Thank you, Shrewsbury!

I am so very grateful for the support our community is providing to town government, including our public schools, through the recent "Yes" vote for the operational override. Below is a version of the message of thanks I sent through email after the recent override vote:

Dear Shrewsbury Citizens,

The vote on June 3rd signaled the beginning of a new era for our town, because the Shrewsbury community said a resounding "Yes" to investing more money in town government in order to ensure that we have the resources needed to continue our tradition of excellence.  

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who voted to support the override and those of you who did such excellent work to promote its passage.  I cannot overemphasize how critical a “Yes” vote was for the quality of our school district.  Thanks to you, our students now have a brighter future and our outstanding educators can move forward with their work with the knowledge that they have the strong support of the community, which is a huge morale boost given the difficult situation we’ve faced over the past few years.

In addition, other Town departments will also benefit from more resources.  I feel so fortunate to work in a town that is so well run, and I am grateful for the support the School Department receives from the other Town departments, and that I receive from the other Department Heads.

We are indebted to many leaders in the community who made a successful vote possible.  While there isn't space to name all who made significant contributions, I do want to recognize the following groups and individuals:

• our School Committee (Chair, Dr. B. Dale Magee; Vice Chair, Jason Palitsch; Secretary, Erin Canzano; Sandy Fryc; and John Samia) for their tireless advocacy for Shrewsbury's students and educators and for their constant support of my work as superintendent;

• our Board of Selectmen (Chair, Jim Kane; Vice Chair, Moira Miller; Clerk, John Lebeaux; Moe DePalo; and Henry Fitzgerald), for placing the override question before the voters and advocating for it as the most responsible way forward in order to meet the needs of our community;

• our Finance Committee (Chair, John Masiello; Vice Chair, Bretta Karp; Gene Buddenhagen; John Campbell; John Cygielnik; Donna O'Connor; Patrick Pitney; Chris Rutigliano; and Judy Vedder), for their careful oversight of the Town's finances and advocacy for additional resources through the override;

• our Town Manager, Dan Morgado, for his articulation and support of the need for more resources and his ongoing superb leadership of our town;

• our State Representative, Matt Beaton, for his active support of the override and his ongoing support of our schools through advocacy at the State House, as well as for his support of our programs, especially our community service learning initiative;

• the Community Supporters for Shrewsbury, the ballot committee who ran an extraordinary campaign to convince the community that a "Yes" vote was in the best interest of our town.  Thank you to Campaign Co-Chairs Beth Casavant, Chris Coghlin, Joyce Danielson, Mel Gordon, Bob Holland, Ken Largess, and Clint Mills for their public support.  A special thank you to the following campaign coordinators who gave countless hours of their time to run an extremely professional campaign: Campaign Manager, Beth Casavant; Campaign Strategists, Hannah Kane and Jason Palitsch; Data Manager, Suzanne Remington; Treasurer, Kathleen Keohane; and to the literally hundreds of volunteers whose hard work and dedication made a "Yes" vote possible;

• former Superintendent of Schools, John P. Collins, whose passion for doing the right thing for our students was contagious and whose contributions to the effort went miles above and beyond for someone who is allegedly “retired”;

• our Central Office administrators and support staff, and our principals, for the hours upon hours of skillful work on the budget plan, reports, and presentations that helped demonstrate the facts of our situation to the community; and

• all of our School Department employees, whose professionalism, expertise, and dedication to the well being of our students inspire me every day.

I am so pleased that a significant majority of voters have signaled their confidence in us.  Regardless of how you voted, please know that we in the School Department will do our absolute best to be good stewards of the additional resources we are being provided through the override.  With the Town firmly behind us and with the resources we need, I am very confident that we will build on our past successes in order to provide a truly world class education to our students.  

As your superintendent, in the coming years I look forward to working with all of you to make our schools the very best they can be.   As your fellow resident, I look forward to raising my family in a great town with great people. I couldn’t be more pleased and proud to work and live in Shrewsbury.

With deep gratitude,

Joe Sawyer

Superintendent of Schools

Passing the Baton

At the recent Special Town Meeting, I had the opportunity to make some remarks regarding the School Department's supplemental budget request.  As some have asked me about them, I am posting a written version of them here.  You may also view a recording of my remarks at this link (starting at the 69 minute mark).
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As your superintendent and as a resident, I feel so fortunate to be part of this community.  In fact, I'm wearing my Shrewsbury blue and gold tie this evening as a demonstration of my pride.

This is my 17th year as a resident and school leader.  The benefit of having been here that long is having the opportunity to see students grow and blossom into successful young women and men.  My heart fills with pride when I see our young people graduate and go on to success in college, the military, and the workplace.

Recently, I received four separate unsolicited communications from former students or their parents, and I'd like to share them with you:

• The first is from an SHS alumna who is graduating from college this year.  In an email, she wrote: "...The school system allowed me to develop into the person I am today and gave me the opportunity to attend (my college).  My decision to become a teacher was greatly influenced by the many wonderful teachers and positive experiences I had during my years in the Shrewsbury Public Schools.  I would love to give back to the community that has given me so much."

• The second was from the parent of an SHS alumnus who is graduating from Carnegie Mellon University this year, where he received the top award in physics.  In an email, his mother wrote: "He will be going on to the University of Chicago for graduate school (where) he will get his degree in Computational Astrophysics....  He was extremely well served and inspired by so very many of his teachers, most notably (his physics teacher at SHS).  She told him about Carnegie Mellon, where she went to college herself, and I am sure her approach and kindness and humor and constant encouragement made (physics) friendly to him in the forming states.  He was also encouraged highly by several other teachers during his time in Shrewsbury Schools, for certain."

• The third was from the parent of an SHS graduate who enlisted in the Marine Corps.  She wrote that he recently graduated from Communications School second in his class, and he received an additional Merit Award for his conduct.  The parent wrote that he was one of many successful students from his SHS class, and she thanked the Shrewsbury schools for preparing him well for his success as a United States Marine.

• The fourth was from a former student of mine at Floral Street School, from the time when I was the assistant principal there.  If they gave frequent flyer miles for trips to the principal's office, this student could have flown around the world for free - twice.  He has been working as an investment banker and now for a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, so now he can fly around the world on his credit card.  He wrote to me: "I wanted to thank you and the larger school community for providing the guidance and influence that helped form the person I am today....I'm sure (the community) could use a reminder that what (teachers) do is very meaningful to the students.  While the kids may not appreciate it at the time, many of us certainly do later in life."

These are communications that make me incredibly proud as your superintendent.

This community helped make these students' successes possible.  We should all be proud. All of us had a hand in their success.

But, my concern right now is whether our students right now are missing out on what these four students received, an education where their teachers had the time to make a meaningful, motivating connection with these students and the tools to ensure their academic skills were excellent.

I have here a relay baton that I borrowed from the SHS gym.  Many of you know that when a runner or a swimmer competes on a relay team, they typically outperform their times when they run or swim in an individual event.  This is because of their commitment to their team -- their strong desire not to let their teammates down -- compels them to perform at their best.

Every time Town Meeting convenes, every time a new cohort of students enters our schools, our community renews its commitment to the well being of its youth.  Every year, we pass the baton. In recent years, I think we've bobbled that baton a bit, and as a result we've fallen a few steps behind where we should be.  I believe that the allocation that you will vote on this evening will help us catch up.  I'd like to make that a clean hand off for the benefit of our students.  

I believe that we honor previous generations by continuing the high quality of life that has been handed down to us in this community.  I think we honor ourselves by ensuring that the next generation is given the same opportunity to succeed. 

How Do We Pay Our Teachers? Reasonably and Fairly.

The Shrewsbury Public Schools have a long track record of providing a high quality education for students at an extremely reasonable cost.  Given that the main factor in a school district's total cost is compensation for teachers, common sense shows that Shrewsbury's expenses for teacher compensation are also reasonable.  A specific comparison of salary rates for comparable districts shows that Shrewsbury does not pay teachers the most, and it does not pay the least. .  Despite these facts, some have alleged that the root of our town government's fiscal challenges is that our School Committee has made agreements with our teachers association that have resulted in teacher compensation rising at a rate that is unsustainable.  This is just not so. Like other town employees, Shrewsbury teachers are paid reasonably and fairly, within the district's geographic and demographic market.  For a detailed analysis comparing Shrewsbury to other school districts, see the report on our website here.  

That report also shows that the cost of living adjustments to which the School Committee and the teachers association have agreed in recent years are the lowest among our peers.  In fact, the average cost of living increase our teachers have received since Fiscal Year 2008 is 1.46%.

If Shrewsbury were overpaying its teachers, this would show up in the bottom line. Overall, in FY 2013 Shrewsbury spent $774 less per pupil in the category “classroom and specialist 
teachers”, which means that Shrewsbury spent $4.5 million less on teachers than an average Massachusetts district.

Those who suggest that Shrewsbury pays its teachers too much are using the average teacher salary statistic to justify their erroneous conclusion.  This is a misuse of that statistic, because using the average does not indicate the actual rate of pay, nor does it show how much teachers are actually paid, individually or in total.  For example, in Fiscal Year 2013, Shrewsbury teachers' average salary went up by 3.25%; however, the district made cuts to teaching positions that year, and there were actually 15 fewer teaching positions resulting in Shrewsbury paying almost half a million fewer dollars than the previous year.  The average salary increased because almost 20 teachers who retired were not replaced with new teachers earning a lower salary, skewing the average salary higher despite the fact that the district spent more than $450,000 less than the previous year.

So, are teacher salaries sustainable? There is no doubt that teacher salaries are the largest single part of the town's budget, which is mostly due to the fact that educating 6,000-plus students requires a large number of teachers. The reality is that other communities of Shrewsbury’s economic means are able to support an investment in public education that provides reasonable numbers of teachers without having to repeatedly increase their tax levy. The addition of more teachers in Shrewsbury to fix our class size problem is sustainable; for example, the 74.4 full time equivalent staff (most of whom are teachers) who would be added through a supplemental budget in FY15 will cost about $3.74 million to bring on board, but the incremental cost of step and cost of living salary adjustments to keep these staff the following year will only be about $166,000. While it is clear that our district needs to invest in more teachers, the cost of those teachers who will be added under the supplemental budget plan is sustainable. 

The graphic at the top of this post demonstrates that Shrewsbury's bottom line cost for teachers is far below the state average, and this will remain the case even if sorely needed additional teachers are hired if the operational override passes on June 3.  If someone tries to tell you that teacher salaries in Shrewsbury are too high or unaffordable, you know that the facts say otherwise.  Teachers in Shrewsbury are paid reasonably and fairly, and they provide tremendous value to our community.