Turley Publications Correspondent

BARRE – Twenty-three Quabbin Regional food service workers attended a school committee meeting last week to learn whether or not they still had jobs. According to the workers, they were sent a certified letter in the mail stating that the district was looking into outsourcing the cafeteria operations.

Quabbin Regional Superintendent Dr. Maureen Marshall reassured the group by signing re-instatement letters to all of the cafeteria workers and they were given to each of them in attendance. But, she said privatization would be looked into again next year.

“At our last meeting, we had the opportunity to discuss the budget and large numbers of reductions in positions that we have suffered, probably 26.5 positions have been eliminated from our school budget,” said Marshall, who presented her report to the school committee at their June 24 meeting.

Marshall said approximately $100,000 is insurances and other benefits are in the operational budget. “We hoped to shift that out of our budget so that our program could be self-sufficient and potentially privatized.” Marshall said that a good number of hours and days have been spent working with the school committee looking at the opportunities and possibilities of privatization.

Marshall addressed the food service workers by saying, “Please understand that we have been unable to keep all of our teachers. I’ve had to sit across a table from 17 teachers. They are not going to be here. They will be on the unemployment line probably within the week. I know you felt victimized and picked on because we were looking at cafeterias, but we were trying to find a way to ensure that you all had employment. We had to look at whether there were things that we could shift out of our operations budget so we could drive back the teaching and learning.”

Marshall went on to say that she and the committee are convinced that they will have to increase lunch prices to make it possible to raise the quality of the nutritional program.

As for the teachers that have been laid-off, Administrative Services Director Cheryl Duval said that some teachers may be called back. Duval isn’t sure how many, but she said she will know more after an administrative meeting is held before June 30.

Athletic fees increased

At its meeting, the school committee also voted to increase the senior high school athletic fees to $120 per sport. Duval said that the athletic director looked at having a scale that would be individualized to each sport.

“It costs a whole lot more to run the football program than it does to run the track team. The director decided that not only is it easier this way, it’s more fair at this time,” said Duval.

Marshall said that the school has been in discussions with the member towns as well as the School Building Authority (SBA) regarding a feasibility study for the repairs of the high school atrium roof/panel system. She said the SBA has informed her that because the roof project is covered under the “green buildings project” that is authorized by the federal government, the “green” program only allows coverage of roofs, windows and doors. The panel system, because it is not immediately adjacent to the roof, is not covered. However, because of the urgency that is obvious in fixing the roof, Marshall said there is a very good chance that the SBA will cover out of their own resources, the reimbursement for the replacement of the panels as well.

Marshall said that the SBA recommended that the school committee vote to proceed immediately to comply with all requirements of the feasibility study for the repair and replacement of the atrium roof, as that is part of the “green” program, but that the committee would guarantee to member towns that they will not proceed with the repair or replacement of the exterior panels without SBA approval or additional approvals from the town.

“Should we get into a situation where there is such urgency that we can’t wait for SBA, we’ll have to go back to the towns and say ‘We’ve got to fix this now’.

The committee voted to comply with the requirements of the feasibility study that Marshall outlined.