Phil Robertson, Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s chief administrative officer, is taking issue with a report on Derby High School authored by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
The 80-page report — authored by 15 visiting educators from throughout New England based on interviews, data and a visit to the high school — mentions a lack of funding several times. Click here to read the report online. A copy is also posted at the end of this article.
“Parents, faculty and staff have indicated their belief that the board of education and the city alderman have not demonstrated financial support for the high school,” the report states. “Many of the district money decision makers are believed to be embedded in the past and have little understanding of current student needs.”
NEASC is the group that decides whether a public school receives accreditation — the gold standard for schools in the state.
Robertson said that the report — specifically the statement that Derby officials were turning a “blind eye” on their students — was “intellectual dishonesty.”
“They’re formulating an opinion without even talking to the other side they’re forming an opinion about,” Robertson said.
In addition to building a new middle school, he said Derby has given out high percentage budget-to-budget increases, when compared to other Valley towns.
Robertson said the authors of the report never sat down with city officials to get their side of the story.
School officials, however, said city officials — the Mayor, along with members of the Board of Aldermen and the tax board — were invited to a forum to speak with the authors the first day the team arrived in Derby.
No city officials attended — a fact that wasn’t lost on the report’s authors, according to high school principal Fran Thompson.
Robertson also complained that school officials, when reviewing a draft of the report, didn’t clarify the city’s position.
True Figure?
Robertson said the actual amount of money the city spends on schools is not reflected in the school budget.
Example — the city’s cash-strapped Department of Public Works clears snow off school property. In addition, the city picks up the tab for worker’s compensation claims.
At a school board meeting last week, city Finance Director Henry Domurad estimated Derby picks up $1.1 million a year in school costs that are not reflected in the school budget.
He said the school district is two-thirds of all employees in the budget and the school owns 51 percent of all Derby-owned property.
The city wants the school district to begin picking up some of those costs.
Specifically, the city wants the school district to pay for worker’s comp for school district employees.
The precise dollar amount wasn’t clear — but it looks to be at least $107,000 a year, plus the salary of whoever is out on worker’s comp, plus the cost of a replacement.
School district officials weren’t 100 percent clear last week on how or when that will be absorbed into their budget.
No Money? Prove It.
At last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Stephen Tracy said he attended a private meeting in Derby City Hall to talk about the budget process with Robertson, tax board chairwoman Judith A. Szewczyk school board chairman Ken Marcucio and others.
The meeting was to prep officials for the upcoming budget meetings to be held this month and next in front of the Board of Apportionment and Taxation (tax board).
Tracy is scheduled to go over his budget with the tax board in a public meeting scheduled for March 29 at 7 p.m. in Derby City Hall.
“They made it clear that if I’m going to continue to say we’re under-funded, I better be able to support that,” Tracy said.
The tax board will be considering a $19 million school budget, a $1.28 million increase — or 7.22 percent — over the current budget.
The percent increase — 7.22 in a cash-strapped city where Mayor Anthony Staffieri has asked other departments to strive for no increase in an election year — should make for interesting meetings between school officials and the tax board.
