School Board Gets Earful on Special Program Fees

Parents turned out in force Monday night to protest the idea of fees being attached to special educational programs in .

A comment made by board member Mike Scaramuzzi at the Jan. 9 meeting that alluded to fees possibly being charged for optional programs like Academically Talented and Dual Language set off the controversy, which led to more than an hour of public comment. Scaramuzzi addressed his remarks before public comment.

“In recognizing that we were charging a fee for full-day kindergarten, I questioned whether or not we should be charging a fee for other special programs such as AT and Dual Language just as an example,” he said. “I knew it would not be a popular idea, but I wanted to raise the possibility in light of the fact that we are charging for one special program and not others.

“… I raised the idea of charging fees for other special programs not to punish anyone for taking those classes or to discourage anyone from taking those classes, but because I thought it could be fair given the way we charge registration fees for incremental expense at the high-school level and the way we were charging for full-day kindergarten. The emphasis I was making was on the incremental expense incurred by the district, special programs not requiring additional expense were not being questioned.”

Bobbi Burgstone, a member of District 308's Parents and Community for Excellence Committee, said she was “disturbed” by the idea of charging fees for AT courses. She said she made phone calls to state lawmakers, state and nationwide education offices and other school districts and all were equally surprised by the concept.

“No one assesses a fee. In fact, they had never even heard of such a preposterous idea,” she said. “Gifted education is not an extracurricular activity. If anything, more resources should be devoted to the AT program. These are our finest students.”

Board member Lynn Cullick said the fee discussion has raised concerns from parents about the quality of the AT program and the amount of time gifted students are receiving in advanced studies. She suggested a fresh look at the program through the formation of a committee.

As for the Dual Language program, parents also addressed a comment from another parent at the Jan. 9 meeting that labeled the program as a “luxury.” Parents at Monday’s meeting questioned that characterization, saying the program provides a unique education opportunity, adds to the district's cultural balance and receives the majority of its funding through federal grants.

One Dual Language parent said she was taken aback by the negative tone discussions about the program had taken since the Jan. 9 meeting in the . 

“The concern I have is what happened after the board meeting last time,” said Damaris Abella. “… The conversation that took place on Patch became very discriminatory and borderline racial. I felt like all the hard work and achievement we had accomplished over the last seven years were completely unraveling before my eyes.”

The board did not discuss fees for optional educational programs as part of their Monday night agenda, but may do so at an upcoming meeting.