Granby School Board Faces Reduced Shortfall

The shortfall that the Granby Board of Education is facing for the 2012-13 school year budget is significantly less than initially anticipated, according to a school official.

Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley told the school board at its regular meeting on Wednesday evening that, after further assessment, the estimated budget shortfall is around $350,000, or half the initial $700,000 estimate that was made in October.

The shortfall is caused by combination of a reduction in the grants the school district is expected to received coupled with increases in the costs of insurance and collective bargaining obligations.

While Addley acknowledged that more work needed to be done, he appeared to be far more at ease with the $350,000 figure.

It’s a bit of good news that comes at a critical time for the school board, which is entering budget season with an expectation of coming in at a 1 to 2 percent spending increase, according to Chairman Cal Heminway.

The reduction in the shortfall is also important considering that the school board will consider whether to try and add, among other things, all-day kindergarten and a World Languages initiative to the curriculum. Those two new measures, if implemented, could add a couple hundred thousand dollars to the budget, according to Addley.

Going forward, the school board, for its part, unanimously adopted budget goals for the 2012-13 fiscal year. The goals, which have been taken verbatim from a memorandum from Addley to the school board, are to develop a budget that:

1. Supports the vision, mission, values, and goals of the district;

2. Recognizes the economic climate, realizes efficiences and is responsive to the financial guidelines set by the Board of Finance;

3. Maintains levels of personnel, programs, infrastructure, and services that meet the essential needs of the district;

4. Supports strategic Board initiatives (Early Childhood & World Languages); and

5. Begins to address high school reform and the Common Core Standards.

New school board member Lynn Guelzow asked Addley if the goals could be drafted with more specificity.

“This does give me guidance,” Addley said. “[The items listed] do mean specific things to me.”

As such, Addley said that he would work with administrators to put together a budget that falls under the penumbra of the goals that were ultimately adopted by the board.

In other business, the school board had the second reading of its revised bullying policy. Most of the language contained in the policy is proscribed by a state anti-bullying statute.

One of the major issues concerning the policy, according to school board Chairman Cal Heminway, is that if a child is labeled a “bully,” there is no mechanism to remove the tag.

“The label stays with the child,” said Heminway, who voiced his concerns to Addley over what, if anything, school administrators would do in the event of a situation where a first or second grader could be labeled a bully. “It’s a policy that, in many ways, we don’t have control over.”

“The administration is very sensitive to that [scenario],” Addley said. “Kindergarteners, first graders, second graders haven’t developed the concept of what it means to be a bully. We’re going to use as much common sense as we can.”

The school board also approved an expenditure of $1,099 for jackets for the members of the Granby Memorial High field hockey team, which won its third consecutive state title last month. The funds will go to new jackets for those who do not already have them or new embroidery for those who do.

The school board discussed the $3.2 million athletic field capital improvement proposal that will be included in the Jan. 17 referendum.

Finally, the school board heard a presentation from Katherine Volikas, a middle school guidance counselor and the new director of guidance, describing the current services that the guidance department provides as well as its future plans.