Mayor outlines budget timeline, Whittier appointments and role on CTE steering committee

Mayor Sean Reardon provided updates on the municipal budget, Whittier School Board appointments and his participation on a career and technical education steering committee.

Reardon said the city budget will be submitted on May 11 for the council's May meeting and that department head budget meetings are ongoing; he said the schools' budget work is a little further ahead and that the school budget currently shows "a little over a 5% increase." He directed listeners interested in school budgeting to the upcoming public comment opportunity at the school committee meeting.

On personnel for regional schooling, Reardon reported that the school committee approved two new representatives to the Whittier School Board: Erin Fenn and Stephanie Collina, both residents of the Whittier district; they will attend their first meeting in April. He explained that Whittier serves 11 communities (three cities and eight towns) and that cities are entitled to two representatives each.

Reardon also said he joined a steering committee at the high school to plan career and technical education (CTE) and Chapter 74 programs. He described partnerships with the Peterson School and representatives from Northern Essex and said the district currently has manufacturing, health and environmental pathways. He noted Whittier's slotting: the district was slotted for seven incoming eighth‑grade spots; the current cohort this year is roughly 33–35 students and is expected to drop to a cap of 28 in coming years as slotting stabilizes.

Reardon said these discussions are ongoing and that more committee meetings are scheduled in the coming months; he did not provide specific budget line items or vote tallies for the described approvals.