher, Bernardston only has $4,800 that would be available for such a request. If the requested amount were any greater than that — as it likely would be, given that the district’s deficit is roughly $1 million — the payment would require an override to Proposition 2½ to allow tax rates to increase by more than 2.5% over the previous year’s. In the past, Dutcher said, Bernardston voters have not approved similar overrides.
“I know the schools are important,” said Bernardston Selectboard Chairman Stanley Garland, “but there are other things that are important, too, and we’ve got to be able to afford them. I think that the closing of a school is something that we really need to look at.”
Bernardston’s tax rates are already the third highest in Franklin County, Garland added.
Of the two schools that could be closed, Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes would be the more likely candidate, said School Committee member Peggy Kaeppel, who is a resident of Leyden.
“We’re just being shortsighted if we don’t think we need to investigate closing at least Pearl Rhodes Elementary School as soon as it can be done,” Kaeppel said. “It’s unrealistic to even think about cutting music or the arts. … That school, it’s time for it to be mothballed, at least for now.”
Yet closing a school is a complicated process, said Fernard Dupere of Dupere Law Offices, the School Committee’s legal counsel.
The process is especially complicated, given that the district agreement guarantees that each town has its own elementary school. But, Dupere said, other districts in similar situations have done it, with varying results.
“The degree of the complication depends on the willingness of all involved to reach a common result,” he said.
“From my standpoint, I don’t believe that’s an appropriate discussion to be having for this coming school year,” said Jeff Wulfson, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “That’s a major decision for a community and a district to make with major implication, both financial and legal. It shouldn’t be rushed.”
Other information on the state of the deficit was also provided at last night’s meeting by Mary Jane Handy, director of accounts at the state Department of Revenue. In 2016, the “school lunch deficit” was $210,000. In 2017, there was a shortfall of about $400,000 in various operating expenses, plus about $45,000 more in the lunch deficit, for a total of about $640,000. And for 2018, Handy said, she anticipates another $400,000 in debt — bringing the total amount of missing money to roughly $1,061,000.
The main causes of these over expenditures have been inadequate funding for district employees’ health and life insurance, inadequate assistance from the state for transportation costs and declining enrollment due to the closing of Vermont Yankee.
Wulfson emphasized that the district would need to be proactive in making adjustments to its budget and that the process would take more than one fiscal year.
“We do not suggest that you wait for us to come in with some magic answer that we do not have,” he said.
Congrats Jonathan Scagel, we looked into your history and are very happy with this choice. You have the Teachers, Students and Taxpayers backing you up. Your commitment and foresight for the love of our school is what PVRS is so desperately in need of. So much has been lost, great teachers, our beloved Mike Duprey and Cathy HH, Mr. Mullin, ad so many others. Just like our paws that once stood bright when you drove into PVRS and are now gone, so was our spirit. I feel you will put life back into what has been lost and we will once again be the great school we once were in time.
As for you Pat and Young, and the rest of this SC the destruction you allowed to our schools will not be forgotten. Your failure to not only do your jobs and due diligence on Miller is unforgivable. You were given proof of her abilities and you ignored not only us, but teachers and Administrators. You allowed careers to be destroyed and listened to lies because people spoke out against her. You betrayed our teachers and students and taxpayers. YOU and only you are to blame for this mess we are in. You will get yours at the next elections and it will be heard loud and strong. For that we will be back.
As for you Miller, your destruction ends here. We will not allow you to destroy another school and will speak out every chance we get. Hopefully the State will also see you for what you are and stop you as well. We are strong we will come back stronger than ever. Our job here is done your gone.You cannot leave fast enough.
Again, Jonathan Scagel thank you for taking this step, it won't be easy you have to deal with a incompetent SC but, just remember we have your back. Now, let the healing begin!!
WE ARE THE PANTHERS
NORTHFIELD — Jonathan Scagel will be the interim superintendent of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District. He starts in July with a one-year contract that can be extended for another year.
