School

Devereux CARES COOKIE Inauguration

On Friday Councilor Walsh & myself attended the Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health CARES MA CARES Cookie Inauguration to swear in the newly elected school cookie.

The students did an election and voting for their School Cookie--- CHOCOLATE CHIP FOR THE WIN! Sugar Cookie came in second They even got Chocolate Chip cookies from the new Pammy’s Place on Airport Rd near Legends Grille & Sports Bar to give to all the students---and I ate one and it was amazing by the way...huge chocolate chunks and chewy.

Meaningful and fun learning experience for all of the students. Thank you CARES Team!

Monty Tech Veterinary Clinic Opening

🐶 The Monty Tech School in Fitchburg is opening their Veterinary Clinic on Monday September 16th.
⁉️What services are provided?
The Monty Tech Veterinary Clinic offers a much-needed service to our community. We provide high-quality, subsidized veterinary care to ensure all families have access to valuable preventative and primary care opportunities.
Services include:
• Routine preventative care visits
• Affordable medications & vaccinations
• Diagnostic services
• Stable Urgent Care
• Compassionate end of life care
• Dentistry (coming soon)
• Primary care surgical services (coming soon)

⁉️Can I bring my pet to the Monty Tech Clinic?
The Monty Tech Veterinary Clinic is proud to provide veterinary services for dogs and cats of resource limited families, within the Monty Tech district. To be eligible for services at the Monty Tech Veterinary Clinic, the owner of the pet must:
• Present a valid EBT card, issued by Mass DTA, and a matching valid ID
• Reside within the Monty Tech District

The Monty Tech District includes the following cities and towns:
Ashburnham Harvard Princeton Ashby Holden Royalston Athol Hubbardston Sterling Barre Lunenburg Templeton
Fitchburg Petersham Westminster Gardner Phillipston Winchendon

⁉️What to expect?
We are a teaching clinic within Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School. Visitors will interact with high school students interested in becoming the veterinary professionals of tomorrow. A licensed veterinarian will provide
and oversee all care your pet receives. Your appointment time will be longer than a traditional clinic, as our students are learning. We thank you in advance for your patience and kindness. You are furthering the veterinary profession!

*The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance determines eligibility for food and economic assistance based on household size, income, expenses, and other nonfinancial criteria.

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Fitchburg councilors tour specialized CARES School

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My fellow councilor Walsh and I got the full tour with Principal Katherine Flynn during a recent open house at the new Deveraux CARES School in Fitchburg. 
Previously occupied by the Durham School of the Institute of Professional Practice, the new Deveraux CARES (Center for Autism Resources and Education Services) is a small private special education school that supports students ages 8-22 with Autism Spectrum Disorders, developmental disabilities, dual diagnoses, and social skills deficits. 
Their primary goal is to teach functional and pro-social skills that can be easily generalized to the student’s community and home.
They have a gym with workout equipment, an exterior yard with basketball hoop, library/reading areas, individual rooms, a lunch/cafe, a 'school store' and many other support areas.

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_32376021/?fbclid=IwAR3hbkZPUzQn7BFcCd7jxV7t2qtyZbAe1shB9PvZ-ux8_by7aDeFWoy2uA8

Deverauxpic
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Fitchburg Supertintendent's Discussion on the State's Foundation Budget

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I joined in to Fitchburg State University tonight with fellow councilor Walsh and many other elected officials tonight for the Fitchburg Public SchoolsDiscussion on the State's Foundation Budget in the Community of Fitchburg.
I live tweeted the responses @samsquailia & I will copy the tweet/photos here and post stats below:
**349:490 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents a gap of 141 teachers needed in Fitchburg Public Schools not able to be afforded due to high Special Ed and Health Insurance spending unaccounted for in the Foundation Budget
**384:504 Leominster has a 120 teacher gap in needed teachers per fndn budget unable to be funded due to high spending needs in health insurance and special education spending Leominster Public Schools
** Gardner Mass Superintendent "Arts & Music & Guidance Counselors often first to be cut from school programming due to limited resources req'd to be spent on Health Insurance and Special Education" "The budget should be driven by the education, but too often the education is driven by the budget" "Students that come from poverty need additional services" "Our largest issue is poverty"
** Lunenburg, MA Public Schools have a $2.3M gap in Special Ed Budget, and a $2.3M gap in Health Insurance budget, requiring cuts in teacher funding, books and other funds
** Winchendon, Massachusetts actual staffing needs for Special Education far exceeds the allotment by the Foundation Budget. Top right graphs.
**"When I see the resources wealthy communities can provide their students, I am disheartened...it's discriminatory what the State is doing" -Mother of 4 in Public Schools
**Call to action: "What emerges...is that the Commonwealth has a duty to provide an education for all its children, rich and poor, in every city and town...at the public school level, and this duty is designed...to serve the interest of the children..."
** Increase in Chapter 70 funding to our local school budgets with full funding of the FBRC: Heslth Insurance, Special Ed, ELL and Low Income subsidy. @FitchburgPS @FitchburgMass would receive $12.8M additional to our school budget

I highly recommend watching the Superintendent Forum on Education Spending ---and the discussion on the need in increases in the budget for equal education for students in Massachusetts.
School spending and need for additional resources were discussed and represented by Leominster, Fitchburg, Gardner, Lunenburg, Worcteser, Framingham, Winchendon, Clinton, Ayer-Shirley and more.

FATV recorded the event, you can watch it here:

Public Education Funding Information Update. January 8. 2019 Fitchburg State University

 
 

I discussed the Bill and the end of the session with Senator Tran a couple months ago for more background info, starts around 31:30 minutes: