By Stephen Seitz
LUDLOW—After postponing its meeting twice, the Two Rivers Supervisory Union has adopted a budget of close to $6.2 million. The final figure adopted by the board is $6,180,132, about $11,000 lower than the previous proposal.
“The proposed budget covers the central office and special education,” TSRU Superintendent Meg Powden said, adding that this took more than two hours, despite being the only item on the agenda.
“The board chose to reduce food and equipment,” she said. “We had requested new furniture to be able to convert our conference room to classroom space for teachers getting professional development.”
Powden said the topic of school safety, so much on the public’s mind these days in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., massacre last week, did not come up at the meeting.
“It wasn’t on the agenda,” Powden said. “Of course, we always want to do everything we can to keep our students safe, and we’ll improve where we can. Last December, we conducted a safety audit at Green Mountain, and we’re now in the process of reviewing it.”
Powden said there was also good news for students in the Green Mountain Unified School District, which covers the towns of Cavendish, Chester, Andover and Baltimore: they will have a new principal in the fall, Lauren Fierman, currently of Hebron, Conn.
“We called her, and she accepted on [Feb. 21],” Powden said in a telephone conversation on Friday.
Fierman will succeed Tom Ferenc, who is retiring. Attempts to reach Fierman for comment were unsuccessful.
Fierman is currently the director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at Regional School District No. 8 in Hebron, Conn., and has previously worked as a district data coach, an English department chair and a middle school teacher.
“She’s taking some vacation time to come north,” Powden said. “She should be here sometime in mid-March.”
