A Must read

MAKE SURE TO MAKE THESE MEETING AS A TAXPAYER THIS IS VITAL TO YOUR INPUT AND YOUR TAXES.

I have warned you over and over concerning Millers Budgets.. But you also now must be weary of Bacon . These two have done so much damage to PVRS and Pat Shearer is also a danger because she will try  to  push  to get this budget passed ( The meeting when they will vote on whether to approve the budget will be held on March 7 at 7 p.m., unless members feel comfortable voting on the budget immediately following the hearing, Chairwoman Patricia Shearer said.Which will be on March 2nd)

This is what they are pushing for to push this on March 2 and without your voices it will pass. This committee nor the Administration can be trusted to put the well being of PVRS students and teachers ahead of there own agenda . We have seen this over and over .

Take a stand for PVRS attend the meetings!!!!!!  

 





NORTHFIELD — After canceling twice due to inclement weather, Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s School Committee has picked a new date of March 2 for the budget hearing. It will be held at 7 p.m. in Pioneer Valley Regional School’s auditorium.
The hearing will allow administrators and school board members to explain the cutbacks and increases involved in Pioneer’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget of approximately $14.1 million, and allow residents to ask questions and share their opinions.
During the committee’s meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Ruth Miller addressed committee members’ concerns that the regional agreement requires the committee to adopt a budget on or before Feb. 15. The regional agreement, which is different than state law on the deadline for a budget, is a document created by the four Pioneer towns — Leyden, Warwick, Bernardston and Northfield — outlining the rules under which the towns will operate by joining the school district together.
“No matter what the agreement says, we have to follow the law,” Miller said, relaying information provided to her by Christine Lynch, a consultant with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, who oversees regional agreements.
According to Miller, to follow state law, the committee must adopt a budget by April 30 and 45 calendar days before any of the four towns have their annual meeting. The budget will not be finalized until it is approved by the School Committee and at least three of the four member towns.

Though the new schedule will put the committee in violation of the regional agreement, the committee plans to have the final budget subcommittee meeting on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. and the hearing on March 2. The meeting when they will vote on whether to approve the budget will be held on March 7 at 7 p.m., unless members feel comfortable voting on the budget immediately following the hearing, Chairwoman Patricia Shearer said.

Its come to this .

In all the years I have had kids in PVRS  I do not remember this kind of destruction of property  happening . Kid's are frustrated and they are angry at what this Administration is doing to there school and let me make it clear  I do not condone this , but they are clearly making a statement as to who is the target  of there frustrations.
Bacon nor Miller have done a thing to improve PVRS but they sure have made it a miserable place to be. But hey, in the last year the School Committee has done nothing but close its ears to teachers and students  and this is now where we are it . Suggestion SC if you want this school to get better I would start by removing your Superintendent and PVRS Principal Bacon and bring back Duprey , while you still have a school to be a SC for .
Whats that old saying :

NORTHFIELD — Police are searching for the individual(s) responsible for vandalizing Pioneer Valley Regional School sometime between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 5 a.m. Thursday.
According to a post on the Northfield Police Department’s Facebook page, a window at the front of the building was intentionally struck and smashed. Police collected evidence at the scene, and estimate the cost to repair the window will be around $1,000.
The post described the vandalism as “senseless destruction.”
“It’s very unfortunate and we hope we’re able to identify who did it so we can take the appropriate steps and make things right,” Pioneer Principal Jean Bacon told The Recorder.
Police ask that anyone with information about the vandalism call 413-625-8200.

PVRS is doomed plain and simple.

Well its almost complete , Miller with Bacon being the patsy to her crimes, will have removed a majority of the past of all we  have known at PVRS, To lose Ms.Hawkins-Harrison’s is a travesty and for  ” committee member David Young to say not to personalize this, shows he doesn't know a damn thing about this school or its students and teacher.

I would be very concerned about your children , it's obvious here that the one's in charge , don't!

NORTHFIELD — Members of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s School Committee have mixed opinions on whether to eliminate the dean of students’ position.
Pioneer Valley Regional School Principal Jean Bacon previously proposed cutting 10 full-time faculty positions, as well as the dean of students, and reducing one district technical support staff person to half-time. During Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, Bacon said cuts would also include four instructional assistants and one custodian.
Bacon said at the time her goal was to lower Pioneer’s overall budget by 9 or 10 percent, while eliminating what she describes as a “big misalignment” between the number of teachers and the number of students. Enrollment at Pioneer has dropped 25 percent over the past eight years, though no adjustments in staffing levels have been made.
Cathy Hawkins-Harrison’s dean of students position has proved to be the most contentious of the proposed staffing cuts, leading to discussion at multiple meetings.
“There are things that that position deals with that are very important to this school and this district,” committee member Sharon Fontaine said during a budget subcommittee meeting last month.

