Budget, administrative changes among priorities for Pittsfield schools

PITTSFIELD – The school committee is hoping to have a final budget to approve in time for its June 12 meeting.

A public hearing on the budget was held at the Pittsfield High School library, followed by a lengthy discussion by the school committee.

Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi, who also serves on the school committee, continued to express concern about the sizable increase in the budget proposed by the school administration.

“We have to justify what we’re doing to the taxpayers,” the mayor said.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Kristen C. Behnke presented a fiscal year 2014 budget of $57,472,984, a 4.9 percent increase over FY ’13. Meanwhile, the mayor’s office is looking to get the percentage between the two years closer to three percent, approximately $750,000 less than what the school administration has presented.

As presented by Interim Superintendent Gordon L. Noseworthy, a level-service budget (with increases due to contractual obligations) would come in at $55,456,399.

A substantial share of the increases revolve around improving the district’s vocational programs. In FY ’13, the district spent $109,750 on CVTE (career vocational technical education), where the state average for spending on the programming Pittsfield has in place is $292,000.

To find a middle ground, Dr. Noseworthy came up with $182,250 as the proposed figure for FY ’14.

One major vocational-related cost is the addition of 2.4 FTE teaching positions to implement the week on-week off schedule for Taconic High School CVTE students.

“I need to make that work,” Dr. Noseworthy said.

School administrators are scheduled to come forward with a compromise to present to the school committee at its June 12 meeting, to be held at Pittsfield City Hall at 6 p.m. in the city council chambers.

Once the budget is approved by the committee, the mayor will then recommend a budget to city council. The mayor is not required to send forward the same budget the school committee approves.

New PHS principal

Also at the June 12 meeting, the school committee plans to officially announce current Vice Principal Matthew Bishop as the new PHS principal.

He replaces Tracey Benson, who announced his departure earlier this spring to pursue his education with another advanced degree.

Before becoming the PHS vice principal, Mr. Bishop was a social studies teacher at Taconic High School for more than a decade. He has a master of education degree from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and also received his bachelor’s degree there when it was known as North Adams State College.

The decision to offer Mr. Bishop a contract as principal (from three candidates) came from Dr. Noseworthy, who will, himself, be replaced on July 1 by Jason P. “Jake” McCandless, who is the current superintendent of Lee Public Schools.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on May 30, 2013. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry