The Wanderer Mobile

The Wanderer - Mobile Edition

FEATURES

Three Tri-Town Athletes Named for Award

By Anne O'Brien-Kakley

Three Tri-Town student-athletes have been named as finalists for the prestigious Dave Cowens Achievement Award, which goes to the top male and female athletes in the region. The recipient is selected by a group of southeastern Massachusetts school representatives, who look over a pool of finalists and pick a male and female winner based on athletic accomplishments, academic standing and attitude.

The three Tri-Town nominees are: Marion resident Michelle Franklin, Rochester resident Nick Filloramo, and for Bishop Stang, Marion resident Ted Bancroft.

According to Coach Bob Hohne, Lady Bulldog Michelle Franklin has been "the heart and soul of the Lady Bulldogs for the past three seasons". Ms. Franklin's GPA is 3.71 and she plans to study nursing when she attends college next year.

Coach Hohne describes Ms. Franklin as a "blue collar" worker on the court, using her "controlled passion" as an example for other athletes. She is a leader, and has averaged nearly 11 points a game. Besides her skill on the court, Ms. Franklin volunteers for her church choir and an elderly visitation program.

Mr. Filloramo, a three-year varsity member, is captain of the basketball team, a baseball captain and a soccer captain. In 2009, Mr. Filloramo was named an S.C.C. all-star pitcher. A member of the National Honor Society and a volunteer for an area food pantry, Mr. Filloramo is a rounded and compassionate student who plans on attending Wheaton College next year.

Bishop Stang has nominated Ted Bancroft, a co-captain for the varsity basketball team. Mr. Bancroft averaged 13.5 points per game and is an Eastern Athletic Conference All-Star. Besides excelling at basketball, Mr. Bancroft also excels at golf and is a member of the National Honor Society. In community service, Mr. Bancroft has helped raise money for the Special Olympics, ALS and St. Anne's Hospital.

21 area schools participate in the annual Dave Cowens Award. The winner will be announced at the awards reception at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School at 1121 Ashley Boulevard in New Bedford on Wednesday, March 10 at 5:00 pm.

Mattapoisett Considers Farmers' Market

By Anne O'Brien-Kakley

When Mother Nature starts throwing a few mild days our way, and when those tiny shoots of daffodils and crocuses make their appearance, our thoughts turn to summer. Thanks to the influx of "locavorism" - that is, love of locally grown food - those summer thoughts include heirloom tomatoes and strolls through a well-stocked farmers' market.

Although the Tri-Town has enjoyed its own farmers' market for several years now at the Plumb Corner location in Rochester, Mattapoisett is hoping to collaborate with the Rochester Market to share vendors and distribute in a location that is central to the Tri-Town and has easy access to the highway. Right now, the eyed location would be Old Rochester Regional, since it is centrally located on Route 6 and near 195.

Although the season is quickly approaching, Mattapoisett Town Administrator Michael Gagne is hoping to "hustle" to get the farmers' market up and moving. The Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen has been receptive to the plans as well. One of the first steps is getting approval of school usage for a farmers' market at an Old Rochester Regional School Committee meeting.

Proposed locations for the farmers' market included Old Hammondtown - even the town wharf was considered for a farmers' market location at one point, but it was crossed off the list since the parking is difficult there and it was thought that the farmers' market could conflict with all the other activities that occur at Shipyard Park. Besides being a central location for the Tri-Town, ORR has been considered an ideal spot since it has ample parking space and room for vendors to set up.

School locations for farmers' markets have proven to be ideal for other markets, like the Fairhaven market, which sets up on Sunday mornings on the Fairhaven High School lawn. The schools are town property and have more than enough room for the traffic that a farmers' market usually draws.

According to Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) executive director Jay Coburn, the proposed Mattapoisett Farmers' Market would be the 48th market in the Southeastern Massachusetts region. SEMAP, which was started in 1998 as a business resource for local farmers, strongly advocates for farmers' markets and CSAs (community-supported agriculture). A CSA is a co-operative agreement between farmers and consumers, where the consumer buys a "share" of the crop, and takes a portion of the farm's bounty for that year. Both CSAs and farmers' markets support local agriculture and local industry.

Meredith Ciaburri, owner and operator of the Rochester-based bakery the Artisan Kitchen, started the Rochester Farmers' Market six years ago to meet the growing interest in local food and agriculture. The Rochester Farmers' Market is located at Rochester's Plumb Corner on Saturday mornings from 8:00 am to noon. Ms. Ciaburri has been working with the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen to help facilitate a Mattapoisett market that would service Tri-Town farmers and consumers alike. Ms. Ciaburri describes the Mattapoisett Market as "an exciting prospect."

For Mattapoisett, this move would be right in line with their latest interest in supporting local agricultural industry. Mr. Gagne has also been working with the Board of Selectmen to establish an agricultural commission in town. All of these moves strengthen support of SEMAP's campaign to "Buy Local, Buy Fresh."

Marion School Reviews FY 2011 Budget

Marion School Committee

By Laura Pedulli

A regular meeting of the Marion School Committee was called to order by Chairperson Jane McCarthy at 6:30 pm in the Sippican School library. Also present was committee members Christine Winters, Jay Pateakos, Joseph Scott, and Vice Chairman Brad Gordon. Additional attendees included Superintendent Douglas White, School Business Administrator Kathleen Isernio, Interim Principal Lyn Rivet and Director of Student Services Teresa Hamm.

In the Principal's report, Ms. Rivet discussed the school's continued investigation of implementing Every Day Math. She also described the addition of student artwork in the school policy handbook. In regard to the school bus bullying situation, she reported that the problems have "calmed down" in part because the driver spent a week and a half sitting in the back of the bus (with another driver at the helm) to monitor behavior. In addition, students on the bus were given assigned seats to further discourage bullying behavior.

Also, Ms. Rivet discussed proposed clarifications in school policy to define "excessive" tardiness, absences, and early dismissals to more than 7 per year (combined). She provided the school committee with information on the policy change in anticipation of a formal discussion on the matter.

Library teacher Jessica Barrett then gave a presentation - which included a video starring Sippican School students - on the "success" of the Winter Reading Challenge "Around the World in 18 Days." Between January 11 and 29, children documented their reading habits and translated them to miles on a map. For every 30 minutes of reading, the children logged five miles on a world map posted on the library wall. Starting from Marion, the students "traveled" the globe and learned about countries on the map depending on their daily mileage. In total, the students traversed 15,608 miles - from Marion to eastern Russia.

Shortly thereafter, Schoolteacher Diane Cooke discussed a sustainability audit of Sippican conducted by the Marion Institute. Representatives of the Institute had visited the school to study the school's overall energy efficiency and speak with students directly about their views of the school's sustainability practices. Ms. Cooke said she was "encouraged" by the experience and received positive feedback from children and parents alike. She also described a "warm interchange" between cafeteria staff and Zoe Hansen-DiBello, the Marion Institute Sustainable Education and Youth Coordinator.

The board then approved the January 20 minutes with changes, including a clarification that the new point-of-sale system for the cafeteria will involve a pin pad, not a swipe card. The new system will be implemented during April vacation, Ms. Isernio said. The school budget subcommittee then approved minutes for January 5, January 19 and February 18.

In her finance report, Ms. Isernio noted a $24,000 shortfall in the Marion's school budget for the line item on English Language Learning. She said Marion helped foot the bill for district-wide, state-mandated ELL personnel training to teach additional ELL students, but she said Sippican would be reimbursed for funds incurred outside of the school. Ms. Isernio then promised to provide information on rental and revolving accounts to the school board at future meetings.

At this point, Mr. White provided a preliminary overview of the Sippican School budget. After laying out data on enrollment figures, teachers, class-sizes, maintenance staff, paraprofessionals and student services currently offered at the school - the superintendent provided a draft of the FY 2011 budget - 3.79% over current levels at $5,133,250. Maintaining "level service" would have required a 7.78% increase, or a budget of $5,330,326, according to the budget summary report.