Scagel has been a teacher at Pioneer Valley Regional School for a year, and has 24 years of prior experience working in various teaching and administrative positions, he said. He is the youngest of the four candidates interviewed by the School Committee on Tuesday night, and the only one without experience as a superintendent. The other candidates were Bob Clancy, principal at Pearl Rhodes Elementary School in Leyden and Bernardston Elementary School; Robert Gazda, a former superintendent and principal of the Gilbert School, a private school for grades 7-12 in Winstead, Conn. and Suzanne Scallion, a former superintendent for Westfield public schools from 2011 until her retirement in 2016.
“I can see what a great place this school is. I know we’re in a little bit of trouble right now, but I can see the potential,” Scagel said to the School Committee. “I can see the passion. I can hear it from the School Committee members, from the taxpayers. They want something better for this district and I feel that I can get us there. I feel that I have the leadership ability. I’m a strong leader. I’m a creative, effective leader that has a vision for Pioneer. I feel that I can inspire the taxpayers, you (the School Committee), the community members, the parents, the families and most importantly, the students to achieve that vision, because they deserve it.”
The School Committee did not disregard Scagel’s lack of experience as a superintendent, especially as it would relate to the difficult decisions that the interim superintendent will almost definitely have to make in the coming year to cut staff, programs or both. Scagel’s familiarity with the staff of Pioneer Valley Regional School, some committee members said, could be a double-edged sword.
“It’s hard to ask someone to cut a friend’s job,” Chairwoman Pat Shearer warned.
But all committee members were impressed by Scagel’s enthusiasm and his unorthodox ideas, like installing solar panels on the school buildings, working with local and national businesses to sponsor technology purchases and building renovations and hiring a grant writer whose salary would come directly out of the grants he or she obtains for the district.
Just as important as Scagel’s apparent capability, the committee said, is his familiarity with the district and the inner workings of the school.
“We need somebody from within because healing comes from within,” said committee member Jim Bell, who coaches track at Pioneer Valley Regional School.
“I really want the passion and the energy and the youthfulness,” said committee member John Rodgers. “I can take that over experience any day.”
Contact Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ext. 261.
How dare you David Young respond to this woman in this manner. You and the rest of this dead horse board work for US and you answer to us. We voted you in and we and will vote you out.
Do
your jobs? You haven't done your jobs in 3 years, you allowed Miller to
run rampant and destroy our schools. You allowed teachers careers to be
destroyed who were loyal and the best for these kids to be fired
because they spoke out against Miller and you! How dare you speak to
anyone this way. Ken Mullen is 100 % correct this SC is totally
dysfunctional and let us just go over your incompetent email. ( Which I
am not so sure you were allowed to write without the rest of the SC
involved) But, they will know now.
Teacher
Ken Mullen was quoted (Recorder) saying of the School Committee
dysfunction, “We need to start exchanging ideas, making connections,
coming up with solutions, instead of pointing out problems”. I agree.
The School Committee needs to do this. We need to stop taking up valuable meeting time with a continued public comment.WHAT! The public who pay these taxes has every right to speak up and it is your job to listen.
We need to deliberate as a body without having ideas opposed by the
audience at every turn. We will never do our best four hours into a
meeting. Let the committee meet. It is the inaction that comes of
heeding every of the public’s admonition not to cut, not to RIF, not to
change that got us here.NO,
Miller got us here and your inability to listen to the public who warned
you of her destruction from day one! Don't you dare put your
dysfunctions on us when it was your job to be in control and you haven't
been in 3 years! When we heed the public we generate unrealistic paper budgets that can’t obtain. Again WHAT!!!!!! You allowed a new building that cost more than was affordable and than had to be removed costing, even more,
unrealistic raises for a first time principal, VP, ASST Superintendent
and Superintendent..to name a few and let us not forget a no teacher
classroom program. We under budget expenses and we make
rosy revenue assumptions. Doing so we fail our mission. The time for
hearings is over. ( YOU CANNOT STOP OPEN MEETINGS AND PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.
