Students and residents urge girls' golf team, calendar review and scrutiny of tax abatements

The board heard multiple public comments about student opportunities and local fiscal policy as its public-comment period opened after the tentative-budget vote.

Ninth-grade student Nora Dorney asked the board to budget a girls' golf team, saying a dedicated girls’ program would give female students “fair competition and equal opportunity” and that surrounding towns already offer girls’ golf. “Girls should get to play matches with fair competition and equal opportunity,” Dorney said.

Resident Gary Morris urged the district to pursue sharing pilot or tax-abatement revenues from local development, saying recent abatements shift revenue away from the schools. Morris walked trustees through a rough calculation and said some projects could cost the district “about $1,400,000 over those five years” in foregone school funding, and offered to serve as a liaison to municipal meetings.

Several speakers also asked the board to revisit how it sets the school calendar. Sandra Wokes (joined by Jessica Minnis) read a letter asking for greater parent involvement in calendar decisions and suggested forming a committee, presenting calendar options for community input, or running a town survey.

On staffing and insurance-related questions raised by public commenters, the business administrator cautioned that restoring employee insurance waivers has costs and said the district will do a “deep dive” analysis and return with more information over the next six months. The board closed the public-comment period and noted its next meeting is April 30.

No formal board action was taken on these public requests during the meeting; several items were acknowledged for further study by administration or committee review.