March 23, 2020

“Mr. MacAskill moved to reject the school committee budget as presented. Mr. Howell seconded. Mr. Ford said it is not appropriate to take a vote at this time. He said Dr. Carpenter made it clear that they recognize the dire situation we're going to find ourselves in. Mr. Ford said Dr. Carpenter could go back to the School Committee based on tonight's discussion and after discussion with Mr. Powers and Mrs. Coppola and give them time. Mr. Ford said it is important for us to look at E&D. Dr. Carpenter said he is a realist as far as what the trickle-down effect of the COVID19 will be and we know that FY21 for the District and the Town will be impacted in some way. He said we need to do a little step backwards and think about what could happen. Mr. Ford asked, is there a necessity for the Board to take a vote this evening? Dr. Carpenter replied that is the call of the Selectmen. He said the School Committee needs clarity from both Towns and they are going to need to go back and re-think. Mr. Howell said the problem is that the school committee has voted this. He said he wouldn't be voting on the budget based on COVID19, but rather based on the methodology. Mr. Howell said the School Committee still has 1 4 million dollars left in that E&D, which is for ongoing problems in the coming year. This isn't the budget request we asked for. Mr. Ford said they have indicated they have the ability to decrease the budget, not increase the budget. Dr. Carpenter has expressed a willingness to look at the situation after this discussion; therefore, he said even though they have voted on it, this could change. Mr. Ford suggested the Board come to some conclusions here with the School Committee as to where we think the budget should be. He said he has some sympathy with Mr. MacAskill's motion, as we have a very tight budget and one that the townspeople have shown great concern about. Mr. MacAskill said he doesn't want Dr. Carpenter and the school committee to leave this meeting thinking this has anything to do with the CoronaVirus-19. He said he agrees with Mr. Howell; the budget he is rejecting is the budget that was brought forward pre-Coronavirus-19. He said he doesn't want to use this as a tool for them to go back and re-assess the budget based on Coronavirus-19. He said he wants them to go back and re-assess the budget based on the Board of Selectmen's guidelines. He said the Harwich Council On Aging said that their $7,000 cut was going to end a lot of services. Mr. MacAskill said the message he's asking the Board to send is that we are rejecting the budget as they presented it. Mr. Ballantine said we have a motion and it has been seconded. He called for a roll call vote. Mr. Ford - No, Mr. Howell, Yes, Mr. MacAskill - Yes, Mr. Ballantine - Yes, Mr. McManus - No. The motion carried by a vote of 3-2.” (Motion: MacAskill, second: Howell)

Read it in the official minutes, page 6 (PDF)