Hawkins-Harrison’s role includes coordinating Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing, the 504 program giving students with disabilities individualized help, and sixth-grade orientation. Bacon said she and Assistant Principal Jennifer Albert Perry, the two remaining administrators, would take on the extra responsibility, adding that in her previous district, North Adams Public Schools, MCAS testing is usually handled by the principal.
“I think it’s doable,” she said previously.
“If you look at the size of the school, it doesn’t call for more than two administrators,” Superintendent Ruth Miller added.
However, other committee members noted the number of Pioneer administrators that resigned last school year, including Principal William Wehrli and Vice Principal Mike Duprey, and the effect their leaving has had on students.
“To have that one administrator that’s still here leave, that’s making them sad,” committee Chairwoman Patricia Shearer said at the Jan. 31 meeting.
The discussion continued during Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’re talking about a specific person, who in many instances, is really the face of Pioneer,” said committee member Jim Bell.
“I don’t think it’s right to personalize this,” committee member David Young argued. “I’m very concerned with function.”
Currently, the dean of students’ position is still among the proposed cutbacks in next fiscal year’s budget. The budget will not be finalized until it is approved by the School Committee and at least three of the four member towns.

Concert tonight at PVRS

PVRS Presents 10 years together .

Tonight @7 at PVRS High School .

Great time and music .

PVRS Community update

Dear Community,

I am writing to let you know that the Budget Hearing scheduled for tonight, Feb. 7th is cancelled and it has been rescheduled for Thursday night Feb. 9th in the Pioneer auditorium at 7:00 PM. This is an opportunity for community members to hear about next years proposed budget and provided feedback for the School Committee. 

Thank you,

Superintendent Miller

Betsy DeVos Confirmed As Education Secretary

You might also want to keep this in mind when voting on school budget .

 

Betsy DeVos Confirmed As Education Secretary

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Email

February 7, 201712:31 PM ET

Anya Kamenetz

Facebook Twitter

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is one of the most controversial Cabinet picks in recent memory.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Today the Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as President Trump's education secretary, 51-50. The vice president had to cast an unprecedented tie-breaking vote, after hearings that became fodder for Saturday Night Live; after angry constituents swamped Senate offices with 1.5 million calls a day; after two Republican senators defected; and Democrats held the floor overnight in protest.
The 59-year-old philanthropist and activist from Michigan takes over the leadership and management of a federal bureaucracy with 4,400 employees and a $68 billion annual budget.
Now, the question is: How much will actually change for the nation's 50 million public school students and 20 million college students?
Perhaps her opponents should take a deep breath. The federal role in education policy is limited. Less than 10 percent of funding for K-12 schools comes from the feds, for example.

NPR Ed

Is Free College Really Free?

That said, here's what we'll be watching in the coming weeks and months.
On the higher ed side
The Higher Education Act is up for reauthorization. Three issues that may come up early in a DeVos Education Department: the role of for-profits, college costs and enforcement of Title IX (which governs sex discrimination, including sexual assault cases).

• On Title IX: DeVos said in her hearing that it would be "premature" to say she would uphold a 2011 rule that requires colleges to take an active role to prevent sexual assault.
• On college costs: "Free tuition" proposals drew a lot of Democratic fans during the presidential campaign. DeVos was dismissive of the idea in her hearing: "There's nothing in life that's truly free."
• On for-profit colleges: During the Obama administration, the department, along with the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, went after many for-profit colleges, with allegations of fraud and predatory lending. Two were forced to shut down: Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. Meanwhile, the gainful employment rule required colleges to demonstrate that they were preparing a significant percentage of their students for the job market. When questioned by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., DeVos said she would "review" rather than uphold that rule.

On the K-12 side
The headline here is: More state decision-making power.

The Forces Behind The Decline Of For-Profit Colleges

Regular readers of our NPR Ed blog know that the main K-12 education law was reauthorized last year as the Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, which covers annual testing, among other things. The new law gave more authority to the states, at the expense of the federal government, to identify and remedy failing schools.
The Trump administration has already paused the process of ESSA implementation. Republicans in Congress have moved to use a little-known law called the Congressional Review Act to throw out the new accountability rules altogether. That leaves states in a situation that some Democrats and advocates have dubbed "chaos and delay." Other groups, including the National Governors Association, have said they welcome having still more authority at the state level.
Some civil rights advocates have raised concerns that, in the absence of a strong federal hand, some states will be less vigilant than others in identifying and correcting historic educational inequities of race and class.

2 GOP Senators Break With Party On Betsy DeVos Confirmation

DeVos' responses to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in her controversial written questionnaire, indicate that she comes down on the side of states' rights: "It is necessary and critical for states to have flexibility to determine how to identify and improve schools."
DeVos' department may take a leaf from Arne Duncan's book and set up a competitive grant program that encourages states to expand school choice. If so, we'll likely be hearing more about the benefits of private, virtual, religious and for-profit schools.
The school reforms DeVos backed in Michigan have favored for-profit charter school operators. And her husband previously held financial stakes in the for-profit and online K12 Inc., whose numbers she (erroneously) cited in defending virtual schools in her written answers to the Senate.
The organization she chaired, the American Federation for Children, favors both vouchers and a device called "tax credit scholarships," which allows companies to offset tax liability by funding students to attend private schools. In Florida, which the AFC has called out as a model program, 70 percent of these scholarships go to religiously affiliated schools.

This is just messed up

So let me get this straight , you cutback
$55,000 reduction to the assistant principal’s salary ( but not Bacons)
Miller gets a 700.00 increase
Assistant Superintendent Gail Healy will receive an 8 percent increase on her $100,000 salary, not including her $5,000 annuity, which is 8000.00
You are taking away 11 full time positions
cutting one to a half
Hiring   four new full-time positions and one half-time position
Administrators will receive a cost of living increase in their pay

Hello .. what about the teachers? You are giving yourselves raises and teachers are fighting to pay bills. DOES ANYONE SEE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE ?  Not to mention a $80,000 shortfall in the special education budget. ( Another Templeton warning coming to pass)

Also, why are teachers hearing all this from the newspapers and not the Administration?  Their is no communication between them and teachers and this already shows how poorly this set up is running . The teachers are the hearts of this school and this is just not acceptable what is happening to them .

Oh and a update from previous post about where Superintendent is moving offices to .
Rooms 206, 207 and 208 are
Ms Brown, Ms Hammett, and Ruggiano
One of these teachers taught in that classroom for 20 years .


I remember this post I was sent  last year from Templeton.

Bev.Bart.May 24, 2016 at 3:46 PM

You poor people at the Pioneer School District. Oh where do I start ? Maybe when Ms. Miller kept telling the people in Templeton how we did not contribute enough, and were under funding the School District. A man from our town had to sit with Ms. Miller and show her a number of times how she was wrong, before she could understand it. Let me see, the very worse Town Meeting in the history of this Town comes to mind. The residents of Templeton voted no, not once but three times, at the polls, before it was pushed through at a Special Town Meeting, where half the people who were in the cafeteria were not counted. This Town is so divided, most people do not have a clue, but I do because I talk to them. People who always attended the Annual Town Meeting, boycotted the last one because they feel their votes do not matter. Only 40 people showed up, and very few people voted in May. When Ms. Miller says she really needs the money, don't believe it. She has no problem taking from the Town who was/is in a financial bind, with no consideration for anyone else.
or maybe this one

Bev.Bart.April 6, 2015 at 10:17 AM

 I hope Ms.Miller has checked to be sure this new school district has deep pockets, before she takes over. Any school district needs to require that their superintendent live in the town they work for. That would make the decisions made by the superintendent and the School Committee have a impact on her life and pocketbook, the same as the rest of the town. It is to easy to suck the town dry, and get in the car at the end of the day, to go home to another town or state, with out a care in the world. Don't let the door hit you, on your way out. Enough is enough

Bob MApril 6, 2015 at 8:31 AM

Dont you just love how these "managers" come in, receive a $105,000 salary run budgets that are out of control and then leave to go to another fertile spot to receive more pay for sitting atop a mountain of inefficiency and mismanagement.Way to go Ruthless.

AnonymousApril 12, 2013 at 11:42 AM

Look at the towns report and go to the school salaries page , Then when you regain your vision . then Go And Vote NO !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you can see its a pattern which follows her . High pay for herself etc.. and loss of teachers is massive in her wake .


Now, I am sorry but do we really need an asst. superintendent ? At this cost its now beyond ridiculous and why wouldn't a normal paid secretary do  the same job? Thats right she can!
Miller is paid a very high salary and in that job description should be able to handle the running of the superintendents office with a secretary , not a 108,000.00 a year asst. This is just off the wall. The remanding balance could be offset to give teachers a well deserved raise instead . I also think that Bacon salary should also be cut. As a  first time principal who many of us feel she  is not doing a very good job and is being highly over paid .


