Rochester School Committee member Sharon Hartley expressed concern over the posting of a new kindergarten teacher position at Rochester Memorial School over the summer before the School Committee was contacted for approval.

During the September 3 meeting, Hartley brought up a discussion about the district’s policy for hiring new positions, and Superintendent Doug White addressed her concern.

Before the start of the school year, White said the administration began researching how it could hire a new kindergarten teacher to fill a sudden opening. The position was posted, however, before a School Committee meeting could be held, White acknowledged. In response, Hartley referred to the new position policy by memory recollection.

“It was at least implied that the positions are officially presented and identified and created by the School Committee,” said Hartley. “Therefore, the School Committee should know before any positions are … posted.” There is always the case of an emergency, said Hartley, “But in this case, it was not an emergency.”

White assured Hartley that, in the future, he would approach similar situations “in an honest and respectful way,” and to make sure it never happens again. He said there was no intent to keep the committee uninformed of the new position, but he said he understands the confusion it has caused.

“Here on out, nothing will be posted until there’s an approval from the School Committee,” White said. School Committee Chairman Tina Rood added, specifically, “For a new position.”

White said the position was added after the fiscal year 2016 budget was finalized and before a School Committee meeting was held to discuss the matter.

“The bump in the road is when we can’t communicate with the community in this case,” said Hartley. “So that causes difficulty.”

Rood replied, “It’s unusual, the summer is a very unusual time for all of us. It’s not a time we generally meet.”

School Committee member Jennifer Kulak acknowledged that, although the adopted policy was not followed, she did not interpret as great a concern as Hartley did.

“We are in the luxury at this age of electronic communication,” said Hartley, “so just to encourage all of us to use electronic communication as best we can … just to ensure we all know things.”

Also during the meeting, just as he had explained to Marion residents and School Committee members the night before, School Business Administrator Patrick Spencer told Rochester residents and the School Committee that inspection reports on the district’s school bus transportation company Braga Transportation appeared more serious than they actually were.

A 50 percent fail rate for the school bus transportation company seems high, explained Spencer, but factor in that the Fall River division office had a higher rate of failure of its bus fleet than Rochester and the urgency diminishes somewhat. A Braga division in Mattapoisett services Rochester Public Schools, said Spencer, which is under a different management than Fall River.

Of the 28 busses at the Mattapoisett division, 12 failed, but 10 of those failed busses had only minor problems that were fixable before the state inspector left the scene.

“I don’t take any failure lightly,” said Spencer, “but there were some minor [issues] … and all busses passed the inspection within a couple days.”

All busses were within acceptable range before the first day of school on September 1, and Spencer said he was comfortable with the results.

“Our main concern is the safety of our students, and to make sure all busses on the road are up to code and are safe,” said Spencer. “I don’t want people to be nervous or not know what’s going on…. We’re aware of it and we’re on top of it and all the busses have passed inspection.”

The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for October 1 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

The Marion Board of Selectmen closed the Special Fall Town Meeting warrant on September 8 and approved the five articles, with one potential article to be taken off the following day. The Special Town Meeting is scheduled for October 26.

One article, Article S5, according to Town Administrator Paul Dawson, will likely disappear from the warrant as of the next day when he receives written confirmation that damage caused by a July rainstorm that flooded three town buildings will be covered by insurance.

The article, submitted by the facilities manager, would have covered the $12,000 in damages and costs accrued during the cleanup, which Dawson said was a significant hit to the facilities line item of the budget.

“It won’t even be on the warrant if I get that written confirmation tomorrow,” said Dawson.

Article S1 on the warrant pertains to a prior 2013 Town Meeting vote that authorized the Town of Marion to collect water bills from out-of-town resident water consumers. The original article, explained Dawson, lacked specific language that would formally accept the statute, and this special article would correct the situation.

Article S2 would appropriate $10,000 for gypsy moth and winter moth aerial spraying should a spring 2016 outbreak arise. The funding request, submitted by the tree warden, would be expended only if needed, and the funds would come from the free cash treasury.

Article S3 is the ambulance article that was passed over at the 2015 Annual Town Meeting. The article would appropriate $241,000 to purchase a new emergency ambulance for use by the Fire/EMS Department. Dawson noted that the Special Town Meeting article is $4,000 higher than the previous town meeting article, accounting for an increase in the quoted price of the vehicle.

Article S4 would approve the transfer of $50,000 from the treasury to be used as the Town’s required contribution toward a grant totaling $200,000 from the Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Estuary Programs as part of the Town’s ongoing program of sewer-related improvements.

“This is a grand opportunity where the Town could receive $200,000 in grant money opportunities for the town,” said Dawson. “This is really just a placeholder that allows us to appropriate the funds.”

Also, Dawson asked residents of the town to not read too deeply into the omission of an article on the warrant that would address the plowing of private roadways.

“This is one of those articles … that can be overrun over the course of the year,” Dawson stated. He explained that it would be better practice to simply make a funds transfer request during the Special Town Meeting to be held during the Annual Town Meeting to cover the cost of the snow and ice removal of eligible private roadways that meet certain criteria for plowing, such as wide enough roads and the pruning back of low overhead hanging branches that could damage equipment.

Dawson advised that selectmen hold a discussion with Department of Public Works Superintendent Rob Zora during the next meeting for further clarification.

Also during the September 8 meeting, selectmen met with Board of Health Chairman Albin Johnson regarding a request to add a sewer connection on Point Road, despite a general moratorium on new sewer connections in town. Johnson said this particular new development would be positioned exactly near an existing sewer line, saying, “We prefer to have them tie in to the town sewer now, rather than later.”

Selectmen Chairman Stephen Cushing recommended tabling the discussion until the next meeting so Zora could attend and shed further light on the subject.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for September 22 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry