The Winchendon Courier
Serving the community since 1878 ~ A By Light Unseen Media publication
Week of March 25 to April 1, 2021

Winchendon Public Schools Has Balanced $17.4M Budget for FY22

Art, Music Bundled Under School Choice Funding


At a hearing before the School Committee on Tuesday, March 22, Interim Superintendant of Schools Thad King announced that he was presenting a balanced budget for FY 2022, with no deficit and no reductions in staff.

Supt. King went over the known changes and expected assumpions for funding. The Solar PILOT revenue from the town to the schools has been reduced from 50 percent to 25 percent. Finance Committee member Moe Ward explained that the town considered the COVID relief funding the schools would be getting and decided to apply some of the Solar PILOT funds to school district capital projects in FY22.

The District will be receiving $175,000 from the Murdock Trust and $200,000 from the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation. Chapter 70 and local aid monies will be reduced slightly, but the schools will receive additional COVID relief funds. Supt. King emphasized that COVID-related funds are not being applied to any recurring expenses.

Funds in the Athletic revolving account are down significantly (from $125,041.66 to an anticipated $77,075.15 at the start of FY22) due to all athletic fees being waived for the 2020-21 school year, and the lack of gate sales from games played under COVID restrictions. A stipend for the Athletic Director, in addition to supplies and a secretary, will be funded from the Athletic revolving account in FY22.

Anticipated funding and expenditures for FY22 are perfectly balanced at $17,416,905 for each.

Supt. King emphasized that there will be no layoffs. Some teachers are retiring and new staff will begin at a lower salary step level. 3.5 full time equivalencies (FTE) will be added in FY22, including a Social Worker, a Foriegn Language teacher at Murdock High School and an additional classroom teacher for Murdock Academy.

Music and Art positions have been removed from the general fund budget and will be funded, at slightly reduced amounts, through the School Choice revolving fund.

"School choice, that number reflects the dollars that we will be using to fund, that does not represent the dollar amount that is in our school choice revolving account. So we do have $359,000 dollars, a little bit over that, in salaries applied to school choice for next year," Supt. King explained. "That's primarily the arts, so if you look through the line item budget, you'll see that a number of our allied arts types of positions are wrapped up in our school choice allocation for funding. So art, music, those types of things, we decided to put those together in a group and put that into school choice."

The balance in the School Choice revolving account is anticipated to be $608,794.72 as of July 1, 2021 (the start of FY22).

School Committee member Karen Kast asked Supt. King why there are no revolving accounts for art and music.

Supt. King said that historically, there has never been anything of that kind in the school budget. "Most of that type of piece that goes into the arts and music actually works through the Student Activities account at the high school, so those receipts would go into the Student Activities accounts, let's say for the play each year, the musical, goes into the Student Activities accounts and out of that Student Activities also pays them for the costs necessary of putting on those productions."

Ms. Kast asked, "So do we have that somewhere in the budget?" Supt. King replied that he didn't have information about the Student Activities accounts at hand but he could get that information for the School Committee. Ms. Kast went on, "We put an emphasis on athletics, and we're not putting the same emphasis on music and art, which are equally as important."

"I would like to say that it's a little bit deceiving," said Supt. King, "because there is a nice activities account, where we don't have an athletic activities account, per se."

"I just think we should find a way to also highlight that," Ms. Kast urged, "just so that parents don't feel that athletics are being showcased and put above music and arts, because not all our students might be the next Tom Brady."

"I agree with that a hundred percent," Supt. King responded. "You're right, in terms of the arts, we should be able to show that in a clear way that our families understand and our community understands that it is important. Because it is really important I think to our district as a whole and I know it's reflective of the district. I think that the musical each year and the Tournament of Plays, are huge pieces, not just for the high school, but for the district as a whole, there's an amazing turnout, which we weren't able to do last year, and we haven't been able to experience yet, but we really look forward to that, as we move forward, because it's a really big part of the identity of the high school, and I think by extension, our community as a whole."

Discussing staffing levels, Mr. King said, "Our budget does assume [going] back to our full arts...it's really important to us. Music has been something that's been very difficult throughout this particular school year. We're hoping that those things continue to loosen as folks get vaccinated...so we have full arts back into the budget for next year. We're anticipating hiring those folks, we think it's really important to people in the community here as well."

Parent Tina Santos asked about rumors that five administration staff were going to be let go at the end of FY21 (June 30), naming five specific individuals. Ms. Santos asked if the assertion that no positions would be eliminated meant that these staff would be not let go.

Supt. King explained that he could not comment about specific individuals, and there is a difference between non-renewals of contracts and the elimination of positions. The positions will continue to be fully budgeted.

The proposed budget appears to show the following music and arts positions: Murdock Middle High School, one full-time music teacher; Toy Town Elementary, one 0.5 FTE music teacher; Memorial Elementary, one 0.5 FTE music teacher; Murdock Middle High School, one full-time visual arts teacher; Murdock Middle School, one FTE Art teacher, Toy Town Elementary, one 0.5 FTE visual arts teacher; Memorial Elementary, one 0.5 FTE visual arts teacher.

Video of Hearing
Slides for Mr. King's Presentation (PDF)
Packet with Budget Details (PDF)

Mount Wachusett Community College Launches First Credit Dual Language Program

GARDNER, MA - March 23, 2021 - Mount Wachusett Community College is excited to announce the launch of the new Dual Language Business Administration certificate program, providing a bilingual educational experience for Spanish speaking students.

This Dual Language program gives students the ability to earn college credit with courses in their native language concurrently with English as a Second Language courses. The contextualized English as a Second Language courses will focus on content the students are learning in the certificate program.

Upon completion, the Dual Language program students will be ready to enroll in the associate degree in Business Administration program or enter the workforce as bilingual employees with a background in business.

"This is a great opportunity for Spanish-speaking students to pursue a certificate while they gain greater proficiency in English," notes Melba Juez-Perrone, Senior Admissions Counselor at MWCC.

The Dual Language program will be offered with The Mount's new hyflex learning model. The hyflex learning model streams classes live, allowing students to attend in-person at our Leominster campus or online.

"The hyflex program allows us to remove common barriers for students--transportation, childcare--as well as provide a safe choice for those who have or cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19," states Melissa Sargent, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs.

In July, MWCC will be offering two free courses to prepare students for the start of the fall semester. Spanish for Bilingual Speakers, an intermediate-level course designed for students who have a conversational knowledge of Spanish, but little or no formal preparation in the language will be offered, along with Foundations of Mathematics which will prepare students for the certificate level math course. In order to enroll in the program, students need to be proficient in Spanish.

To learn more about the program visit mwcc.edu/espanol. To schedule for the summer courses, contact Admissions at 978-630-9110 or via email to admissions@mwcc.edu.