Adams-Cheshire OK's $18M Budget, Middle School Closure
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The dozen or so attendees at Monday's School Committee meeting had few questions. Top, committee members Carol C. Corrigan, left, John E. Duval, Superintendent Alfred W. Skrocki, Paul K. Butler, Darlene Rodowicz, Mary Ellen Baker, Lynn T.Clairmont and Jill Pompi. |
The nearly $18 million school budget is down $752,451, or 4 percent, from last year, which sacrifices some two dozen positions in an effort to close a $1.4 million shortfall for the coming year.
Adams will see its total assessment rise $108,424 to $3.66 million, or 3 percent; Cheshire's assessment will drop $16,517 to $2,063,994, less than one percent.
"It's been a tough year. It's certainly not the direction we like to be taking but given the economic realities ...," said committee Chairman Paul K. Butler afterward in the Hoosac Valley High School library, adding the administration had done a "suberb job" in crafting a budget that still maintained educational programming.
Seven teachers are among the staffing cuts, which also includes paraprofessionals, counselors, custodians, a school nurse and the middle school principal (who will be reassigned). The total savings is about a $1 million in wages and benefits, although unemployment compensation will increase by $244,000. Wages have been frozen for administrative staff and cuts made in line items throughout the budget.
Superintendent of Schools Alfred W. Skrocki said the teaching positions to be cut would be announced over the next couple of days. The closure of the middle school had limited impact on the job loss, he said, "[they are] calculated to get us to the bottom line."
Some jobs may be saved through the influx of federal stimulus funding — the district is in line for an estiamted $460,652 in special education and Title 1 funding for fiscal 2010 — but it's not guaranteed. The numbers are "still in flux" because the Legislature may take a look at the how they amounts are calculated, said Skrocki.
That review may include the miniscule $30 in stimulus funds Adams-Cheshire is listed to receive to achieve "foundation level" education spending. Any stimulus money also would received as grants, said Skrocki. "We deal with them outside of the budget, the budget is set at this point."
Feasibility Study for Middle School
The closure of the middle school isn't the end of the concept, or the building for that matter. The school district will be hiring a project manager next month to oversee a study to determine whether the building, formerly an elementary school, on Columbia Street should be shuttered forever or repaired. The survey should take about a year. The statement of interest to the state School Building Authority detailing repairs and other issues at the school can be found here.
In the short term, the closure will save at least $240,000; about $30,000 will be needed to prepare the high school to received the seventh and eighth grades for the fall. The sixth grade will be placed at C.T. Plunkett Elementary School.The district is in talks with the town and its fuel vendor on how the school's gym, which is used as a polling place, might be left open for community events.
Senior Shaun Jennings, a reporter for the high school's paper, Eye of the Hurricane, asked what the students' role would be in the relocation.
"We have a tremondous amount of work has to be done and we don't have a plan in place yet," said Skrocki, who added students would be part of the conversation. "We would have a number of meetings for input and information from not only parents and students but other stakeholders [in the community]."
The idea of turning Hoosac Valley back into a Grade 7-12 school has been under discussion for several years as a possible option to renovating the middle school. Butler said closing this year was a necessary but "not kneejerk" reaction.
The committee approved the several motions required to close the school and retain the middle school concept. Committee member John E. Duval, while agreeing with the board on the closure, voted against the two motions relating to the middle school structure.
Instead, he'd like to see Grades 7 and 8 more academically integrated into the high school to create a 7-12 structure that would open up more options for the middle school students, such as taking higher-level courses.
"I'd like to have a lot more students be able to take a foreign language course because we don't have that in [the middle] school," he said. "It may work out in the end that they're able to do that. We'll see."
