Volume 16, Number 2
www.plainvillecitizen.com
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Education board adopts $35.9 million budget By Ashley Kus The Citizen
A $35.9 million budget was adopted by the Board of Education for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, a total 5.13 percent increase from the current year.
Nearly 4 percent, or $1.3 million, of the 5.13 percent increase is due to health insurance. Actual claims in the town’s self-insured plan significantly exceeded expected claims last year and left a fund deficit of $2.3 million. As a result, health insurance was budgeted higher for next year.
“It’s a very bare-bones budget,” said Maureen Brummett, superintendent of Plainville schools.
Brummett presented three budget options recently to the board for adoption.
Option A was proposed for a 5.31 percent increase, after health insurance, and included the addition of a new math teacher, an indoor track program and a school resource officer.
Medic, Plainville High School principal, said through December the school had to call police over 60 times for various incidents.
The second option was proposed as a 5.17 percent increase, after health The addition of a school resource of- insurance, and included the new ficer at the high school would have math teacher and indoor track probeen through a partnership with the gram. town and police department. At a January budget meeting, Roberto See Budget, A3
Towns offer citizenship classes
By Ashley Kus The Citizen
Adult education programs in Plainville and Berlin are offering free classes for prospective United States citizens. Plainville classes meet Monday nights 4 to 6 p.m. through May 7 at Plainville High School. The program has an open enrollment with students allowed to join anytime. “I expect more to attend,” said Jill O’Brien, coordinator of Plainville Adult and Continuing Education. Charlotte Stowe helps fifth-grader Peyton Bertrand with the sewing machine at Charlotte's Sewing Shop and School, 136 East St., Plainville. Ashley Kus, The Citizen
Sewing shop teaches ‘a skill that carries on through life’
By Ashley Kus The Citizen
The sound of sewing machines took over Charlotte’s Sewing Shop and School Monday morning as local kids created their own apparel.
“I never knew how to use a machine or thread it before,” said Sophia Leonetti, a fifth-grader in town schools. “It’s good life skills.”
dividual sewing projects. She and her sister Olivia, a third grader, were working on sewing pajama sets.
Leonetti and other local local children spent the day off from school on Presidents Day working on in-
Charlotte Stowe, owner of the East See Sewing, A6
The classes assist in oral and written citizenship tests and offer sample questions for reference. Students are provided with knowledge of American history, the U.S. Constitution, rights of citizens, as well as the structure and function of different branches of government. O’Brien said the fall semester had five students enrolled. The spring semester started recently and one student attended. In Berlin, Director of Adult Education Judy Michalski is hoping more people sign up for classes which begin Feb. 22. “I think it’s a lack of awareness, it’s a See Citizenship, A2