My second point is, I think it better that we pick our own poison. From that view
I find the message from Chairman Shearer to the committee and many who
have written us troubling, “We will only do what the state agencies
force the district to do to climb our
of the financial hole we are in.” Gads! I bet she meant to assure folk
that we are not going to go overboard, we aren’t going to overreact. It
sounds too much like what got us here: blind faith, hopeful optimism,
denial. We twelve are in this together. Lets
work through it, compromise, and get the job done of making and ranking
cuts. From there we can seek more funds, track the next year and free
up funds we prudently reserved for Unemployment, Health Insurance,
Special Needs as we prove we have a doable budget. We can’t risk more
losses. Lets be the stewards we were elected to be.
WE DID ALLOW YOU TO BE THE STEWARDS YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO BE AND HERE WE
ARE. YOUR INCOMPETENT AND THE FACTS HAVE SPOKEN FOR THEMSELVES. Kind regards, David Young
To the members of the PVRSD School Committee,
I write to you as a current parent of a student within the PVRS district as well as a concerned citizen and would like to pose several questions to the committee, as well as express my deep concern as it pertains to the upcoming interview and selection process regarding the position of Superintendent.
I ask the committee as a whole, what the process entails for interviewing candidates? Is there a standardized interview/selection committee formed when interviewing each candidate and is the said committee using standardized interview questions, so as there is equality and the ability for appropriate comparison of each candidate. Also, is there a rubric to determine your assessment of the candidates during the interview/selection process?
As a citizen/parent that is employed full time, I ask your reasoning for holding the upcoming Superintendent interviews, that are scheduled to begin at 3:45pm, when this is a time when the majority of the community cannot attend this meeting and am concerned that this time was intentionally chosen in order to reduce the amount of citizens able to observe the interviews and minimize the transparency between the committee and citizens during the course of the selection process.
Regarding the amount of time allotted for the interviews, I am interested in knowing why all but one candidate would be provided thirty minutes for an interview, while one candidate is being provided 45 minutes, as it is outlined on the posted meeting agenda.
Lastly, I would like to express my deep concern regarding the fact that this is not the first attempt on the committee’s part to interview selected candidates, and would like to stress the importance of selecting a candidate who is true to the students and community of PVRSD, who is competent and is able to think “outside of the box” to help improve the current state of the district and feel that all of the candidates, EXCEPT for Jon Scagel, would not only create additional stress on the current situation at PVRSD, but have a public history of creating undue stress, executed decisions with negative financial implications, and have lacked complete transparency, while serving other educational districts or in varying educational roles. I respectfully ask that each of you understand the much of the community’s preferred candidate, being Jon Scagel, and take into consideration that as our elected officials you have the ability to create tremendous positive change while collaborating with your community to ensure that moving forward, our students can be educated without compromising the future quality of their education.
Thank you in advance for your time and attention.
Respectfully,
Kristen M. Gonzalez
Reply:
Teacher Ken Mullen was quoted (Recorder) saying of the School Committee dysfunction, “We need to start exchanging ideas, making connections, coming up with solutions, instead of pointing out problems”. I agree. The School Committee needs to do this. We need to stop taking up valuable meeting time with continued public comment. We need to deliberate as a body without having ideas opposed by the audience at every turn. We will never do our best four hours into a meeting. Let the committee meet. It is the inaction that comes of heeding every of the public’s admonition not to cut, not to RIF, not to change that got us here. When we heed the public we generate unrealistic paper budgets that can’t obtain. We underbudget expenses and we make rosy revenue assumptions. Doing so we fail our mission. The time for hearings is over.
My second point is, I think it better that we pick our own poison. From that view I find the message from Chairman Shearer to the committee and many who have written us troubling, “We will only do what the state agencies force the district to do to climb our of the financial hole we are in.” Gads! I bet she meant to assure folk that we are not going to go overboard, we aren’t going to overreact. It sounds too much like what got us here: blind faith, hopeful optimism, denial. We twelve are in this together. Lets work through it, compromise, and get the job done of making and ranking cuts. From there we can seek more funds, track the next year and free up funds we prudently reserved for Unemployment, Health Insurance, Special Needs as we prove we have a doable budget. We can’t risk more losses. Lets be the stewards we were elected to be. Kind regards, David Young
Hey, Pat remember this?? Wednesday, June 08, 2016 :
The
criteria were based on whether each school’s students were performing
better than statistically expected for students in that state (using the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS test results in
Massachusetts). Pioneer Valley Regional High School was ranked as 69th in Massachusetts,
while the Mohawk Trail Regional High School was 74th in the state. Both
schools ranked within the top 21 percent of all Massachusetts public
schools that were evaluated for this report.
