Registration is ongoing for Southborough Youth Baseball and Softball’s upcoming spring season. Programs are available for boys and girls ages 5 through 15. Sign up by January 31 to take advantage of the early registration discount.

Check out all the details in the flyer below, or visit www.southboroughbaseball.net for more information.

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The Regional School Committee met last night to review preliminary budget numbers for Algonquin. Superintendent Charles Gobron told the committee that due to a loss of one-time federal funds and increasing operational costs, the school budget is projected to increase by nearly 6% next year.

Reports Northborough Patch:

“Three years of almost level funding caused little increase in the base,” said Gobron. “The elimination of these substantial one time stimulus grants over the past years, plus increased needs in the area of special education, increased class size and rising health insurance have all affected the budget.”

The preliminary budget came in at $18,671,724, up from $17,619,217 last year. The Algonquin budget is funded jointly between Northborough and Southborough. No word yet on what Southborough’s share of the pie will be.

Earlier this month, Gobron presented the K-8 budget for Southborough. While also facing the loss of federal stimulus money and rising operational costs, the preliminary K-8 budget came in at only a 0.9% increase.

You can read more about the Algonquin budget in this article by Northborough Patch.

Snuggling up with a good book is one of the great joys in life. Finn School wants to make sure it’s a pleasure some of their Worcester peers don’t miss out on.

As they have in the past, Finn this year is partnering with Chandler Street Elementary School in Worcester as part of a community outreach program. An inner-city school, Chandler has students that are eager to learn, but a shortage of the basic materials required to meet the educational needs of their students, Finn Principal James Randell wrote in a letter to parents.

Chandler uses the same approach to teaching reading as Finn does, so encouraging kids to read become the focus of Finn’s outreach efforts. “Our goal this year is to provide a few necessities so students will snuggle up with a good book,” Randell wrote.

To that end, the school has launched a Books and Blankets drive to collect gently-used books along with new fleece blankets, warm throws, and animal-shaped pillows that will help create a welcoming environment for new readers.

The Books and Blankets program aims to benefit not only the students at Chandler, but also those at Finn by fostering stronger community connections. “One of our goals is to raise awareness among students at Finn of those who are less fortunate in our own community and elsewhere,” Randell wrote.

Books and blankets will be accepted at the Finn School office through Friday, January 20. Gift cards to Walmart and Target are also welcome. Books should be appropriate for children ages 4 through 12 and may be new or gently used. All blankets and pillows must be new.

(Photo posted to Flickr by Enokson)

Above: Neary is one of the schools that could be considered for closure

The K-8 School Committee meeting this week agreed to revisit the question of whether Southborough should close one of its four schools due to declining enrollment, reports the Metrowest Daily News. The decision comes after a tense meeting earlier this week with the Advisory Committee. At that meeting former Advisory Committee member Al Hamilton presented numbers that suggest the school population will decrease by 35 to 40 percent over the next decade.

From the Metrowest Daily News:

While Superintendent Charles Gobron confirmed Wednesday that enrollment is declining, he said he does not agree with Hamilton’s projections. Gobron has proposed eliminating one teacher from the fiscal 2013 budget because he expects enrollment to decline by 30 students next year.

Advisory Chairwoman Claire Reynolds — who expressed concern Monday about not receiving information — spoke during the School Committee’s public comment session Wednesday.

“Please understand that we are not looking for (the committee) to scramble around putting material together, we’re just looking for what you have currently put together,” she said. “An adversarial relationship does not help anybody. We want to work together. We really do.”

Citing its policy to not respond to public comment, the committee did not reply.

School Committee Chairperson Marybeth Strickland put the topic on the agenda for next month’s meeting. You can read more about the decision to reconsider school consolidation in this article by the MWDN.

Above: Eric Green at a lacrosse tournament last October (via Facebook)

Green is the color of choice for many in Southborough today. Trottier Middle School students started the movement to wear green in honor of their 12-year-old classmate Eric Green who passed away suddenly this week. Parents, along with students at neighboring schools – including Algonquin where Eric’s two siblings attend – have followed suit.

By all accounts Eric was a popular seventh-grader at Trottier who loved lacrosse and played trumpet in the school’s elite Big Band. Trottier Principal Keith Lavoie credited Eric’s dedication to school and community. Friends called him an “inspiration.”

You can read a growing list of tributes to Eric in this post.

It breaks my heart to bring you this news, although I suspect a good number of you already know. Trottier Middle School seventh grader Eric Green passed away last night at his home from complications of a seizure condition. He was 12 years old.

In a letter to parents, Trottier Principal Keith Lavoie said the school’s crisis team assembled as soon as they heard the news. Students were later informed of Eric’s death by their homeroom teachers. The district-wide student support team was at Trottier to offer additional support to those students who needed it.

Because they ride the bus with Trottier students, Neary students were also told the news by their teachers, so they wouldn’t hear it first from others on the bus. “We plan to tell our students about Eric’s death and explain that whether or not students knew Eric, either of his siblings or the family, we have lost a member of our community,” Neary Principal Linda Murdock wrote in an email to parents.