Mr. White delineated "regular day" costs from special education expenses to provide a clearer picture of the cost cutting necessary to maintain student services as much as possible. Due to large increases in special education expenses - costs for out-of-district programs are $295,278 over the current budget - the school is required to cut $109,342 from the regular day budget, according to Mr. White. To eliminate $109,342 from the budget, he proposed cuts in areas including equipment and its maintenance, supplies, lead teacher stipends, training for the now-defunct Reading Recovery program, and the elimination of one classroom teacher. Ms. Rivet said the teacher in question - which affects students going into 5th grade next year - is going on a one-year maternity leave; Ms. Rivet admits that she is unsure how the position will be restored the following year.

Ms. Hamm said that despite failed efforts to establish an in-district program for special needs children, she hopes that one will come to fruition in the future. Although the program itself may not reduce costs dramatically, she said the savings on transportation costs - earmarked at $183,988 in the draft FY 11 budget - would be notable. She conceded that one hurdle to developing such a program is the fluctuating number of students utilizing the services each year.

In response to concern from parents on the impact of the proposed cuts and overall outlook for Marion school funding, Mr. White noted that the cuts could have been worse and the "fact we were asked to do 2% and we were able to get 3.79% shows that the town is working with us." The parents and school board then talked about the possibility of a tax override to help restore funding, however Chairperson McCarthy said that the economic climate makes it a bad year to request a tax override.

"How do we look at raising funds? How do we look at increasing our bottom line without cutting teachers? Because without teachers you don't have education," asked one parent. Mr. Gordon said that one method of raising revenue is renting out school space. The parents then suggested possible ways to reduce costs - such as by "going paperless" in terms of school-parent communication and using doctoral students who need to accrue hours for certification to provide free psychological services. Another suggestion was asking Tabor Academy if the school could provide general assistance - such as educational support staff - to the school.

"I think any ideas that people come forward with are very beneficial," said Mr. Scott. "Hopefully more people will be at the town meeting when these things come to light, put up a stink, and say we need to find money, whether it be from taxes or other funds out there in the town."

Following Mr. White's discussion on the budget, Ms. McCarthy said it was the "worst budget I have seen," but "the best presentation."

The school then discussed a request from the South Coast Community Church to reduce its rental fee from $380.85 to $250. The school board chose not to approve the request given the custodial and utility fees for each usage and the fact that the market rate for such a space is $525. Also, Ms. Winters noted it would set a "bad precedent" and signal other organizations to ask for decreases if it were approved.

In the building subcommittee report, Mr. Gordon discussed plans by the Volunteers at Sippican Elementary to build a new playground; the school would contribute to half the fees, which is $4,900. VASE is slated to present the plan in further detail at a March 10 meeting. Mr. Gordon also mentioned a pending proposal by Chris Collins to fix leaks in the school's rotunda area.

Mr. Scott briefly discussed the draft of the Old Rochester Regional FY 11 budget and said, "it wasn't any easier than this ... all of the fat will be cut out next year."

In his report on the Tri-Town Education Fund, Mr. Pateakos mentioned that the Taste of the Town will occur on June 18 and two committees - alumni and communications - were formed with the united goal of "getting more donations."

The school committee adjourned at 9:07 pm.

ORR Committee Presents District Budget

ORR School Committee

By Laura Pedulli

A regular meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School District was called to order by Chairman Peter Bangs on February 25, 2010 at 6:30 pm in the ORR Media Center. Also present were committee members Robin Rounseville, Virginia Beams, Joseph Scott, John Russell, Paula Meere, Paul Silva and Nick Decas. Additional attendees included ORRHS Principal Michael Devoll, Superintendent Douglas White, School Business Administrator Kathleen Isernio and Director of Student Services Theresa Hamm.

Dr. Bangs announced that the meeting's primary purpose is "information sharing" as it reviews the FY 11 preliminary budget.

Superintendent Mr. White then presented the proposed budget for FY11 for the district. The draft budget is funded at $15,321,458, which is a 1.10% increase over FY10 levels. A level-service budget would have cost $15,606,383 or require an increase of 3.01% over FY10 spending. Mr. White said the new budget - which requires $459,772 in cuts - represents "significant changes to how we deliver services."

