School Committee Meeting Packs City Hall, Budget Approved

More than 100 people packed Alden Chambers at City Hall Monday night as the School Committee went over the Budget for Medford Public Schools.

The school committee restored about $174,000 in previously made cuts to the budget before approving it in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The budget is going up about $1.7 million from last year to $44.9 million, but is still below offering level services from last year, Superintendent Roy Belson said.

Among the fresh cuts are two secretary positions systems, one custodial position and two vocational positions. A few other cuts were originally expected to pierce slightly deeper, but Mayor Michael McGlynn agreed to find the money to partially fund them, Belson said.

"If we were creating an ideal situation there are a lot of things we’d put back,” Belson said. "But we couldn't afford all of them."

Entering Monday's meeting at City Hall, the budget called for $20,000 cut in student activity funding, $10,000 of that was restored. Also brought back in the fold was $5,000 for vocational maintenance, and $30,000 for kindergarten aides, Belson said. The kindergarten aides funding was orginally supposed to be cut by $108,000, he said.

A support services specialist position that was established at the high school last year was originally expected to be cut from the budget, but the committee chose to restore it after hearing from Medford High School Headmaster Paul Kreuger.

The position serves as a "quasi-submaster," supplementing the other two submasters the school has and is critical to the quality of the school, along with the $20,000 allocated for student activities, Kreuger said.

“If these cuts to the high school come into effect, the Medford High School you will have next year will not be the high school you have come to have known," Kreuger said.

The student activity budget funds stipends for positions like academic advisors, cheerleader coaches and advisors for the school newspaper and academic teams.

Belson defended the proposed cut, saying it could be made up for through fundraising. But the school committee chose to restore it in part.

“I think it’s vital for all our students to participate in student activies," said School Committee Member Paulette Van der Kloot. "This is not a place , I believe, we should even think about going.”

The budget also has reductions that are "calculated risks," Belson said. They include plans to spend less on fuel and utilities and out of district tuition for special education students. But those projections could go awry.

"A budget is a calculated plan, in it there are known factors, and there are unknown factors," Belson said.

Belson credited McGlynn for the budget.

“He’s certainly gone the extra mile for the schools this year, albeit not everything I want,” Belson said.

The budget was approved about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday. It will be considered by the city council at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.