According to US News,
about 32 percent of Pioneer Valley Regional School students take
Advanced Placement courses, and the graduation rate is 91 percent. Based
on MCAS scores, 97 percent of students ranked proficient in English and
93 percent are proficient in math.
“Hallelujah,” exclaimed Pioneer school board Chairwoman Pat
Shearer, when told of the news. “That has happened to us maybe 10 years
ago. I’ve saved the magazine. That is so great. We’ve got a wonderful group of teachers and administrators that are top-notch. That really helps make the kids what they are. It
starts from kindergarten on, not just the high school,” Shearer added.
“We’ve had graduates go on to military academies, Harvard and Yale,
other so-called ‘superschools.’”
Hey, Pat, do you
remember how kids, teachers, parents and TAX Payers fought to keep
Duprey and others teachers and YOU turned your back on them and allowed
them to be fired instead of paying Miller out of her contract to save
our school? Let us give you a reminder
School Committee Meeting May 26, 2016 https://vimeo.com/168402830
Does she work for them or does the school committee work for her?
If
pioneer school district people will take any advise it's this. Please
form and support a group to keep an eye on her and the school committee
or your kids will pay the price if you don't. You're kids and their
education should be on the top of this list.
The
perfect storm LMAO.. Miller you started off as a liar and you know and I
know every school you have been employed at ended in the same manner. UNLIKE
the SC we did investigate you. We warned them to :
1- NOT ALLOW YOU AS BUDGET MANAGER- your good at hiding things.
2-WATCH THE BUDGET CLOSELY
3-WATCH ADMIN SALARY
4-WATCH YOU CLOSELY DUE TO YOU WOULD ELIMINATE ANYONE WHO STOOD AGAINST YOU. YOU DID JUST THAT!
5-THE DAMN LIST WAS ENDLESS ( GO THRU THE BLOG )
Per
your usual hide and seek move you will not show up to face what you
have done. Doctor excuses have been made before. Your BS is getting
old. Every school you have attended you left in rubble and you destroyed
our school, you and that worthless SC.
We warned you about
Duprey if he left you would lose school choice, funny how that worked
out for you. Vernon has the students, but the parents don't trust the
school PVRS has become. His presence was more important than you
imagined, but I am sure you are seeing now.
You
need to look deeper into the lunch program ( this seemed to also be a
huge problem in her past schools) You need to take a deep look at the
Admin salaries especially hers. Look in areas you wouldn't normally look
at for problems, phones, stamps, supplies etc.
Removal starts in ADMIN.
Bacon needs a reduction in pay
Perry - removed
Healy- Removed
Healy's sectary - Removed
This ridiculous class on the internet removed - This is trash
SUGGESTION- KEEP SPORTS AND MUSIC AND THE ARTS OR YOU WILL CLOSE YOUR DOORS. THIS KEEPS PVRS FUNCTIONAL.
ANOTHER SUGGESTION- DUE TO THE LACK OF SUPERVISION BY THE SC THEY SHOULD BE MADE TO PROVIDE THEIR SERVICES FOR FREE.
THIS MESS IS ON THEM AND HOW DARE THEY EXPECT TO BE PAID FOR DESTROYING
SCHOOLS FOR POOR AND LACK OF LEADERSHIP!!!! THEIR SALARIES SHOULD BE
PUT INTO THE SPORTS, ARTS, AND MUSIC. PERIOD!!!
Russell
Dupere repeatedly made the point that the district is now dealing with a
years-old structural problem: the amount of money being spent on each
school is incommensurate with the number of students. Really?
How much waste of money that could have been put towards the students
and buildings lost to Millers special building at 36,000.00 plus a year?
Excuse me but where was the concern when this abuse was going on???
