Norwood School Committee endorses $828,697 in preliminary cuts, approves $50,000 legal transfer and announces new safety director

The Norwood School Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 25 voted 4-0 to direct district administrators to advance a set of preliminary budget reductions totaling $828,697 and to request a review of local revenue projections before pursuing deeper cuts. At the meeting the administration also announced it has hired Dr. Hugh Galligan, currently principal of Norwood High School, to serve as the district’s director of safety, compliance and communication. The committee separately approved a $50,000 intra-district transfer to cover legal services costs and then entered executive session by unanimous roll call.

The committee’s action responds to a request from the town’s Budget Balancing Committee (BBC) to reduce the school department’s preliminary budget by roughly $1.2 million. District administrators presented three tiers of possible reductions and recommended the committee advance the tier 1 package to BBC while seeking confirmation of revenue and local-receipt projections before cutting further.

Tier 1 reductions presented to the committee total $828,697 and consist primarily of staffing and program adjustments the administration described as achievable with manageable instructional impact. The largest category of savings—about $391,500—comes from changing how several elementary specialist positions are staffed and from transferring or consolidating five positions so the district would not need to add staff in the preliminary budget for the opening of the new 5–8 configuration. The proposal would reduce three elementary specialist positions (including one wellness role and two librarian positions) by moving duties to the middle school and reorganizing schedules so specialists work across two schools in a day. One special-education (sub-separate) teacher position would shift to the middle school as cohorts move upward; a Latin teacher position—described as under-enrolled—would be removed at the high school with online options proposed for students who need to finish the language for graduation.

Other tier 1 items include a $100,000 reduction in the curriculum-refresh line (leaving $250,000 for next year), $80,197 in combined textbook, instructional materials and professional-development adjustments (including moving some PD expenses to grants), estimated turnover savings of roughly $200,000 and a $20,000 cut to building-materials/furniture requests. The administration said the specialist-scheduling changes would increase equalized specialist minutes at the elementary level in some cases while creating travel and equipment logistics to resolve.

Administrators cautioned that tier 2 and tier 3 reductions would carry greater instructional and operational risk. Tier 2 options discussed would remove proposed middle-school department-chair release time or a proposed elementary classroom position at Oldham School, and could include eliminating either an ELA or a science position at the high school. Committee members repeatedly said they do not recommend cuts that would require positions to be added back quickly when enrollment or program needs change.

Committee members pressed the administration for clarifications before the BBC presentation. School Committee member Teresa Stewart and others asked for enrollment and move-in data for each building before approving reductions that could increase class sizes. Several members said transportation pay increases—proposed in the preliminary budget to address driver shortages—should be preserved if possible; administrators flagged that cutting the proposed transportation-salary increase would free roughly $200,000 but could worsen recruiting problems.

After discussion the committee voted 4-0 to approve a motion limiting committee support to the tier 1 reduction package of $828,697 and to ask for a further review of revenue/local-receipt projections before endorsing deeper cuts. The vote was recorded as follows: Teresa Stewart — yes; Joan Giblin — yes; Kate Sipping Dunn — yes; Chair (unnamed in record) — yes.

Separately, the committee approved a $50,000 budget transfer to the legal-services line to cover current-year overspending on outside counsel. The administration said two outside legal vendors are handling student-services and general-district matters; the transfer will move funds from a collective-bargaining reserve into legal services. The motion to approve the $50,000 transfer passed 4-0 on the same roll-call votes.

The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to enter executive session; the committee noted it would reconvene only to adjourn. Committee members said BBC will take up budget targets and that more detailed committee votes will return to the school committee next week.

The administration emphasized the proposals are preliminary and that the BBC ultimately sets the town-level budget target. Committee members said they would continue advocating to retain items in tier 2 where possible and requested further data on enrollment, move-ins and health insurance projections before committing to larger reductions.

Ending: The committee’s direction sends the district’s tier 1 package — and a request for deeper revenue review — to the town BBC for the next stage of budget balancing. Additional votes and updated enrollment and revenue information are expected at the school committee’s next meeting.