Ms. Isernio noted that next year, the regional transportation reimbursement from the state may change. She said that unlike last year, the budget does not provide a built-in cushion for unexpected transportation increases. Thus if the state lowers transportation reimbursement from 56% to 29% - which it has considered - the school district budget could get hit.

During the presentation, Principal Devoll discussed expanding School Choice to raise $120,000 in revenues for district schools. "Our focus for next year would be to open up 15 additional spots school-wide and not limit them to a single grade," he said, which would equal 24 total out-of-district students. "The reason I feel we can do that is because we have space in our schools and, quite frankly, the ability to bring in that revenue saves us [from cutting] teachers. We feel we are proud of our school [district] as a place students want to come," he said. According to Mr. White, the sending district compensates $5,000 for each student; six students from ORRHS attend schools in other districts.

Other revenue sources include new student parking fees. According to Mr. Devoll, more than half of schools in Massachusetts charge for parking. Therefore, the budget includes a $50 parking fee for students wishing to park their vehicles. Given that 25 percent of students opt out of purchasing the tag, Mr. Devoll estimates that ORRHS would sell 138 parking tags for an additional $7,800 in revenue "if it checks out that way."

The budget also proposes higher student activity fees, including fees for music and sports, and includes projected revenue from booster club fundraisers. Specifically, the school would charge $100 for students participating in one or more extracurricular activities and $225 for students participating in sports. Other proposed revenue includes operation and capital assessments, Chapter 70 state aid, and regional transportation state reimbursement. The proposed amount of all revenue for the school district is $16,353,623. Mr. White did note the numbers are based on the state budget proposal, which is not set in stone.

The presentation also offered a historical perspective on cuts to ORR District since 2003, which include the loss of science, art, physical education, business, library and computer lab teachers and paraprofessionals at the high school, and the elimination of eight positions district-wide, including technology coordinator, assistant superintendent, and early childhood coordinator.

Dr. Bangs said that the budget represents "a fairly substantial cut to programs. The state of the schools is very different since 2003." He added: "I feel we are reaching a position where we are a starving human eating its own flesh to keep itself alive."

Dr. Bangs said that the committee is investigating full regionalization of all Tri-Town schools to help save money in the future. The differing compensation for health insurance for school employees across towns was noted as a major obstacle. Rochester and Marion pay for 50% of health insurance costs, while Mattapoisett compensates 75% of such costs.

Dr. Bangs also said that capital needs at the region are not being met. "We are quite willing to devise a means that the capital budget is outside the control of the school budget and in the control of some other body," he said. "Our $50 million investment [in our building] is deteriorating - we need to fund the capital needs here. "

In response to suggestions that the school reopen the teacher union contract with the aim of a salary freeze, Dr. Bangs said that it is unlikely that teachers would forgo their raises to provide supplies and professional development. "We have no hook," he said, noting that this year's budget does not include personnel elimination. However, he said, next year that could change. "The current contract started before the world changed. Next year when we negotiate the contract, the world will be different," he said. "If further cuts are necessary [next year], personnel will be cut."

"Next year, we will have at least $450,000 of bodies to cut from the budget," Mr. Silva added. "You do the math... that is a significant number of employees, and they are not part-time employees, they are full-time teachers."

The discussion turned to town assessments. Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera, who was sitting in the audience, said that the school committee and the towns are supposed to vote on the assessment and present it to the town. "My recommendation is to ask the region to allocate the state aid based on the student population," he said. In response, Mr. Silva said if a problem is detected on how assessments are calculated, then the school should go back to 2003 and retroactively fix the problem. Ms. Isernio had said that the allocation formula for the assessments uses the same percentage in its formula since 2003.

"The school committee has no interest in the battle between three towns on how assessment is done," said Dr. Bangs. However, Mr. White promised to review the matter to the satisfaction of the three towns.

