www.mybaycity.com November 19, 2013
Rotary Article 8625

Superintendent Newcombe Talks To Rotary About School System

November 19, 2013
By: Stephen Kent



Doug Newcombe
Doug Newcombe, Superintendent of the Bay City Public Schools, and member of Morning Rotary, spoke to the club about the state of the local school and the challenges faced by budget and regulatory realities.

"The fact is, education has been one of the fastest changing areas in the last 5 to 10 years and for the most part school districts have managed it", Doug said.

On the positive side Doug talked about increased student achievement, new teacher staffing practices, improved transparency,updated safety procedures and tools, and improved transparency.

Of more concern, Doug talked about the number of changes and the difficulty they imposed. He talked about how schools are funded, the costs they face, the requirements and mandates, politics, perceptions, attitudes and socio-economic conditions.

Michigan has 549 traditional public schools that educate 1.4 million students (90.9% of all students). The state also has 277 academies or charter schools, which have 130,000 students (about 470 per school).

The largest part of state funding (46.6%) comes from sales taxes. Income taxes is next at 19.9%, followed by the state education tax for 16.2. The lottery is fourth in line accounting for 6.7%. "Over the years, lottery has been a replacement rather than providing additional funds."

Doug addressed the inequities of funding at a state level. Bay City is one of the lowest, being paid the state minimum of $6,966 per student. Detroit area schools are among the highest averaging in the $11,000 per student range. Various explanations were cited for this discrepancy.

Costs discussed included the retirement system, health insurance costs, special education, and "best practice funding" and other requirements and mandates.

To view a PDF of Newcombe's slide show click 2013-11-19-Newcombe-Talk.pdf




CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

President Lee issued a challenge to memeber to invite prospective members to a meeting. The upcoming holiday music program on December 17 would be an ideal time for a guest to visit. The Member Recruitment page in the member's section of the club web site has resources you may want. If you have a prospect, check these items.

Remember the December 3 Club Assembly when we will discuss major projects, grants and other items. (Go to the members section of the club web site and look at the surveys in the ARW section.) The Centennial Committee will meet at 11:00 on that same day.

The by-laws committee will hold their final meeting at 11:00 on January 7. Everyone is invited to this important meeting.

Lee reported on Rotary's efforts in the aftermath of the recent Phillipines typhoon. He talked about information on Rotary.org as well as a letter from RI concerning our efforts.

Gena Gates noted that November is Rotary Foundation month. Members working on their first Paul Harris Fellowship can take advantage of matching points grants from members like the Chadwicks. The Centinnieal committee has talked about having every member a Paul Harris Fellow for the 100 year anniversary year.


Al Hicks
Al Hicks announced that he has been diagnosed with a cancer of the white blood cells. He gave an inspiring few words making two ponits. 1) cancer is a condition and nothing to be freightened about. Things have changed. 2) Al said he's taking chemo now and, although there are side effects, it's not that bad. He fully expects that within six months he won't have cancer. Al got a round of laughter when he said that the word chemo has been around a while. He heard it as a kid but it was paired with the second word "sabe" as in "kemo sabe".

Tim Holsworth gave a "hard luck buck" saying that he went hunting and saw 1 deer. The next day he was playing golf and saw three deer. Tim Moulthrop said that was nothing. When parking his car before the meeting today he looked up to see a large doe walk past and go into the park across the street.

DUES INVOICES have been mailed for the January to June period. Please try to get these in soon. In the past we have waited until almost everyone has paid before making our payment to Rotary International. This time we plan to pay by the due date regardless. We hope to get everyone's dues promptly.




DATES TO REMEMBER


Seasonal Music Program and joint meeting December 17, 2013

Centennial Committee meets December 3 at 11:00.

NO MEETING Decimeter 24 and 31, 2013.

By-Laws committee meets January 7 at 11:00.


Upcoming Programs

(See the official schedule at RotaryBayCity.org )

November 26, 2013: Saginaw Spirit. Craig Gosling from the Saginaw Spirit will provide an overview of their organization and highlight its impact on the Great Lakes Bay Region.

December 3, 2013: Club Assembly. As a club, we will present all feedback from recent surveys and club sessions and make some suggestions for moving forward with service projects.

December 10, 2013: District 6310 Water Program Update. Steve Jennings, from District 6310 Water Committee, will update the club on the water projects that our District is involved with.

December 17, 2013: Rotary Holiday Program. Join us for our annual Holiday Program, featuring music performed by Rotarians from within the club.

December 24, 2013: NO ROTARY MEETING TODAY - ENJOY HOLIDAY TIME WITH FAMILY

December 31, 2013: NO ROTARY MEETING TODAY - ENJOY HOLIDAY TIME WITH FAMILY




Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.




Current and past DISTRICT DISPATCH newsletters are available on the District site shown in the LINKS section below.

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LINKS

RotaryBayCity.org BayCityMorningRotary.com
District 6310 Web Site District Dispatch Archive
Rotary International Make-up On-Line at RotaryEclubOne.org
The Rotary Global History Fellowship rotaryfirst100.org
Rotary Global History.


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