The School Committee approved a budget of nearly $47 million that adds back $1.2 million in projected cuts, saving positions and programs. The committee hopes to find the additional cash by “scrubbing” its own reserve and revolving funds, as well as tapping a surplus predicted for the end of the year.
School Committee Chair Sarah Fox emphasized that the $1.2 million would come from the district’s own coffers.
“The School Committee will be voting again next week and are expecting to reduce the (budget) number approved by a value of $1,200,000, which will be covered with a combination of revolving funds, grants and any FY ’24 surplus to prepay budgeted items in accordance with MGL (Massachusetts General Law),” Fox wrote in an email to the Current. “The School Committee is awaiting the details on that figure and will vote accordingly once they are available.”
The district will ask the town for another $250,000 in free cash and is asking interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness to identify additional priorities totalling that amount to save.
“If we can cover in house $1.2 million and we can ask the town to find an additional $250,000, I don’t think that’s a huge ask,” Fox said at a School Committee meeting on April 1.
Mary Delai, acting finance director, said, “So some combination of some cuts, some revolving funds, and some additional free cash — hopefully generated or regenerated by our school department turnback to some extent — would be an acceptable solution that would get us to cover these adds back into the budget from the reduced-service budget to get you closer to the level service. Not quite there, but closer to level service.”
Some of the items added back to the district’s preliminary reduced-services budget include:
- Lead teachers at the Glover, Brown and Village schools
- Veterans School librarian
- Veterans School assistant principal
- Behavior interventionist at Glover
- Reading teacher at Veterans
- Paraprofessionals, building substitutes at various schools
The School Committee will meet Monday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. to finalize the budget total and confirm funding sources. Then at 6 p.m., it is set to meet with the Finance Committee, which will also vote on the schools spending plan.
Voters at Town Meeting will have final say on the budget in May.
Mold update
McGuinness spoke about mold discovered at the high school, linked to several roof leaks throughout the building. Town Meeting approved funds for the roof replacement two years ago. After various delays, it is now out to bid. McGuinness said the first part of the project would not be completed until the summer of 2025.
“Earlier this winter, in one classroom a concealed source of mold was identified behind a sink and removed,” McGuinness said. “As in all situations, our response to mold is to identify, remove the impacted area, treat the area and replace the damaged material such as the wall and insulation. Principal (Michele) Carlson made arrangements to move the teacher and class to an alternative location within the school. The area where it was found is not currently being used as a classroom.”
The district has contracted with two companies to perform tests in different areas of the high school, McGuinness said. Air quality tests have also been performed, determining that the mold “was not airborne” and not at dangerous levels.
At a budget hearing last month, Village teacher Jonathan Heller, who co-leads the teachers union, spoke about the mold.
“We learned that this kind of mold feeds and spreads quickly and is highly dangerous,” Heller said. “It can trigger infections, asthma, allergies, skin and nail infections, nosebleeds and headaches.”
McGuinness said air purifiers and dehumidifiers have been placed in areas where there are identified leaks.
“It is clear that a larger-scale examination of water intrusion needs to take place at MHS given the roof replacement is not imminently scheduled,” she said. “From the meeting, we anticipate providing the committee and the school community with a more specific plan of action before April break.”
McGuinness continued: “We do still have several areas of our roof that are leaking, especially as a result of the significant rain we’ve experienced this winter, and our facilities department is continuing to monitor this closely and mitigate, as warranted. We are also continuing our contract with an environmental consultant and implementing their recommendations. Next steps include continuing to monitor both situations, updating a facilities plan to include work over April break and the summer… and in the meantime, promptly resolving any water-intrusion issues as they arise.”
