16 minute read
SCHOOLS
HPS special ed seeks 8.1 percent budget increase Student surge affects multiple departments
By Melissa Orff Contributing Writer
Three of Hopkinton Public School departments — Special Education, Buildings and Grounds, and Technology — had the chance to present their individual budgets for FY21 to the School Committee on Nov. 21.
The school budget has been heavily discussed at a number of School Committee meetings over the past few months, with the rapid increase in enrollment causing a strain on district resources.
Although the original budget message from the town was to keep increases to 5.5 percent, the school district is looking at a 5.1 percent increase in nonnegotiable contractual obligations for next year alone.
“There is no wiggle room with these,” said superintendent Dr. Carol Cavanaugh. “And this is before we add a single general education teacher due to any of the enrollment growth.”
The three departments presented their needs, which included additional staff to keep pace with the increased enrollment.
Director of student services Dr. Karen Zaleski presented the needs of the Special Education Department for FY21. The department requested $11,923,923, which is an increase over FY20 of $908,755, or 8.3 percent. The increase is
based on contractual salary increases as well as a request for additional staff due to the increase in enrollment, including additional intensive and general paraprofessionals, a half-time psychologist at Marathon Elementary School, additional secretarial support, and a new pre-K teacher for a new pre-K classroom.
“We have a significant anticipated enrollment of early intervention students next year,” Zaleski said. Students who quality for early intervention services can enroll in pre-K at the age of 3. The number of teachers and paraprofessionals is based on enrollment of early intervention students.
“Enrollment growth has hit preschool as well,” commented Marathon principal Lauren Dubeau, speaking on the needed pre-K teacher for FY21. “Adding an additional preschool class will allow us to be able to provide additional needed supports.”
Increased enrollment also equates to an increase in special education transportation costs, said Zaleski, including transportation to out-of-district placements, and transportation for homeless and foster care students.
The special education department makes up more than 12 percent of the student population at Hopkinton Public Schools.
“That’s important to keep in mind when we are looking at such large numbers,” commented School Committee member Meg Tyler. “I am amazed you were able to increase the budget so little.”
Director of technology Ashoke Ghosh presented the FY21 budget for the Technology Department for the district, asking for an 8.5 percent increase year over year. Ghosh said that the budget supports aligning the K-12 curriculum with the Massachusetts state standards, data privacy, support maintenance of hardware and software systems, and instructional software. The driving force behind the proposed budget increase is a new website/data position ($60,000) to maintain the new website and to support the data across the district. This is currently a stipend position of 3-5 hours per week.
“Parents, students and teachers need access to information,” said School Committee member Amanda Fargiano, voicing her support for the new position. “While it seems fluffy to some … it frees up time for our administrators who it falls on now.”
But not all agreed that the new position was a necessity in a challenging budget year.
“We are in a place where we have many, many needs,” commented School Committee chair Meena Bharath, asking Ghosh to consider looking into recruiting volunteers in combination with the current stipend position.
The final presentation from the meeting was by the director of buildings and grounds, Timothy Persson. Persson presented a preliminary increase for FY21 of $464,000, or 14 percent. A large driver of the increase is a request for salary increases from the new contract for custodians and maintenance, and for three additional night custodians throughout the district.
“Our staff does a really good job cleaning the buildings and they work really hard,” said Persson, who explained that the Hopkinton maintenance staff cleans an average of 10,000-20,000 square feet more per night then facilities guidelines dictate for typical school buildings.
Persson told the committee that he originally proposed six additional custodians to bring the district within the guidelines but reduced it to three after the initial round of budget presentations.
The Buildings and Grounds budget also included $182,000 for maintenance items such as a preventative maintenance program for HVAC units ($81,000) and for water testing for the district ($10,000).
“We know if you don’t do the maintenance it can be very costly in the future,” commented Fargiano.
Other departments will be presenting their budgets at a future School Committee meeting.
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By Melissa Orff Contributing Writer
The achievements of five Hopkinton
High School alumni were celebrated during the Top of the Hill event on Nov. 26.
Organized by the Hopkinton Parent Teacher Association, Hopkinton Education Foundation and Hopkinton High School, the Top of the Hill program recognizes alumni who have graduated from HHS and have gone on to significantly impact the community — through volunteerism, activism or their life’s work. Nominations are gathered and reviewed by a committee of administrators, teachers, students and community members in order to choose a new group of Top of the Hill inductees.
This year’s inductees were invited back to their alma mater for the day to speak to students about their path after leaving high school.
“It’s hard to know when you get out of school what you want to do, but you work at it and find something that you really like and keep going,” said Jean Scarlata, Class of 1947.
