Volume 20, Number 3
www.TownTimes.com
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
FLAGS READY
School budget back to referendum June 2 By Mark Dionne Town Times
From left, Shannon Moore, Jordan Moore and Sydney Fowler wait for the start of the Memorial Day parade Monday in Durham. More parade and race photos on Pages 6 and 7. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
Friday, May 29, 2015
On Tuesday, June 2, voters in Durham and Middlefield will be asked to consider the 2015-2016 school budget for RSD13 for a second time. The budget up for referendum has a net figure of $35,604,297, or a 1.21 percent increase over the current year. A budget with a 2.21 percent increase was defeated 565-535, a 30-vote margin, on May 5. At the following Board of Education meeting, members voted to accept Superintendent of Schools Kathryn Veronesi’s suggested cuts of $350,400. Those cuts were made by underfunding the salary line because various leaves of absence mean it is never spent to 100 percent, eliminating a proposed human resources position at Central Office, cutting $89,000 by
delaying capital projects, and taking off $3,400 of expenses intended for the solar panel project rejected by voters. There will be only one question on the June 2 ballot – accepting or rejecting the budget. The May 5 ballot contained three questions. Voters accepted the expense to replace Brewster’s leaky roof but voted down the solar panel project for the same roof. Energy savings from solar power and revenue generated from the sale of the solar project’s energy credits were linked in BOE discussions as a method of paying for the roof replacement. At the BOE’s May 13 meeting, BOE chair Kerrie Flanagan said that out of respect for the referendum voters, the timing with state funding, and the See Budget / Page 10
Board of Education to discuss closing Korn in 2016 By Mark Dionne Town Times
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SPECIAL EVENT
The Utilization Committee, which is the body of the Board of Education studying school reconfiguration and possible closings, plans to recommend a future configuration for RSD13 of: two K-5 elementary schools, one 6-8 grade middle school
and one high school. The committee will soon recommend “phasing in” that framework, including potentially closing Korn Elementary School at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. “That recommendation makes sense in terms of student enrollment,” Utilization Committee chair Bob Fulton told the BOE at its May
13 meeting. While the number of students might make sense after the next school year, the BOE will also need to review the impact on education, Fulton said. BOE chair Kerrie Flanagan is gathering feedback on the committee’s draft report, which has not been made public. Flanagan said that the report is a summary of “those things that
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have affected our thinking.” BOE members expressed concern at the May 13 meeting about the best way to present the report and the idea to the public and was to discuss the report and how to present the idea to the public at the May 27 meeting. According to Fulton, in addition to See Korn / Page 11
FREE DIGITAL MEDIA SEMINAR WITH NATIONAL EXPERT
Tuesday, June 2, 2015 For more information and RSVP: Jackie LaPak | (203) 317-2271 jlapak@record-journal.com