Lets keep in mind people this is a RURAL school not a CITY school.
Example this is pay for city school principals

School Principal	$112,540	Arlington,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$102,093	Attleboro,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$103,672	Barnstable,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Boston,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$108,098	Brockton,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Brookline,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Cambridge,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,405	Chicopee,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,234	Fall River,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$100,895	Fitchburg,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$110,838	Framingham,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,403	Haverhill,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,405	Holyoke,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$103,672	Hyannis,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,403	Lawrence,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$101,816	Leominster,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$107,799	Lowell,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,495	Lynn,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Malden,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Medford,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,403	Methuen,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,234	New Bedford,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Newton,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$111,815	Peabody,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$102,529	Pittsfield,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,811	Plymouth,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Quincy,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Revere,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$111,688	Salem,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Somerville,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,405	Springfield,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$107,564	Taunton,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$112,540	Waltham,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$105,405	Westfield,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$108,098	Weymouth,MA	January 30, 2017
School Principal	$103,266	Worcester,MA	January 30, 2017

Really?? More cuts backs are needed starting with the Administration  before voting on this budget .

NORTHFIELD — Balancing cutbacks and increases, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s fiscal year 2018 budget is expected to remain stable from fiscal year 2017.
Coming into the budget hearing, which will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. in Pioneer Valley Regional School’s auditorium, the proposed budget is approximately $14.1 million, increasing only a fraction of a percent from FY17’s preliminary estimates.
The budget, which will not be finalized unless it is approved by the school committee and three of the four member towns, includes a series of significant changes which administrators hope will improve the district in both financial and academic ways.
Cutbacks The main cutback will be to staffing levels. As enrollment at Pioneer Valley Regional School has dropped by 25 percent over the past eight years, administrators are proposing a roughly 13 percent reduction in staff for next school year.
According to Pioneer Principal Jean Bacon, 11 full-time positions are being cut including the dean of students, and one districtwide technical support staff member will be reduced to half-time.

Currently, Bacon said, there are 88 staff members at Pioneer. While it is currently unclear which positions will be affected, Bacon said the administration will consider what individual teachers offer, as well as how the layoffs would affect class size and diversity of programs.
Between a nearly $55,000 reduction to the assistant principal’s salary, and the reduction in staffing, the cutbacks would save the district more than $360,000.
Increases Despite staffing cuts, Bacon also intends to add four new full-time positions and one half-time position, ones she believes better fit the needs of the school.
The proposed new positions include: an online learning facilitator, who will supervise students in a lab environment while they work on online classwork; a districtwide science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) facilitator; a college and career readiness facilitator; a Tier II interventionist to give small group or individualized instruction to students who require extra support; and a half-time instructional assistant supervisor to oversee instructional assistants and ensure they receive necessary training.
The cuts help to offset increases in employee health insurance contributions, as Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) rates paid by the district are increasing 9.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.
Many administrators will receive a cost of living increase in their pay, which amounts to less than $700 in the case of Superintendent Ruth Miller.
However, in the proposed budget, other administrators will receive more substantial pay increases. For example, Assistant Superintendent Gail Healy will receive an 8 percent increase on her $100,000 salary, not including her $5,000 annuity.
The reason for Healy’s pay increase, Miller said, was to improve male-female pay equality. Miller said former male principals and assistant principals at Pioneer have been offered larger salaries than Healy’s in the past.
“By the law, and just because it’s the right thing to do, we needed to increase that salary,” Miller said during a budget subcommittee meeting. “It’s still not where it needs to be, but it’s a start … I personally think it’s long overdue.”
Another large increase affects the special education budget, which increased from more than $727,000 to more than $1,038,000, a difference of approximately $310,000. The increase, Miller said, results from having created specially designed programs for children with special needs, including a life skills program at Pioneer, an elementary behavior support program and generally more academic support.
Through the programs, Miller said, the district is “keeping students here for the right reasons and making sure we have programs available that fit their unique needs.”
However, the increase led to an $80,000 shortfall in the special education budget.
“If we don’t make reductions in programming or staff, we would be overspending our budget,” Miller said.
Overall, from FY17 to FY18, the district is increasing funding for its four elementary schools while decreasing funding for Pioneer Valley Regional School.

http://tabsoft.co/2kC9rrn

The overall budget will also support purchasing or adding:
$1,000 worth of guidance textbooks to support college readiness;
Naviance software, which would cost $10,000 to set up, and allows students to submit college applications, receive recommendations, track their classes and otherwise participate in four-year planning;
New world language textbooks, replacing 17-year-old versions;
Textbooks for new advanced placement (AP) biology, AP language and composition, and statistics and probability courses;
Instructional equipment for science classes;
More supplies, money for field trips and a Second Start bullying curriculum for all the elementary schools;
One additional instructional assistant for each elementary school;
and 85 Chromebooks and accessories for ninth-grade students, which will cost $29,900, to support Bacon’s plan to have a personal computer for every student by 2021.