Mount Greylock School Committee Approves Cost-Share Agreement
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| Committee Chairman David Archibald, left, and Superintendent William Travis listen to discussion during Monday night's meeting. |
Six of the seven committee members — David Langston abstained — voted in favor of the agreement, which is now up for approval by the union, which consists of the Williamstown and Lanesborough elementary schools. School Union 71 committee members will meet on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Williamstown Municipal Building to discuss the agreement.
"We may have an agreement by both parties by the end of the week," district committee member Carolyn Greene said.
Monday's vote came after extensive discussion of the plan and last week's postponement.
If the union approves, the next step will call on the administrative review subcommittee — which consists of two members from the district (one each from Williamstown and Lanesborough) and two from the union (one each from Williamstown and Lanesborough) — to make recommendations for the shared administrative positions, including superintendent, business director and special education director.
Once the recommendations are made by the subcommittee, the district and union will vote separately to approve the cost-sharing positions. Because of the pending retirement of Mount Greylock Regional Superintendent William Travis, whose last day is June 30, committee members strongly urged for a special meeting before the next scheduled session, which was slated for Tuesday, June 15.
"I am anxious about postponing this and dragging it out," Langston said. "I think we ought to be prepared, as a committee, to meet sooner [than June 15] in order to get this moving."
Chairman David Archibald said he was "more than 50 percent certain" that the committee will meet in early June to vote on the shared positions.
According to the agreement, the cost sharing will be divided as follows in fiscal year 2011: 46 percent from the district, 33 percent from Williamstown Elementary and 21 percent from Lanesborough Elementary. The percentages are determined by two ratios: the student enrollments and the number of full-time employees in the three schools based on figures from October 1, 2009.
Going forward, the formula, which garnered considerable attention during Monday's hourlong meeting, will be based on the average enrollment and employee figures over a five-year period. For fiscal 2012, the percentages will be based on the averages from Oct. 1 of 2009 and 2010. The 2009 numbers will factor into cost-sharing percentages between the three schools until fiscal 2016, when a new five-year cycle will begin, encompassing averages from Oct. 1 of 2010 through 2014.
"We want to reduce major swings," committee member Ronald Tinkham said. "This accomplishes what we're trying to achieve in having some stability in the numbers."
In other business Monday night, the committee approved the changes made to the regional school district agreement between the towns of Williamstown and Lanesborough, which will be up for a vote tonight at the annual town meeting at Williamstown Elementary School.
At the request of Town Manager Peter Fohlin, the committee will provide a one-page review for voters, highlighting the changes in the agreement. The most notable change is the apportionment of operating costs, which follows the same five-year cycle as written in the proposed cost-share plan between the district and union, except it will factor in just the pupil enrollment figures between the two towns.
