Efficiency Study Says School System Could Save Close to $4.6 Million Over Five Years

The Board of Education heard the findings of a long anticipated as part of its meeting Monday, which said the school system could save almost $4.6 million over the next five years if it implemented 20 suggested cost saving measures.

The study, conducted by Evergreen Solutions LLC., recommended 58 total suggestions for improving the district’s efficiency, 20 of which carried potential cost savings. 

“I know you will not implement all 20 recommendations, but if you did” that would be the savings achieved over five years, said Linda Reico, one of the consultants from Evergreen Solutions who worked on the study.

Among the 20 cost savings recommendations that Reico mentioned Monday was a new strategic plan for the district, the outsourcing of maintenance positions, changes to the way the system operates its food and nutrition services, and the elimination of one assistant principal from Manchester High School and the consolidation of the high school’s instructional leader positions from 12 to eight.

But board members took issue with some of the study’s findings and whether or not they could be implemented, particularly one Reico said would save the district about $250,000 a year on its food service budget which was in actuality a shifting of the expenses from out of the general fund and into the food services and nutrition budget.

“The one thing I do want to do is caution people watching this that these are recommendations by an outside firm that the board needs to vet over a period of time,” said Neal Leon, a Democratic member of the school board who was appointed its new secretary earlier in the meeting. “I don’t want people to get upset and think their positions are being eliminated.”

Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini noted that several of the cost savings recommendations would involve renegotiating existing union agreements, which could prove difficult, and suggested that the school board’s various sub-committees take a closer look at the recommendations that fall under their specific areas of jurisdiction.

Interim Superintendent Richard Kisiel said that, even with board approval, he believed that many of the recommendations could take as long as three years to reasonably implement.

The full study, which Reico said was more than 300 pages, will be made available for viewing on the school system's website shortly. 

In other news Monday, the Board of Education voted to appoint itself as the search committee to name a new permanent superintendent to replace , which board members said would allow every member of the board to have input and a say in the decision.

“I firmly believe that this board should be the body that makes the decision of who we’re going to hire, and that’s why I want to see it done this way,” said Republican Michael Crockett.

The school board also approved Kisiel’s plan to adjust the school calendar to make up two of the four days the school system lost due to. Under the new schedule, a half-day will be held on Jan. 13, which was scheduled to be an in-service day for school staff, while Feb. 17, originally scheduled to be the first day of a four-day vacation over the President’s Day weekend, will also now be a full day of school. Kisiel noted that under the new schedule school would end for the year on June 17 barring any additional cancellations due to weather.

The school board also formally said goodbye to outgoing members Bethany Silver, Mary-Jame Pazda and Michael Crockett Monday, and welcomed newly elected members Jason Scappaticci, Sarah Walton and Merrill Kidd. Pattacini was re-elected as board chairman.