April 7, 2010
On April 7, the RTSC met at Page Hilltop School at 6pm. Several items were on the agenda and here are the highlights:
1. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the acquisition and disbursement of the FY11 Ayer & Shirley Transportation expenses. The total figure approved at this time is $457,038. The purpose of doing this is pursuant to the Regional Agreement Section XVII(E) 5; the Region will manage the payment for transportation costs in FY11 so that in FY12 the Region will be eligible for reimbursement from the state at the reimbursement rate approved by the state at that time. Under current conditions this means a reimbursement check to the Regional School District of approximatley $240,000. This language was a very important step in facilitating the financial model for the regional district, since it brings cost savings to the district in the first year of its operation.
2. Some parents attended the meeting and shared concerns over a lack of details as to the transitional plan for the district and for the middle school merger. This concern is understandable since the changes impact many people. We spent several minutes addressing the specific questions and the leadership team in each school district is working together feverishly to get these plans solidified so that we may present them to staff, parents, students and the community as soon as possible.
3. The committee approved that we will use the http://www.ayershirleyregion.org and http://www.ayershirleyregion.com websites as communication vehicles for the RTSC. We will be revamping the site and posting meeting minutes and other content related to the district in the near term.
4. We agreed on several on-going business items to be visited during our next meeting. They include: the transitional plan, commmunication plans, organization model and middle school merger.
5. The next meeting of the RTSC will be on Monday, April 26th @ 7pm in Shirley at the Shirley Middle School Library. All are welcome.
-Pat Kelly, Chairman, Regional Transitional
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