Tomorrow, I officially join the Attleboro School Committee as the member from Ward 3. Today, the first day of 2024, is my last day not in public service for at least two years. I thought I’d take a minute or two and write about my hopes for the next year or two, but first, just a quick reflection on where the Attleboro Public Schools are right now.
After spending much of the past year attending or watching the School Committee and Superintendent’s office in action, it’s clear to me that we have been in good hands for quite some time, despite the crushing, and frankly, alarming levels of underfunding that we, as a city, have provided the schools. For a refresher or introduction to this, I suggest starting with Superintendent Sawyer’s guest essay in the Sun Chronicle from December 13th and, for a deeper dive, reviewing the joint meeting of the Attleboro School Committee and the Attleboro Municipal Council which took place on December 11th. Essentially, the Attleboro Public Schools rank among the bottom 10% of the state in both per-pupil expenditures (PPE) and spending above the Net School Spending (NSS) minimum. We are one of only four school districts in the state who rank in the bottom 10% of both categories, which is astounding. Despite decades of chronic underfunding, the Attleboro Public Schools consistently produce educational results which rank in the top of our state-defined cohort. Why is that? I spent the last three weeks or so wondering that, myself. Are other school districts wasting their money, or do we have the most exceptional teachers in the state? Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not willing to accept glib answers like that. The truth is in between. It is true that funding is not a universal elixir for school issues; some districts probably do spend substantially more money than us and achieve lesser results. It’s also likely that Attleboro has attracted and retained a set of school administrators and teachers who outwork and outproduce other cities’ even with fewer resources.
In an effort to figure that out, and as part of my determination to get a running start, I’ve met with Superintendent Sawyer, Assistant Superintendent Laurie Regan, Director of Family Engagement & Assistance Joanne DiPalma, Director of Finance Marc Furtado, Director of Special Education Ivone Medeiros, and Director of Human Resources Julienne Singer. I really appreciate that group of people making themselves available; I know how demanding those positions are and how busy those people can be. The meetings were productive, positive, and informative. I asked each Administrator what their pain points were. Over and over I heard about a lack of redundancy and a lack of time to focus on long-term planning in the face of constant fire-fighting. What I didn’t hear? Defeatism or burn-out. What I saw is that people come to work at the Attleboro Public Schools and stay because of the Attleboro community. A few of these Administrators are long-time City residents but most are not, and what they’ve reported is that they, and their staff, find something in Attleboro they haven’t found elsewhere: a real, strong, active, vibrant, and involved community. Parents who care — and not just about their own kids; parent who care about everyone’s kids. That’s no surprise to me and shouldn’t be to anyone who’s been here for a while, either. Attleboro is a different place. We are invested. We are involved. We work and we fight for the city we live in. We take care of people in need and we put doing the right thing over our personal agendas. Those are basic Attleboro things and it’s incredibly cheering to hear that, unsolicited, from people who don’t live here but choose to work here despite the incredible resource constraints.
So there you have it: despite massive and chronic underfunding, talented and devoted people come to work in our city and provide our children with an outstanding education. Why change that? Why make the hard decisions needed to fund the school at a more reasonable rate? It depends on what we want for our future. It’s clear to me that we cannot continue to have our cake, and eat it too. The success of the Attleboro Schools has come on the very backs of the people who work the hardest. An unfunded, razor-thin operation will not thrive for long. Eventually, the lack of depth will be exposed when good people eventually burn-out, depart, or retire. Razor-thin margins mean:
- Inability to plan for preventative maintenance. It’s easy to walk around saying “we need to take care of the new high school,” but when presented with a choice of paying for that or another current, screaming, unforeseen and unforeseeable need, the long-term correct action understandably falls down the list. Fires have to be extinguished.
- An over-reliance on key performers. Anyone who’s observed the New England Patriots’ Offense since the departure of #12 is familiar with this concept. Brady made it possible for the team to neglect the offensive skill positions; with him gone, things are bad. Attleboro’s in the same spot: we have incredibly talented, hard-working, and devoted people working heroically to keep the ship afloat. That model is not sustainable.
- The perception that thing are fine. I need to confess, I’ve been guilty of that. It’s been obvious that the schools are doing fine with what they’ve got. A look under the hood shows that is not the case. We know, now, how dangerously close we are.
What’s next? I have met with my counterpart, Ward 3 City Councilor Todd Kobus, and he understands the problem. I will continue to lobby our State Representatives and our State Senator to work on addressing the formulas used by the State to provide assistance. But ultimately, this isn’t a problem that the School Committee can solve. Only the citizens of Attleboro can decide that being in the bottom 10% in the two most important funding metrics is unacceptable. There are difficult decisions to make. Some of them may produce sincere conflict about which path is correct. One thing I’m 100% confident in is that the people of Attleboro will do the right thing. Let’s get out of the bottom. Our children deserve no less.
