Thursday, January 31, 2002

Cape schools look at user fees

Published in the Current

A small group of Cape Elizabeth school officials will meet this week to discuss user fees for school activities. The group will come up with a recommendation, which would be used if the School Board decided to implement the fees.

“I don’t think anybody wants them, myself included,” said School Board member Jim Rowe, who led a study on user fees in 2001 and will chair the group meeting.

But the group is charged with deciding on the best model for user fees, if they were to be introduced into Cape Elizabeth schools. With the budget tight this year, Rowe said, it is prudent to explore all possible revenue options, even if those options are not used.

Among the choices for a fee structure are a flat per-student fee, different fees for sports and non-sports activities, and a smaller flat fee per activity. In each case, there
would be a fee cap of $100 per student and $150 per family.

Rowe said he did not know whether any other options would be developed at the meeting, and stressed it was up to the School Board to decide whether to introduce the fees.

Buddhists worship, learn in Scarborough

Published in the Current

Buddhists from all over Maine and the Northeast come to Scarborough to practice their faith. The state’s chapter of the True Buddha School has its Maine headquarters on U.S. Route 1, just south of Anjon’s Restaurant.

A small ranch house has been converted into a gathering place for a group of mostly Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhists now living in the region. They follow the teachings of a Buddhist cleric based in Seattle, who teaches in the Tantric or Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, the same style as that followed by the Dalai Lama.

They came to Scarborough looking for a place for the society in the Greater Portland area, and found an affordable building in a good location here in town.

Yee-lin Lee, one of the people who runs the Scarborough temple, said people tend to come to offer gifts to the Buddha on the first and 15th days of the lunar months. She said most of the people are Chinese and Vietnamese, but members of other nationalities also come to the temple.

Lee said there is a particularly large turnout for Chinese New Year, which this year will be celebrated on Feb. 12, 2002, on Western calendars. It will be the Chinese year of 4699, the Year of the Horse.

Lee said she had started to notice an increase in the number of people who don’t speak Chinese at some of these events, and at their suggestion began a program to introduce Buddhism to English speakers.

Rev. Lianhong, a Buddhist monk from Oakland, Calif., came to town to deliver a series of teachings on the basics of Buddhism. About 50 people turned out for the first session, Jan. 16, despite a freezing rainstorm. Turnout was so good, in fact, that most people had to park at a larger parking lot near the Dunstan School Restaurant and get shuttled to the temple.

Lianhong began the first teaching with a disclaimer: “I am not here to convert you to Buddhism,” he said, though he said he wouldn’t turn away anyone who wanted to learn more.

In the first session, Lianhong gave a brief history of the life of the Buddha, and talked about the basic principles of the Buddha’s teachings, which are common to all three Buddhist traditions, Mahayana (most common in China and Japan), Theravada (Thailand, Cambodia and Burma) and Vajrayana (Tibet and Himalayan regions of several countries).

The class also explored other aspects of Buddhist teachings and meditation, with Lianhong offering suggestions for improving mindfulness and focus while meditating, and encouraging people to find meditation in all daily activities.

Thursday, January 24, 2002

Cape schools begin budget process

Published in the Current

At a workshop meeting Jan. 22, the Cape Elizabeth School Board kicked off its budget process with a discussion of new staffing needs, building plans and possible student activity fees. The board remained conscious of budget constraints and prepared itself to answer the concerns of the Town Council, which must approve the school budget.

Three new staff positions were put on hold due to budget constraints, and all of the new programs originally planned for this year’s budget also were taken off the table by Superintendent Tom Forcella.

Remaining were additional staff positions required to handle increased enrollment and higher special education needs, small increases in high school and middle school athletics positions, and an 8-hour, weekly position to help support the state’s Laptop Initiative.

Enrollment changes mean a second grade teaching position will be added, while a middle school teaching position will be eliminated, and three teaching spots will be added at the high school.

Special education staff will be reshuffled through the district, as four educational technicians will move from the middle school to the high school along with the students they assist. Several kindergartners also will require additional help as they move from a half-day kindergarten to a full school day in first grade.

Despite those increases – nearly four full-time positions – special education director Claire LaBrie said the price was a bargain. “We are educating students in our school system that 20 years ago we would not have been educating,” she said. Instead, the school district would be paying for expensive day programs.

Occupational therapy and speech and language staff also will be increased slightly, in response to recently identified needs.

