Rodriguez said she is also cutting $34,000 from the budget for supplies, such as textbooks, and $6,500 from professional development, which refers to workshops or classes that enhance the growth of teachers.
GRANBY – Schools superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez announced at a public forum on the school budget May 7 that she is proposing a budget of $10,552,218 for fiscal year 2013.
Meeting that number will require cutting several full-time and part-time jobs for a savings of $602,388, she said. Full-time cuts include a science teacher at the high school, a physical education teacher at the junior high school, three paraprofessionals and a custodian.
In some cases, the “cuts” will not draw blood. For example, a teacher at East Meadow Elementary School is retiring and will not be replaced, and a speech language therapist position that was already vacant will not be filled.
Also, the vice principal at Granby High School will be removed to serve as principal of West Street Elementary School temporarily, and existing jobs will be juggled to fill in his position at the high school. (Current West Street principal Pamela McCauley is retiring at the end of this year.)
Some positions on the list will have hours cut. For example, there will be a 35 percent reduction of secretarial support in the superintendent’s office.
Rodriguez said she is also cutting $34,000 from the budget for supplies, such as textbooks, and $6,500 from professional development, which refers to workshops or classes that enhance the growth of teachers.
She said she intends to hold another budget meeting for the public in June, after the state announces how much funding will be allotted to schools. Rodriguez expects Granby to get $40,000.
She is also waiting to find out how much the state will provide in “circuit-breaker” funds. This is a term the industry uses for reimbursement of “special education” students, children who are disabled. Educating them costs much more than it does the average student. Rodriguez is hoping to get back $290,000.
Even if all that comes through, Rodriguez said she is asking for $235,000 from the town to meet her budget.
The Select Board, which attended the meeting, questioned her afterwards. Member Mary McDowell asked about a rumor that the director of special education services was allowed to work on her doctoral degree on company time while drawing full-time pay.
Rodriguez vehemently denied the rumor, saying that the professional in question not only pursues the degree on her own time, but puts far more hours than required into her job at the Granby Schools.
Mark Bail, chairman of the Select Board, asked about a line item regarding an improvement workshop for School Committees and superintendents that meets annually on Cape Cod.
He was told that no one on the Granby School Committee is going. In fact, last year the funds allotted for that excursion were used instead to buy a new public address system for the high school.
Bail said afterwards that the school budget seems not to have fat for trimming.