SAUGUS — Town Meeting Members gathered in Town Hall Monday night for the second round of Town Meeting.
Four of the articles that were presented that night were Article 17, Article 18, Article 19 and Article 20 which would fund the enrichment programs at the Belmonte STEAM Academy, Saugus Middle School, Saugus High School and Veterans Early Learning Center (VELC).
In Article 17, the vote was for a sum of $250,000 to be used for enrichment programming at the academy from the Supplemental Student Support Reserve. The finance committee recommended that the town appropriate $100,000 for the program.
In Article 18, the vote was for a sum of $250,000 to be used for enrichment programming at the middle school from the Supplemental Student Support Reserve. The finance committee recommended that the full $250,000 be appropriated.
In Article 19, the vote was for a sum of $100,000 to be used for enrichment programming at the high school from the Supplemental Student Support Reserve. The finance committee recommended that the full $100,000 be appropriated.
In Article 20, the vote was for a sum of $75,000 to be used for enrichment programming at the VELC from the Supplemental Student Support Reserve. The finance committee recommended that the full $75,000 be appropriated.
After the reading of Article 17, Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian took to the microphone to discuss the article.
“If this is appropriated what would the balance be in that fund (Supplemental Student Support Reserve)?” Manoogian asked.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree approached to answer the question guessing that it would still be north of $3 million after the funds were taken out.
“(When) this fund was created we outlined eight potential uses and the eighth one was to develop any program deemed appropriate and proven effective with the goal of bringing about student, academic and social recovery after two years of remote learning,” Manoogian said.
He continued that Town Meeting had done a great thing establishing the fund to help catch students up from remote learning.
“Today I’m shocked at the lack of programming, if you will, to address those needs. Should we assume that the students are caught up? The research shows the deficits that occurred in student learning as a result of COVID and remote learning, and we would have thought that by now there’d be tutoring programs, testing at the elementary level to gauge where students were, non-reference testing, parent guardian communication and training, and access to technology. A whole host of things,” Manoogian said.
He said that he hopes the lack of programming is not intentional so that the funds can be transferred to settle pending contracts.
“These funds were for kids to get caught up and we have a lack of programming thus far with only $1 million spent out of $4 (million),” he said. I would hope the school committee and the superintendent would come up with something to help kids. It’s either that or they’re all caught up and they don’t need anything.
There was no further discussion on the article and the vote was made. It was a unanimous yes to appropriate $100,000 for the academy.
Articles 18, 19, and 20 also passed unanimously.
