3 Board Special Meeting: Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Finance Committee
Minutes Accepted and filed with the Town Clerk on 12/2/2014 by a vote of 4-0-1 (Selectman Hebert abstains/absent from meeting)
7:00 p.m. – November 12, 2014
Sutton Town Hall, Selectmen’s Meeting Room
Members in Attendance:
Chairman Kenneth Stuart, Vice Chair David Hall, Selectmen Mike Chizy and Paul Maynard
Town Administrator James Smith, Town Accountant Tim Harrison & Debbie Jacques, secretary
School Committee: Lisa Locurto & Jesse Liminak, Director of Special Ed. Margo Austein & Superintendent Ted Friend
Finance Committee: Jeff Bannon, Bob Recore, Pat Morris, Rhanda Twadros, Bill Connor & Bruce Edwards
Meeting called to order by Lisa Locurto, Ken Stuart & Jeff Bannon followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
Public Forum: no comments
Margo Austein begins by saying Special Ed. Is an area we can’t predict, this involves any student with an IEP plan, the school is legally responsible to provide the required education that comes along with the IEP plan. The town has recently learned that the Deveroux Program has leased a home in Sutton that will house 6 youths. This is referred to as the STARR Program (Stabilization, Assessment & Rapid Reintegration/Reunification Program) and is set to open December 1st, 2014. The ages will be 4-14 and are removed from their home for several reasons. Each youth can be placed for a period of 45-60 days. The Town will be required to transport to the local education agency or transport to the school they will attend within an hour away. The cost to transport is split between the town and the Local
Education Agency (DCF in Whitinsville). The Town will receive 46-48% reimbursement through the McKinney Vento Act during the next fiscal year. The potential yearly cost to the Town of Sutton is approx. $130,000. , the amount to be reimbursed the following school year will be approx. $59,800. This will add approx. $8,000. to our current budget season. Superintendent Friend says this will be a significant financial burden for a town the size of Sutton. Special Education is a very volatile area, constantly changing. If the student can be schooled in Sutton they try to accommodate but depending on the individual, different facilities may be required. Finance Comm. Member Pat Morris asks why our State Reps are not present tonight to help with this issue. What is being discussed are unfunded mandates. TA Smith and Superintendent Friend reply they were not invited. Superintendent Friend says mental health issues in communities are an increasing problem. Finance Comm. Bob
Recore asks if we have vehicles to provide transportation for these children. Ted Friend replies we have 8 vans
Circuit Breaker: Margo Austein says this is the special ed. reimbursement program for additional state funding for high cost special ed. students. There is a formula for reimbursement, you have to spend 4 times the state average foundation per pupil (for FY13 the amount was $40,512). The percent rate changes; it was 75% for FY13 and 72% for FY14. This also is not reimbursed until the following school year. Selectman Hall states in his calculations we are only being reimbursed 25%, Margo states that is because you have to pay the foundation first. Finance Comm. Jeff Bannon asks at what age do we carry the cost of these students, Margo replies some up to their 22nd birthday. Margo says there is only a small percent of special needs students that reach the level for reimbursement, currently there are
16 students that will reach the level for reimbursement. This equals approx. 1.1 million dollars in added costs. Ted Friend says this is a public school problem drawing funds away from the public school, it should not be regular education vs. special education but it is.
At this time School Committee Lisa Locurto motions to adjourn into executive session to discuss special education cost and students which requires confidentiality, Jesse Liminek seconds passes 2-0 Roll call taken
Chairman to the Board of Selectmen Ken Stuart motions to adjourn into executive session to discuss special education cost and students which requires confidentiality, Selectman Hall seconds passes 4-0 Roll call taken
Chairman to the Finance Committee Jeff Bannon motions to adjourn into executive session to discuss special education cost and students which requires confidentiality, Pat Morris seconds passes 5-0 Roll call taken.
The boards enter back into regular session, Superintendent Ted Friend again invites Jeff Bannon or any other board member to the School Committee subcommittee meetings to be held on Dec. 8th & Dec 16th to get a better understanding of the yearly School budget.
Finance Committee Chair Jeff Bannon motions to adjourn meeting, Robert Recore seconds passes 6-0
School Committee Lisa Locurto motions to adjourn meeting, Jesse Liminek seconds passes 2-0
BOS Dave Hall motions to adjourn meeting, Selectman Chizy 2nds passes 4-0
Meeting adjourned at 9:15pm
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