You
just want to cry reading this knowing if only they listened this would
not be happening now. Shearer and Young remove them now. Miller should
not be allowed to not face people demand she shows up.
A
once happy high spirited school has been destroyed.T he destruction has
been completed and I am not so sure this one can be undone. All those
who loved this school so deeply and the kids are gone and now you risk
the rest. Loss of sports and music is devasting.
Parents take a damn stand, taxpayers stand up, students and teachers. It is up to you now.
Once again fitting '
YOU STOOD SILENT BEFORE ARE YOU GONNA NOW?
NORTHFIELD — “Pioneer Valley Regional School District finds itself in the perfect storm,” wrote Pioneer Valley Regional School District Superintendent Ruth Miller in a letter May 22.
The storm hit at the School Committee’s May 17 emergency meeting when School Committee Chairwoman Pat Shearer shared the results of a recent audit, according to which Pioneer Valley Regional School District is projected to be at a deficit of roughly $1 million by the end of July. On Wednesday, the School Committee must vote on what cuts it will make from the coming year’s budget to begin correcting that deficit. The committee had planned to make its decisions in a vote at its most recent meeting on May 24, but postponed. This time, the deadline is probably real: Teachers’ contracts need to be renewed, or not, by Friday, June 1.
At the May 17 meeting, the School Committee instructed administrators to come up with a list of cuts from next school year’s budget for the committee to review.
The administrators’ proposed cuts — “none of which,” Healy said at the May 24 meeting, “we recommend as educationally sound or in the best interest of teaching and learning” — include reducing or even completely cutting PVRS sports, consolidating or cutting special curricular programs like art and music, cutting preschool, moving 6th grade to PVRS and closing Warwick Community School or Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes Elementary or both.
“Our school is enviable by anyone’s standards,” wrote Warwick resident Jennifer Core in an email to fellow residents, pleading that it would be shortsighted to close the school, and accusing Warwick Town Coordinator David Young, who is on the School Committee, of “attempting to push through a vote on closing the Warwick Community School.”
“How do I feel about closing Warwick’s school?” Young said. “Awful.”
But Warwick Community School may just be too expensive to run, Young said. According to school district treasurer Tanya Gaylord’s estimates, Warwick and Leyden’s elementary schools respectively cost about $22,750 and $24,600 per student. Young said in his own calculations, Warwick Community School’s cost per-pupil is closer to $32,000. Statewide, the average per-pupil cost is about $15,500, according to the Department of Education’s expenditure report of September 2017. In Gaylord’s calculations, Bernardston and Northfield’s elementary schools cost about $16,500 per student, and Pioneer Valley Regional School is about $17,500.
“Over the past decade, there have been changes in the Massachusetts education system that have put Massachusetts at the top in the country and competitive in the world,” Miller wrote. “All of this comes with a cost. … We are the ones that have to fulfill all of the required mandates at a time when there are fewer students and less resources.”
Miller cited declining enrollment and the state’s failure to properly reimburse the district’s transportation costs as the main causes of the deficit. Similarly, at the May 17 meeting, the School Committee’s attorney Russell Dupere repeatedly made the point that the district is now dealing with a years-old structural problem: the amount of money being spent on each school is incommensurate with the number of students.
“Pioneer Valley Regional School District finds itself in a position where they have to decide if they need to close a school or two,” Miller wrote, “and have their kindergarten and elementary school students ride a bus to school and home that will take a minimum of 90 minutes. This may be financially prudent in the short term, but what comes next? Closure of the remaining two elementary schools? There is a need in Western Mass that is unique and demands a unique solution.”
The proposed cutsThe following is the list of cuts proposed by the district’s administrators at the request of the School Committee. The School Committee will make its decisions at its meeting on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Pioneer Valley Regional School.
