Editor’s Note: Tiffanie Maskell, who lives in District 7 and is Vice Chair of the School Committee, read this to the City Council on Tuesday night. It was then submitted to the news outlet for publication.
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I am speaking tonight to encourage you to support the Finance Subcommittee’s budget line item for the public schools, which was approved by a 5-0 vote.
In our budgetary actions to date we have done all we can to stick to our core principle. Which has been to avoid, to the best extent possible, directly impacting our students and staff.
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Critical contractual-positions such as: teachers, nurses, aides, special education specialists, occupational and physical therapists are next on the list. If the school department budget goes any lower, it will not be possible to avoid impacting them.
I’m going to share with you this list:
- Early Childhood Education Coordinator at BLOCKS Preschool
- Academic Coordinator at Brophy
- Math and Science Teacher at Cameron
- Portuguese bilingual English Language Arts teacher at Cameron
- Assistant Director for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Title IX and ADA compliance
- Assistant Director of Fine and Performing Arts
- Library Media Specialists at Dunning, Potter Road, and Stapleton
- Art Teacher at FHS
- Choral Teacher at Fuller
- Bilingual English Teacher at Fuller and Stapleton
- Bilingual Assistant at McCarthy
- English and History Teacher at Thayer
- World Language Teacher at Walsh
- Two Way Bilingual Teacher to be split between Walsh and FHS
- ESL Teachers at Brophy, Cameron, and Hemenway
- Increased hours for a Social Worker at FHS
- Bilingual Health and Gym Teacher at Fuller
- District Wide Portuguese Interpreter/Translator
- Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor at FHS
You may think I’m listing these positions to advocate for the budget in front of you so we can put these critical people in place.
Unfortunately I’m not.
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The positions I read were the ones removed from the budget before this got to the council. All of those jobs were priority positions deemed necessary by Principals, School Councils, the Superintendent, and School Committee as part of our zero based budgeting process to support our growing population and the needs of our community, yet they are all gone.
Thank you for your consideration to stop any more cuts.
We have already cut as much as we can in this budget. Our kids must be safe, supported, and ready to learn as we navigate the next year of education during this pandemic.
Thank you
—
Tiffanie Maskell
Vice-Chair Framingham School Committee
District 7
MassBay Community College 
Saint Bridget School