The school board adjourned at 7:35pm

Roadway Acceptance Hearing Scheduled

Mattapoisett Planning Board

By Sarah K. Taylor

A regular meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board was called to order by Chairman Thomas Tucker on March 1, 2010 at 7:30 pm. Also present were Board members John Mathieu, Robert B. McNamara and Karen Field.

The first order of business for the evening was the Roadway Acceptance Plan, regarding Park Place and Park Lane, submitted by N. Douglas Schneider and Associates. Mr. Schneider began by updating the Board on recent developments on the roadway development and by requesting their help on "figuring out the next step." The developers for the project are interested in having the road plan be accepted by the town, and would like to submit a petition to get on a Town Meeting warrant. The annual Town Meeting is scheduled for May 10, 2010.

A request was made for a Roadway Acceptance hearing, which the Board members decided could be on April 5, 2010 at 7:30 at the Mattapoisett Town Hall.

Board member Karen Field asked a question regarding the impact on abutters to the land. Highway Surveyor Barry Denham answered this question by stating that "all abutters signed off on this before any paperwork was submitted to the Selectmen." The landowners need to unanimously support this project in order for it to be considered.

Mr. Schneider also asked that one final lot in the subdivision, which was never released, be released in order to move forward with the project. A motion was made by Board member John Mathieu, seconded by Ms. Field and passed unanimously.

Mr. Denham then approached the Board with a presentation of an unnamed cul-de-sac in a subdivision, which Mr. Denham asked the Board to consider. Mr. Denham said that a "gentleman wanted to request a waiver for construction in a wetland" and that the cul-de-sac in question would not be built as proposed. Mr. Denham continued, "when you layout a cul-de-sac, the land shouldn't be used for another purpose."

Chairman Tucker responded: "we can take this into consideration when it comes before us. This really hasn't come before us. We'll keep a file for when it does come up."

Before the minutes from the February 1, 2010 meeting could be approved, a few spelling errors were corrected, and then the motion to accept the minutes passed unanimously.

The mail was reviewed, and a motion to adjourn was then made by Board member John Mathieu at 8:01 pm.

Southcoast Assesses Health Needs

By Anne O'Brien-Kakley

Tri-Town residents got the chance to attend a presentation from Southcoast Health System on February 25, 2010 at the Mattapoisett library. This "needs assessment" program outlined the specific health problems and challenges in Southeastern Massachusetts, including the Tri-Town, and was co-sponsored by the Mattapoisett Free Public Library and the Mattapoisett Social and Wellness Center.

Southcoast Health System is a non-profit "community-based health delivery system" that includes St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Kerry Mello, the Marketing and Community Relations Coordinator for Southcoast Health outlined a Community Needs Assessment that detailed the health challenges unique to the Southcoast of Massachusetts, from Rhode Island to Cape Cod. She describes their findings as being data-supported opinions.

According to the needs assessment, many residents feel that the major health problems facing the Southcoast are: diet and obesity (which leads to heart disease and diabetes), smoking, alcohol and drugs, and mental health issues. In southeastern Massachusetts, only one-quarter of the residents consume the amount of fruits and vegetables they should, and one-quarter of the residents are considered "obese", with Fall River having the highest rate of obesity in the region.

Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham all have the highest smoking rates in the area, with Wareham having the highest rate of lung cancer in all of Massachusetts.

One of the most troubling issues on the rise, especially in the Southcoast, is "youth risk behavior." Included in this category are underage drinking and teen pregnancy.

"Teen pregnancy in the larger community is a very big problem," admitted Ms. Mello. "When you don't have the funding to address the issue, the rates go right back up."

An issue that affects all towns and communities in the area is that of maternal/child health issues. "These are the most vulnerable people in our population," said Ms. Mello, who said that in poorer communities, the rate of expecting mothers who smoke was very high - over 20% in Wareham.

Ms. Mello said that they wanted to work on all communities on the Southcoast to encourage breastfeeding and to reduce c-section rates. The audience present at the program was particularly interested in why breastfeeding rates were so low.

"Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I thought breastfeeding was cheap and natural," said library director Susan Pizzolato.

