Milford Schools Spend More than $130,000 on Consultant Fees

By Brian McCready, Patch Editor

MILFORD-- The Board of Education will pay consultants $138,550 who have either helped them or will help them with implementing their school change plans.

The school board voted last night to return the school system back to a K-5 elementary school configuration next year, redistrict at the elementary school level and add new programs across the district.

The school board postponed a vote last night to potentially close Harborside Middle School in three to five years, and no action was taken regarding talk of closing an existing elementary school.

While there has been a lot of talk and discussion over the past two years about what to do with the future of the school system because of declining enrollment, the consultants fees continue to add up.

Here is a breakdown on where your money has been spent thus far.

• $85,000 was paid to Milone and MacBroom of Cheshire to serve as consultants on the school system’s Long Range Planning Committee.
• $3,500 was also paid to Milone and MacBroom to research Mayor Benjamin G. Blake’s proposal to return the school system to a K-6 elementary school configuration. Eventually, it was decided that proposal couldn’t work.

• The board also paid $7,050 to long range consultants who assisted the Board of Education in its recent work.
• And last night the Board of Education voted to hire Milone and MacBroom to undertake a comprehensive elementary school redistricting plan. The cost is $43,000, officials said.

School board Minority Leader John DeRosa questioned the price tag and asked Chief Operations Officer James L. Richetelli Jr. whether that price could be negotiated down further.

Richetelli explained that Milone and MacBroom reduced their price from $50,000 to $43,000 and this is what the work costs.

DeRosa asked Richetelli to go back one more time and try and reduce the figure, but Richetelli said those are the costs the district has to pay.

Board member Heidi Gold-Dworkin suggested the board go out to bid for the redistricting work but in the end the board vote 9-1 to pay Milone and MacBroom $43,000.

A redistricting plan is expected to be presented to parents in March.