In their first meeting of 2009 on Monday night, members of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School District school committee resolved to do some spring housecleaning.
At last month’s meeting, the school committee gave superintendent James Weiss approval to seek proposals for records management for both the regional high school district and the Up-Island Regional School District (UIRSD).
In follow-up Monday, Mr. Weiss said he received a proposal from King Information Systems, a records management company. Showing photos to illustrate his point, Mr. Weiss said that because records in the basement and storage areas in his building are such a mess, the company estimated the project would cost $20,000 to $25,000, depending on what they find “in the dark reaches.”
The proposal includes reviewing the financial documents, sorting and organizing them, and destroying those that are no longer needed. Some of the financial records date back at least 20 years.
King Information Systems also will train the superintendent’s staff on what records to keep and how to store them going forward, Mr. Weiss said. He suggested that since the regional high school district has more records, it should pay two-thirds of the cost, using excess and deficiency funds, and the UIRSD pay one-third.
“You ought to find a way to do this cheaper – this is an outrageous amount of money,” school committee member Roxanne Ackerman of Aquinnah told him. She said she has experience in records management and could come in and show his staff how to do the job. Mr. Weiss said no one on his staff has time to do the project, even during the summer.
After discussing several suggestions from Ms. Ackerman, the school committee agreed they would prefer to use a professional service and, with the exception of Ms. Ackerman, voted to approve the proposal. Mr. Weiss also will seek the UIRSD school committee’s approval.
In other business, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School principal Stephen Nixon said that he has hired Joe Thibodeau, co-owner of the Vineyard Auto School, as the new driver’s education instructor.
The next Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School school committee meeting is February 9.
