By Cate Lecuyer
BEVERLY — The public has one last chance on Monday to weigh in on the plan to consolidate the city's elementary schools.
The School Committee was supposed to vote on it last night, but Mayor Bill Scanlon was out of town, so members postponed the decision until their meeting Wednesday. Despite a willingness by President Annemarie Cesa to have a vote before Monday's public hearing so people would know the exact plan they were discussing, the committee is now going to hear more input from the public.
"People are working on things, and they need to be heard," said Cove parent Cathy Norton. Ward 4 committee representative Karen Fogarty agreed, saying people have a sense that they still have time to present other options to the School Committee.
The plan is to turn Cove into an early childhood education center and McKeown into an alternative secondary school to close a $2.6 million gap between spending and revenue in next year's budget. While board members discussed the possibilities of just closing one of the schools, it still left a $750,000 shortfall that would have to be made up in cuts.
"What would be on your list for a quarter of a million dollars?" Superintendent James Hayes asked.
He has been pushing the committee to decide soon so the administration can move forward with plans to restructure the district, and members felt the pressure.
"We have little kids who are saying they don't know where they're going to school in September," Cesa said.
The committee will vote Wednesday on the reconfiguration plan and will have a separate vote later in the month to approve two school budgets — one for if the Proposition 21/2 override passes in a June 3 election, and another for if it doesn't.
Hayes last night revealed a budget for if the override passes. While property taxes would permanently increase by $185 per year on a house assessed at $450,000, the $2.5 million in additional revenue left Hayes to make minor cuts that maintain the current level of services in the school district for next year.
Administrators would still move forward with a consolidation of the city's elementary schools in a future year, but the override would give them more time to develop the plan and work out many of the details, like student lunch times and parking schedules.
If you go
What: Public hearing on school reconfiguration plan
When: Monday, May 12, at 7 p.m.
Where: Beverly High School auditorium