After graduating HHS, Scarlata worked at the Veterans Administration at the Cushing General Hospital complex in Framingham and then continued to work at the VA Medical Center when it relocated to West Roxbury. After taking time off to raise a family, Scarlata spent time volunteering in the Hopkinton Public Schools and taught religious education at St. John the Evangelist Church, for which she currently is the treasurer as a member
Members of the Top of the Hill Class of 2019 were (from left) Dr. Sam Sennott, Missy (MacDonald) Sadler, Dr. Patrick Lynch, Jean Scarlata and Matt Ellam. PHOTO/HCAM
of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. In 1981 she went to work full-time at the Town of Hopkinton Water Department, from which she retired in 2015.
“I was so nervous,” Scarlata said with a laugh about being chosen as an inductee for the Top of the Hill program in an interview with HCAM TV. “But after I thought about it I knew what an honor it was.”
After spending the day in classrooms, the inductees returned in the evening for a ceremony honoring their accomplishments. Each honoree was introduced by a member of the student council, then they spoke about what inspired their passions.
Missy (MacDonald) Sadler was a star athlete in the Class of 2000. After high school, she attended Fairfield University, where she graduated cum laude with a B.A. in psychology while starting at third base on the Connecticut school’s Division 1 softball team. Sadler worked at EMC Corporation in its sales training program and over the course of 10 years was promoted numerous times and recognized as a top sales performer in the Americas. She also served as vice president of the EMC Field Women’s Leadership Forum, which sought to encourage greater female participation in
Milford Regional / Leapfrog Safety Grade Created 11/11/19 Hopkinton Independent (Half-Page - 10.25 x 7.5) CMYK
the traditionally male-dominated tech industry. Sadler currently is taking time off from her career to raise her young family while still being involved in athletics as a volunteer coach for the Medfield High School softball team.
“Some of my fondest memories were made here, in these classrooms and on those athletic fields,” she told the audience during the ceremony. “I built friendships here that still exist today, and now our kids are growing up together.”
Matt Ellam, inductee and graduate of the Class of 2006, enjoyed the opportunity to return to the school.
“The students were great,” he said in an HCAM interview. “It was a great opportunity to hear their stories and share mine.”
Ellam was the founded the Hiller Grillers, a tailgating fan club that has been grilling since 2004. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a B.A. in African studies and history and continued his education at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2012, earning a B.S. and an M.S. in nursing to become a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. Since then, Ellam has devoted his academic and clinical time to promoting access to mental health care and substance abuse treatment in underserved and compromised populations and managed nurse-run medication assisted treatment programs for opioid and alcohol use disorders in East Boston and Brockton, and provided comprehensive psychiatric care in English, Spanish and Top of the Hill | 13
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Pictured at last year’s Gingerbread House Decorating Fundraiser are HHS Habitat for Humanity club members (from left) Mihika Abraham, Anchi-Huang, Thrusha Puttaraju, Maria Vasington and Geetika Ravi.
By Melissa Orff Contributing Writer
AHopkinton High School club will be raising funds again this holiday season to help give families the chance to have a home for the holidays.
The Habitat for Humanity club will be hosting its annual Gingerbread House Decorating Fundraiser on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the HHS cafeteria. Proceeds from the event will go to help meet housing needs for those who are without.
Habitat for Humanity is a global non-profit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries. Habitat’s vision is of “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” Habitat for Humanity reaches these goals by aiding impoverished communities to build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage.
The HHS Habitat for Humanity club started in 2017 when Thrusha Puttaraju, now a senior, wanted to bring this volunteer opportunity that would appeal to high school students, where they could see where the money they raised was going and the impact their volunteerism would have.
“There were a bunch of clubs at this high school, but I felt like this club would be a tangible way for students to give back in their community,” Puttaraju said. “It is something that we can go back 20 years later and say, ‘Wow, we helped build that.’ ”
In the past few years, the HHS Habitat for Humanity club has raised more than $4,000 for the Worcester Regional Chapter. Those funds have been used for home construction costs in local towns, including Holliston and Northborough. Along with the much-needed funds, the HHS club has been able to donate many hours of time working on building homes, side by side with the families who will benefit from their service.
“We live in a part of Massachusetts that is very wealthy, so at times we are sheltered from the housing inequalities and other problems that people face in other areas,” Puttaraju said. “Doing this gives use a glimpse of other struggles people face while helping others pay for home and pay their rent.”
The Habitat club will be offering community members a chance to build their own houses for the day — gingerbread ones — during a fun and festive community event.
“This is a community-based fundraiser. We try to involve the community as much as possible because they are our biggest supporters,” Puttaraju said.
