We reached out to the Amity Board of Ed to see what could be done to possibly help residents get a better understanding of the importance of passing the Amity Budget Referendum on its second time out.
It costs taxpayers money every time the towns host a referendum. On Tuesday, May 24, the polling places will once again be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. in Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge.
This is the information we received:
The Amity budget failed in all three towns. Every time it fails, the BOE has to make cuts and present a new budget. The district is nearly out of things that can be cut without directly affecting kids. Next up for consideration for cuts is security staffing and middle school elective positions. We need this budget to pass now!
Some of the key issues are outlined below for those of you with time for more info.
• Diversity and Inclusion:
The primary opposition to the budget is a false claim that Amity’s inclusion work is Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), and that being exposed to diversity is harming the mental health of students. After student calls for help in 2018 (and repeatedly since), Amity has been working hard to make its community more welcoming to all students. It has consulted with the Anti-Defamation League and Sandy Hook Promise, and it has added counselors and mental health staff.
The next step is to have a current social studies teacher move to a newly-created position – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Instructional Coach. This position will mostly support teachers in meeting the needs of kids in their classrooms and avoid the need for outside consultants. The teacher in question is a veteran, a member of our community who has taught and advised several after-school activities, and who knows the staff and kids well. He is not, as budget opponents have suggested, an outsider pushing a national curriculum. He would be a mentor helping teachers meet the identified needs of their students. This has nothing to do with Critical Race Theory, which Amity does not teach.
It is about local people working together to make everyone feel welcome and safe in Amity Schools and our community. This position would be funded with grant money, so it would not be a cost to BOWA towns.
• Amity surpluses:
Many people are unhappy with Amity ending the year with money and returning it to the towns. This happens for a couple reasons.
1) A regional school cannot request more money mid-year from a town fund. If a disaster hits, the towns would need a vote to authorize the money needed to cover it, and this takes time. The regional district needs a margin for safety in its budgeting.
2) Covid. The pandemic meant that Amity didn’t operate any buildings, activities, or field trips in the Spring of 2020. The hybrid year brought similar cuts in costs as the school was unable to operate normally. These years resulted in higher surpluses Amity could not have predicted.
3) Health Insurance. Amity insures its own staff, to save money. The last many years, pre-Covid, preventive care and good luck kept medical bills lower than health insurance experts predicted. During Covid, many people didn’t see the doctor, so bills were much lower than expected. This year, there was a rebound and bills are slightly over budget.
4) Special education – There’s an element of luck here. Some years, a student with high needs will move into the district mid-year. Other years, someone moves away. Amity has worked hard to build capacity to handle students with profound special needs (whom BOWA educates until they are 21 years old). Amity has seen this pay off in being able to bring students back home from expensive outplacements.
The Amity finance department estimates that in the coming budget year robust special-ed staffing will save us $1.4 million. All these reasons mean that Amity must budget somewhat conservatively, to be sure it can handle what the year brings.
• Academic standards:
1) Some people claim that Amity’s efforts to address diversity, mental health, and behavior problems in the classroom take away from kids’ ability to learn academics and that Amity is falling in state rankings as a result. It’s actually the other way around. The efforts to help kids behave better and have a more welcoming classroom improve learning.
Kids can’t learn if they’re anxious, harassed, or feel afraid to participate. They don’t learn if their classmate acting out takes the teacher away from a lesson. A recent suicide screening in the middle schools flagged roughly a fifth of the students as needing talking with personally to assess their wellness and needed support.
Many of our kids are struggling after these last rough years, and the social-emotional work the schools are doing is crucial to get everyone learning again.
2) Academic rankings became unreliable during the pandemic. The most recent U.S. News high school ranking, placing Amity Regional High School (“ARHS”) 28th in CT, is from the 2019-2020 school year, when state testing and SATs didn’t happen. They used historic data as a stand-in for current information. Half of the data used was old, dating back to 2016, and well before Amity’s current efforts to address belonging in our community. Further, 10% of school ranking is based on the success of low-income, Black, and Hispanic students, so efforts to improve support for all students will help Amity’s rating, not hurt it.
At Niche.com, ARHS ranks 19th, Amity Middle School Bethany ranks 7th, and Amity Middle School Orange ranks 10th. ARHS gets an A for academics and a B for Diversity.
3) Rankings are odd ways to assess a district, flattening everything into a number. A more substantive review of Amity’s excellence includes the following:
- 54 sections of AP coursework, serving 443 students.
- UConn early college classes, as well as free credit from community colleges for students with academic needs outside the Amity curriculum.
- Science research mentoring with Yale faculty
- National Merit Scholars, finalists, and semi-finalists
- A pre-apprenticeship manufacturing program.
- A senior service learning program.
- Community service degrees.
- 75 clubs and 67 athletic teams serving 1,215 athletes.
- Theater, choir, band, orchestra, a robust arts program with winners in photography, painting, drawing and illustration, and mixed media.
- Multiple winners of the CT Teacher of the Year.
- 148 awards and $106,000 in scholarships earned by the class of 2021.
- Multiple SCC Championships, Players, and Coaches of the year; All-State and All-New England athletes.
- The CIAC Michael’s Cup “Class Act Sportsmanship” award six of the last seven years.
- The Sondheim Award for Best Musical, with EVERY student who auditioned for middle school Southern Regionals being accepted.
- Winners in the 2021 Congressional Arts Competition.
Whatever our students’ interests or needs, Amity has great opportunities, and staff working to provide the learning they deserve.
Please help spread the word. Come out and support the Amity budget on Tuesday, May 24.