School Committee brings budget talks behind closed doors
Published on May 20th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - The whittling which has and is still taking place in the Stoneham School Department budgetary process has been brought behind closed doors by School Committee members in hopes of arriving at consensus cuts without outside distraction.
Last week, the School Committee addressed the concerns of parents in attendance before going into executive session to work in-depth on where approximately $700,000 can be cut in order to arrive at the $16.7 million appropriated at the Annual Town Meeting.
"I think we, as a School Committee, will do a lot of soul searching over the next week," committee Chairman Steven Gucciardi said. "It's not an easy process.
"We need to get this issue behind us and begin to look ahead to the next school year."
Acting Superintendent Robert Barbarisi again provided the Committee and meeting attendees with a list of recommended cuts. Gone from the list were the vice principal positions which had previously been suggested by Barbarisi.
The new list included several cuts in Middle School maintenance staffing.
Barbarisi explained that, in order to provide the Middle School with a new team (4) of teachers, some cuts had to be made.
"We spent a lot of time trying to look at the issues and trying to keep the educational programs intact," he explained. "Some, unfortunately, will be affected, however."
Parents and School Committee members voiced their objection to the Middle School staffing cuts and to the trepidation they felt at leaving the schools open to maintenance problems.
"I think this committee took a position to put in that Middle School team, but we didn't know, I don't think, that it would be at this expense," committee member Jeanne Craigie said. "I think every school should take an equal hit and I don't see that happening now."
Mary Carey, the newest School Committee member, agreed, saying, "These kids are at a critical time in their life. I think it's more critical than some of the other grades. (The proposed cuts are) very distressing to me."
Another area which was targeted by Barbarisi was extracurricular activities such as sports and clubs. He said that the School Department may have to either cut or charge membership fees to all such activities in order to lower the budget.
Gucciardi said that this may have a lasting effect on the programs and on the students.
"It takes years to build a system. That can be dismantled overnight.
"Once it is gone, it takes years to get back."
Barbarisi explained that the areas he had cited as targets were arrived at through several meetings with administrators throughout the School Department.
"My personal philosophy was that, if the schools offered these programs, they ought to be paid for by (the schools)," he said. "More and more communities, in order to offer these things, have been forced into the issue of student activity fees.
"It's an unfortunate situation. Even though I'm (suggesting) them, it's not without a good amount of regret on my side."
He explained that the situation Stoneham schools is in has made this process almost impossible. In order to make these cuts, one must consider the ramifications they will have on the students, staff and buildings.
Throughout this process, the protection of classroom learning has remained as the top priority. Cuts in bussing, maintenance and extra curricular activities will likely be made before any cuts in teacher staffing, but it appears as if some educational offerings will be among the missing next year.
According to Craigie, "We went into executive session because we needed to discuss things that are confidential in the collective bargaining units (union)."
The next scheduled School Committee meeting is on June 11.
In other school business, Barbarisi announced that due to only one snow day over the winter, the final day of school will be June 18.
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