DALTON, Mass.—Central Berkshire Regional School teachers and staff expressed concerns about the recent cuts made to support staff during a school committee meeting last week. 

 

"We're all running thin on support and right now it doesn't seem to be adding the support that people need. We need more, not less. We need more support in our classrooms," Liz Jackson, Title 1 tutor, math interventionist, and union vice president said. "We need more behavioral support. We need stem classes. We need more reading and math interventionists in our elementary and middle schools. We need more."

 

During preliminary budget presentations, the district announced its plans to discontinue several positions that were funded using federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds that end this year. 

 

Two of the Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT) will be discontinued at Becket Washington Elementary and Kittredge Elementary.  In addition to that, two Title 1 tutors, one from Becket Washington Elementary and another from Kittredge Elementary will be discontinued as they too are ESSER funded. 

 

Currently, each school has two Title 1 tutors. Craneville Elementary has three Title 1 tutors, but two will not be budgeted for in FY24 as they were also funded through ESSER. 

 

Nessacus Regional Middle School will lose two positions funded through ESSER — one Title 1 tutor and a half-time science, technology, engineering, and mathematics interventionist. Wahconah Regional High School will lose a half-time STEM interventionist who was ESSER-funded. 

 

Amy Grallert, an integrated preschool teacher said the cutting of RBTs is a major concern for the safety of students and staff. Grallert said Kittredge uses the integrated model. This means students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) are mixed with peers.

 

She said in the past three years her classroom has had some particularly high needs and some disruptive behaviors, such as outbursts and physical aggression, among others.

 

Kittredge has had an RBT in the school for the last few years to help deescalate unsafe situations where a student may have an outburst, Grallert said. 

 

"Our RBT is in my room several times a day to help us because…I have 15 students in my class. So when a kid has an outburst, and it gets dangerous like throwing toys, spitting, or throwing chairs, we have to evacuate the room and somebody's got to handle this," Grallert said. "Somebody's got to help the student de-escalate and be safe So then we have to leave the classroom with the other students and take them somewhere in the school so that they are also safe." 

 

Grallert asked without an RBT who would be responsible for de-escalation. She said it would likely fall on those who are not trained as an RBT.

 

These concerns were reiterated by Kittredge and Beckett, Washington School Adjustment Counselor (SAC) Nicole Seyerlein. 

 

"When you look at the proposed cuts for next year, it may not look like much however when you really look at the day-to-day tasks that the RBT offers, we will be losing so many services for our students," Seyerlein said.  "With the reduction of the RBT positions the SAC acquisitions are not truly increased."

 

Wahconah Regional High School has one full-time and a half-time SAC, Nessacus Middle School has one full-time and a halftime SAC, Kittredge and Beckett Washington share an SAC, she said. 

 

The elimination of the RBT position will split the half-time position at Wahconah between Nessacus and Beckett Washington. Kittredge will have a full-time counselor, Seyerlein said. 

 

"Again, there is not an additional position being added, just a shift of a halftime SAC from Wahconah to Beckett Washington," she said. "This will leave Wahconah down to one SAC responsible for servicing approximately 30 IEP students, run [dialectical behavior therapy] skills group, managing crisis situations, and meeting the needs of all general education students who require social-emotional support." 

 

She added that the elimination would leave a "gap" noting that RBTs provide students with movement breaks, help to implement behavior support plans, help with dysregulated students, and are the eyes and ears at recess and lunch to help students with peer conflict in that natural setting. Also, RBTs help carry out lessons from the SAC.

 

She said if the proposed eliminations are accepted there will be days when Beckett Washington has no support personnel. Kittredge will have a full-time SAC but they will likely have to pick up duties left by the eliminated RBT.

 

"I have high concerns about this…I feel worried about the safety of my classroom and the students in my room. I feel worried for my principal who helps out when people get escalated and it's not just my class, there are a couple other kids in the school," Grallert said. "...I think that I heard the thought is there will be more [School Advisory Council] support but that's different because SAC is a different thing than an RBT."

 

These remarks were echoed by Nessacus Regional Middle School teacher Callie Cachat, who read a letter on behalf of some of the school's team leaders. She said during the 2022-2023 school year school leaders met with district administrators to discuss the inequity of our student-teacher ratio.

 

"We were concerned about our large class sizes. We were told that we would be gradually adding teachers to our staff to lower our class sizes," Cachat said.

 

She said  some staff was added to alleviate this in the 2023-2024 school year and it has had a positive impact, but she said more is needed. 

 

The remaining departments for seventh grade are each responsible for 126 students divided between five classes, which is around 25 students per class. These numbers are similar for sixth grade. The eighth grade is a little bit smaller this year, she said. 

 

"The upcoming year does not reflect any additional teachers at Nessacus though the conversation that team leaders had with administrators did reflect that last year. We want to know what our plan is to improve our [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)] scores, especially in math and to best support our students," Cachat said. 

 

"In 2023 only 16 percent of our eighth grade class met expectations on the math MCAS which is significantly lower than the state average. We believe that the best course of action for our students is the additional math teacher." 

 

Town Manager Tom Hutcheson also attended the meeting and recommended that there may be other opportunities where the towns within the district can share resources to help lower costs 

 

Hutcheson said during the finance committee meeting last week that 70 percent of the increases in the town's operating budget are from things they cannot control. Such as insurance, retirement, and the school budget. 

 

This year's school budget is $33,561,243, and next year is forecast at $35,391,797, a difference of $1,839,554 or 5.45 percent. 

 

Dalton's net assessment is projected at $9,354,110, up about $289,439 or 3.19 percent.  

 

Hutcheson said following the meeting the town's growth in income is simply not keeping up with education budget increases.

 

Recent inflation may have been exacerbated by problems associated with the pandemic, such as supply chain issues; however these problems have been resolved and prices remain high and consumers are getting caught in that, Hutcheson said following the meeting. 

 

It's no surprise that the rise in the projected preliminary operating budget for central Berkshire is greater than the rise projected for Dalton's operating budget. Inflation not only affects residents but also the towns, he said following the meeting.