Unsweetened Reality, Octorara Style

Octorara Intermediate School

 

The questions from parents flowed last night as Octorara's Superintendent Dr. Newcome and his administrative team continued their "It is what it is" tour to address questions about the district's ongoing efforts to restructure district programs and get to a balanced budget.

It was a friendly, albeit small, gathering of about 10 to 12 parents and had none of the edge seen in earlier Town Hall meetings.

The questions and answers we're straight forward and blunt; the message, Octorara will adapt.

A very quick summary of the hour long discussion:

Q: What research is there regarding the impact of full-day, every other day kindergarten?
A: Not much

Q: What is the anticipated class size of the all day, every-other-day kindergarten?
A: The goal will be 20 students per class.  Current class size runs 16 to 24 students per class depending on the needs of the students and busing schedules. 

Q: Is sports funding going away?
A: Eventually.  Over time booster clubs will assume the financial burden for fielding teams and district funding for sports will be reduced and eventually eliminated.  Octorara's band has leveraged this model successfully for years.

Q: Will 7th graders and 12th graders be in the same school together:
A:  For the most part no.  There will be some mixing of middle and high school students, but no more so than happens now.

The money question:

Q:  What do you see as the solution to school funding long term?  Are we going to have to go through this every year?
A:  There is no political will to change the way public schools are funded in Harrisburg.  Act 1 of 2006 restricted the ability of school districts to tax.  Pennsylvania may eventually go to a tax referendum just as New Jersey does.  Until that happens Octorara has no other choice but to find a way to play in this environment.  One of the ways Octorara plays is create more ‘rateables,’  in other words grow the tax base by attracting more commercial development to our area.