All ages are welcome to the Gingerbread House event, but children 12 and under must have a parent/guardian present with their team. Teams are limited to a maximum of eight people and a minimum of two people. It costs $5 per participant. Pizza, snacks and drinks will be available at the event for $1 each. Registration can be found on the club’s website: hopkintonhs.wixsite.com/habitat4humanityhhs.
Portuguese at community health centers in Worcester, Framingham and Roxbury. Currently, Ellam sees patients at a group private practice in Brookline while focusing on the growth of various projects to support equitable mental health care for all people regardless of ability to pay or speak English.
Dr. Sam Sennott, Class of 1996, said that it was a “terrific gift” to be able to reflect with the students and share the work that he does serving people with communication disabilities.
“I love kids, and I leverage that with my unique way of thinking,” he said.
Sennott is an assistant professor of special education at Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education. Sennott said he discovered his life’s passion after volunteering at the Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center. After graduating from HHS, Sennott attended Gordon College, where he received his B.S. in special education, elementary education and history while working a series of jobs assisting children with disabilities. He went on to earn a M.S. in assistive special education technology from Simmons College and a Ph.D. in augmentative and alternative communication, assistive technology and special education from Penn State University. In 2009 Sennott co-created and launched the original Proloquo2Go, an iPhone program that takes on-screen text and reads it electronically. The iOS application helps people who have difficulty speaking due to a range of disabilities such as autism, Top of the Hill | from page 12
Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, and has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, by ABC News and on 60 Minutes.
The final inductee was Dr. Patrick Lynch, Class of 1977, who spoke to the attendees about the importance of perseverance. Lynch was paralyzed after breaking his neck playing football for the Hillers.
“I remember feeling guilty in the days and hours and months [after the injury] that I let them down and wouldn’t be able to finish the season,” Lynch said. “It wasn’t so much that I was feeling sorry for myself, it was more a feeling that I was letting my team members down.”
Although confined to a wheelchair, Lynch went on to graduate from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1985, completed an internship in internal medicine at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield in 1986, and concluded his education with a residency in diagnostic radiology at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse in 1990. Lynch has amassed an extensive knowledge and unrivaled expertise in women’s imaging, including ultrasonography, mammography and breast MRI. As a radiologist he has dedicated training and unique experience in diagnosing and treating disease and injury through the use of medical imaging techniques such as X-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET), fusion imaging and ultrasound.
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HHS football closes with T-Day win
The Hopkinton High School football team handed Ashland its first loss of the season on Thanksgiving morning, cruising to a 26-7 victory at David Hughes Stadium in the annual rivalry game.
Ashland’s starters played just one quarter, as the Clockers wanted to ensure they would be healthy for the Division 6 Super Bowl on Dec. 7 at Gillette Stadium. Hopkinton took advantage, scoring 26 consecutive points after allowing an early touchdown.
Hopkinton, which closed the season with three straight wins, finished at 5-6 and expanded its lead in the Thanksgiving Day series to 53-37-5.
Senior quarterback Robby Bernardin rushed for one touchdown and passed for two others — to junior Cam Mulvaney and senior Max LaCascia — and was named the game’s Offensive MVP. Senior Andrew Saporochetz was named Defensive MVP. Senior Zach Levy was named Unsung Hero. A few days later Saporochetz picked up another honor when he was named Tri-Valley League Defensive Player of the Year. Junior Cole Salyards, who ran for Hopkinton’s first TD against Ashland, was named a TVL All-Star.
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Jones competes in NYC
HHS junior Olivia Jones earned All-Northeast third-team honors after placing 27th in the Foot Locker Northeast Regional cross country race on Nov. 30 in New York City. Jones finished the challenging 3.1-mile course at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx in 18 minutes, 54 seconds. …
Nine HHS student-athletes attended the MIAA Sportsmanship Summit at Gillette Stadium. Representing the Hillers were Tommy Bernardin, Caroline Connell, Angie Grabmeier, Kristin McCluskey, Tiffany Mikulis, Mirabella Paolucci, Cole Salyards, Ron Shamus and Jacob Sokol. Grabmeier and Connell were named finalists in the MIAA essay contest. …
In the annual HHS girls football game on Nov. 22, the senior class rolled to a 37-0 victory over the juniors. …
In the 18th annual Tom McIntyre Turkey Bowl, a football tournament featuring HHS alumni from 1994 to 2018, the Hiller Thrillers took the title.
PHOTO/TRICIA LACASCIA PHOTOGRAPHY
Hopkinton High School senior Max LaCascia scores a touchdown during the Hillers’ victory over visiting Ashland on Thanksgiving Day.
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