The high school will see an increase of about 50 students, half in the ninth grade and half in 12th grade, said High School Principal Jeff Shedd. That will require an additional three teachers there.

Board chair George Entwistle questioned whether that should mean three teaching positions should be eliminated at the middle school.

Middle School Principal Nancy Hutton, along with Shedd and Forcella, explained that there are more requirements on high school students, and more options open to them, meaning more teachers are frequently required to meet the needs of high school students than of a similar number of middle school students.

High school students are required to take a certain number of “elective” classes, for example, and that means teachers must branch out beyond the traditional curriculum.

Shedd pointed out the teaching staff increase “assumes no significant increase in class size.”

The board also discussed the plans for renovating the high school and adding to Pond Cove Elementary School. Building Committee chair Marie Prager presented several options to the board, including projected timelines and the costs for portable classrooms to be used temporarily until the building projects are complete.

The building itself is expected to cost between $5 million and $6 million. An exact figure should be available at the end of the school year, Prager said, when the architect completes a review of the precise work required.

The board wants to move forward as quickly as possible with the project, which should mean work on both buildings would begin in the summer of 2004, continue through the school year with some projects, and be completed in time for the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.

The options Prager presented would cost between $90,000 and $165,000 for portable classrooms in the interim, beginning next school year. The variation comes from the number of portables, the number of years they are used, and whether or not kindergartners use them. Kindergarten classrooms are required to have running water and toilet facilities.

In other business, the board:
-Discussed school activity “user fees,” and decided to delegate a committee to come up with recommendations based on a study conducted by board member Jim Rowe in 2001. Possible options are a flat per-student fee, separate fees for sports and non-sports activities, and a smaller per-activity fee. In each case, there would be a fee cap of $100 per student and $150 per family.

-Entered executive session to discuss contract negotiations with custodians and bus drivers.

The next school board meeting will be Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers. The budget will be presented to the board Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., in the high school library.

Cape starts foundation to support innovation in schools

Published in the Current

Cape Elizabeth has set a $1 million fund-raising goal for a new education foundation which would give grants to local teachers and schools for innovative teaching projects.

In the planning stages for a year, the tax exempt Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation could begin fund-raising as early as this fall.

The foundation would use the interest from the money it raises to make the grants. The program is based on the success of the Rye (N.H.) Education Foundation.

Rye is a similar town to Cape, in its proximity to the coast and general affluence. And with a smaller population, Rye was able to raise $1 million in a single year to kick off its foundation, giving Cape organizers confidence in their success.

Superintendent Tom Forcella, who is an adviser to the foundation, said the plan is to lay the groundwork now, as the economy recovers, and have meetings in various neighborhoods to prepare for the capital campaign kickoff in the fall.

“The purpose of the foundation is to support education,” said CEEF president Andy Geoghegan.

He was careful to note, however, “the primary obligation to support schools is obviously through the town and the state.”

But the district already is getting $7 million less in state money than it did in 1987, and with the burden of making up the difference falling on local property taxpayers, money is hard to come by.

“We don’t have the kind of commercial development in town,” Geoghegan said, to bring a lot of money in without raising property taxes.

The operational budget, Forcella said, is the responsibility of the taxpayers. But new projects and additions to school programs are hard to fund.

Geoghegan said the foundation is intended to support “a project relating to educational innovation and excellence.”

Falmouth and Cumberland, Forcella said, have similar programs where they raise several thousand dollars each year and give it all away. The Cape plan, like the Rye foundation, is to raise a much larger sum up front and have interest to give away each year without major fundraising drives.

The Rye Education Foundation has been around since 1995, and has granted over $30,000 to the town’s schools for various projects.

With the interest from $1 million, “you’re talking significant impact on what can be done,” said Mark Forsyth, president of the Rye Education Foundation.

Forsyth said the REF has two grant application deadlines each year, and decides grants based, in part, on maximizing the number of students who will be affected by the project.

Some of the projects in Rye have included $784 for the purchase of a digital camera for use at the junior high school newspaper; $1,000 for materials to build a reusable planetarium at the elementary school; $2,500 for a program in which elementary school students “create an individualized U.S. history book unique to their own experiences and historical research”; and $200 for elementary school students to make handmade paper for story books.

And at least one idea has developed in Cape already: A teacher at the middle school wanted to do a unit on Near Eastern culture and religion following Sept. 11, but there were no funds to pay for books or other materials.

