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DECEMBER 2020

JANUARY 2021

Letters

Amherst School Board

Amherst School District FY22 Budget

To the editor: 

      Budget – At our November meeting the Board asked the administration to review the budget again and recommend cuts to reduce the proposed budget to a number closer to our goal of matching the default budget.  At the December meeting, the administration came back with 3 options.

1.    Cut 6 total teaching positions, including 3 current positions and 3 proposed positions. This would revert to six teachers per grade from K-6.

2.    Cut all paraprofessionals in kindergarten.

3.    Cut all sports and extracurricular activities at AMS and Clark-Wilkins.

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The Board dove deeply into discussions about each option. 

-    Cutting teachers will create class sizes of 23-27 in most grades. These class sizes would rank as the 5th highest class sizes in the state for grades 1-2 and 2nd highest for grades 3 through 8. The projected enrollment for incoming kindergarteners has us at 20 students per class. Given all that data the Board was uncomfortable cutting any current teachers or paraprofessionals at this time.

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-    Since kindergarten enrollment is difficult to project accurately the Board asked for continuing updates on the 2021-22 enrollment. This is aimed to make a proper decision about kindergarten staffing (teachers and paraprofessionals) based on real numbers as they come in. There are myriad options to reduce unneeded staffing while meeting our class size goals. It is the Board’s goal to avoid surplus staffing.

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-    The Board is aware that extracurricular activities and sports are important to students and participating in these activities can lead to higher grades. Due to this the Board is not ready to cut these activities yet but have asked administration to look at increasing participation fees for students.

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-    The Board looked deeply into the roles of all administrators at the schools so see if any positions could be cut there. It was decided that, until all of Clark-Wilkins can be brought into one building, administration cannot be reduced. 

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      The final decision was that one of the proposed teaching positions would be cut at Clark-Wilkins as well as approximately $100,000 in various other items, such as classroom furniture.  Those cuts combined with other reductions and corrections made earlier in the process have seen over $779,000 removed from the proposed budget. 

      We will have an official proposed budget after our January meeting, prior to the public hearing in early January.

      Deliberative – The Board will be hearing from the school district moderator at our Jan. 4 meeting regarding safety measures that are available for an in-person Deliberative. This will allow us to decide whether to move forward with a typical deliberative session or a remote deliberative session that HB 1129 affords us. If you miss this meeting recordings of all our meetings are available on the SAU39 YouTube page.

      Upcoming Meetings – All future meetings can be found on the SAU Website’s Calendar. 

Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.- Amherst School District Public Hearing Planning Session

Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.- Amherst School District Public Hearing

Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.- Amherst School District Board Meeting

Jan. 21 at 6 p.m.- SAU Board Meeting

 

Regards,

Elizabeth Kuzsma, Chair

Tom Gauthier, Vice Chair

Terri Behm

Josh Conklin

Ellen Grudzien

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Amherst Schools Budget Season

Public Hearings on Operating Budgets

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ZOOM Meetings

Register in advance for these webinars: https://sau39.zoom.us

January 13, 2021

  • 6 p.m. Souhegan Cooperative School Board

  • 7 p.m. Amherst School Board

January 14, 2021

  • 6 p.m. Mont Vernon School Board

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Deliberative Sessions

February 1, 2021

  • 7 p.m. Souhegan Cooperative School Board

February 2, 2021

  • 7 p.m. Amherst School Board

February 3, 2021

  • 6 p.m. Mont Vernon School Board

 

Amherst and Souhegan Cooperative School Budget Reviews 

      The Amherst School Board chaired by Elizabeth Kuzsma is reviewing Superintendent Adam Steel’s budget for FY 2021.  The first proposed operating budget had an 8.2% increase.  After careful review  the board has brought the increase down to “about 6%” ($1,739,179) over last year’s budget.  The operating budget is $30,725,496.  The board will continue to rview the costs.

      Two major building and renovation projects are expected to cost $96,000,000.  Renovations for Amherst Middle School would cost about $31,000,000.  The new elementary school would cost $66,038,000.

      The Souhegan Cooperative School Board chaired by Pim Grondstra received Superintendent Adam Steel’s proposed operating budget of $19,352,970.  The increase over last year’s budget is $975,563 (5.3%).  Warrant articles for locker rooms, science labs and maintenance would be additional.

      Public hearings are planned for January 13.  You must register for these Zoom meetings in advance.

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NOTE: Turn to the SCHOOLS page to view and download Public Notices which offer links to Zoom registrations.

Thank You from the Amherst Lions

To the editor: 

      In a normal year we would have had our annual craft fair with lots of crafters selling their unique items, but as with all of our in-person events this year we had to adjust.   

      While we were unable to have the community come to us went to them virtually.   We had our 1st ever online silent auction.  

      Local businesses and individuals donated items and gift certificates to be featured.   The week-long auction was a huge success with community members working to outbid each other for the items and the raffle ticket tree ($200 worth of scratch tickets).  

      We met the winners to give them their items at the Amherst Green afterwards.   It was a safe way for us to add to our charity funds and for folks to help us out while having a good time bidding against each other.   

      We just want to say “Thanks” to all the merchants and participants who contributed to the auction.  It has been a tough year for all charitable organizations, but because of all the support for this and the other online fundraisers this year we have been able to continue giving to our local charities.  We have even been able to give a bit more to meet more need this year.                

      We are looking forward to next year when we plan on having our normal Craft Fair – we already have a lot of crafters lined up and expect it to be the biggest ever!   

      We also want to add a special thanks to our Tier 1 sponsors for 2020: 

Brian S McGuigan C.F.P., Amherst Label Inc., Budget Blinds of Amherst, Cardoza Flooring, Ponemah Crossing Dental P.C. 

 

Happy New Year from the Amherst Lions Club 

President Reed Flowers 

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