Ms. Mello cited cultural issues and working schedules as reasons why the breastfeeding rate is lower than they would like to see. Southcoast Health System has tried to address the issue by having certified lactation consultants at all of the hospitals - St. Luke's, Charlton Memorial, and Tobey (where the breastfeeding rate is currently the highest at 70%).

In their community outreach, Southcoast Health System focused on addressing cardiovascular disease and youth risk behavior, while improving access to healthcare to citizens in the area. A cardiac disease prevention program encompassing area schools (including Old Rochester Regional) gathers information from students and educates kids on how to keep their hearts healthy. Ms. Mello said that middle-schoolers are particularly receptive to the program. "Once you get them fired up, they are great advocates," she said. A lot of that advocacy includes returning home and encouraging their parents to have healthy lifestyles. Sadly, this program also determines that a lot of middle school children are pre-diabetic.

In cardiovascular screening and outreach, Southcoast Health System has affected 35,000 people in the past three years, and there has been a noted 10% heart health improvement among those screened.

Other preventative programs include a youth pregnancy prevention program, a stroke awareness program, youth summits and the Southcoast health van. The van is available to all communities, and it allows for mobile blood drives, health screening and education.

Ms. Mello said, "the issues are kind of daunting and depressing", but the group is still making great strides to address local issue with grants to end obesity, smoking, and keep "Mass in Motion".

Southcoast Health systems envisions a future of improving lifestyles. They want to encourage planning boards to design more sidewalks and bike lanes, and hope that more local farmers' markets will make good food readily available to all socioeconomic groups.

"People think 'I can't afford fruits and vegetables'," said Ms. Mello, "but with education, that's changing."

For more information on the Southcoast Health System, visit www.southcoast.org.

Selectmen Propose School Regionalization Committee

Tri-Town Board of Selectmen Meeting

By Laura Pedulli

A joint meeting of the Tri-Town Boards of Selectmen was called to order by Marion Chairman Stephen Cushing in the Media Room of Old Rochester Regional High School on February 25, 2010 at 7:45 pm. Present from Marion were Selectmen Jonathan F. Henry and Roger F. Blanchette in addition to Town Administrator Paul Dawson. Representatives from Mattapoisett included Town Administrator Michael Gagne and Selectmen Paul Silva and George Randall. Additional attendees included Rochester Selectmen Naida Parker and Richard Nunes and Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera.

Mr. Gagne began the meeting discussing regionalization efforts for trash and recycling. He said he is putting forward a request for quotation (RFQ) for trash services for the three towns. In addition, he is seeking a separate RFQ for recycling services since recycling services are set to expire in Mattapoisett on June 30. He said the effort to consolidate services also may require the setting aside of a corporate highway yard for recycling and garbage trucks to reduce fuel costs. A working draft on regionalization of these services will be sent to each community by March 1, Mr. Gagne said.

"Vendors are good at getting it done as quickly as possible," Mr. Gagne said, adding that the ability to use fewer trucks would represent "big savings." The Selectmen then compared which days recycling and trash services currently serve their areas and all agreed there is ample opportunity to consolidate trips. Mr. Gagne said he hopes quotes will be in hand by mid-April to choose a vendor and decide how to proceed.

The board then discussed the "appetite" for school district regionalization for the savings potential. The need to have "everyone treated the same," as Mr. LaCamera put it, may present the greatest roadblock to negotiations. Specifically, the board acknowledged that the discrepancy in health insurance reimbursement - Marion and Rochester employees are reimbursed at 50% and Mattapoisett is reimbursed at 75% - may prevent regionalization from happening. "Regionalization depends on the unions," Mr. Nunes said.

Mr. Silva said that school regionalization does not just translate into financial benefits. Students from all towns would receive a "better education," he said, because more emphasis would be placed on giving children from each town a similar education so they are on equal footing when entering junior high.

The board then decided to create a committee to study school regionalization. This committee would include a total of eight members: one representative from the selectmen from each town (3), one school board committee representative from each town and the regional school district (4), and the Superintendent as ex-officio (1). In response to Mr. Nunes' ongoing concern that health insurance reimbursement would stop regionalization talks in its tracks, Mr. Silva expressed confidence that "it can be done... it would happen over a period of time." He also said that the newly formed committee could form a subcommittee dedicated to resolving potential deal breaker issues like health insurance reimbursement.

