Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 4/7/2021 4:31:32 PM
Local schools are shifting to a full-time in-person schedule after Governor Chris Sununu ordered last week that all schools in the state must provide parents the option to be in school five days a week by April 19.
The Mascenic Regional School District and the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District both have grade levels still operating on a hybrid schedule with at least one remote learning day scheduled per week. Both will be eliminating their remote day on April 19, in compliance with Sununu’s order. Other area districts have already implemented a full-time in-person option, either in response to the governor’s order or as part of established reopening plans.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 3/10/2021 5:15:59 PM
New Ipswich voters passed the town budget – barely – and approved the Mascenic School District budget as well, along with nearly every other item on the warrant.
The $2,710,452 town budget passed by just four votes, 368-364. Town moderator Robert Romeril said that as of Wednesday afternoon, town officials had not received any requests for recount.
Mascenic’s $19,254,693 school district budget passed a little bit more easily, 448-390. In Greenville, twice as many voters cast ballots for the budget than against it (68-32), while in New Ipswich, it passed 380-358.
The closest vote of the day was likely the one with the least financial impact going forward, as residents accepted the quarter-mile Valley Road as a public highway, removing the burden of snow removal from residents of the 12-house cul-de-sac.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Modified: 12/31/2020 10:56:28 AM
The Mascenic School District heads into next week’s budget hearing with only a small increase from last year’s budget, but facing some steep decreases in its revenue, after more than 140 students left the district this year, resulting in vastly reduced state aid.
The district has scheduled its budget hearing, followed by a virtual town hall, for next week to allow residents to review the budget and ask questions. The currently proposed budget for 2021-22 is $19,254,693.
The proposal is .34 percent more than the default budget for the year. The default budget is last year’s budget with certain contracted increases, and minus one-time expenditures. If voters do not vote for the proposed budget, the district operates under the default budget.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 12/21/2020 6:49:53 PM
State funding cuts for adequacy aid are likely to put a burden on taxpayers in local school districts next year.
Mascenic School District’s draft budget currently represents a less than 1 percent increase. The School Board has not taken a vote on its proposed budget this year, intending to review the budget and vote on a final number during its next School Board meeting, but last Monday, the board received a recommendation from its Budget Advisory Committee to support a budget of $19.25 million, or a $65,820 increase from the previous year.
“As a needs-based budget, there is no fluff,” said Budget Advisory Committee member Mitchell Gluck told the board.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 12/15/2020 2:58:54 PM
The Mascenic School District has extended its remote learning period through Jan. 19, in a unanimous vote taken during its meeting Monday.
The new reopening date aligns with the recommendation made by the school’s administration and Superintendent Christine Martin.
“Many members of the community have emailed me and said, ‘Dr. Martin, you need to stop living in fear.’ I’m not living in fear, but I am living in reality, in facts and in science,” Martin said, while giving her recommendation to extend remote learning.
The district is currently in a full-remote model, which was originally scheduled to end on Jan. 4. However, on Monday, the board reviewed both the numbers of infection rates for Hillsborough county and the anticipated available staffing levels in the district, and made the decision to extend the remote learning period another two weeks.