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Date: 5/25/2021
GRANBY – Members of the public had the opportunity to ask questions regarding the FY22 budget and the current deficit the district was facing at the May 18 Granby School Committee meeting.
The meeting began with a presentation of the FY22 budget from Adam Tarquini, who serves as the director of finance for the district. On May 11, the committee discussed the $2.5 million deficit and how they planned to address the deficit with grants and by asking the town for money.
He explained that significant factors contributing to the deficit included “the decrease in the required local contribution,” “additional town allocation” and the ”town-in-kind contribution.” While the district was experiencing a deficit of $2.5 million, he said they were anticipating funding from several sources such as grants, circuit breaker, school choice and COVID-19 relief funding. This funding, he explained, totalled to $1,773,662, leaving the district with a projected deficit of $727,617.
To further reduce the deficit, Tarquini outlined several reactions to staff positions that had been proposed. Included in the proposed cuts were a single administrative assistant, which would save the district $23,076; eliminating three teaching/instruction positions, which would save $168,278; and eliminating four paraprofessional positions, which would save $71,263. In total, the reductions would save the district $277,617. In the previous meeting, Tarquini, emphasized that the eliminations were not layoffs, but instead the elimination of positions where staff had already announced their retirement or had already given their notice. These reductions left the district with a projected deficit of $450,000.
During the public hearing portion of the budget presentation one resident questioned what COVID-19 related costs the district had planned for in the FY22 budget. Tarquini said pandemic related costs factored into the budget included the use of an additional custodian, two building-based substitute teachers and a district-wide substitute nurse. He said the district planned to use almost all of the $292,000 grant that they anticipated receiving as part of the CARES act.
Another resident questioned which specific teaching positions were being eliminated as part of the budget cuts. Interim superintendent Carol Hepworth said the school department would look at enrollment, budget and student need to determine where those cuts would be made. “Right now until we know the projected enrollment of the grades and the needs of the students and the budget, I think a lot of those decisions will be made after town meeting,” she said. Chair of the School Committee Jennifer Bartosz emphasized that often teachers were moved around based on enrollment and these were positions that were not being replaced.
When asked about the school lunch program, Tarquini said the free lunch program had been extended through the next school year and all meals would be free for students next year. He said they had been, and will be able to, generate revenue from school lunches being free. However, there were strict guidelines as to how that money would be used and it could not be used to offset the budget. “However, we are planning to make some upgrades to the kitchen, which would be well within the use of those funds,” he said.
Bartosz emphasized that it was not a large sum of money and the lunch program had “been in the red” for the previous couple of years. Tarquini said while it was not $100,000, it was more than $20,000 and he would report the figure at their next meeting.
When discussing what their steps would be should they not receive additional funds from the town, Tarquini said they would try to make cust that stayed “as far away from the classroom as possible,” and they would be forced to seek cuts to other areas such as athletics.
“If they only give us $100,000 of the $450,000 we’re going to have to go back to the budget and see where we’re going to take it,” Hepworth said.
Bartosz said she was firm about “not going after arts and athletics” as she felt that if they eliminated extra items from the school such as those programs they would impact enrollment and “have no students to make a budget for.”
Later in the meeting, Hepworth addressed DESE’s updated guidelines for mask wearing within schools that said children no longer had to wear masks outdoors for recess and outdoor PE classes. She said that there were only 18 days of school left, she didn’t understand why the guidance had been changed. District nurse leader Nancy Jenks emphasized that the adults would still need to wear masks when outside. Jenks said that she received an official recommendation from board of health member Richard Bombardier along with the school physician recommending that they keep the mask policy in place.
“With the UK variant out, children are contracting it and transmitting it. And a lot of our cases we’ve had recently, there’s been no known exposure,” she said. “We’re kind of torn between what’s happening at the public level and what’s happening in schools and trying to keep people safe.”
She said she felt giving the parents an option was “not a bad thing,” however there were just 18 days of school left. The committee also discussed the possibility of students losing masks when they went outdoors. Currently, when students were outside for masks breaks and spaced six-feet apart, but students were required to wear masks at recess.
Jenks said as of May 17, 15 students at the Granby Junior Senior High School had received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and “numbers are going up every day.” She added that “80 plus” of the staff, which she called a majority, were fully vaccinated. Ultimately, after a lengthy discussion the committee voted in favor of adopting the updated DESE and CDC guidance. If parents feel concerned, the committee said parents should send an email or communication to the school their child attends to ensure their child will continue to wear their mask.
The committee then went on to discuss submitting a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) with regard to the Granby Junior Senior High School, which was built in 1960. Hepworth said the statement was for a renovation and/or updates to the school. She said COVID-19 had really highlighted issues with airflow within the building as well as some other issues that had arisen. “Clearly, work needs to be done,” she said. The School Committee voted unanimously in favor of submitting the statement.
Bartosz emphasized that this was not a commitment from the town or the taxpayers. “We have not committed anybody to anything, all we have done is say that yes we agree that we want to send this forward as a statement of interest to look at and see if we can qualify for any grants and if there’s anything they can do to help us,” she said.