1991-07-29 School Committee Minutes

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REGULAR SESSION MINUTES 2 JULY 29, 1991 OTHER - FAX FROM ALLAN W. DRACHMAN j Dr. Munnelly shared the FAX received from Attorney Drachman that explained the rights and obligations of the Committee under Sec- tions 230 and 231: Teachers Salary Rollover Legislation, a deferral mechanism put into place this year by the State Legislature to allow cities and towns to soften the blow of local aid cutbacks. a Discussion between School Committee members continued. FinCom member Nathan White added that the deferral allowed a community to defer a portion of FY92 teacher salaries to FY94. Dr. Munnelly added that by the time the money will have to be paid, it is in hopes that the economy will have improved and the town's budget will be in a more stable condition. Stan Nissen moved that School Committee make no further cuts in its FY92 budget. Timothy Twomey seconded the motion. Discussion fol- lowed. The motion passed by a 3 -2 vote. The Superintendent stated a course of action should be to convince Town Meeting that this move is a good thing and fiscally prudent. Peter Greene, president of the Reading Teachers Association com- plimented the Administration and Committee for taking.a courageous stand. PROGRAM CUTBACKS AND ADDITIONAL FEES Chair Philbrick reminded the audience that the fee for parti- cipation in athletics had been increased several weeks ago from $80 to $90. Dr. Munnelly spoke in regard to the remaining $39,000 salary of the Fine Art Director. He offered alternatives for the use of the money including the reinstatement of a computer teacher and allocating some monies to assist the support of the instrumental music position. Discussion shifted to student bussing. Stan Nissen moved to eliminate $30,000 from the budget for all non - mandated bussing. Timothy Twomey seconded the motion. Discussion followed. Mary Williams moved to amend Mr. Nissen's motion to eliminate bus- sing for high school students only. Matthew Cummings seconded the motion. Discussion continued. The Chair accepted the modification to Stan Nissen's motion. The vote was unanimous.