Gill-Montague School Committee Approves $145,530 in End-of-Year Budget Transfers

GILL — June 27, 2023 — Gill-Montague School Committee approves $145,530 in budget transfers and hears union plea for 3-percent raises. The committee voted 8-0 on each of three end-of-year transfers at its June 27 remote meeting, including a $120,000 shift from school choice tuition to cover unanticipated building maintenance at Sheffield Elementary and Turners Falls High School — mold remediation, air-handler failures, frozen-pipe damage, and boiler repairs among the costs. Guidance counselor Lindsay Wallace warned the committee that a 31-requirement administrative assistant position in the counseling department had gone unfilled because candidates balked at the posted hourly rate. Union member Joseph Katz cited DESE data showing the district finished below the statewide staff retention average in 13 of the past 15 years and called for a return to the 3-percent annual raises last granted in the 2008-2009 school year. Curriculum director Gene Powers reported that 16 first-graders received targeted one-on-one math intervention under the ESSER-funded program this year, with nine meeting grade-level expectations and five exceeding them. A Montague committee seat is now open after write-in member John Reynolds stepped down; letters of interest are due to the superintendent's office by July 24.