1/16/25 - Finance Subcommittee Meeting

Minutes of the 

Monson School Committee

Finance Subcommittee Meeting

Date 1-16-25

Present: Karen Nothe-Valley, (Chair), Alison Morgan, Roland Joyal, Leah Zippin, Chris Fontaine, Joe Trivisonno, Colette Bidus, Kate Watts

Ms. Nothe-Valley called the meeting to order at  5:01  p.m.

Meeting information: 

Discuss FY 26 Budget

Looked ahead to next steps.  The next few weeks, school administration will look into what is essential for the schools.  Administrators indicated that they have enough information to make informed decisions to create options for the School Committee to review. 

Reviewed input from the Town. They want meetings more frequently. Discussed having the Town join our subcommittee meetings. Additionally, Alison spoke briefly about questions that came up at the January 13th Tri-Board meeting.  It was mentioned that the Town wants a long-term plan for the next 5-10 years.  Prior consolidation was discussed noting there were extensive studies and stakeholder input before the consolidation occurred. 

Additionally, Capital planning meeting occurred last week and they wanted information on facilities. The school department submitted requests for: 

• 2 classrooms to be tiled at GVS to start replacing the old carpets. The hope is to do 2 per year. 

• At 2nd stage of staff computer replacement (have about 30 staff left).

• 4 sonic view boards due to being old and damaged. Cost went up significantly.

• Future plans for GVS and MHS for the roof on each building.

Alison Morgan asked about student chromebooks; and difficulty with loaners and replacing what is broken. 

Karen Nothe-Valley mentioned the required public hearing for the school budget. Last year there was also a presentation with parents explaining the budget (Soup with the Super).   Hopefully a similar type of event can occur again with some time for parents to ask questions prior to Town Meeting. 

Annual Town Meeting is May 12th. 

Consideration in using MASC for Superintendent search

Alison and Karen talked about how the School Committee (full board) will decide whether to use MASC for the Superintendent search. They mentioned the importance of using an outside agency to ensure a proper and thorough search is conducted using expertise, proven tools such as stakeholder surveys, interview questions, and opportunities for the community and all stakeholder groups to give input, job posting creation, etc. Alison and Karen also expressed having a transparent search that values community involvement. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM

Documentation for this meeting:

Agenda

Distributed at meeting:  None 

Approved by Committee:

_________________________________________________

Karen Nothe-Valley, Secretary