By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — Forget the crystal ball, a kaleidoscope was more appropriate for keeping up with Monday night’s School Committee meeting, as school officials tried to make decisions tied to two different budget years.

A discussion of the current year’s budget deficit was as sobering as ever, as Schools Business Administrator Thomas Conlon said he expects his projected shortfall of $2.8 million to hold steady.
He said that he and Schools Supt. Hans Dellith, Schools Committee Chairman Gordon Gould and Committee members Nicole Nordquist and David Chellel would be meeting with the auditor general on March 10 to discuss the school’s budget deficit in greater detail.
School Committeeman John Baxter said that while the school department’s budget woes are far from over, he is nevertheless somewhat optimistic that the City Council will present a workable deficit reduction plan that will resolve this year’s deficit while allowing for a predictable budget going forward.
He noted, however, that it will require “belt-tightening” from both the municipal and school sides, especially since there is the possibility of an additional 15% cut in state aid to cities that the governor has proposed.
To that end, the School Committee took an action to issue “pink slips” to 88 teachers and other school personnel, to signal the event of a possible layoff by the start of the upcoming school year. While such an action is typically taken at this time of year to meet contractual obligations, Dellith said that this year’s lay-off notices affected personnel hired all the way back to 1999. The action passed the School Committee by a slim 4-3 margin.
While the School Department’s budget picture is acknowledged to be anything but rosy, a majority of the committee supported a measure to budget for full-day kindergarten in all of the city’s elementary schools in the upcoming fiscal year budget process.
Currently, there is all-day kindergarten at two elementary schools, paid for by federal grant money. However, the grant money would likely not be available for the expansion to the eight additional schools, school officials said.
Conlon was instructed to do a cost analysis of implementing the program, which primarily involves the hiring of more kindergarten teachers, and adding that figure to the FY 2009 budget.
School Committee vice chairman Nicole Nordquist pushed strongly for the measure, maintaining that the budgeted expense could always be cut during the committee’s upcoming budget work sessions. Committeeman James Chellel, Jr. also said he supports the plan, saying he senses it is something the community wants, even more so than the band programs that were cut this past year.
However, Committeemen John Baxter and David Coughlin expressed caution about the plan and asked why the committee couldn’t have been provided with a cost analysis prior to being asked to put the proposal in the FY09 budget. Coughlin suggested tabling the motion for two weeks until the committee can be provided with a cost break-out of the proposal, but his motion failed.
After further discussion, the committee voted 5-2 to add the cost of full-day kindergarten into next year’s budget.
During the discussion, Joseph Knight, a school committee watchdog, requested to speak prior to the vote and lambasted the committee for what he said was its taking items “out of order” with action on the FY09 budget. However, angry committee members accused him of using the forum to unfairly criticize the committee during a part of the meeting when members are not legally allowed to respond.
In other matters, JoAnne LaBranche, assistant superintendent of high school reform, told the committee that the portfolio process that graduating seniors are required to take part in to receive a diploma is progressing and that she doesn’t see any major obstacles preventing students from meeting the schools’ established deadlines.
In response to concerns expressed by Committeewoman Amy-Lynn Zolt, LaBranche said she knows that many students are worried about the new state-mandated graduation requirements, but said they should receive ample notice about any problems with their portfolio requirements.
As several committee members expressed their sadness at the recent passing of former committeeman J. William Busald, Zolt also told the committee that she would like to explore the process of having the new school administration building at 286 Main Street named in Busald’s honor.