With the regular budget method, teachers have to plan 12 to 24 months in advance. But the foundation plans to offer a simple application form for a teacher or administrator to fill out, and give an answer—and the money—in 30 days.

“Sometimes the traditional budget process is confining,” Geoghegan said.

Innovation and experimenting with new methods are hard for school boards to fund, especially when money is already tight, he said. “We hope to do some of those extras. It’s limited only by the imagination of the teachers and students.”

And what about some people’s fears that the school board will stop funding some programs and suggest the foundation pay for them instead?

“We should be so lucky,” Geoghegan said. If there’s enough foundation money to really make a dent in the school budget, it would be a positive thing, not a problem.

“We are independent but we need to be closely coordinated with the school board,” Geoghegan said.

This was echoed in Rye, where Forsyth said, “we’re not tied into the town or the schools, although we support the schools.”

The fund-raising may begin this fall, Geoghegan said, but any formal announcement would wait until a strategic plan and project timeline are complete, which he expects by April.

The foundation already has met with a couple of fund-raising consultants about how to get to $1 million, and Geoghegan said he anticipated hiring a professional to run the fund-raising effort.

He expects the money could be raised in three to six months. Rye’s experience may lend some credence to his projection: The REF originally set its goal at $500,000, but upon reaching that goal, an anonymous donor pledged to match additional funds raised, up to $250,000. The REF did it, bringing their total to $1 million.

“I think it will really benefit the school district,” Forcella said.

The foundation wants to get the community involved. Forcella talked about tapping the schools’ alumni, asking them for money. And Geoghegan said it is an opportunity for people to help the schools beyond just paying their property taxes. “Those who want to (help) and can will have a convenient vehicle for doing so.”

Thursday, January 17, 2002

Coaches and clothes: Dressing for success

Published in the Current

Go to any high school game, you'll see the coaches striding the sidelines, exhorting their team to try harder, "want it" more, and play as a team. Coaches are hoisted high when major victories are won, and suffer the wrath of disappointed fans if failure comes home to roost.

And each game offers a new opportunity for coaches to present themselves to the community in person, beyond the sports-page scoreboard of results. Many parents don't get a chance to talk to the coaches at the games, leaving their clothes to do the talking.

Some of them have truly achieved sartorial splendor. Others, equally qualified as coaches, are less formal, but they have their reasons.

Tammy Loring, the Cape Elizabeth girls basketball coach, follows basketball tradition. She dresses up for each match, and requires her players to do so in school the day of a game.

"I played for Scarborough and we had to wear dresses or skirts," she said. "We're in the spotlight, we're representing the community."

She said it helps build team unity and a sense of pride. "We start as a team," Loring said. "It's a class act."

She said working as a team and being a role model for the team - and having the players be role models in the community - are her major efforts this year.

"I'm really focusing on teams, on (having) no individuals," she said. "We win together, we lose together."

She did say there is an element of competition, too. "Of course we're all out there to win."

And win they can. "We've come a long, long way from last year," Loring said.

From a 1-17 record last year, the Lady Capers are already at 3-7, and she is optimistic. "They've just got to believe in themselves."

Scarborough boys basketball coach Chris Hasson said self-respect is part of dressing up, though he has seen players dress up and misbehave and others, in casual clothes, behave very well. His players have to wear ties in school, and bring a sport coat to wear as the team enters the gym before the game.

"You're representing your school," he said.

Hasson said he normally wears a shirt and tie on the sidelines, but wore a golf shirt during the Christmas tournament, in which Scarborough did very well. He has worn the shirt for three of the past four games, and they have won all three.

"I wore a shirt and tie and coat at Cape and we got pounded," he said.

So it's back to the golf shirt. "I'm not very superstitious, but I'm not changing it," Hasson said. He did say he washes the shirt between games.

Hasson even has a dress code during practice: school colors are required, and shooting jerseys or school T-shirts are preferred. T-shirts worn under their practice jerseys must be white or gray.

Scarborough girls soccer coach Mark Coulston takes another approach. Without a locker room for changing into game clothes, he said, dressing formally is less of an option.

"What they'll do is wear their game shirts to school that day," Coulston said.

The night before a big game, the team will often have a group dinner at someone's house. As part of that, they will sometimes decorate shirts and wear those on game day, instead of the jerseys.

He said most other soccer coaches wear jogging suits at games, but others do dress up more, and require players to dress up too.

"Each coach is different, and each team is different," Coulston said.