14 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, December 11, 2020
COMMUNITY | Schools School Committee reviews proposed $57.1 million budget By Susan Gonsalves Contributing Writer WESTBOROUGH – At its Dec. 16 meeting, the Westborough School Committee will take a final vote on the proposed school budget for Fiscal Year 2022. On Dec. 3, the board heard a presentation by Superintendent Amber Bock detailing the $57,121,155 recommendation. The $57.1 million request represents an increase of $2,687,410 or 4.94 percent over last year. The superintendent discussed how the financial team whittled down a previous request by $400,000 in order to address fiscal concerns while still maintaining services that directly impact students. Among the accounts most recently reduced were trash and phones, electricity, fur-
niture, facilities, revolving accounts and summer programming. She explained that the revolving accounts contained school choice funds where the district no longer participates. In response to a concern by member Lisa Edinberg, the superintendent noted that the summer programming could still be a “full, robust,” offering for special needs and other current students and leave room for additional participants. A large portion of the reduction ($126,442) occurred by spreading out full-time Kindergarten teacher salaries between revolving and salary accounts. In her initial summary, Bock pointed out that the change to full-time, tuitionfree Kindergarten for all had to be factored into the budget.
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she said, is “how to live in a pandemic and maintain excellence.” “There’s nothing left to give,” Bock said. “Recovery of base funding will be necessary. I’ve never experienced budgeting in this way…anticipating losses that could be untenable.” If it is financially responsible to do so at the Fall Town Meeting, the superintendent said she may propose a restoration of funds. School Committee Chair Kristen Vincent said the proposed budget reflected “creative solutions to bring the
numbers down,” and it should be made clear that next year, the community could anticipate a budget with a four to five percent increase. “This (budget) represents a lot of smart thinking about how we can serve the entire community,” she said. The public hearing concluded with no comments or questions from residents. The next step is for the committee to take a final vote at its Dec. 16 meeting. The budget will then be submitted to the Advisory Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen by Dec. 23
Northborough school has first potential in-school transmission COVID-19 case By Liz Nolan Contributing Writer NORTHBOROUGH - Robert E. Melican Middle School had its first potential COVID-19 in-school transmission case resulting in three days of remote learning on Dec. 1-3. An uptick in cases was anticipated statewide due to the Thanksgiving holiday. During the Northborough School Committee meeting on Dec. 2 District Medical Advisory Team member Dr. Safdar Medina said that school cases are going to mirror the community.
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“As has been seen in other locations, school itself is not a driver of community spread, it more reflects community spread,” he said. Dr. Medina referred to Rhode Island data that revealed there was more of an incidence of positive cases in kids who were remote learners versus in–person learning. “The longer the holiday, the longer the chances are of more cases,” he said. “If we do have a two week closure, that is two more weeks of intermingling that can go on outside of school and that is our main reason for
keeping the schedule we have.” The Northborough Southborough Public Schools District is currently screening staff. The most recent screening of 564 staff members was the week of Thanksgiving. There was only one staff member who tested positive at this screening - that person did have symptoms. There were no asymptomatic staff members who tested positive. The screening will continue every Friday in December and will also include town of Northborough administrators and employees.
Hudson schools confirm case of in-school COVID-19 transmission; Farley Elementary transitions to remote learning
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Also, $50,000 was put toward technology to “rebuild the baseline,” of that area and all negotiated contracts were honored. Also, the proposed budget reflects no new positions. Bock emphasized that the school department sustained more than a million in cuts last year and approximately $700,000 in COVID cuts. She said that she has confidence that these reductions can be recovered over time, keeping in mind the rest of the town’s needs. At the forefront of her mind,
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By Dakota Antelman Contributing Writer HUDSON - Students at Farley Elementary School in Hudson will learn remotely through Dec. 16 after district officials confirmed at least one case of COVID-19 transmission inside the classroom, Dec. 1. The announcement comes amid a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases and momentarily contradicts a push from state officials for individual districts to return to full-time in-person learning. “We are not going to jeopardize anyone’s safety,”
School Superintendent Marco Rodrigues said during a School Committee meeting Dec. 2. “If we can safely continue to be open, we will. If we have to transition schools or classrooms into remote learning, we will do that as well.” This is the first case of confirmed in-school viral spread in Hudson. Thus, while individuals including Gov. Charlie Baker have said in-person learning poses little actual transmission risk, local leaders like Rodrigues have made no indications that they plan to
change learning modes. Likewise, though, Rodrigues has also reassured his community that school buildings do remain some of the safest places to be during the pandemic. “All of our schools have a high quality of cleaning and sanitization,” he said. “We will continue to be very detailed about that.” Read recent updates from the Hudson Public Schools o n C O V I D - 1 9 . . . h t t p s : // www.hudson.k12.ma.us/ important _information/ c_o_v_i_d-19_information/ c_o_v_i_d-19_documents
