4. Is it true that the number of academic teachers is actually less than the aggregate number of non-academic, administrative and support staff 440 vs. 452 FTE's?

The only fair way to assess staffing is to look at personnel who work directly with children, and those who provide supervision, clerical support and other services. In the Department of Education's Annual District and School Staffing report, personnel who provide direct service to students are classified under the following categories:

• Core academic instructional staff
• Special education instructional staff
• Special education shared staff
• Other academic instructional staff
• Instructional paraprofessionals

The support personnel are classified as:

• District administrators
• District administrative support
• Service, operations, and maintenance

The "440" counts only the core academic instructional staff. The remaining direct service providers (around 200 of them) are erroneously included among the "452".

At all levels, what makes Lexington's schools excellent is the breadth of subjects offered to each child, and the support our schools provide not only in the area of academics but also ensuring that our children's social and emotional needs are properly met. Many students with special needs require (by law) the support of tutors, social workers, occupational or speech and language therapists, psychologists and other professionals. For many years, these services were out-sourced at a far greater cost than having such specialists on staff.

For FY04 (the present day), here are the current numbers of FTEs in each category:

No matter what kind of teacher you call "academic," there's no way there are fewer of those than there are administrators.

Why do we need all of the other personnel? There are many tasks that are required of schools, such as proper record-keeping, extensive report-filing, teacher evaluation and professional development, technology support and instruction, curriculum development, etc. Without complying with these requirements, we would risk the loss of certification for our school system. Comparing the size of Lexington's administration, Lexington is 16th among 21 similar communities in the size of its administration, with each administrator serving 301 students. Click here for a detailed comparison. In comparison, Lincoln-Sudbury, Weston, Bedford, Wayland, Carlisle, Acton-Boxborough and Wellesley all have one administrator for fewer than 200 students.

Finally, our community expects excellent schools. To provide excellence, we need sufficient staff to identify which children require special support, to ensure that our curricula are in step with state frameworks, and to supervise the over 30% of teachers new to the profession who, without regular evaluations, would become eligible - by default - for professional status (tenure) within 3 years.

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