Town of Shirley - Shirley, MA

AYER SHIRLEY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICTSUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLSThe Ayer Shirley Regional School District is now in its second year since becoming fully operational on July 1,2011. Highlights of the past year include the following:• In its first fiscal year of operation, the regional school district finished "in the black," ending with anexcess and deficiency (E & D) balance of approximately $189,000.• Five new collective-bargaining agreements were successfully negotiated. Furthermore, last summer thecollective-bargaining units and the district agreed upon changes to our health-insurance plan that willresult in savings this fiscal year (FY13) and next (FY14) of $100,000 and $190,000, respectively.• The School Building Committee (SBC) completed its feasibility study for capital improvements to AyerShirley Regional High School and received overwhelming support from the voters in both communitiesfor the final proposal. Originally, the study was focused on refurbishing the building as a combinedmiddle/high school. However, the SBC concluded that the better option was to keep separate middle andhigh schools, with students in grades 6-8 remaining at Ayer Shirley Regional Middle School in Shirley.The high school project approved by voters last November will include renovations and additions, with atotal cost of approximately $56 million ($37 million of which will be funded by the Massachusetts SchoolBuilding Authority, with the balance from Ayer and Shirley). The project-which involves phased,occupied construction-is due to be completed in the summer of 2015 and will result in a school of whichthe communities can be ve1y proud.• A major goal of forming the new regional district has been to stem the out-migration of our secondarystudents and to prove that we are the best educational "fit" for a much greater number-and variety--ofstudents. To this end, we are pleased to report that we have seen a modest, but encouraging, reductionthis year in the number of choice-out and charter students from Ayer and Shirley.We continue to focus on the quality of our educational programs and services, with attention to affordability forthe communities that support us and sustainability to ensure lasting results. While both communities continue tostruggle with a lack of financial resources, we are encouraged by a genuine commitment on the part of mostpeople to make the regional district successful.GRADE-LEVEL ENROLLMENT(as of October 1, 2012)Grade: PreK K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TotalAyer 31 98 75 85 67 67 61 78 73 69 67 39 40 42 892Shirley 33 52 66 63 52 55 58 66 60 46 29 21 28 20 649Other 4 10 6 13 7 9 8 8 9 8 7 10 5 10 114Total 68 160 147 161 126 131 127 152 142 123 103 70 73 72 1655Page Hilltop School (PreK to grade 5):Lura A. White School (PreK to grade 5):AS Regional Middle School (grades 6-8):AS Regional High School (grades 9-12):544 students (479 Ayer, 29 Shirley, 36 other)376 students (350 Shirley, 5 Ayer, 21 other)417 students (220 Ayer, 172 Shirley, 25 other)318 students (188 from Ayer, 98 Shirley, 32 other)On behalf of the Regional School Committee and the entire ASRSD staff, I would like to thank the manyextraordinarily generous individuals, groups, and organizations that support our schools through theirvolunteerism, participation, and donations. Please know that your help is greatly appreciated and that without it,our efforts to serve the students of Ayer and Shirley would be immeasurably more difficult.Respectfully submitted,Carl Mock, Superintendent123