Board of Education Meeting: LLES Principal Resigns; Possible COVID-19 Testing for Staff; Superintendent Presents 2.5 Million in Budget Cuts: Pay-to-Play Sports, Loss of Staff Modeled

Tonight’s Board of Education meeting covered the arts, COVID-19, Dr. Debra Dunn’s resignation, and the school’s proposed budget as the world outside began to dig itself out from today’s snow storm.

Several parents commented publicly on Friday’s announcement that Long Lots School Principal Dr. Debra Dunn resigned from her position, effective immediately, following a several week leave of absence. Parents cited her excellence and trustworthiness, and fear for yet another change in the guard in what’s being described as a turbulent situation of high turnover in the elementary school. The Board of Education stated that they could not comment on any personnel matters, and that the Board of Education and Superintendent would work on securing a strong replacement for the beloved principal. It is unknown why Dunn was on leave, or why she resigned.

Suzanne Levasseur, Supervisor of Health Services, described the downward trends of COVID-19 cases throughout the district - data that corroborates the prediction of a January case peak after the holidays. Superintendent Thomas Scarice brought up PPE for staff, saying “we have plenty” when describing the district’s stock of KN95 masks for staff members - but continuing to describe that they are being given out with thought.

COVID-19 Surveillance Testing was brought up as a possible option for the future of Westport Public School employees to catch cases of coronavirus through the randomized tests. About 10% of WPS staff members would be selected randomly each week for the PCR COVID-19 test in hopes to stop asymptomatic spreaders of the disease. Sue Levasseur described that the majority of transmission in the district is staff-to-staff member, however the privacy of such test results was brought up as something that the WEA Teacher’s Union would seek counseling in prior to testing starting.

It’s unknown when or if the testing will take place for staff members, however the price tag for such a venture is steep. Superintendent Scarice stated “Initial costs for the COVID-19 surveillance tests is estimated to be $100 per staff member. This cost would incur the test kits, courier service with Progressive Diagnostics, and the lab work and associated reports. There may be efficiencies once a surveillance program is started that can reduce these costs. Given the initial cost of $100 per individual test, it will cost the district approximately $10,000 per week to enact this program. It is not lost on me that this is an expensive proposition, however, it is another mitigating measure that will ultimately support our efforts in keeping our schools open during the pandemic. If pursued, this will necessitate a subsequent discussion about funding with the other town boards.” The administration will present further on this at next week’s Board of Education meeting.

Although today would have been the first day of full-in schooling for Westport students, the WEA Teacher’s Union co-president John Horrigan commented publicly that although school should have started, the Union is still not supporting the district’s return to full-in learning based on educator’s lack of access to vaccines.

The Youth Arts Collaborative gave a cheerful and informational presentation on how the District tackled arts during a pandemic learning environment, describing major successes. The Collaborative was described as “an annual program presented to students in grades 3-5. By design, the program incorporates cross-curricular connections that enhance students’ understanding of diversity and global cultures. This is a collaborative effort with WESTPAC, PTA Cultural Arts, Westport Arts Advisory Committee and Westport Public Library.”

The Superintendent was advised to cut nearly 2.5 million from his original budget proposal; tonight’s Board of Education meeting described the tiers of cuts designed by the administration, including vice principals, or adding in a “pay to play” program for district sports.

Scarice described to the Board “The Board considered models shared by the administrative team that illustrated what potential reductions of approximately $2.5 million would look like in programs and personnel. Three tiers were provided by the administration. Again, I highly recommend that the Board do not make reductions in the Tier 3 category. This process proved most challenging as the current services budget, along with the impact of COVID, and making up for the use of carryover funds for technology, totaled a 4.69% increase over last year. As a result, almost all of the reductions that are being recommended to reduce the increase to a level of 3.0% consists largely of current services. This equates to personnel, programs, equipment to maintain replacement cycles, as well as the introduction of a “pay to play” and “pay to participate model for athletics, and intramural activities.”