Dear Editor,

I am the parent of a third grader who attends the Rochester Memorial School. I also serve on the RMS School Council. It was recently brought to my attention (and others) that our school stands to lose staff members—teachers and paraprofessionals—because of dollar shortfalls in next year’s proposed budget.

The positions that will be lost include classroom teachers, the Science Lab program, and six classroom assistants.

As it stands today, class sizes in our upper grades could reach 27 students per classroom. In addition, parents whose children take instrumental music lessons will be charged somewhere near $500 for lessons. These are programs and activities that will personally affect my child and many others as well.

My daughter has a passion for science and music. She loves her teachers. What a tragic loss for all of the students if they had to lose even one of these educators or educational outlets! They help to make her the unique and happy individual she is. They contribute heartily to the unique school culture at Rochester Memorial.

In the past several years, teachers have since retired and, sadly enough, they have not been replaced. This is also true of our Assistant Principal, who has yet to be replaced despite the school population of 550 students.

Even if you are a parent of a preschooler, with these changes, when your child does enter RMS, it will affect your children’s learning experiences as well.

I would not have any of this information had I not been a member of the School Council. Its meetings are open for any parent to attend.

I urge you to contact Mr. Ryan, Superintendent White, or school committee members personally with questions or ideas pertaining to the above information.

Or, please attend the next School Council meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. at RMS.

The public can also listen and maybe get a better understanding about these serious concerns at the next Rochester School Committee meeting being held on Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Rochester Town Hall.

We as parents must have a better understanding of this serious situation so we know what we can do to help.

Sincerely,

Stacy Carreau, Rochester