Budget Cuts Prompt Start Time Change At Greenwich High School

GREENWICH, CT — In an effort to find budget savings to meet demands from the Board of Estimate and Taxation, the town's Board of Education last Thursday voted to change the start time for Greenwich High School for the 2025-2026 school year.

The school board voted 6-0-1 (Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony abstained) to approve a GHS first bell for 7:45 a.m. for student clubs and teacher office hours for check-in and tutoring, with the first instructional block to begin at or around 8 a.m. The current start time at GHS is 8:30 a.m.

Changing the start time saves the district $1,957,842 "to offset the reductions required by the BET budget that did not support basic operational needs which meet contractually required salaries, utility costs, and transportation," Superintendent of Greenwich Public Schools Dr. Toni Jones said in her weekly note to families last Friday.

More information on the change will be shared by the district in the coming weeks. There will be "a minimal change for elementary and middle schools," Jones said.

In her note to families on Friday, Jones said "it was not an easy decision," but that the BOE "was as thoughtful as possible."

The Board of Education has been tasked with finding savings after the BET reduced a little over $4 million from the district's operating budget during its budget deliberations last month.

The amount the school district needs to cover is actually around $4.6 million when factoring in the salaries for positions that were previously funded by the town, and an anticipated 18th pre-K class next school year.

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On May 8, six Board of Education members present at a special meeting made several reductions totaling $2,078,651, which included getting rid of nearly two dozen positions.

Jones said in her note that the savings from the start time change were equivalent to 20-plus people "being displaced on top of the first 21.5 reductions made during the last meeting."

Jones said the school district is "heartbroken" for those whose jobs were impacted, and she noted that some employees were with GPS for 15 years or more.

"We will make every effort to employ these staff members in other capacities as retirements and resignations eventuate over the coming months," Jones said. "Each union contract is unique in how positions are managed, so it is a very complex task."

To get in line with BET demands, the school board also approved a motion to reduce the budget by $551,469. Board member Kathleen Stowe said the funds would be reduced at Jones' discretion, "which might include reductions of the substitute budget, or outplacements, or any combination thereof, with the condition that there are no additional FTE (Full-Time Employee) reductions."

A proposal to restructure the administrative houses at GHS to find savings was not considered last Thursday.

"We will turn our efforts over the next few weeks towards celebrating our Class of 2025 and the Moving Up ceremonies across the district as we head to summer and look for a positive end of the year," Jones added in her note.