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Voters approve 'free cash' transfer to schools and town

Moderator Ron Hastie, left, looks on as School Committee chair Jim Nittoli addresses voters. Reminder photo by Natasha Clark
By Natasha Clark

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW The majority of voters were in favor of transferring $626,000 from "free cash" to school and town departments at the Special Town Meeting in Longmeadow last week.

Even with the passing of the appropriation, the School Department will still see some changes due to budget restraints. The department will have to reduce 13.40 full-time positions if the warrant article had failed at the Special Town Meeting last week, that number would have risen to 27.45 full-time positions. Regardless of the transfer, school parking and bussing fees will go from $100 to $200, all cafeteria lunches will go up by 25 cents, and if athletic fees are raised by a single fee per sport, that number could triple to $310.

School Committee Chair Jim Nittoli told Reminder Publications that the atheletic fees have not been determined as yet and they are still considering whether they will take a tiered approach to raising fees.

When the School Committee was developing the FY06 budget, as Chair of the finance sub-committee, Nittoli spent many hours working on the budget.

Speaking before the Longmeadow voters at the Special Town Meeting, he shared with the crowd that he hasn't "gotten a good night's sleep in about a month."

Since the Proposition 2 1/2 override failed a few weeks ago, the School Department has been revisiting the budget and while cuts still have to be made, the committee said that they are attempting to making the teacher-student relationship in the classroom their number one priority.

"We did everything to protect the student-teacher relationship," said Superintendent Dr. Scott AndersEn.

In fact, the day before the Special Town Meeting, the School Committee met with the Select Board to discuss making an amendment from the floor to ask for an additional $100,000 to help address some issues with NEASC that have the school in danger of losing their accredidation.

Select Board Vice-Chair Kathleen Grady questioned whether or not making the amendment was wise.

"This free money isn't free. We had our own plans for this money," said Grady, adding that in order to a good bond rating, "we have to keep money aside. If we have another $100,000 I say we put it in the stabilization fund."

Board member Hal Haberman was concerned that asking for an amendment would confuse residents. He also voiced concerns about adding any positions to the budget that may not be able to be funded the following year.

The School Department owes the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) a report of the school's status by July 1.

At the conclusion of those discussions, it was suggested that the School Committee speak to the Finance Committee and the Town Moderator Ron Hastie about possibly making the amendment.

No amendement was made from the floor.