Dear members of our six town community,
At our last meeting on January 22, 2020, of the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board:
The Student Representatives shared their monthly report;
Michelle Baker, Director of Finance & Operations, gave a brief presentation on options for funds for the lease and installation of the annex at Crossett Brook Middle School and on the warnings for Town Meeting Day; and
Nicole Mace, Esq. explained and answered questions from board members regarding the two petitions to amend the HUUSD Articles of Agreement that were submitted to the board.
The Board took action on the six (6) items below:
Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda: Approve: Minutes of 1/15/2020; Accept: Voucher 1175 equaling $90,652.55.
Approved payment of each town’s election expenses for June 9, 2020 bond vote.
Amended last week’s motion to reflect the addition of the cost of the annex: adopt Budget #5 with a total expenditure of $39,772,342 for fiscal year 2021 which would include combining all 7th and 8th graders at Crossett Brook Middle School and moving Moretown Elementary’s 5th and 6th graders to Crossett Brook Middle School (or IDC).
Rejected the petitioned article calling for voter approval of school configuration because the school board, not the electorate, has the authority to make policy and to decide how the buildings within their district will be used and managed.
Rejected the petitioned article calling for voter approval of school closures because the petitioned article includes a very broad definition of school closure that would grant the electorate authority to dictate matters that are clearly within the board’s authority to decide, namely grade configuration and the use of school classrooms and buildings.
Approved the warning for the Board’s Annual Meeting and articles for Town Meeting Day as drafted and presented by Finance Director Michelle Baker at the 1/22/20 meeting.
Further communication about the budget and petition decisions will be coming from the Board within the next week.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, February 12th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library. Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings.
You’ll also find all board and committee agendas, packets and minutes, and the link to board meeting videos. The direct link to watch this and other recent meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/. An archive of older meetings can be found here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Harwood+Unified+Union+School+Board&sort=-date
Thank you for your continued support and engagement.
Respectfully,
The HUUSD Board