DISQUS

VoiceofHaverhill · 2 months ago

I don't know what the city pays or how it pays it for this school; whether its mere loss of property tax revenue or loss of per pupil costs or requirement that money be spent on capital improvements.

Whatever the cost it is worth it to get kids out from under the influence of the absurd Young Master Wood, who cheapens public education in Haverhill every time he opens his mouth.

MannyP · 2 months ago

How much does Haverhill lose in tax dollars by removing a former industrial facility from the rolls?

politicalmadman · 2 months ago

Good news. Good luck.

taxguy · 2 months ago

Are you kidding? a school in an industrial park?

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

Better than a war zone of Haverhill IMO.

Winstonsdad · 2 months ago

River Valley Charter school in Newburyport is thriving in an industrial park.

skepsis22 · 2 months ago

taxguy;
Logistically speaking it's perfect = easy access
Economically speaking = more highway miles + quicker trips / more mpg, no crossing guards, no debt service on other buildings
Future potential = abundance of cheap child labor to the various industries in the park - if the numbers don't work out.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

Cheap labor- all those great food making jobs($8 hour) in the industrial parks are held by out of town non English speaking workers. The kids will only get the security jobs at the door making sure they aren't taking too much hummus home with them :)

skepsis22 · 2 months ago

Mr. Biggy;
That happy face is a welcome sight!
Sad part is the people you're referring to would be considered petty thieves, unarmed, and not dangerous.
How many jars would $15,000.00 get ya?

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

So it sounds like my city tax dollars are coming out of the school and city budget to pay for this private school , is that right ?
It houses 300 students and total right now in 3 buildings they have 272, how does it grow ?
Tax dollars at it's best.

Winstonsdad · 2 months ago

Hill View is a PUBLIC school, as are all charter schools in Massachusetts. It is NOT a private school.

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

Might want to research Mass. Charter Schools before you spout off on your tax dollars. Unlike Public schools, the Charter schools in the state do not receive any city tax dollars for the building purchase or renovation. It all comes from private donors, borrowing and the few grants out there.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

That is what the question mark is for, it was and is a question.
Tell me how the school grows now that it is set to hold 300 students and they already have 272.

FormerLawrencian · 2 months ago

I just read it twice and no where do I get the impression that "your" tax dollars are in play. I believe you actually have to be employed or own a house to be concerned about "Your" tax dollars. Based on the amount of posting you do here on this site and how uneducated you sound, you probably collect SSI and live in your mom's basement. You are a better example of MY hard earned tax dollars at it's best.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

FL
you must be working today I don't see you. Or are you home practicing" Welcome to Walmart, may I help you?"
By the way it's my mom living in the basement, she couldn't afford the rent I was charging her for living upstairs. Maybe you can help her, does Walmart need anymore greeters?

skepsis22 · 2 months ago

Mr. biggie;
You're on a roll!
Not only have I fallen, I've wet myself and I can't get up nor dry off.
Thanks

FormerLawrencian · 2 months ago

BigSSIunah,
I'm home today with my 4 beautiful children doing some yard work. How about you?? Long time to wait until the 1st of the month for that check to come in. My back is still sore today from carrying you. Where can I drop off the ET help wanted for you in the morning?

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

Sounds like you were looking in the mirror on that comment, one who is here all day.
Read ctjjb below and it seems "MY" tax dollars do go to the school, old wise one from Lawrence.
I told you before the only two smart ones that came out of Lawrence were females and they weren't related to you. OLD WISE ONE

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

It's about $8k/student in Haverhill regardless of which school the student attends. Has nothing to do with the building being purchased. It's still a PUBLIC school so you are so worried about counting your tax dollars there is no increase to the amount you pay to send the student to a Charter Public school vs. the Public Elementary or Middle school.

You're not subsidizing the students any more than you do to send them to their regular school down the street.

FormerLawrencian · 2 months ago

Sorry I couldn't respond sooner. I am at work. Again, they are mt tax dollars at work. I have a job and own a house in the city. Please pick up a hard copy of the ET Sunday and read through the help wanted. My back is getting sore from carrying you bigkahunah!!! As for being here all day this is post #16 for me and I see you are up to 423. I come here to read in between greeting people walking in the door here at Walmart. :)

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

It doesn't tell you how long someone has been reading or writing on here, I may have been here since it's inception.
Welcome to Walmart :)

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

I don't have any kids at the school, so not sure on the details as to how it grows.

nshoremike · 2 months ago

on the dollar comparison - actually you are paying more for the charter - a 275 student elementary school gets 10K per student - roughly the same as the total per student expenditure for the entire 8000 student haverhill district.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

Thank you for the info.

ctjjb · 2 months ago

It's been growing since they opened. Every year they add one grade. When they began they only had the Bartlett location. Then they had to move the kindergarden the the Temple in Haverhill. This year they put the middle school (7th grade) in I believe in what was the old Haverhill Gazzette building. Next year they will have all grades k-8. They only had to skip one year of adding a grade because they didn't have the room. Hope that helps. Also in regards to who pays. The city does pay per child to go to school because it is a public charter school as well as a Montessorri but they don't pay nearly as much as with kids that go to regular public because the school had to keep up with there on repairs and loans on buildings. The school has come such a long way.

nshoremike · 2 months ago

Bostonmike1 - not true. The charter formula includes funding from the local allocation for building/capital needs.

