City Council Reviews School Budget Cuts

Students, teachers and parents flooded City Council chambers last night to fight for $568,000 that could be cut from the budget of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) for next fiscal year.

"These cuts--$568,000 at the high school level--took us by surprise," Diane Tabor, assistant principal for curriculum instruction at the school, told the council.

If passed, the school would be forced to eliminate several programs, including phone calls that monitor school attendance and a teacher-adviser program that introduces ninth graders to high school, said William D. McLaurin, a science teacher at CRLS.

McLaurin added that cuts would also hinder programs that "mainstream" bilingual and special-needs students, as well as drop-out prevention programs.

The budget cuts will also cut out seven teaching positions, SAT preparation courses and the future hiring of young teachers, he said.

"You are familiar with the adage that you shouldn't fix anything unless it's broken. This is not a broken high school," McLaurin said.

Many students, teachers and parents praised the diversity of the school as one of its strongest points, saying that was reason enough to cancel the proposed cuts.

"Cambridge Rindge and Latin is not a homogeneous school. We are truly a rainbow school," said William Morris, another teacher at the school. "While we welcome this diversity, it also brings certain difficulties. Academic growth is only part of a contemporary school. I ask you to keep CRLS what it is--a comprehensive high school."

The council voted to draft a recommendation that "will meet the needs of the high school and elementary schools" in response to the complaiunts.

The council also voted to support the neighborhood of East Cambridge in its fight to keep a rehabilitation center from being opened at the Otis Hospital.

The Hospital has been purchased by the E. Noble Corporation for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that was originally planned for Waltham, East Cambridge citizens said.

Residents are concerned at the amount of traffic and security problems the facility would create in the neighborhood, they said. They also said they were hoping the site could be used as low-cost housing instead.

"Ms. Noble [of the E. Noble Corporation] doesn't care where this facility goes as long as it goes somewhere and it benefits her," said Bill Dines, an East Cambridge resident.

"These people think the people of East Cambridge are idiots and that they can just slip this by us," he added.

The citizens must submit a written letter of protest by April 30.

In other business, the council passed motions congratulating Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci on his 74th birthday. The order described Vellucci as "a person who proves that the dreams of yesterday are the realities of today."

The crowd in the council chambers rose to sing "Happy Birthday" to Vellucci, as city employees brought in a cake and a large bouquet of flowers and balloons.