Staff reductions:
eliminate 1 teacher at NES
eliminate 1 teacher at BES
eliminate 1 teacher and reduce some offerings in material tech engineering/architecture at PVRS
consolidate foods/nutrition and health positions at PVRS
reduce admin assistant
reduce custodian
Restructuring options:
cut preschool
move sixth grade to PVRS
Extracurriculars:
reduce number of sports or number of teams epr sport in athletic programs at PVRS
eliminate sports at PVRS
reduce budget support for after school clubs by half
eliminate all budget support for after school clubs
eliminate late busses
eliminate elementary field trip support for non-academic and out-of-district trips
Specials (art, music, PE, technology):
consolidate art and music and PE positions at the elementary schools
consolidate are and music and PE positions at the elementary schools and reduce to four days per week
consolidate instrumental music instruction 5-12
consolidate vocal and instrumental music at elementary level
eliminate elementary technology education
cut all specials at elementary level
School closures:
close Pearl Rhodes Elementary
close Warwick Community School
Please forward to all you know in the area. Time to get involved Parents. Trust me it will be the best times of your lives. Don't let them win ( Miller, Bacon and SC) This is how you fight back with a vctory and support. Show the Panther Power :)
To all of the Turners Falls and Pioneer Football parents and players:
Please reach out to Candice Putala Dodge at 413-522-5387 or Christie Carme as soon as you can so they can start sending you messages about upcoming events that help support our team. We would love to have as many parents involved as we can get. All events are a great time and are an opportunity for adults and players to get to know each other.
Our first fundraiser event is in 2 weeks. It is a golf tournament at Thomas’ Country Club. We need your help and hope to see everyone there.
Please share this post with any parents that may not see this.
Thanks very much for your help.
Well, Pat its really too bad you didn't listen to our warnings. What I am really happy to see is that people now see this SC for what you actually are and its the fact that you are totally incompetent. Knowing you are on the committee to find a new superintendent should scare people to death. David Young on the budget committee is a damn joke.
You did no due diligence on Miller. You chose her because you DID NOT want to go thru another search.
You did not listen to Templeton's warning and how they advised against this hiring. You also did not listen to the committee you sent to check her out who also advised against her.
We posted you facts, newspapers articles, our long-time Admisntration came to you with concerns and instead of listening and DOING YOUR JOB you turned your back on loyal employees and allowed her to destroy their careers. Not only did we warn you in 2015 to WATCH THE BUDGET, you also made her business mgr! We warned you against that as well. Templeton told you she can hide things really well. You were also warned about school choice and the 2017 graduation class would be your last large paycheck from Vernon over 500,000.00. Vernon has the kids to send you the problem is you fired all those who made PVRS what it was and they don't feel you're capable of giving their children the education they need. Nobody wants to be a part of this shit show. You now have parents in your own towns looking elsewhere for there education needs. No sports will close your doors or music programs.
Now, it's your turn Pat and the rest of this SC to lose your positions. People want you out, all of you because you lost the trust of the people who depended on you to do your job and they now see you are not capable. Step down.
It's also time that the Selectboards in Northfield, Leyden, Warwick, and Bernardston calls for an investigation of you, Miller, Young, Healy, and Bacon. You Pat and this SC are responsible for destroying a once happy and high spirited school. Great job.
But this article today was the last straw for many. But before we get to that let me make this very clear to you. We are watching you all and we will do due diligence on each one you select. Let us be clear you will not hurt this school again. Suggestion beg Dayle Dorion, Mike Duprey, and Cathy HH, to come back and put this school back in order, without them you will continue to fail.However, with a Mass Revenue audit, I think you have more problems coming than your prepared for.
Now onward.
Pioneer teachers air frustrations with school budget woes
NORTHFIELD — Pioneer teachers were holding signs on the corner of routes 10 and 63 (Main Street) on Sunday, publicizing their frustrations with the School Committee and Superintendent Ruth Miller.
“It’s like a shell game with them, moving the money around,” said Tracy Derrig, a teacher at Pioneer Valley Regional School. “It’s in this line; no, it’s in that line; no, we consolidated lines. No one ever saw what the math was. Now here we are at the eleventh hour of the school year and a million dollars in the hole.” YOU WERE WARNED TO WATCH THE BUDGETS AND SHE COULD HIDE MONEY WELL.
