School Principals Present Budget Requests

After presenting the school budget, requesting for a 3.9 percent increase, the principals of the schools in town broke down the expenditures by school for the Berlin Board of Education Thursday night.

"This where we are in the process," Berlin Board of Education President Gary Brochu said. "We are going through the departments and tonight was the principals. At our next meeting we'll hear from Special Education and some district-wide stuff that doesn't fit into any specific categories."

Business Manager Roman Czuchta spoke first about capital items and sites and buildings.

The major expenditure, $400,000, under the capital side, which is $725,000, is for technological expenses. There is $50,000 for furniture, simply replacing desks and chairs and $68,000 for band uniforms.

Much of the talk on these items centered on the band uniforms. Berlin High School principal Fran Kennedy said that the music director at the high school had done thorough research and the estimated cost for the uniforms includes protection of the uniforms as well. The current high school band uniforms have been used for 30 years according to Board of Education members. The price is for 150 uniforms and would have to go out to bid if approved.

Czuchta also detailed that of the 30 vehicles (vans, not busses) owned by the town to transport, three have more than 120,000 miles on them and are a high priority to be replaced.

"Mr. Brochu has said before, we can debate how long a van will last but it's not a yes or no answer," BOE member John Richards said. "The van will have to be replaced just as computers have to be replaced. If you don't replace these things, there are hidden costs that people forget about. The maintenance of a vehicle in disrepair costs more than buying a new one."

The board spoke about how they have a five-year plan for costs and replacing items such as textbooks, computers and vehicles but the Town council has ignored that plan in the past.

"Maybe we should cut it down to a three-year plan and hope to explain to the council that these things will need to be replaced in three years since they haven't listened to our five-year plan," Richards added.

The board then discusses the emergence of new technology and how it will affect the technology plan going forward.

"We are not only looking at replacements but what is the most appropriate use of technology with desktop versus laptop," Brochu said. "As we go forward we have to be proactive in transitioning to the best mode of technology. We can't just pull the brake and turn to a different plan. We can also use kindles to supplement the purchase of textbooks during the course of next year."

Assistant Superintendent Brian Benigni said the current technology plan is expiring at the end of this year and that they will be looking to integrate as much technology as possible.

"It is a new world," Brochu said. "It used to be students came to school to use the technology and now we have to figure out how we best use the technology the students are bringing to school."

The biggest expenses detailed by the principals were at the high school.

With the new requirement for graduation in the program of studies, Kennedy said the high school needs to offer more electives to the students so that they can graduate on time.

The two positions asked for would be family and consumer science and business.

"The art and world language classes as well as the business classes are filled to capacity so we need to offer more classes for the students to take advantage of," Kennedy said. "We are moving from a seven to eight period day next year and need to increase the offerings for our students."

Next Story: Look for the detailed requests from the middle school and elementary school principals.