Board and budget

The Carbon County School District No.2 (CCSD No.2) board of directors met Wednesday for what was at the time its final meeting before the start of the 2017-2018 school year.

At the meeting, the board acted to amend the school calendar—pushing back the start of the school year—and elected a new board member to fill an empty position on the board. After the regular meeting was adjourned, the board voted to pass the CCSD No.2 budget at a separately convened budget hearing that was held immediately after the regular meeting.

The board acted to amend the school calendar to change the first week of school to be Tuesday, Aug. 22, until Friday, Aug. 25 ,. The school week was originally expected to run Monday, Aug. 21, through Thursday, Aug. 24, but the board voted to change that after debating whether or not a total solar eclipse Aug. 21, which is predicted to bring thousands of visitors into the region, could cause problems on the first day of school (See First day of school eclipsed on page. 1)

Citing an abundance of caution after suggestions from government agencies across the state as well as taking a cue from other school districts, the board agreed to postpone the beginning of school to prevent any transportation or liability issues.

The board also voted to appoint Kassey Westring to fill the seat vacated when Tonya Bartholomew resigned her position last month due to a family move. Westring will serve the rest of Bartholomew’s term, which ends in November 2018.

Westring, a civil engineer, cited her experience serving on Saratoga Town Council between 2007-2008, her service on the Saratoga Elementary School (SES) Principal Selection Committee as well as her personal interest as a parent of two elementary school children at SES as attributes that qualified her for the position.

She wrote in her letter of interest that she was she was excited by the goings on at the schools and hoped to contribute to the district in the future.

Westring was also appointed to the salary committee of the board, which will meet early next year to make recommendations for employee salaries in the district for the upcoming school year.

She was one of three candidates who submitted letters of interest to the board. The other two candidates were Pari Swanson of Saratoga—an educator with a degree in elementary education and special education—and Joe Elder, Director of the Platte Valley Community Center.

After going into executive session to discuss confidential personnel matters, the board adjourned its regular meeting and convened a budget hearing.

At the budget hearing, board members discussed the district’s 2017-2018 recreation board budget, the 2017-2018 Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) budget and the district’s 2017-2018 operating budget.

The proposed general fund for CCSD No.2 school board is $18,280,000, a reduction from last year’s general fund budget of $18,540.000. The proposed BOCES budget is $185,377.84 and the recreation board budget is proposed to be $264,394.

The combined operating cost for CCSD No.2, including all appropriations, is projected to be $27,812,062. The proposed tax levy for the district for the 2017-2018 school year will be $3,372,315.

That amount will be raised through a 26.5 mill levy.

After discussion of the budget, the board solicited public input, of which there was none. It then voted to approve the general fund budget, the BOCES budget and the recreation board budget.

The next meeting of the CCSD No.2 board of directors will be 6 p.m., Aug.21 at the district office in Saratoga.