Extensive layoffs and potential school closures are expected after an emergency meeting of the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee last Thursday, where it was revealed that, according to an audit conducted the prior week by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, the district will be at a deficit of nearly a million dollars by the end of July. IF MASS DEPT OF REVENUE IS DIGGING THEY ALREADY HAVE ANSWERS WHERE THE MISSING MONEY IS , WHICH IS ALSO WHY YOU HAVE A MISSING MILLER.
“It’s like a disaster happened,” said Aimee Brown, in her 20th year as a teacher at PVRS. “No one really saw it coming — nothing leading up to these profound problems.” EXCUSE ME AIMEE BUT BULLSHIT. IN 2015 WE WARNED YOU OF THIS DAY , AND YOU ALL CHOSE TO IGNORE IT. 2015, 2016, 2017. TEMPLETON WARNED YOU, DUPREY WARNED YOU. SO DON'T GO DOWN THIS PATH OF SHOCK AND AWE.
The School Committee voted unanimously to seek financial oversight from the state, and instructed administrators to plan to reduce at least $400,000 from the budget for the coming school year. Those plans are to be reviewed at the next School Committee meeting, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Valley Regional School.TAKE AWAY SPORTS , MUSIC OR THE ARTS AND YOU MY'S WELL CLOSE THE DOORS.
Ariel LaReau, a teacher at PVRS and president of the Pioneer Valley Regional Education Association, said the teachers demonstrating on Sunday blamed the “horrifying crescendo” of the district’s financial problems on mismanagement from Superintendent Miller, and on the School Committee for not holding Miller accountable. YOUR SPOT ON
“At this point she (Miller) is done, she’s gone, she’s gonna get away with it,” LaReau said. Miller has been planning to leave her job in the Pioneer district since before the budget issue escalated. Her last day is June 30. Efforts to reach her on Sunday were unsuccessful.SHE KNOWS HER TIME IS UP AND IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME FOR THE REST OF HER DOMINOES TO FALL.SHE KNOWS SOMEONE TURNED HER IN .
“We need a new school committee that knows what’s going on, that pays attention, that wants our schools to exist,” LaReau said. THEY ALL NEED TO STEP DOWN AND THE SOONER THE BETTER ESPECIALLY PAT AND DAVID YOUNG. When reached Sunday after the demonstration — which spanned from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. — School Committee chairwoman Pat Shearer spoke in support of the teachers.LMAO IT TOOK HER 3 YEARS TO SUPPORT THE TEACHERS UP TILL NOW SHE IGNORED ALL OF THEM AND THE WARNINGS. SO I CALL YOU A DAMN LIAR PAT YOUR CORNERED AND YOU KNOW IT.,
“I think the teachers understand what the problem is more than we realize they do,” she said. “The teachers are a smart bunch of people who are very dedicated to making our kids the best educated kids they can be. They are doing what they can do.” WITH NO HELP FROM YOU OR THIS COMMITTEE IN 3 YEARS. GREAT TEACHERS WERE LOST, CAREERS DESTROYED,YOUR A POS .
For the past two weeks, a subcommittee of the School Committee has been interviewing candidates for a new superintendent. Shearer, who is also on the superintendent subcommittee, has said the subcommittee will select two applicants for the whole committee to interview and vote on at the next School Committee meeting.GET SHEARER OFF THIS COMMITTEE.
Teachers on Sunday were also collecting donations from passing drivers. LaReau said the money will be donated to the School Committee with instructions that it be used to help pay for substitute teachers. By 1 p.m., they had collected $400.
District administrators drastically reduced spending on substitute teachers two weeks ago as an effort to avoid overspending the current year’s budget.
Principals were instructed to seek creative alternatives to using substitutes. At PVRS, classes are being pooled into large study hall sessions where, PVRS student Dana McRae said, “you basically sit there for a block and don’t do anything.”PRICELESS
When they’re available, teachers say they are being asked to cover classes outside of their subject area.
“I had a calculus class in the chorus room,” McRae said. “The chorus teacher doesn’t know how to teach calculus.”
Some teachers said they might plan another demonstration next weekend in Bernardston.
“There needs to be accountability,” Brown said. “There needs to be a change to be able to manage the funds that these towns so kindly and generously vote in to support our schools.”
