Orange Elementary Projected Class Size Report Released

Released to local media: August 9, 2011

A little more than one week after laying off 22 Orange Elementary School Employees, new Elementary Superintendent, Michael R. Baldassarre released the K – 6 Class Size Report. “I have been asked by many parents and staff what the effects of the layoffs would be on class size” said Baldassarre. One such forum in which the superintendent was questioned about class size was during the Orange Elementary Finance and Facilities meeting on August 2, 2011. This meeting, held at Mahar Regional was attended by more than thirty concerned parents and community members.

Mr. Baldassarre stated, “There is no doubt that the number of students in a single classroom directly impacts both the quality and quantity of educational attention that each student receives.” “This is precisely why music, art, and physical education were cut from the fiscal year 2012 budget. Our commitment has to be to keep classes as small as possible so that our children have the best and most opportunities to learn to read, write, and do arithmetic” he went on.

The reduction of staff at Orange Elementary is just one of many issues being faced by the district in the next academic year. Deficiencies in funding have also called upon the superintendent to question how facilities repairs could be funded. New on the Orange Elementary facilities radar is the leaking roof at the Dexter Park Elementary School. When Baldassarre and a reporter from Channel 22 News entered the facility for an interview on August 1, 2011 Baldassarre noted water pouring into Principal Softic’s office. Baldassarre, speaking at the previously mentioned finance and facilities meeting also stated that there were little or no funds in the fiscal year 2012 budget for textbooks, technology, curricular materials, or professional development.

More than 450 parents and concerned citizens have gathered on Facebook to express their concerns. Many Orange residents have become educated about the term, “Net School Spending.” This is the term used to illustrate the absolute legal minimum amount of funding that the Commonwealth expects to be dedicated to each school district in the state. Unfortunately, Orange Elementary has not been provided with the legal amount to fund education in fiscal year 2010, and it appears as though that mark will again not be met when the books are closed for 2011.

At the August 2, 2011 meeting, one parent asked of Baldassarre, “How are you going to fix all of this?” Baldassarre’s response was that the task of repairing and/or improving would be a difficult one. Without proper funding it is possible that scores on state tests plummet. If scores plummet in consecutive years, the district runs the risk of being taken over by the state. “We don’t want to see that happen” said Baldassarre. “This is a time to look at transformative system-wide reforms that will benefit our students” he said. Baldassarre was referring to the regional planning efforts. Over the past two years the school committees of Orange Elementary, Petersham, and Mahar have joined forces in unifying their special education administrations and central offices under a single superintendent.

Coming in the next few months the superintendent is expected to present the committees with unified technology departments, cafeteria services, and maintenance departments. Baldassarre said, “This can’t happen soon enough. We have to combine to create efficiencies and save funds wherever and whenever we can.” The districts stand to gain substantial funding through regionalization. Once an agreement is voted Mahar, Petersham, and Orange stand to gain more than $90,000.00 in regional bonus aid and more than $200,000.00 every year in state regional transportation reimbursement.

Baldassarre encourages any person with questions about regionalization efforts to contact him directly via e-mail (mbaldassarre@rcmahar.org) or phone (978-544-2920).

Fisher Hill Elementary Kindergarten Room A: 24 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Kindergarten Room B: 24 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Kindergarten Room C: 25 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 1 Room A: 23 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 1 Room B: 23 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 1 Room C (Inclusion): 18 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 1 Room D (Inclusion): 19 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 2 Room A: 23 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 2 Room B: 22 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 2 Room C: 22 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 2 (Inclusion) Room D: 17 students
Fisher Hill Elementary Grade 2 (Inclusion) Room E: 16 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 3 Room A: 25 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 3 Room B: 24 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 3 (Inclusion) Room C: 20 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 3 (Inclusion) Room D: 20 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 4 (Inclusion) Room A: 22 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 4 (Inclusion) Room B: 22 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 4 (Inclusion) Room C: 22 students
Dexter Park Elementary Grade 4 (Inclusion) Room D: 26 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 Room A: 20 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 Room B: 18 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 (Inclusion) Room C: 14 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 (Inclusion) Room D: 14 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 Room E: 19 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 5 Room F: 19 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 Room A: 20 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 Room B: 20 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 Room C: 19 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 Room D: 18 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 (Inclusion) Room E: 16 students
Butterfield Elementary Grade 6 (Inclusion) Room F: 15 students