Saugus school board accepts $25.6M budget

SAUGUS – Several key cuts in Superintendent Richard Langlois? tiered reduction plan will be restored after the Saugus School Committee voted Thursday to accept the $25.6 million school budget as voted by Town Meeting.Sam Rippin, Executive Director of Finance and Operations, said busing, athletics, clubs and advisors will be fully restored using $150,000 from sick leave buyback and utility savings.Rippin said athletic fees will remain at $350 per sport.?We have the capacity to mitigate some of these tiered reductions with one-time money like we did last year,” said Rippin. “Those services we hold near and dear will be able to be maintained. Those savings you?re not likely to get again.”Langlois said the upcoming school year will be “challenging,” but noted he and Rippin are confident that they met the School Committee?s needs “in those priority areas.”In other business, Langlois gave high praise to the staff at the Belmonte Middle School for a quick and easy transition out of the school for the summer so the repair project can begin.Staff is now being housed at the Waybright Elementary School for summer school, according to Langlois.Langlois also said the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) process has begun for all workers involved in the project, noting that approved construction workers will all wear hardhats and identification badges.The committee also discussed how to more efficiently request information from the superintendent, after Langlois said the process has been “pretty inconsistent.”?I have no problem giving the information, I just want to refine the process,” said Langlois. “I just need some direction because it?s going in different directions right now. I don?t want requests for information to go by me without me knowing about it. I would like to know about it. That?s only fair to the CEO of a business that?s running it. There has to be a channel so that everyone is on the same page.”School Committee member Joe Malone said the information he receives is “helpful” and “informative,” and noted even though it can be time consuming, he likes to be as informed as possible.?I know some people that these requests for information might be excessive, I do not,” said Malone. “The problems we?ve had over the years ? there is a lot of suspicion throughout the town about how we?re spending our money.”The committee agreed to go through Langlois for all information requests.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].