School Committee narrows budget gap, Teachers may be cut
Published on March 14th, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - The School Committee took action on Thursday night that brings its fiscal year 2002 budget closer in line with what the town has said it can afford.
Approximately $48,000 was cut from the proposed budget for next year, resulting in a draft 3 school department budget totaling $20,345,041, an 8.8 percent increase over the current year.
The original proposed budget reflected a 10.66 percent increase over the current year. This third pass reflects some serious reductions and brings the total figure within approximately $450,000 of the town's recommended figure.
According to committee members on Thursday, the only possibility of closing that gap further is the potential renting of the East School building on Beacon Street, a move that may fetch another $100,000 in revenue (see related story).
"I'm not willing to take another dime out of the school budget," said Committee Chairwoman Jeanne Craigie. "At this point...there is nothing in the budget that we don't need."
The cuts approved last week reflect a reduction in two directorships, one in fine arts, the other in guidance. In the fine arts program, the scope of the existing k-12 directorship will be reduced to a program supervisory role for grades 6 through 12, with the elementary school principals assuming supervisory responsibility for that level.
Likewise, the existing guidance directorship for k-12 will be reduced to a program supervisory role for grades 6 through 12 with school principals covering supervision for the elementary level, and high school administrators and the central office taking on the additional responsibilities for system-wide testing.
"These are not easy reductions," said School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly.
"I have a real problem with the guidance piece," said Committee Chairwoman Jeanne Craigie.
While the action helps to get the school department closer to an acceptable budget for next year, she called the existing position "very critical" and urged consideration for bringing back this piece in particular, if and when the fiscal situation allows.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Keroack agreed and stated that she too is concerned with what might not get done (such as grant writing) by administrators forced to take on additional responsibilities due to the cuts.
The School Committee voted its approval on the reduction.
The current gap in the draft 3 budget and the town recommended figure represents about a dozen teaching positions, according to Connelly.
The possibility of not rehiring all teachers exists, therefore, and by law, the School Committee must notify all teachers without Professional Teaching status (those with less than three full years in the system) of this possibility. There are 66 such teachers in the Stoneham school system.
The state of Massachusetts requires school systems to notify their eligible teachers (without professional teaching status) by June 15. Stoneham's contract with its teachers, however, stipulates that this notification must be made by April 15. This date precedes May Town Meeting when the final budget figure is approved.
Connelly called the action of sending out 66 such letters a "morale killer," and feared losing some bright young teachers to systems who can afford their services. He committed to do what he could to prevent losing any of the teachers.
Representatives from the Stoneham Teachers Association requested time to investigate options in order to avoid sending out the letters.
"We hope the budget will pass and we won't have to lay anyone off," Connelly told The Independent.
Discussion will continue at the School Committee's March 22 meeting.
Middle School plans
In other news, Connelly announced the recommendation of Stoneham based Mt. Vernon Group Inc. as the architectural firm to develop a feasibility plan for renovation and/or rebuilding of the Middle School.
Town Meeting approved $20,000 last spring for the feasibility study. The Feasibility Study Committee has been working since early October through a process that ultimately led to narrowing down a field of eight respondents to the Montvale Avenue firm.
Architects Bill Peters and Frank Tedesco addressed the School Committee on Thursday; they said that Mount Vernon has designed more than 100 middle schools and will look into the two options available - renovating and adding to the existing school or rebuilding the school.
In the data gathering phase, Tedesco explained that the study would focus on enrollment projections, the education program, and existing building conditions. Other considerations include the team concept in middle school learning and community use areas. Development of plans and recommendations will follow.
"We have a good record of being on budget," added Tedesco.
The hope is, according to Connelly, that the architects will be able to prepare a report for presentation at May Town Meeting.
The School Committee voted its approval for the firm's selection.
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