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

The LOCAL city tax that bigkahunah was complaining about and I was addressing does not go toward the facility per the District Tuition and Chapter 46 Aid formulas.

There is a separate Facilities Aid Program for Charter schools. That formula does not raise your local taxes nor does it increase the city allocation per student.

Under Mass. law, Charter Schools are ineligible to participate in School Building Authority funding that makes new construction or renovations more affordable. The State funds (with Federal help) the School Building Authority for Public schools as well as the allocation of funds to Charters to assist in capital/facilities ($893/per student this year).

nonpartisan · 2 months ago

If you took the millions spent on the Hill View and gave the public schools the money, they could redistribute those kids to the elementary schools and get out of financial bankruptcy.

The funding formula does not take into account how many special eduction students Hill View accepts.

Does anyone know the number of ELL, low income, and special education students are taught at Hill View or where to find out this information?

Winstonsdad · 2 months ago

No. bigkahunah, it is not right. .. this is a PUBLIC school, not a private school. Hill View Montessori is a public charter school, approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Check out the school's web site for more information: http://www.hillviewmontessori.org/

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

That's still $2.1 million coming out of the school budget and being paid elsewhere.

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

Yes, that is the simple minded view. What about the big picture though. If these 270-300 students flow back to their regular elementary schools in the city the $2.1 million has to go toward:

- More teachers (unless more overcrowding is the solution in Haverhill to fixing the poor MCAS scores)
- More space/facilities (opening up additional buildings which means more support staff needed on top of the teaching salaries)
- More support staff

Again, these Charter Schools (Silver Hill included) are playing a positive role in the city. Instead of dumping the money year after year into the same school budget it's nice to see them take a chance with some new teaching methodologies.

JACKINHAVERHILL · 2 months ago

Mike: interesting comments although I'm not sure I agree.

What I most take issue with is ... "it's nice to see them take a chance..." Why is that okay in the public sector with tax dollars? Shouldn't the city know exactly the end result they are trying to achieve before spending anything? Would a business do that? Would you do that with your owm money?

My next door neighbor sends a child to this school. They are big advocates of it. But from what I can see the child is achieving at a lower level than my kids did by going to Tilton School at the same age. My point? I'm not sure. The kid is happy and the parents are happy. But as taxpayers if we have to provide additional funding or reallocate funding just to get the same result, or even a lesser result, then I think it needs to be looked at.

BostonMike1 · 2 months ago

I don't think it's fair to compare one kid's "level" to get an overall feel for the teaching methodology. You do have to hope that the parents are aware of the child's needs though and not just think he's on par with everyone else. The latest MCAS scores showed huge improvement at Hill View Montessori and the top scores for several of the grades compared to all of the city's elementary schools.

I will also be curious how the other Charter (Silver Hill) does under the Horace Mann charter. They were consistently underperforming. For me personally, I think it's finally a GOOD use of education funds to finally step out from the same 'ole style and rut each year and just complain when MCAS scores continue to decline in the city.

I realize though there are others who just want the budget to go solely to the same teachers, administrators and methods each year with no change because that's how it's been done every year.

If any Charter fails to perform, they lose those funding and status after 5 years. I don't think it's an open ended dump of money going to the Charters.

Honestly, where in government is ANYTHING a guarantee? I won't get off topic, but... the Stimulus Bill?

I also don't see any guarantee of better MCAS scores in the normal publuc schools when they dump more money into them when they cry "if we just had a bigger budget" solution to any problem. Money alone does not solve education's woes. I'm all for giving some fresh methodologies a chance especially in a city that has struggled with performance at the lower grades.

bigkahunah · 2 months ago

That's what politicians do they throw money at problems and hope it goes away by saying we tried to help management throws people at a problem to get as many hands on the problem as possible to screw it up.
We need a complete back to the basics from the K classes and watch it funnel up through the process.
Why is it when someone disagrees they are simpleminded or racist today ??????????????????????????????????????
Can't we all have an opinion ??

nonpartisan · 2 months ago

I thought that Hill View performed poorly on the MCAS, but they received a new charter? How did they perform on MCAS prior to getting a recharter?

Cliftondrocker · 2 months ago

Guys, i'm not sure why you keep calling this a charter school. it is a private montessori school. the article states they raised the money and financed it themselves.

our tax dollars have no involvement as far as i can see....

the article states that they had their charter renewed, but that doesn't make them a state "charter school."

right? isn't that so?

My_Two_Cents · 2 months ago

Not sure if this reply will get posted twice, but...

In the second paragraph of the article the reporter refers to the school as the Hill View Montessori Charter School.

This may be why the previous bloggers are calling it a charter school.

ctjjb · 2 months ago

It is a public school! It's Hill View Montessori Charter Public School. That is the actual name! The kids take city buses. There is a lottery to get in the school because it is a charter school. It is NOT private..The parents pay nothing for a child to go there. They can donate but they don't have to.

Winstonsdad · 2 months ago

It is NOT a private school./ Hill View MontessoriIt is a public charter school, approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Check out the school's web site for more information: http://www.hillviewmontessori.org/