Two nights in a row, dozens rally to keep technology program at Hollis Brookline High School
HOLLIS – On Thursday, for the second night in a row, dozens of students, teachers and parents wearing bright blue FIRST Robotics Team T-shirts crowded into the multipurpose room at the middle school to lobby against proposed cuts to the high school’s technology program that would eliminate an engineering course and the extracurricular FIRST program.
Many repeated arguments made on Wednesday night to the School Board, appealing this time to the Coop Budget Committee which was meeting briefly before the start of a joint meeting with the School Board to discuss next year’s budget.
But unlike the previous night, when remarks were focused on the proposed technology cuts, supporters, who sat patiently for almost three hours, responded to discussions about special education costs, the number of courses offered at the high school, and whether or not a return to basics was better than a more varied menu of courses at the high school.
Budget Committee Chairman Steve Pucci said that the boards wouldn’t make any decisions about possible cuts until the budget hearing in February.
Meanwhile, the threat of cuts remains, given the present budget constraints: The town’s Budget Committee has recommended a flat budget for fiscal year 2013, which only can be accomplished by making reductions.
The current year’s budget for the Hollis Brookline Cooperative School district is $19,250,000. The proposed fiscal year 2013 budget is $19,579,224, an increase of 1.7 percent over this year, Business Administrator Eric Horton explained to the standing-room-only audience. Increases in next year’s budget are driven by benefits, transportation, special education and raises to teachers who because of their seniority don’t receive them automatically.
In addition to technology cuts, the board also is proposing to cut a full-time technology teacher, a full-time social studies teacher, and a part-time math and computer teacher, as well as reducing a full-time art teacher to part-time.
It was the proposed cuts to the technology program, however, that drew the crowds. Supporters came armed with fact sheets and emotional testimony about how the program had benefited them or their children.
The high school students, graduates, parents and mentors in the FIRST program argued that while 20 students now are enrolled in a single class, “Principles of Engineering,” nine technology classes have an enrollment of between 100 and 120 students.
According to school officials, there are currently 89 students in the FIRST Robotics program.
The proposed cut includes converting the robotics lab, which occupies two classrooms, to regular classroom spaces.
Part of the reasoning behind the decision to cut the program was based on space shortages: The high school has been cited for a lack of classroom space, an issue that came up in the recent New England Association of Schools and Colleges evaluation.
On Wednesday night, the lobbying began at the door to the meeting room, where students dressed in blue team T-shirts were distributing informational fliers.
The School Board meeting opened with a budget review by Horton, the business administrator, some discussion of a $414,000 increase in the special education budget for next year and a proposed warrant article that would authorize raises for “off-step” teachers.
When it was time for the public to comment, students, parents and teachers formed a line that began at the front of the hall near the podium and snaked to the back of the room.
Tremblay announced that speakers would be limited to two minutes, and after a debate and vote, the board agreed to allow all students, not just those of voting age, to express their opinions.
Nobody spoke in favor of the cuts, although speakers approached the subject from a number of perspectives.
Mary Kay James, of Shipley Drive in Hollis, asked the school board to “look at the quality and type of courses” where there are fewer than 10 in a class and combine or eliminate some courses to save money.
By contrast, senior Sarah Roberts, of Sargent Road in Hollis, made an impassioned plea to keep the technology programs.
“I have a petition signed by 200 students,” Roberts said.
Senior Kevin Ferdinand, of Brookline, asked the board to consider “raising the budget” to pay for the technology courses, and Hollis resident Bonnie DelSignore, who identified herself as a mathematics teacher, had a similar opinion.
“Why should we tighten the purse to educate our children? Think of taxes as a financial contribution to education just as you would your favorite charity. ... How much of an increase would it take per household to cover the amount?”
Hollis resident Michael Askenaizer pointed to special education costs as the reason cuts are being proposed in other areas of the budget.
“It’s absolutely pathetic, because no one is willing to talk about the elephant in the room, special education,” Askenaizer said. “Special education increases are forcing us to make choices” to give up other courses.”
By far, however, it was testimony from those such as Eric Peterson, a computer science and game design major at Northeastern University, that dominated the comment session.
Peterson, a 2010 graduate of Hollis Brookline High School, said his participation in the FIRST program provided both foundation and encouragement for his chosen career path.
He also spoke out against proposed cuts to the art department, the reduction of a full-time art teacher to part-time position.
“I was in the AP art portfolio class my senior year,” he said. “You need a place to encourage students.”
Brookline resident Tyler Young, a college student studying civil engineering, said FIRST Robotics and the high school’s technology classes “gave me a direction.”
“I was probably not going to college,” Young said, adding that he now has two years left in his program and a $10,000 scholarship.
Young said he believes technology education and the faculty who teach it are so important, “you should sell the desks and chairs and replace them with yoga mats before you cut the teachers.”
On Thursday night, the Hollis Brookline Cooperative Budget Committee met with the School Board to continue discussions about the proposed cut.
Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.


