Dear Editor:

We are writing in response to statements published in last week’s edition of The Wanderer regarding the Sippican School’s budget. We as parents are proud of the Sippican School and the accomplishments of its students, staff and administration. We would like to respond in order to provide the families of Sippican School as well as the larger Marion community with accurate information.

It has been our observation that the school has consistently been committed to working with the town to devise a school budget that meets the needs of our school while being considerate of those of the other town departments. This has been evidenced in the last two years’ budgets, which showed modest increases of .5 percent over the previous years’ budgets. We hardly feel that this was “out of control” as was stated in The Wanderer article. Measures such as the agreement to use Circuit Breaker funds towards the budget have been made in efforts to keep additional costs to the town low.

On Jan. 28, Marion Finance Committee member Karen Kevelson made comments during a Marion Finance Committee that were inaccurate and did not capture the true essence of the draft budget process. Each year the school administrators and the Marion budget subcommittee develop a draft budget that addresses the needs of the Sippican Elementary School, which was shared with Ms. Kelvelson during a working budget subcommittee meeting on Jan. 12. Over the next several months the subcommittee will have a better handle on state funding and enrollment figures that will help them frame the budget to town officials. Representatives of the school will be in attendance at the next Finance Committee meeting, which will take place on Feb. 24th.

There were a few other statements made regarding personnel to which we would like to respond. The 2015/2016 budget was approved without Marion Village Estates being complete. As a result, the school based its budget on the school’s population in early 2015. It became clear that additional teachers were going to be needed for the upcoming school year due to the rapid growth in enrollment over the summer months. This year the school has taken 44 new registrations, several of which were kindergarteners. The school responded by hiring two long-term substitutes to accommodate the increasing population in kindergarten and third grade. As agreed upon by the town the school’s budget absorbed one of the positions, and the school continues to work closely with town officials to ensure financial support for the second position as the 2015/2016 school year draws to a close. The current long-term kindergarten position will move into grade one with those students.

With the increase in the school’s population it has also seen a change in its demographic from years passed. The school is nearing a 22 percent (approximately 1 in 5 children) free/reduced qualification for lunch/breakfast. We sincerely wish that children were not arriving to school without having had a proper (or in some cases any) breakfast. As children learn best when their basic needs are satisfied the school had a responsibility to respond. The breakfast and free/reduced programs are federally funded. The cafeteria is completely self-funded and is not part of our budget’s bottom line. In addition, any student who is not on free and reduced lunch can purchase a breakfast for $2. The breakfast program has only been available since January 2016 and there is an average of 90 to 100 students taking advantage of the opportunity daily.

Our children are growing up in a changing and more complicated world, and the school has a responsibility to help them to meet these demands. The data that was revealed from last spring’s “youth risk assessment survey” of our junior and senior high school students was frankly disturbing. Included in next year’s budget is a 0.3 health teacher position which came directly out of the work of the Healthy Tri-Town Coalition and their recommendations. All three elementary school’s have put this into their preliminary draft budgets, as it is seen as being a position that can be shared between the towns. There are links on the district’s website that provides information regarding the substance abuse as well as emotional concerns being reported by our junior and senior high school students found in the work of the Coalition. The Sippican School is committed to supporting the ongoing work of the Tri-Town Coalition in order to respond in a proactive, rather than a reactive, way as we seek avenues to keep all of its students happy, healthy and safe.

We would like to also publicly thank and recognize the work of our vice principal, Sarah Goerges. As part of the discussion last year regarding shifting the assistant principal from part time to full time had nothing to do with the discipline and behavior of children in Marion. The days of the assistant principal only addressing behavioral issues have gone by the wayside. Today’s administrators have a far greater responsibility to ensure that the curriculum being delivered in the classroom is meeting the needs of all students. Therefore, under the new guidelines addressing teacher evaluations, teachers have gone from being elevated once every other year to being evaluated a minimum of five times every year. In addition, the administrator must meet a minimum of three times with each educator to ensure they are meeting their goals and educator plan. The evaluation process is part of the teacher’s contract and must be followed explicitly. Therefore, the additional administrator time is necessary to ensure we are in compliance with the teachers’ contract, but more importantly that administrators have time to address the educational need of all students.

We found the statements regarding one “not being impressed” with Sippican School insulting to the accomplishments of our students, families, staff and administration. Sippican Elementary is a Level 1 school. In 2014, Sippican was one of just over 40 schools to be named a “Commendation School,” which is a high honor bestowed upon us by the state for closing achievement gaps. Just last month Sippican Elementary was awarded the “MA Commendation/MA Blue Ribbon Schools Dissemination Grant” in the amount of $13,995. Sippican was one of 13 schools in the state to be honored in this way. Although we are proud of the accomplishments of our students, staff and administration, we continue to look ahead to improving what we do in order to best address the needs of all our students.

The school is committed to working cooperatively with the stakeholders involved in the budget process. Misinformed or inaccurate statements made in the press succeeds in making an impression, however we do not feel it is the most effective way to solve problems and to resolve the issues that arise. The school will continue discussions with the town in order to ensure they have adequate resources in order to meet the demands of our ever changing population, while balancing and being respectful of those of the town. We are both available to talk or meet with anyone who has questions, comments or concerns regarding the content of this letter.

Respectfully Submitted,

Christine Marcolini, Marion resident
Kate Houdelette, Marion resident