Office of the Superintendent
Dr. James H. Weiss

February 2012 Statement

A message

Main Page

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me
Jim_Weiss at mvyps.org
or call our office at
508-693-2007.
It’s the beginning of the second semester at the High School, and I guess that means our year is already half over. Students across the Island are hard at work on academics, sports and other activities. I have had the pleasure of attending many High School athletic events, and our teams are really doing well. Basketball and hockey teams have a chance at making the play-offs. The Girls Hockey team celebrated the efforts of long-time coach Sam Sherman recently, and these young athletes have been a real pleasure to watch.
This February, like all Februarys, we are hard at work finalizing our school budgets and defending them at FinCom and Selectman’s meetings. School principals begin this process in early October working closely with Business Administrator Amy Tierney, but the process isn’t over until Annual Meetings are concluded. Especially difficult this year was work with Oak Bluffs as that community is battling a structural problem with its budget. OB Principal Richie Smith, a school committee member or I have attended every FinCom meeting and most Selectman’s meetings just to stay involved. Other towns will complete their reviews over the next few weeks with Up-Island communities looking closely at the growing budget for the Up-Island Regional School District.

As a result of the Health Insurance Reform at the State level, we have begun the process to significantly modify our health insurance for employees in all towns and districts. The process is extremely complicated, and failure is truly not an option so the process must move forward carefully. The biggest changes will have to do with deductibles and co-pays. The Cape Cod Municipal Health Group has scheduled a series of workshops to explain the changes to employees and the two regional school districts have scheduled the first big step – the formation of the Insurance Advisory Committees.

While we haven’t had any bad winter weather yet – actually it’s been beautiful; please remember that we try to make the best decision based upon local weather conditions and the future forecast. I hope you realize that we will not always get it right! On nasty weather days, the decision to delay or cancel school is made by about 5:00 AM and can be viewed on local television stations, heard on WMVY, and seen on many school websites. Any time the school day is cancelled; all other activities at school will also be cancelled that day, including athletic events, practices and meetings.

Also, remember that the last week of February is a vacation week. Let’s hope we can all use that time to rest and prepare for the spring.

James H. Weiss, EdD
Superintendent of Schools