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Schools

Outlook Improves for Lower Merion School Budget

The superintendent spoke about the district budget at a "Community Conversations" event.

State budget cuts to the Lower Merion Township School District for next year are not looking as devastating as they did a month ago, Lower Merion Township Schools Superintendent Christopher McGinley  said during a public forum on Thursday night.

McGinley spoke about the budget and other school topics during an informal presentation about the school district, which was given at as part of the district’s “Community Conversations” series.

“Community Conversations” came out of an effort to meet a district Strategic Plan goal to provide additional outreach to parents and the larger community in an effort to make people feel  more connected to the school district, McGinley said.

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About 15 people attended the event, which also included presentations from school principals.

In speaking about the district’s budget for the 2011-2012 school year, McGinley said the governor’s proposed state budget would cut $1.4 million in state funds from the district’s budget.

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However, changes to the state budget that have recently been proposed by state legislatures “would restore a good amount of that,” McGinley said.

“It’s not looking as devastating as it was just a month ago,” McGinley said.

The Lower Merion Board of School Directors will decide the district budget for the 2011-2012 school year on June 15, McGinley said.

Among the factors that drive the budget are a loss of revenues from the township’s residential and commercial tax base, McGinley said.

The district typically has $3 million to $4 million in revenue from interest earned on collected taxes, but this year that revenue has dropped to $350,000, McGinley said.

Utilities also drive the budget and continue to be a high-cost item, McGinley said.  Last year, the district locked in prices for electricity use, and for gas used by school buses, McGinley said.

Lower Merion carries “a lot of debt,” and a larger percentage of debt than is seen in most school districts, because of new school construction and renovations, McGinley said.

McGinley and other school staff also talked about highlights from the 2010-2011 school year.

“This has been a really exciting school year for us with a lot of things happening,” McGinley said.

The new Lower Merion High School opened on-time and under budget, a new collective bargaining agreement was reached, and enrollment is up in elementary, middle and high schools, McGinley said.

The district also enrolled children entering second grade and third grade who previously attended private schools, McGinley said.

This trend is new, unlike the enrollment of students entering first grade after attending kindergarten at a private school because their parents were seeking a full-day kindergarten and the district offers a half-day program, McGinley said.

“That trend is probably a combination of economics…and I hope a reflection of confidence in our schools as well,” McGinley said.

For the first time, as the school year concludes, the district is offering two online courses, algebra and geometry, taught by Lower Merion teachers using the Lower Merion curriculum, McGinley said.

James Johnson, principal of Gladwyne Elementary School, talked about teachers in his school holding a “morning meeting” with students in their classrooms for 20 minutes at the beginning of the school day.

Teachers instruct students on how to greet each other by name, and the students and teachers talk about what will happen during the day and what is expected of them, Johnson said.

By spending time on social skills at the beginning of the day, educators pick up more academic time on the back end and spend less time on discipline throughout the rest of the day, Johnson said.

Gladwyne is the largest of the district’s six elementary schools with 603 students, Johnson said. The average class size is 20 to 22 students, Johnson said.

The entire school recently celebrated National Lab Day. Each student was given a T-shirt to decorate as a lab coat and wear, and each classroom chose and carried out an experiment, Johnson said.

As part of Lab Day, an assembly for each of the grades was held with the Harriton High School robotics team. Students from both schools “loved it” and have asked to do it again, Johnson said.

The school also expects of students, “If you have been given much, we expect you to give as well.”

To give back, the school is holding a food drive for the Narberth Food Pantry and a walk-a-thon at school to raise money for the non-profit organization Pagus: Africa in order to support the schools Pagus works with in Ghana, Johnson said.

Welsh Valley Middle School Principal Scott Eveslage also spoke about his school.

The school is projecting it will have more students taking geometry and algebra at its school and will triple the number of students taking the two  courses to 75 students over the next few  years, Eveslage said.

Next year, Welsh Valley plans to implement its anti-bullying initiative and in preparation, the school has invested time in training staff, who will in turn train other staff, including bus drivers and cafeteria workers, Eveslage said.

Meanwhile at the high school level, a lot of time has been spent in the past three years trying to align Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School in terms of curriculum, said Principal Steve Kline.

There are two things that Harriton has that Lower Merion High doesn’t: an International Baccalaureate Program and a dual enrollment program with Penn State Brandywine, Kline said.

Kline said the school projects that 120 students will be enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Program, which he described as a rigorous academic program, for the next school year.

The dual enrollment program allows students to take four business courses and earn up to 13 college credits, Kline said.

Kline said because the credits are from Penn State rather than a community college the credits tend to be easier to transfer to another college.

On the sports front, the girls' lacrosse team at Harriton is headed to the state playoffs for the first time ever,  Kline said.

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