Board
Meeting Minutes
Present: Tim Aho, James Carnie, Karen Cota, Colline Dreyfuss, Alan Gross, Jason
Hill, Jonathan Kenyon, Bruce McCulley, Richard Thackston, Bruce Tatro, Gene
White. Absent: Jeff Friedman,
Charles Johnson, and Robin Marra.
Also present: K. Dassau, Superintendent of Schools; D.
Hodgdon, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction; and L.
Biron, Business Manager. Principals: K.
Craig and B. Tatro.
R. Thackston called the meeting to order at
R. Thackston asked J. Fortson to review the decisions of the budget
committee on Thursday, January 12. She
explained that Tom Parker proposed a motion to set the budget at a 5.1%
increase over the current year’s budget figure.
To reach this level, he suggested some reductions as well as accepting
an insurance increase of 20%, assuming that the current projection for the
insurance increase would be lower than the current projection. He also offered that the administration could
return to the budget committee to request the use of revenues to cover the
additional cost of the health insurance if the costs should be higher than
20%. B. McCulley asked the reason for
the 20%. J. Fortson explained that
D. Thackston offered
three choices: 1) allowing the prior motion of the school board to stand; 2)
amending the motion to agree with the budget committee’s budget figure; or 3)
producing a third budget figure. G.
White observed that the default budget figure was higher than the budget
committee’s figure; C Dreyfuss wondered about the pros and cons of having a
budget figure consistent with the budget committee’s figure; B. McCulley
questioned recommending a figure below the default budget. MOTION:
A. Gross MOVED that the school
board not support the budget committee’s proposed budget figure. SECOND: B. McCulley. DISCUSSION: J. Carnie questioned the
efficacy of the motion in light of the motion made during the previous meeting,
suggesting the benefit in the school board’s setting a number before
disagreeing with the budget committee’s number.
D. Thackston explained that he believed the motion was in order in light
of the decision of the budget committee to change the number the school board
was working with. J. Carnie expressed
concern about bringing to the voters three different budget figures – the
budget figure the budget committee voted for (6.7% increase), the default
budget figure (6.4% increase), and the budget committee figure of 5.1%. He suggested that the school board and budget
committee could likely have come to an agreement about a budget figure if it
were equivalent with the default budget figure.
K. Cota disagreed with this assessment and argued for the three figures
on the warrant article. VOTE: 5.579/5.616/0/3.805. Motion failed.
MOTION: J. Carnie MOVED that the
school board support the budget committee’s proposed budget figure of a 5.1%
increase. SECOND: J. Hill. DISCUSSION: There was a discussion about the extent to
which the school board had examined the budget in depth and the short timeframe
to make a decision. C. Dreyfuss explained that she attended
the budget committee meeting and expressed some concerns about the budget cut,
since part of the proposal was a reduction of teachers at Cutler and
S. Sciuto, a science
teacher at the high school, highlighted her concerns about some of the
reductions that had been presented to reach various percentage levels of
increase. She focused on the reduction
of teachers, maintenance, class size, and the quality of the high school.
D. Thackston then
turned the gavel to vice-chairperson, J. Carnie, so that he could make a
motion. MOTION: D. Thackston MOVED that
the school board support the default budget figures as its recommended budget
figure. SECOND: B. McCulley. DISCUSSION: G. White inquired about whether or not it
would be necessary to reconsider the vote during the previous meeting before
making a motion to change that vote. D.
Thackston agreed to withdraw his motion and B. McCulley withdrew his
second. MOTION: D. Thackston MOVED that
the school board reconsider its prior action.
SECOND: B. McCulley. VOTE: 5.579/2.605/3.011/3.805. Motion passed.
MOTION: D. Thackston MOVED that the
school board change its recommendation to match the default budget figure. SECOND:
B. McCulley. DISCUSSION: C. Dreyfuss asked if the school board had
the authority to decide where the money would be spent if the school board
accepted the default budget figure. It
was emphasized that the school board has that authority.
J. Fortson took
exception with some comments that she believed impugned her character and
credibility. She emphasized that, in
building the default budget, she was careful to look at every detail of
employees’ salaries and benefits to ensure that they were accurate.
VOTE: 4.4/6.019/.776/3.805. Motion
failed.
D. Thackston left at
MOTION: K. Cota MOVED that the
school board leave Article 1 as accepted at the previous school board meeting. SECOND:
C. Dreyfuss. VOTE: 10.174/0/0/4.826.
Motion passed.
MOTION: K. Cota MOVED to adjourn the
meeting. SECOND: B. McCulley. VOTE: 8.995/0/0/6.005.
Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. David G. Hodgdon
Acting MRSD Recording Secretary