02/06/10 - The School Committee spent its Tuesday work session focusing on a proposed “cultural enrichment” program for the school — both what it would be and how to fund it.

The idea for the program came from teacher Kristine Monje at the committee’s last meeting. She said that when island teams have away games, it affects the non-athlete students left behind. Not only does the curriculum suffer, Monje said, but the other students don’t have a similar opportunity to travel to the mainland — to perhaps visit a museum or see a play.

Superintendent Bob Hicks agreed that one of the benefits of the athletic program was that it allowed island students to leave the island on a regular basis — something he considered worthwhile given the isolated nature of the island. The intent of the cultural enrichment program was to provide “a comparable opportunity” for the non-athlete students

Committee member Rich Tretheway said the cultural enrichment program, as he understood it, would “fill in the voids” for those left behind.

He pointed out that on the mainland athletics occur after school and are considered extra-curricular, but because of the island’s geographical circumstances, sports encroach upon the school day.

(Chairman Bill Padien bristled at term “geographically isolated.” From the audience, Elizabeth Connor suggested, “geographically gifted.”)

Committee member Sean McGarry, however, insisted the cultural enrichment program be available to all students, including athletes. Tretheway disagreed, saying students would simply have to make a choice. Also, he said, there are other field trips scheduled for all students.

The question turned to how to fund the new program.

Hicks provided the committee with a revised budget that shifted some of the funds that had been earmarked for two new teams — cross-country and sailing — and devoted them to the cultural enrichment program.

He suggested the cross-country and sailing teams begin as clubs rather than fully funded teams. His reasoning was that in pinched economic times it was perhaps not wise for the school to expand its athletic program, especially since he hadn’t seen students “lining up” to start the new teams.

McGarry disagreed, saying there was great student interest in a cross-country team.

From the audience, Athletic Director Rob Closter defended the plan to fund both new sports as full teams. He requested a total of $9,368 for both; $6,086 for sailing, and $3,282 for cross-country.

His total requested budget for the athletic program is $98,167.

Both Tretheway and committee member Annie Hall supported Closter, though McGarry agreed sailing might work as a club.

Returning to the subject of the cultural enrichment program, both Padien and McGarry spoke to the difficulty of asking voters to fund a program that had yet to be defined.

“We can’t ask for $7,000 from the town if we don’t know what it’s for,” Padien said.

Peter Monje said that if the committee was willing to spend approximately $2,000 to hire a coach for four student runners, “what about the 20 kids who need a coordinator for cultural enrichment?”

Both Kristine Monje and Connor concurred that if the committee would pay coaches for the sports teams, then it could fund a coordinator for an enrichment program.

After much discussion, Padien arrived at a figure of $8,400 for the new program. He characterized it as seed money to see if the program takes off.

He pointed out that currently the school’s budget request for next year amounted to a 2.68 percent increase, when it had the right to ask for a 4.5 percent increase; asking for another tenth of a percent — bringing the increase to 2.78 percent — could take care of the cultural enrichment and fund the new teams.

In the end, Hicks said he would be happy to revisit the budget to see if he could find the funds without having to raise the request at all.

He also said that while the request to the town was increasing by 2.68 percent, the overall budget was only a 0.74 percent increase.

The current budget request for the 2010-2011 school year is $4,343,549; the total budget, including grants and aid, is $4,466,586.

At Padien’s suggestion, the committee voted to waive its $1,150 stipend, with McGarry voting against it.

Bus service

Hicks said he had spoken to Rice Construction about providing bus service in the coming year. Rice proposed a price of $44,380 per year, which he would honor for three years.

At Hicks’ recommendation, the committee approved the price, with McGarry being the lone nay vote. Both McGarry and Padien said they want to have detailed fuel receipts from the bus company in the future.

Padien also asked Hicks to explore placing a warrant on the Financial Town Meeting ballot for $400,000 to install new solar panels at the school.

The groups final budget meeting is set for Monday, February 8.