School Committee Meeting tonight (Feb 9th), 6 pm, FY2017 budget on the agenda

At the School Committee meeting tonight (6 pm, ARHS library), there will be a discussion of the FY2017 budget and the latest proposed additions & cuts.   A list of the proposed additions & cuts is available here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7UVv-MmKrUOR2M1N1NYNjhidTQ

Proposed additions include: salary increases so that all ARPS staff are paid at least minimum wage, additional paraeducators for Special Ed, wireless network upgrades, & nurses for field trips.

Proposed cuts include  elimination of the Director of Curriculum & Learning position, administrative cuts in the central office, & cuts to technology staff & districtwide supply & stipend budgets, At the elementary schools, the proposed budget eliminates the library assistant position at each library & reduces custodial staff.

The school librarians at Wildwood & Fort River have written public letters about what eliminating the library assistant positions will mean in terms of students' access to the school libraries.   These letters were posted on the Wildwood & Fort River PGO blogs:
Fort River PGO:  http://ftriver.blogspot.com/2016/02/library-paraprofessional-position-to-be.html 
Wildwood PGO:  http://wildwoodpgo.com/2016/02/04/letter-from-wildwood-librarian-school-committee-29/ 

The full FY2017 proposed Amherst elementary school budget is available here:
http://www.arps.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=8134613

The agenda & packet of the materials for tonight's School Committee meeting is available here:
 http://www.arps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_926729/File/Kim%20SC%20materials/ASCagenda2.9.16.pdf