EAST LONGMEADOW PUBLIC SCHOOLS

2008

During the 2007-2008 school year we built 12 new elementary school classrooms in our school district:  four classrooms at Meadow Brook Elementary; four classrooms at Mapleshade Elementary; and four classrooms at Mountain View Elementary School.  The 12 classrooms were originally funded by a local East Longmeadow debt exclusion vote.  However, as promised, the School Committee applied for state funding for the classrooms and received a 61% reimbursement from the State on the original $2.8 million dollar building project.  The additional classrooms lowered the elementary student teacher ratio down to approximately 22 students per teacher and allows from growth for the next 8-10 years.  All three schools held Grand Openings for the community and visitors to see the wonderful new classrooms.

This past year, the Town Appropriations Committee fully funded the School Department.  Many of the previous years’ cuts have been restored with this year’s budget.  Additionally, the Appropriations Committee fully funded special education.  This was a tremendous relief on the School Department budget due to federal and state requirements.    All in all, the Town adopted the recommendation of the Appropriations Committee and funded our school budget based upon six categorical blocks.  They are:  Instructional Services; Student Support Services; Maintenance; Utilities; Site Administration; and District-Wide Central Office Services.  For more information on our budget, please see our website at www.eastlongmeadowma.gov.

The 2008 school year was a year of transition for key administrative positions.  The retirement of the incumbent special education director brought about the hiring of Dr. Joanne Welch as the new director.  The retirement of the incumbent principal at Mapleshade Elementary School brought about the hiring of Ms. Brenda Houle as the new principal.  The retirement of the incumbent head nurse for the school district brought about the hiring of Ms. Kelley LaBombard as the new Head Nurse.  A new math curriculum was piloted at Mapleshade and Mountain View Elementary Schools.  The new curriculum, Math Investigations, will be fully implemented next year across both schools, grades 3-5.

The influx of new children into our community creates challenges in meeting the needs of our students.  We’ve all heard that “It takes a village to raise a child”, so it must take a community to support an educational system for all children.  School districts are a primary force in residential and commercial valuations.  Even in this depressed national economy, East Longmeadow house sales have kept their value!  The graph below shows the past ten years of growth in our school system.

For more information on our schools, please visit our web pages at www.eastlongmeadowma.gov .