Pledge: President Joan.
Prayer: Geri Lewis.
Song: Led by Andy Anderson.
Brent's Flim/Flam: High hand won by Andy.
Raffle Winners: Matt Vogt, Joan Camire and one our guests Tim Griswod from Old Lyme.
Happy Dollars: Many for our guests today, Many for Huskies in the March Madness playoffs
and Andy very happy for guests, winning card game and for Rotary.
Presentation: Bill Bernhart, representing the Outreach Committee presented $2500 checks
to representatives of the three towns we support. He mentioned that through the generous
bequest of former Rotarian Ron Czepiel, we've been able to give out over $50K since 2005.
The representatives of the three towns each spoke and thanked the club for its humanitarian
efforts. The three representatives were:
Tim Griswold, First Selectman from Old Lyme.
Sharon Lessard, Young & Family Service head and Senior Center manager in Westbrook.
Susan Consoli, Youth & Family Service head here in Old Saybrook.
Program: Andy Anderson introduced Old Saybrook School Superintendent Joseph Onofrio
and Julie Pendleton, Director of Operations, Facilities and Finance.
Mr Onofrio started off by telling the club that the goal of the District was to maintain the
excellence of education but holding the budget down as much as possible. Your editor
feels they've done that as indicated by Julie Pendleton's comments.
Julie indicated that the goal of the planning process was to consider the coming years,
contractual constraints and considerations and operating costs. As a result a School
District budget was proposed to the Board of Finance for $21,880,044, an increase of only
1.47%... There is a zero wage increase for both teachers and staff. The negotiating teams
on both sides are to be commended for this action. Federal Title Grant funds were reduced
by approximately $60,000 and this shortfall is expected to continue into the coming years.
The bad news is that the Special Education element of these funds must be continued
under law and the school district will have to absorb this difference. They are trying to
keep special education here in town as much as possible. Having to send a child to an
out of town program can cost upwards of $50-$60K a year. She also indicated that all the
schools in town have dual fuel sources, both heating oil and propane or natural gas. The
district was fortunate last year to lock in a fuel cost of $2.49/gallon of oil. The feeling is
that maybe gas will be the better choice next year, we'll see. The Capital Improvements
budget item is approximately $250K going forward for the next few years. Physical plants
tend to need repairs, upgrades etc. We feel this is a reasonable request.
Questions from the floor were how we fared with the heavy winter snows. Julie indicated the
district kept ahead of the game and didn't sustain any significant damage. Another
question was on busing. The district currently employs 14 buses for all 3 schools. All
K-3 grade kiddies are bused, a safety issue. Any students within a mile of their school
are expected to walk (or bag their parents for a ride). All in all it appears the School
District has done a commendable job in holding down costs and should be congratulated
for their efforts.
asl
