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School board continues budget deliberations

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Directors at Tuesday's meeting. From left to right, Director Lois Barker of Strong, Director Rupert Pratt of Strong, Director Faith Richard of Phillips, Director John Foss of Phillips and Director Paul Gardiner of Avon.
Directors at Tuesday’s meeting. From left to right, Director Lois Barker of Strong, Director Rupert Pratt of Strong, Director Faith Richard of Phillips, Director John Foss of Phillips and Director Paul Gardiner of Avon.

SALEM – The MSAD 58 school board continued its budget deliberations Tuesday evening, choosing not to add an assistant principal position to Mt. Abram High School in a narrow vote.

The board has been working off of a $9.02 million draft budget, assembled by the finance committee to serve as the starting point for the board’s discussions. By comparison, the budget approved for the current fiscal year was $9.07 million, following $190,000 in cuts made by voters at last year’s budget meeting.

The draft budget includes a variety of cuts, including supply lines, stipends and some reductions in salary and benefit lines due to staff retirement. At a previous meeting, the board chose not to terminate the high school late bus, something residents had spoken in favor of during the public comment period. The board also chose to slash director stipends and supported a finance committee proposal to cut board mileage and phone lines by $10,000.

The cost associated with reestablishing the late bus in the proposed budget was listed at $18,556 in driver overtime, fuel and maintenance, applied against the $3,785 in savings from cutting director stipends from $20 per meeting down to $10. That gave directors a budget of $9,037,234, heading into Tuesday’s deliberations.

Discussing the athletic director position, directors weighed the merits of continuing to use a system of stipends, currently going toward three individuals to manage different facets of the job, and adding a new position. The current system, administrators said, was likely not viable in the long-term. One proposal had been to add an administrative position which would split its time between athletic director and assistant principal, but directors opted to add $10,651 into the budget to continue paying stipends.

A similar discussion took place in regards to a proposal to add an assistant principal at MAHS. Currently, the building has a single administrator. Principal Marco Aliberti said that the impact of having one administrator resulted in his priorities often shifted to daily incidents, rather than spending time with teachers or in classrooms. Some directors expressed concerns that the lack of assistance in the school might be negatively impacting students.

Chair Diana Thomas of Phillips moved to add $75,000 to the budget to cover the salary and benefits of an assistant principal. “We have these needs, we have to address these needs,” she said. “Our responsibility is to these children.”

Six directors voted in favor of the proposal and seven were opposed. The weighted vote totals were 413 in favor and 516 opposed.

Other considerations for the board include returning the special education director to full-time, with that administrator currently shared between two districts, adding a social worker and removing the Gifted and Talented coordinator position from the budget as well as setting aside additional funds for staff development and district assessment. The board will deal with those possibilities and others, beginning at the next meeting on April 17.

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9 Comments

  1. Someone needs to publish on this comment board the names of the school board members who voted yes and who voted no. Since it’s a public meeting, it would be a critical piece of information to go out to a larger audience of voters

  2. I think that it seemed as if there was some misconceptions about the need for an assissant principal. They asked the principal how the year was going and he didn’t say great. He stated that he couldn’t do his job effectively right now because he spent so much time putting out fires. SO I wonder why not come up with a plan. Instead we don’t really talk about it and what supports students actually need or the benefits of aan assistant principal. Stop burying your heads in the sand MTA needs an assistant principal! I get it taxpayers don’t want to support education well let them decide and make sure that they articles are open, so they can add the money back in if they want to!!!

  3. This school board has taken the time to ask questions. I was at these meetings also and would like to thank this school board for their diligence in each decision. These are hard times, this budget is one I can wholeheartedly vote for as a parent and a struggling taxpayer in this district. I have not seen any position cuts to instruction/teaching staff, Thankyou.
    Know that you are doing the best you can with the resources you have.

    Instead of the constant criticism, I urge you DA to run for school board and sit in their shoes. The view may be different.

  4. I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The cuts were made last year at the budget hearing. I do not think this budget addresses the needs of students and parents. I would LOVE to be on the school board but my position this past fall would not allow me to. I, among others, have stood up at meetings, emailed the school board, spoken with school board directors and we have all stated the same thing. This budget does not meet the needs of our kids. As a taxpayer and a parent I can not support this budget as I think it is negligent in supporting the needs of students. I always welcome your opposing views as I want all of the information so I can make an educated decision.

  5. I would also like to see DA to run for a director’s slot. But he cannot since his wife is an employee of the district. Points of view and agendas are predictable when one directly or indirectly benefits (or suffers) from board decisions.

  6. Agendas aside MTA needs at least a partime assistant principal/athletic director. It is important for the students and the school. Who cares about whose agenda? It is poltics and everyone in poltics has an agenda! The students of the district deserve the best we can provide for them. It is sad that the school district is always to blame for taxes…..when in reality it is not the school districts fault. DO I think there is money still in the budget to be cut yes! Maybe the more important question is where is the money that has been allocated for two years for increases to teachers salaries gone since their wages have been frozen for two years. And why hasn’t money been take out of bus driver/custodiand insurance line since they are picking up 2.5 % more on their insurance next year when their is a 0% increase in premuims. Maybe these are some of the questions that should be asked.

  7. Go to a meeting if you have questions to ask. If you don’t want to put in the effort to do that then please don’t act like you have all of the answers.

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