2000-01-12 School Committee Minutes

Home Browse Search

READING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Reading, Massachusetts REGULAR SESSION JANUARY 12, 2000 CALL TO ORDER Mrs. D'Antona called the regular session together at 7:40 in the Superintendent's Conference Room. Present were Mr. Twomey, Mr. Keigley, Mrs. D'Antona, Mrs. Cavicchi and Mrs. Williams. Mr. Dahl was not present. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian and Associate Superintendent Richards, Town Accountant Foley, Fin Com members McDonald, LeLacheur and Selectmen, Matt Nestor. CITIZEN'S INPUT There is no citizen's input. BILLS & PAYROLLS There were no bills and payrolls. Mrs. D'Antona welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. The agenda tonight is to review four parts of the Superintendent's Recommended FY01 Budget. The four areas of discussion tonight are Maintenance, Health, Athletics and Extra Curricular. Dr. Harutunian greeted and thanked everyone for coming. He wanted to take a minute to thank everyone in the Reading Community involved in the Dividence Road Project. Over 50% of the voters turned out to vote. Even though the per -pupil in Reading is less than the state average, wonderful things keep happening in Reading. Parents in Reading keep helping out. They always participate in the process. Precinct seven and eight had a strong "yes" vote. There will be four issues to deal with in the future. We have to decide on a name for the school. We have to decide on the district lines. We have to assign the school a principal and we have to look into the renovations of the two elementary schools. All of these things are very exciting. We look forward to working out all the details. Dr. Harutunian explained that since there were so many band parents in the audience, they would move extra curricula up on the agenda. Dr. Harutunian explained that Mr. Bunten is the Band Director at Reading Memorial High School. Mr. Bunten suffered a stroke last year. Dr. Harutunian hired Mr. Mulligan at full salary and benefits to pick up the slack due to Mr. Bunten's absence thus adding to the budget deficit. Mr. Bunten return to his position three weeks before school started. The Superintendent and the School Committee were under the same impression that Mr. Bunten would be out until January of 2000. He went on to say that the School Department would have to cut something in another area to make this work. The School Committee agreed to keep