September 30, 2004
The Bridgewater-Raynham School Committee is responsible for the education of 6,000 students in the district. With the assistance of our Curriculum Director, we detail a Plan to meet Federal and State requirements for learning and progress, as well as to plan for any additional areas that should be taught.
Because of this responsibility, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71: Section 34 is clear that the responsibility for educational budgets rests solely with School Committees.
{click here to link to an archive story including 3 sections of Mass General Law}
The question brought before the B-R School Committee last night was "to accept the supplemental amount of $520,000 from the Town of Bridgewater for the specific purpose of reinstatement of teachers, subject to approval at the October 5, 2004 Bridgewater Special Town Meeting".
Article 2 of Bridgewater's Special Town Meeting includes "to hire additional teaching staff for Fiscal Year 2005 for Town of Bridgewater Buildings".
A vote to accept the "gift" with this condition would mean:
(1) That we are abdicating our responsibility as School Committee Members to manage our budget, thereby letting others set our educational objectives.
(2) That we are ignoring students not covered by this "gift", or the previous Raynham "gift". And I did vote last month not to accept the Raynham "gift" with its similar stipulation.
I made a motion that we would accept the "gift" if the words "for Town Of Bridgewater Buildings" was striken from the Article. I know that may sound convoluted, but we were looking to vote to accept something that may not happen, and the wording of Articles is changed all of the time for Town Meetings. I wanted to make it clear that the School Committee would be happy to accept the gift without a questionable phrase included in the instructions for its use.
My motion was not accepted, so I voted against the acceptance of a "gift" with the underlying restrictions.
We are a Regional Kindergarten to Grade 12 System, representing all of the students across two towns. By accepting directed town gifts like this, for now the second year, we are becoming a de-Regionalized District. The schools are providing different educational programs to the students because of where they live.
Final note on de-Regionalization. I have pushed hard to study de-Regionalization, even to the point of writing to delay an upcoming Article on de-Regionalization (to allow the Ed Study Comm time to review).
{click here to read my statement}
I do not know which way is best for the towns. However, the issue may be nearly meaningless based on the way that we are currently addressing education.
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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