Mr. Gagne also mentioned avenues to explore to reduce school costs. He said using organizations such as the Council on Aging to transport children to the central point for the Bristol Aggie Bus is worth exploring. "You'd be surprised how much money you can save," he said. He also recommended working with other districts to transport special education students using the same vehicles.

General efforts to share resources for cost savings also were discussed. Mr. Gagne said that when it "comes to the small stuff," towns should work at the "grassroots level" to consolidate resources. For example, Mr. Gagne noted that Mattapoisett borrows Fairhaven's VAC truck eliminating a need to purchase a new one. He said "bigger stuff" should be left to boards and committees.

The board set its next meeting date for April 22 at 7:00 pm. The committee adjourned at 8:35 pm.

School Report

Community Events at ORR

By Anne Smith

This week and the following month are filled with community events at Old Rochester Regional. Just last week, parents of both incoming freshmen and of current students were invited to the Parent Information Night, where the department heads were available for a question and answer session. There was also an information night for parents of sophomores and juniors about the college application process and outside testing. Both of these nights were in preparation for the course selection process, which is beginning this week with teacher recommendations.

Teachers will be dedicating class time to initialing student cards with their class recommendations, so students should have their green cards with them for the entire week. Starting next week, students will go down to the computer lab in their studies to enter their course selections into the computer. Students who do not have a study should not be alarmed about going to the computer lab; there is going to be an all-call over the intercom to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to input their course selections.

There's a slight change to the course selection process this year. Students will have until June to work with their schedules for the next year, so students are reminded to take time in picking their classes. In fall, students will not be able to drop a class or change class level after the first term. As the guidance counselors have been saying, even now in the third term they are still receiving requests from students to change their level. Next year, this will not be tolerated. Schedules will be finalized prior to the next year.

On Friday, March 5, Old Rochester Regional will be hosting its annual Winter Blues Festival. The event, open to the general public, is scheduled for 6:00 pm in the cafeteria. Not only have there been film submissions from the high school students in the various categories, but Mr. Andree from the junior high has submitted some films from his archive of student projects. Old students of the green team are especially encouraged to attend the festival in case one of their projects is shown.

Parents who are interested in participating in a free educational program for "Management of Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Among Adolescents" on Saturday, March 13 at Mass. General Hospital should contact the assistant principal, Mr. Parker, for more information.

It is almost time for the Old Rochester Regional Drama Club to present its spring production, which is RENT . The shows are scheduled for March 18 through March 21. The shows start at 7:30 pm, and the matinee on March 21 starts at 2:00 pm. ORR students who buy tickets at school to the Thursday performance get a discount of five dollars. For all other shows, tickets for students and seniors are $12.00 while tickets for adults are $15.00. Tickets can be bought at the door, although students can only get the Thursday discount if they buy the tickets from the front office.

On Wednesday, March 31, Old Rochester Regional will be hosting a Health and Wellness Night in the gym from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Those who attend will be able to meet Amanda Kelly, the 2009 Miss Massachusetts, and Jay Kruger from "The Biggest Loser." There will be five demonstrations: one for a new aerobic activity called Zumba, the ORR dance team, karate, KikFit Cardio, and Pilates. Over twenty vendors will have stations set up around the gym, and there will be three health-related seminars. There will also be opportunities for visitors to find health services such as the Southcoast Health Van and Tri-Town Public Health Services.

Congratulations to Emily Bungert, a junior at Old Rochester Regional who has won the school Poetry Out Loud competition. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition that also awards scholarships to the winners. Ms. Bungert will be representing ORR at the regional Poetry Out Loud competition at the Cape Cod Cultural Center in Yarmouth on March 6. ORR wishes Ms. Bungert the best of luck and hopes that she will be able to represent us at the state competition at the Huntington Theater in Boston, which is scheduled in later March.