Farmington River Regional School District
Farmington River Elementary School
555 North Main Road, Otis, MA 01253
Monday January 8, 2018
Meeting #357
MINUTES
Members Present: Nick DellaGiustina, Jessica Drenga, Hillary Howard, Billie Pachulski, John Skrip, Tom Nadolny, Jane Gleason, and Eric Jesner
Absent: Carol Lombardo and Arlene Tolopko
Guests: None
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00p.m. by the chair, Nicholas DellaGiustina.
Community Participation: none
Before the meeting begins, Nicholas DellaGiustina makes a motion to move into an Executive Meeting before adjourning the meeting. Jess Drenga seconded the motion.
- Approval of Minutes of Meeting #356: The minutes of Meeting #356 were approved with corrections. Jane Gleason was not present in last month’s meeting. Motioned by John Skrip, seconded by Jessica Drenga. Vote unanimous.
- School Committee to welcome Eric Jesner: The members of the School Committee welcomed Eric to the Farmington River School. Congratulated him and wished him well.
- Principal/Superintendent monthly update: Sarah Tracy is back from maternity leave, she
is teaching 2nd Grade.
The maintenance of the building held up well during the sub below temperatures the past
couple of weeks. No major freezing issues. The hot water heater did freeze, but it is being
corrected, and did not create any issues.
Blizzard bags were successful. The majority of the students handed in the bags the first day
back. Students do have a week to hand in the bag.
To follow up on the ceiling in the gym, Tom talked to a local contractor who suggested the
repair work be a summer project. We are getting an estimate to see the cost of the repairs.
- Financial updates: Eric Jesner explained the new process of reporting the financial reports.
Eric is setting up the reports to coordinate with our software system which will be easier for
the auditors and state to look at. It is just a formatting change, so the reports will look
different.
The kitchen needs a new stove and a few other updated equipment replacements. This
equipment was installed with the original start of the new school building. The maintenance
department is in need of a new tractor. The current tractor is beyond repairs. And, the
preschool van also needs to be replaced. These are bigger items to replace, but the budget
does have some flexible funding that could help cover the costs of the needed equipment.
This availability would be towards the end of the school year with the understanding that
the budget could change at any point because of unexpected expenditures.
Eric then moved on the discuss the budget. He went over the decreases and increases of the
budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Some of the increases are estimated in because we will
not know the actual figures the closer we get to the end of the fiscal year. There are no
revenue projections because we haven’t heard from the state with those figures yet.
Eric was very open to any questions or suggestions made by the School Committee.
Eric also brought up that we need a budget hearing to approve the budget to submit to both
Towns. The Towns’ budget hearing with the Finance Committee is February 7, 2018. The
next school committee meeting is February 5, 2018. The School Committee will approve
a budget for presentation to the towns. The snow date will be February 15, 2018.
As always, the expenditures and budget that were discussed are available to the public by
request.
The last bit of Eric’s update is to discuss a better flow of signing warrants. The auditors
would like a cleaner process. This pertains mostly with payroll. Checks are being paid before
warrants are being signed. There is a way electronically that can help through
Softright. Or emailing the information for approval before the meetings where they are
signed.
Motion: To enter Executive Meeting. We will reconvene in General Meeting only to adjourn.
Jess Drenga motioned, John Skrip seconded.
Roll call: Nick DellaGiustina-yes, Hillary Howard-yes, Jessica Drenga-yes, John Skrip-yes, and
Billie Pachulski
Adjourn: Motion to adjourn the meeting by Billie Pachulski, seconded by Hillary Howard. Unanimous, 7:45pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa DellaGiustina, secretary
tld