BLANDFORD – Last night’s meeting of the Gateway Regional School Committee saw them vote to make slight changes to several of meeting times going forward.
“We are going to modify our meeting schedule during budget season to allow for an earlier start for five or six meetings,” said Committee Chair Michele Crane. “The meetings will start at 7 p.m. and there will a dedicated budget time (in that schedule).”
Crane, a Blandford resident who succeeded Worthington’s Gretchen Eliason as chair, said the first meeting to start at the new time would be on December 10.
All of the committee’s January and February meetings will begin at 7 p.m., as well as the group’s first meeting in March, making for a total of six meetings.
“If we give some of these meetings a little extra time, representatives (on the school committee) can tell their town officials to come and ask questions that they have,” said Crane. “It will build a little more time into the agenda to discuss the budget.”
Wednesday’s meeting also saw the very first budget presentation of the cycle.
“Dr. (David) Hopson and Ms. (Stefanie) Fisk did a budget overview with history and it was very helpful for the newer members,” said Crane of the district’s Superintendent and Business & Finance Manager. “They talked about how we put a budget together and it was a good starting point for the year.”
“I think they got quite a bit out of it,” said Hopson of the committee’s new members. “There were some comments of appreciation for putting it together and I think the newer members are looking forward to having a more inclusive budget discussion as we move through the year.”
Crane added that the committee also voted not to disband its Finance Subcommittee, which currently counts Russell’s Ruth Kennedy, Middlefield’s Noreen Suriner and Huntington’s Jeff Wyand as it’s members.
“I think there was a question of whether we needed to do the budget within the finance committee as opposed to having the whole committee do it,” said Hopson. “The compromise was that the Finance Committee will continue to look at the budget, as well as all of the details – quarterly reports, all that kind of stuff that goes on.”
“Having the School Committee get the overall budget presentations, see how the budget is put together and have them answer questions and see the interplay between town officials and the school is a great opportunity,” continued Hopson. “The School Committee devotes some extra time to look at the budget overall and the Finance Committee still has the time to go into the details and the budget operation, ensuring we’re on track on a monthly basis.”
Crane also said that the committee is still awaiting a response from the district’s legislators to a letter sent by Hopson regarding the town of Worthington’s attempting to withdraw from the district.
“I think they are waiting to get together and to put together a joint response, which is something they’ve done in the past,” said Hopson.
