By NEIL ZOLOT
NORTH READING — Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Daly provided the School Committee with the budget for the SEEM Collaborative in Stoneham, in which five North Reading students are enrolled and one aide is employed.
The FY24 cost to the town is $306,180 for services that would otherwise have cost $485,825 in comparable private programs. That’s a “cost avoidance” of $179,645, he said.
Although not used as a name anymore, SEEM originally stood for Special Education of Education Mutual. Other member communities are Lynnfield, Melrose, Reading, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield, Wilmington, Winchester and Woburn. Programs are currently offered at schools located in Lynnfield, Melrose, Stoneham, Wakefield and Wilmington.
The overall SEEM FY25 budget for all member communities is calculated at $3,422,700 for 59 students. If they were enrolled in comparable private programs the cost would be $5,688,079, yielding a cost avoidance of $2,265,379.
“A great partnership”
“SEEM has grown to encompass all the needs of students,” Daly said. “It’s a great partnership. The savings of cost compared to a private institution is important.”
Daly added that they offer consultation for English as a Learned Language, counseling programs, and information for professional development. “There are lots of good reasons to be on board with them,” he said.
“It’s important to be able to offer all students access to a robust education and sometimes we’re unable to offer that in the North Reading School District,” Buckley said. “Programs such as SEEM and Northshore Consortium offer important offerings and our memberships give us discounted rates for those programs,” he added.
“The membership fees are very reasonable and typically, even if a single student attends, the discounts far exceed the cost of the membership. Regarding SEEM, for students enrolled, we are saving almost $180,000, which is a huge benefit to the district. The value goes beyond just these savings as there are important collaborations that happen, but from a financial perspective, it makes a lot of sense,” added Buckley.