By Katy Savage
After the proposed Rochester Stockbridge Unified School District budget failed 141-110 on June 30, the board is proposing a new budget for the Aug. 11 vote.
The new $4.37 million budget is down about $20,000 from the previously proposed budget. It reflects a $13,000 cut in fuel costs and another $7,000 cut in maintenance costs associated with the vacant Rochester High School.
The school board approved the new budget on July 14 after discussing the failed vote in meetings for the past two weeks. Board members have said the budget likely failed due to the board’s inaction on the high school.
“People are very upset that we’re still using parts of that building,” School Board Chair Carl Groppe said at a July 7 meeting.
It costs about $40,000 a year to maintain the high school, which has been closed since 2017. Despite its closure, Rochester students have continued to use the building for plays and art classes, since Rochester Elementary School doesn’t have a stage or art space. The high school building also houses the security system and phone system for Rochester Elementary School, though the majority of the 25,000 square foot high school building is not used.
“My sense is that … the only number that was a contentious one was the heat for that building being in the budget again,” board member Ethan Bowen said at the July 7 meeting.
Groppe said that voters might be more likely to approve a new budget if they see the board trying to make a decision about the building.
The school board was scheduled to meet with the Rochester select board in executive session on Tuesday, July 21 to ask the town to purchase the high school for $1 and allow the district to lease it for continued use, though some were concerned how prepared the town was to undertake the costs of Rochester High School. In addition to maintenance costs, the school is carrying a $60,000 bond, which would transfer to the town.
“You can’t know unless you ask,” school board member Amy Wildt told her colleagues on July 7.
Some residents expressed frustration in recent meetings.
“The board has continually not listened to the voters, has continued to put the issue on the back burner,” said Stockbridge resident Katelynne McKinstry on July 7. “We’re sitting on all this information and the board keeps saying ‘we need more time.’ We’re tired of waiting. We want decisions made.”
The board voted to close the high school to student use this upcoming school year due to the pandemic. There will be no physical education class this year and students will eat lunch in their classrooms to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Some wanted to use the upcoming year as a trial to see how the school functioned without the high school.
Rochester Elementary School Principal Bonnie Bourne told the school board that Rochester students would be at a disadvantage if the high school was no longer used permanently.
“I can’t sit here and say there is not a significant loss of opportunity for Rochester kids for us to do this,” Bourne said.
Stockbridge Central School Principal Lindy Stetson wanted to get more feedback from voters.
“I’m worried that we’re rushing so quickly we’re missing things,” Stetson said on July 7. “I think we’re rushing because we didn’t push ourselves to have these discussions before now.”
