Marblehead weighing METCO future

MARBLEHEAD – Reports from Interim School Business Manager Kevin Meagher and Marblehead Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) Director Francois Fils-Aime shed additional light on the future of the town?s 73-student, 45-year-old program.In his Fiscal 2013 school budget Superintendent of Schools Greg Maass proposes hiring three new administrators, a system-wide curriculum director, a human resources director and an additional technology director. To help pay for those positions in part he has proposed reducing the position of METCO director from full-time to half-time.Fils-Aime said in a report on the current year?s budget request that METCO has been level-funded for the past three years at about $405,000, a drop of 10 percent from the 2009 level of $446,000. “A great deal of that money ($41,000) was for tutoring services for the students,” he wrote, after noting that while the majority of METCO students are in the Proficient category on the state MCAS exams, “we are working with those students that are still in the needs improvement category.” Fils-Aime said that assistance is coming from teachers in Grades 1-8.Meagher provided a report from Grant Coordinator Karen Bourgeault, indicating that the METCO Fiscal 2011 budget included $29,000 for after-school tutors at Marblehead High.However, Meagher?s estimate of the current year?s budget was just under $5,000 per student, a total of about $360,000, or about 10 percent lower than Fils-Aime?s previous expectation.The grant is expected to include $1,800 per student for transportation, a total of about $130,000 or $8,000 less than the town spent in Fiscal 2011.?In our efforts to get the most leverage out of every educational dollar in the district, the superintendent is working with the Marblehead METCO program staff to be creative,” Meagher said.Superintendent Maass told a Feb. 16 crowd of METCO parents and supporters that he and Fils-Aime were “in conversation” about the program?s leadership. He noted that from 2006-2011 Marblehead METCO students scored 16 points below white students on average and said he believed that METCO?s three full-time employees and the program tutors could “provide a safety net” for their students.