After hearing the news, Neary students were given time to ask questions and write cards if they chose too. Both Neary and Trottier eventually returned to their normal school schedules, with both principals noting the importance of routine.

“We’ll remember Eric as a smart, caring young man who loved his school and community. He was well connected to Trottier with many friends, and he brought his passion for learning and intellectual curiosity to all of his academic work,” Lavoie wrote. “He loved being a part of our band and his dedication to excelling at his trumpet playing made him a stellar member of our elite Big Band group. He will be missed.”

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced, but I’ll pass them along when they are.

Please join me in keeping Eric’s family in your thought and prayers. Parents, hug your children extra tight tonight.

Longtime Southborough resident Dick Upjohn, who passed away last week at the age of 82, had a passion for history, particularly ancient history. He had a passion for the outdoors and a for conservation. He also had a passion for plaid.

In a fitting tribute to the former Fay School educator, Fay declared yesterday Plaid Day. Students and faculty alike came dressed in their best plaid fashions.

“After the sadness of losing an integral member of our community, Plaid Day enabled the Fay School community to reminisce with joy and laughter – a fitting way to celebrate our beloved Mr. Upjohn,” Fay wrote on their website.

You can see pictures of Plaid Day on the school’s website, but I’ve included a few here for your enjoyment. The last photo in the gallery is Mr. Upjohn himself in his famous plaid. (Click an image in the gallery to enlarge.)

I wasn’t able to go to the K-8 School Committee meeting last night, but Brad from the Metrowest Daily News was there, and he reports Superintendent Charles Gobron presented a preliminary budget that has a slimmer increase than those we have seen in past years.

Saying the K-8 schools want to do their part to acknowledge the town’s ongoing fiscal hardship, Superintendent Charles Gobron last night proposed to the School Committee a preliminary fiscal 2013 budget increase of 0.9 percent.

If approved, Gobron said the increase would be the smallet he could remember in four decades.

Gobron’s fiscal 2013 budget stands at $17.04 million, a $151,981 — or 0.9 percent — increase from fiscal 2012. At this time last year, the K-8 district asked for and ultimately received a 2 percent increase from fiscal 2011.

Pop over to the MWDN to read all the details, including Selectman Bill Boland’s take on the school’s preliminary budget.

What do you think? Are you encouraged by the numbers? Or do you think the schools have more work to do?

Taxpayers will get their first look at next year’s K-8 school budget tonight. Superintendent Charles Gobron is expected to present preliminary numbers at this evening’s school committee meeting.

In a presentation last month, Gobron said the district faces fiscal challenges this year with the loss of more than $200K in one-time federal stimulus money. It’s money that currently funds one special education teacher and five support positions.

Gobron said some or all of the one-time money could be covered by an anticipated increase in state funding, but the extent was yet to be determined.

To increase revenue, Gobron said the district was considering raising the cost of full-day kindergarten. Northborough’s proposed budget for next year has a $250 increase in kindergarten tuition, bringing it from $2,750 to $3,000. Tuition at Finn is currently $2,750.

On the other side of the equation, operational expenses are expected to increase this year. In addition to a contractual salary increase for teachers and other staff, Gobron told the school committee last month that funds will be needed to keep pace with the current educational needs of the district.

Gobron said an increasing number of students come into the district with English language learning needs, and $33K in additional teacher and tutor time is necessary to meet the needs of those students.

The district’s computer network infrastructure is currently managed by a contractor, but Gobron said next year he’d like to bring the work in-house by hiring a district-wide network administrator. It’s a move he said would bring more efficiency and long-term savings. Funding for the position would be shared with Northborough, with Southborough’s portion (30%) totaling $19K.

Gobron said the funds for English language learning and a network administrator are the only new requests that will be in the budget. The rest will be to fund existing services.

“A lot of what we’re taliking about in our budget is simply trying to maintain what we have,” School Committee Chairperson Marybeth Strickland said.

Tonight’s school committee meeting starts at 6:30 pm in the library at Trottier Middle School and is open to the public. You can see the full agenda here.

Above: Data compiled by Southborough resident Al Hamilton suggests a steep decline in the school population (enlarge graph)

The question about whether to close one of Southborough’s four schools is not a new one. While school enrollment has been decreasing over the past several years, the K-8 school committee maintains it’s not feasible to consolidate students into three schools. But one Southborough resident says it’s time to take another look at the numbers.

In a presentation to the Advisory Committee last night, Al Hamilton, himself a former Advisory Committee member, said enrollment data he compiled suggests a “substantial downward trend in school populations” over the next decade. According to census data, Hamilton said enrollment will likely decrease by 35 to 40 percent by 2020.

Hamilton suggested the district should close Woodward and return it to municipal use. Moving the Senior Center, Arts Center, cable TV operations, and other municipal groups into Woodward would allow the town to sell off older buildings and then use the proceeds to fund school operations, he said.

You can read more about last night’s discussion on consolidating school buildings in this article by the Metrowest Daily News. Want to take a look at the numbers for yourself? Here’s a link to Hamilton’s presentation (PDF). You might also want to check out the enrollment projection report (PDF) recently compiled by the school district.

So, what do you think? Is it time to take a serious look at closing one of the schools? Or are you not convinced?