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The School Committee was unable to agree on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Adams-Cheshire School District Still Without Budget

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee failed again to pass a budget and agreed to try again Monday.
 
Adams and Cheshire residents filled the Hoosac Valley High School library on Wednesday night for a two-hour meeting when the School Committee was unable to settle on a budget, bringing it closer to the April 30 deadline.
 
"If we pass a budget that is not sustainable we rely on the towns to vote for it and that puts us in a number of different situations," School Committee Chairman Paul Butler said. "If we, as a committee, do not come together and figure this out we will be in an even worse case scenario." 
 
Last Monday, the School Committee voted along town lines on a proposed $19.2 million budget, failing to garner the 5-2 supermajority needed to pass. Then Cheshire representative Darlene Rodowicz motioned to put forth a larger budget that would keep all three schools open, maintain current staff and hire for recommended positions. 
 
Faced with both options on Wednesday, the committee could not agree on either proposal.
 
Rodowicz proposed a budget plan of $19,972,033, which would be a 5.04 percent increase from the current fiscal year. Excluding debt, that would mean an Adams allocation of $5,430,338 and $2,697,253 to Cheshire — a near 10 percent increase for both towns instead of the 3 percent set by Adams officials.
 
That budget failed by a 4-3 margin on Wednesday but it wasn't along town lines.
 
Adams representative Stephan Vigna voted for it while Cheshire representative Peter Tatro voted against because he wanted increased funding for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs. 
 
Monday's $19.2 million budget came to a vote again. And again, the votes were split along town lines, failing to get to the 5-2 vote total for approval.
 
The district's attorney Jeff Grandchamp said that without a budget by the end of the week, the clock starts ticking. By law, the committee is supposed to pass a budget by March 31 and provide the towns the certified budget by April 30.
 
Grandchamp said if the School Committee cannot pass a budget by town meeting, each town would be assessed the minimum mandatory amount to run the schools. That would result in cutting $1 million out of the district's operations.
 
If there is no budget by July 1, the start of the fiscal year, the district will receive a portion of this year's budget to operate the school under a 1/12 budget plan. This would result in cutting $275,000.
 
If the district still does not have a budget by Dec. 1 the Department of Education takes complete fiscal control of the district until the towns pass a budget.
 
If the School Committee passes a budget but either of the towns vote it down at town meeting, the committee has an opportunity to change it and bring it back for another town meeting vote.
 
"There are other ways we can work it out but it is largely unchartered waters," Grandchamp said. "There are a series of consequences."
 
Superintendent Robert Putnam reiterated that he felt confident Monday's budget would improve the district's state scoring level and introduce new attractive programming.
 
He added he has concerns about delaying budget approval. He said the administration has worked tirelessly to create an implementation plan to familiarize parents and students with the new configuration.
 
He said that would all be in limbo if the budget process gets put off until the summer and that there may not be time to develop new plans.
 
"If this goes on to July 1... and we find that a town has said no, we may not have time to create quality plans," he said. "Big changes in schools are near impossible without lead time.…I can properly work on other schemes but I can't start them."
 
Putnam added that the uncertainty is bad for staff morale and if there is not a budget in play by mid-July he will contractually have to inform some staff that they may not be brought back. That could lead to some staff leaving the district, he said. 
 
Cheshire and Adams residents were able to speak during a public input session which, although it was briefly suspended when the school's alarm system went off after a baseball hit the alarm, continued well into the night.
 
Cheshire resident Adam Emerson urged the committee to pass the larger budget. 
 
"I have been coming to these meetings for years and it is like getting on an airplane and watching someone pull the rivets out of the wing. At what point do you get off of the plan?" he said. "I am asking you as a committee to say this is the budget and put it to the towns. Look at how packed this room is now there are people who care about their children's education."
 
C.T. Plunkett teacher and Adams resident Beth Bourdon said although everyone wants what is best for the children, the School Committee must be careful because Adams is an elderly community and many are on fixed incomes. She said only so much money can be provided and a larger budget may not be sustainable.
 
"I want what is best for the children too but we have to be very careful here and how this will affect the taxpayers," she said. "We want what's best for our children but we have to be fiscally responsible."
 
Emerson added that he felt by not funding education fully young families will not be attracted to the area and the two communities will continue to age.
 
The forum became heated at times as Cheshire residents went back and forth with Adams residents.
 
One Adams resident felt Cheshire was gearing up to leave the district and a few Cheshire residents felt Adams should continue to cut services so they can better fund education.
 
Adams Finance Committee member Jeffrey Lefebvre said Adams has been cutting for years.
 
"Our budget in the town of Adams from 2005 to today is down over $1 million so we have been making the cuts," he said. "We have been trying real hard and there is going to come a time when it is just not going to happen…next step is to close our library and Council on Aging."  
 
Squabbles even broke out on the School Committee as Rodowicz and Adams representative Regina Hill rehashed the merits of Plunkett and Cheshire Elementary. Rodowicz said she felt the committee voted to close the more equitable school while Hill said she feared drawing out the budget process for the staff.
 
Cheshire resident John Tremblay said no matter what the outcome the only way to truly make strides in the district is to come together as two communities and ask town leaders to give more to education. 
 
"I think this discourse started as Adams against Cheshire so what I am feeling happening now is our communities coming together slowly," he said. "We need to make education our number one priority. We have not been doing it and the School Committee is hamstrung...we need to hold town leaders accountable."
 
At the same time as the meeting the Adams Board of Selectmen held their own meeting and they were dismayed when they heard the result of the School Committee meeting.
 
As part of their regular review of the entire town budget, the Selectmen on Wednesday voted unanimously to support the budget the $9.2 million budget the school district's administration presented on Monday.
 
Afterward, they expressed their disappointment over the School Committee's failure to advance that budget.
 
"I'm getting very discouraged with what's going on," Joseph Nowak said. "I think the battle's over. It was a 4-3 vote [to close Cheshire Elementary]. ... I don't know what to do. I just don't want to see this happen.
 
"It's the parents who are pushing this. The children are resilient. They'll adjust. It's the parents who can't accept it."
 
John Duval agreed that the School Committee went through a process to look at options and came to a decision that the time had come to close one of the elementary schools. It opted to close Cheshire's and now should move forward, Duval said.
 
"At this point, the decision has been made," he said. "And all the staff at the schools have been communicated with about their new positions. And there's a lot of anxiety around that now.
 
"By doing this, it's just prolonging the situation, and it's created tons of anxiety. I just feel the School Committee needs to vote on the budget and move it forward. By doing this, it's just prolonging the inevitable."
 
Richard Blanchard was even more direct.
 
"It's time for a couple members of that board to stop acting like elementary children," Blanchard said.
 
Putnam went to Town Hall after the School Committee meeting to update the Board of Selectmen.
 
He said has been consulting the district's attorney about the next steps if the School Committee fails to meet an April 30 deadline to get a budget to the member towns. But Putnam said he "fully anticipates" the district will not get to the point where the commonwealth has to step in and administer a budget.
 
In the near future? Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco asked Putnam if he thought anything would change on Monday at the continuation of Wednesday's School Committee meeting.
 
"I've given up on prognostications," Putnam said. "If you want to bet, you can. I'm not betting anymore because I'm going to lose."

Tags: ACRSD_budget,   fiscal 2018,   

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Adams Sees No Races So Far

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
 
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election. 
 
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
 
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office,  as the future of our town lies within the younger  generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
 
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
 
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
 
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
 
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