Members of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) school committee budget subcommittee had a double-header Monday night, when they met an hour before their regular meeting to begin work on the school’s Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) budget.
School accounts manager Mark Friedman passed out copies of the draft budget, emphasizing that it is preliminary and will be updated in the subcommittee’s subsequent three meetings with dollar amounts. In keeping with tradition, the first version is a level service budget, not a level funded budget, that includes the same number of current programs and what they will cost next year, in terms of wage-related contractual obligations.
In summary, he said the total contractual obligations for the high school’s collectively bargained staff will increase by $382,169. That includes about $109,521 for step increases, $30,686 for lane changes, and $241,962 for salary increases, which vary between 2 and 3 percent among the different collective bargaining unit agreements.
The next budget meeting will be held at 8:30 am on October 15 in the culinary arts dining room.
At the school committee meeting that followed, principal Gil Traverso reported a successful “Back to School” night, his first as the new principal. He said he received a lot of positive comments from parents.
Mr. Traverso also discussed MCAS results released on September 19 and gave the school committee a list of interventions that will be used to help students in need of improvement.
In other business, the school committee voted to authorize a report to the community regarding compliance with the state’s corrective action plan for English learner education, as requested by English Language Learners director Leah Palmer. The school committee also voted to approve additional readings of new policies on background checks and security cameras and a revised bullying policy.
This month’s “Student Spotlight” featured senior Galya Walt, who gave a presentation about her summer trip to Israel.
