Lynn parents show grit, grumble over school budget

LYNN – Nothing gets parents to a School Committee meeting like the threat of closing schools.With talk of closing the Ford School Annex and shops at Lynn Tech on the agenda for the School Committee’s first budget meeting last Thursday night, the normally empty chairs that line the committee’s meeting area in the School Administration Building were filled with parents, students and teachers, most of whom were attending a meeting for the first time.The hoard of 40-50 taxpayers turned out with the hope of sharing opinions on the budget with the committee, but were disappointed to find out that the meeting agenda did not contain a public comments section.As is usual protocol for budget negotiations, the meeting is open to the public, but comments from the crowd are not allowed until the committee holds a special hearing on the budget in June.Still, the opinion of the audience was made apparent both by students, who held signs supporting the Ford, and parents who grumbled throughout the meeting as talk of closing the annex and converting the Ford back to a K-5 school ultimately became a reality.School Committee Chairman and Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. encouraged those in the audience to share ideas for change in writing with the members after the meeting, but asked only for concrete, realistic ideas that could save the district money without layoffs or school closings.”Anyone who has followed my remarks knows that it is no secret there is a financial crisis coming in fiscal year 2010 to the city of Lynn and the school department in general,” he said. “(Superintendent Catherine Latham, Deputy Superintendent Jaye Warry, Business Administrator Kevin McHugh and School Committee Secretary Thomas Iarrobino) have presented a blueprint to use as a compass for the education of our community in these trying economic times.”To criticize their efforts without any concrete alternatives is irresponsible, but if anyone has suggestions that are a better alternative than what we have here I’d be glad to entertain them in writing, but they have to be real ideas that work.”School Committee members, who have had just over a week to peruse the first draft of the budget, were largely supportive of the plan, with the exception of members Donna Coppola and Maria Carrasco who voted against revising the budget to include the changes at the Ford.In addition, some committee members were critical of Coppola for comments made last week that the budget was “not at all about kids,” and supported the budget team’s efforts considering the economy.”This (first) budget was built to give us an explanation of the cost of the runnings of the Lynn Public Schools, it is not intended to be the final budget,” said Committee Vice Chair Patricia Capano. “To say the budget was not about kids is not an opinion I share. This committee has hired administrators to work according to the best interests of our students and I put my trust and responsibility into this administration, and I also put my responsibility into this role that the voters gave me to do what is best for our kids.”A dip in revenue, rising costs across the board and minimal funding from the state has left the school department with a $4-$5 million budget gap this year, forcing Latham and her team to sacrifice programs and jobs at every school.Apart from closing the Ford Annex and converting the school back to a K-5, the budget proposes approximately 120 layoffs, including 86 teachers and 11 administrators.”I have taken this budget very, very seriously, as has my entire staff,” Latham told the committee. “I believe all of the decisions we have made under the heavy umbrella of a $4-$5 million cut were the best decisions for the kids in the city of Lynn.”Latham said adamantly that she will not support any movement to add user fees for sports or after school activities despite budget problems, and also said she would fight to conserve as much of the fine arts department budget as possible, assuring that successful musi