IT'S TIME YOU ALL STAND YOUR GROUND AND SHOW UP AT THESE MEETINGS AND DEMAND THIS SC STEPS DOWN. HAVE A SPECIAL ELECTION TO REPLACE THEM.
Listen your gonna need teachers and administrators who love this school and know it to bring her back and to once again bring school choice back to PVRS. What you have now won't cut it. You need Mike Duprey and Dayle Dorion and Cathy HH, and teachers whos careers were here and dedicated to this school and these kids. They are who made PVRS and its time to undo a wrong that has been done or close the doors cause this is over.
For years I have kept you informed and fought for you its now time that you all step up and fight for your school , teachers and kids beccause you are the warriors they need .Fight now or lose all that matters . I pray God saves PVRS.
OMG. This would be funny if it wasn't
for the fact that PVRS has been warned about this since Miller came.
Templeton also warned them. One of my favorite quotes from Templeton was
from Bev who stated "I hope PVRS has deep pockets because your gonna
need them" Also stated was by another Templeton SC member was "Watch
your budget". PVRS SC was warned over and over and did nothing. It was
also stated not to let her be business MGR, they ignored it. Miller was
not at this meeting because she is busy readjusting numbers. Heres
another heads up PVRS- Bacon should be watched very closely. Are readers
aware she suspended a TEACHER for a week because she did not agree with
her? I could go on but its time you do your own research, so,
Suggestion start digging people. Good luck.
NORTHFIELD — Having gotten off to a particularly slow start in the
budget process this year, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District
budget subcommittee hopes to push back the annual budget hearing until
March 8.
However, because the regional agreement requires the
district adopt a budget by Feb. 15, the subcommittee intends to ask the
selectboards in Leyden, Bernardston, Northfield and Warwick, by letter,
for an extra month of time.
Pushing the budget hearing back was
discussed during Thursday’s meeting, the second budget subcommittee
meeting of this budget season where there was not enough financial
information. The subcommittee was presented only with current fiscal
year figures rather than projections for FY19, and unclear facility
budgets for the five schools.
By comparison, budget meetings were underway in December of 2016 to prepare the current fiscal year’s budget.
Last year’s budget hearing was rescheduled multiple times due to weather, finally being held on March 2. Given pushback from residents
at the hearing, the School Committee was forced to reconsider its
proposed increases, and was not able to approve its approximately $14.2
million budget until March 7.
The inexplicable delay in planning distressed community members.
“This
process should be well in place, going on, in December as in years
past,” said Frank Ribeiro, past chairman of the Bernardston Finance
Committee.
Looking at the presented documents, Ribeiro admitted he
felt sorry for the budget subcommittee for the little information it
had available.
“This is, I’ve gotta say, kind of pathetic,” he
said. “This is sad, and I think it reflects on what’s been talked about
as far as this administration. Hopefully we’ll never get into this mess
again.”
Superintendent Ruth Miller was not present at the
meeting, which budget subcommittee Chairman David Young said was because
of illness. However, her absence created confusion among the
subcommittee.
“I can’t make heads or tails of this,” subcommittee
member Jim Bell said while looking at the documents. “We need more of an
explanation is what we need.”
“We’re second-guessing and nobody knows what’s going on,” subcommittee member Patricia Shearer agreed.
Given the lack of information, members thought it necessary to push back the budget hearing if possible.
“We aren’t ready to finalize a budget,” subcommittee member Peggy Kaeppel said. “It’s the 18th of January!”
“It’s not a permanent thing,” Young said of moving the deadline. “It’s just a this year thing.”
Pioneer
has violated the regional agreement before, involving an election cycle
mix-up in 2016. At the time, Christine Lynch, a consultant with the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, who
oversees regional agreements, said violations to regional agreements are
local issues and should be worked out among the involved towns.
However,
Young also hoped there could be a pre-hearing this year so the budget
subcommittee could use public comments and suggestions to frame the
budget process. The budget pre-hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
Following
a full School Committee meeting next Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pioneer, the
next budget subcommittee meeting will be held on Jan. 30.
