IRONY AT THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

Pretty much the usual crowd which was disappointing. Board members in attendance were: Ellis, Hart, Anderson, Teisl, Clark, Mills and Varnum. The newly elected representative from Clifton (elected this past Saturday) was absent because she works nights. She will be able to get the night off to attend Board meetings but didn't have enough time to make arrangements for last night's meeting. Hope she'll be able to make arrangements for her committee meetings as well.

After grammatical and spelling errors were noted and corrected (as brought to the Board's attention by Clark), the minutes from the February Board meeting were approved.

There were no questions or comments from the general public at the initial opportunity in the meeting's agenda.

The principals from Eddington and Holden's Elementary schools announced the times and dates for the performances and rehearsals of the annual play with recommendations that people arrive early if they want a seat.

The principal from Holbrook Middle School requested the Board's approval for the 8th graders annual trip, which will be to Fun Town in Sacco. The Board approved. The principal also reported that 25 of the 32 students who were falling behind academically did show up last Saturday for the academic assistance programs that were made available from 9am to noon.

There were no comments from either the Business Manager or the Budget & Finance Committee regarding the monthly Finance Report. Nor did the Superintendent make any comments regarding his report.

Teisl did provide a brief summary of ideas that have been discussed at the joint- committee meetings held to date regarding the projected budget (and increase over last year). It was explained that while the Superintendent (and therefore the school newsletters at the first of the month) had initially projected an $800,000 increase, the subsequent (lower) figures are the result of the Central Office reworking the 2010-2011 budget weekly for the joint-committee meetings.

Therefore, by the March 3 meeting, the projected budget was down to $700,000 (in the hole). By the March 10th meeting, the projected budget had been re-worked to $500,000 (in the hole). Then, by the March 18th meeting, SAD 63's projected hole for 2010-2011 was only $475,000 deep.

Of course, the "kicker" was the proposal to "combine the principal/superintendent positions which would save" approximately $90,000. No comment was made that this was achieved by using a full-time superintendent's salary for an interim-superintendent and by using the "short-cut" method of by-passing any search and recruitment method for Hart's hand-picked successor and moving the Central Office to the Holden School.

Teisl also provided a "list" of the various ideas that had been brought forth during the course of the joint-committee meetings, stating that NOTHING had been determined, some that had been eliminated for various reasons, and some that were still on the table. He did state that "at this time" the closure of the Eddington Elementary School was Off The Table since there was not enough time to do all the work that would be required to bring about such a change, even though it might reduce budget costs by $500,000.

Some of the ideas brought forth:

Reconfigure the two elementary schools (K-2nd grade @ Eddington School & 3rd & 4th grades @ Holden School).

Consolidate and move the 4th grade to Holbrook which could save up to $80,000.

Changing to a 4-day school week.

Shift the share of health benefits.

The idea of a base tuition contract (discussed in earlier postings) has been determined to be illegal (via a legal opinion received by the Board).

Making some changes in the transportation system.

Making some changes/reductions in the Special Education programs (impacting gym, language, art, etc. programs).

(Note: there was no reference to reducing the compensation package for the Business Manager position which was raised at the March 10 meeting which would save over $25,000 which was raised at the March 10 meeting. NOTE: See posting for that meeting).

The Chair stated a response has been received from State Senator Richard Rosen indicating he will try to attend one of the remaining budget meetings. No response has been received from House Representative (and Eddington resident) Ben Pratt. NOTE: See yesterday's posting and Mr. Pratt's appearance at the Clifton Town Meeting.

The NEXT MEETING of the joint-committee will be April 1 @ 5pm @ Holbrook Middle School. The April 7 meeting will be at the same location but is scheduled for the usual time of 5:30pm.

The Chair's report was very interesting re: the status of an RSU. It seems there is a provision in the consolidation law that allows a school district that finds itself in a situation where it cannot find any partners that want to consolidate with it to file for an exemption to the Tax Penalty. This is called a "DONUT HOLE exemption". SAD 63 (and CSD 8 and Otis (maybe) would appear to qualify as Donut Hole school districts IF the Commissioner approves the Dedham/Orrington Letters of Intent to form a separate RSU.

The Board approved a motion for the Chair to file for such an exemption (as a Donut Hole district) if the Commissioner approves either Dedham's or Orrington's Letter of Intent.

Following that motion, the citizen rep from Holden on both the joint committee and the RPC for that town submitted a request that the Board send a letter to the Commissioner asking her to consider the consequences of her actions should she approve the Dedham Letter. (It should be noted that someone had stated they had been at a meeting in Dedham where it had been expressed that Dedham - or someone from that town - expected a favorable response from the Commissioner within a week.) There was quite a bit of discussion to the request. No one wanted to have a letter from SAD 63 to be construed as interfering with the wishes of Dedham or to be seen as telling the Commissioner what to do. In the end it was decided that Hart will draft a letter for the Chair that will simply (and nicely/tactfully) point out that SAD 63 and others had complied with all of the rules and procedures and now found themselves in a "what do we we now" situation with tax penalties pending through no fault of their own. Since SAD 63 (and others) had done their best to comply with the law, and are concerned with the future of the school district in terms of cost and quality of education, it is hoped the Commissioner will give some consideration of these issues in her decision (whether or not to approve the Dedham/Orrington letters).

The passage of that motion seemed to appease the parties concerned.

Other news: SAD 63 policies will begin to be posted on the district website for viewing by anyone interested in seeing them. Only authorized people will be able to "write" on or change the policies.

The Board adjourned at 7:30pm to Executive Session to "discuss" the issue of the principal/interim-superintendent appointment. And this is where the IRONY comes in. Anyone who has attended the joint-committee meetings knows what this discussion is about. So what could be the "big secret"? Perhaps there was some discussion why, with over a year's forewarning, no Personnel Committee was ever appointed in the first place to do the job that should have been their decision and not Hart's. Of course - then there would have been the issue of the Business Manager position which this writer has raised before and the savings (and improved job performance) such a new applicant search could have generated.