BEVERLY — Though critics called his tactics "disgusting" and akin to "larceny," Mayor Bill Scanlon won the School Committee's approval of his elementary school consolidation plan to close McKeown and keep Cove open.
The vote passed 5-2 after Scanlon said the city would only allocate $680,000 from the general fund to support his proposal, and not Superintendent James Hayes' plan to close both schools. Committee members rejected Hayes' proposal, 4-3.
School Committee President Annemarie Cesa called Scanlon's actions "incredibly frustrating and disgusting." McKeown parent Joanna Scott called it government manipulation at its worst.
"For him to pull that money to get the vote he wanted is larceny," Scott said.
Scanlon said he didn't trust Hayes' revenue predictions and would not use the city's money to support it.
"At the bottom of it all, I brought forward the money to try to save a school," Scanlon said. Students at McKeown would be absorbed by the city's remaining five elementary schools.
Hayes proposed closing both Cove and McKeown and turning them into an early childhood education center and alternative secondary school, respectively. Hayes' proposed changes were part of an effort to close a $2.67 million school funding deficit. Other tactics to close the funding gap include laying off 61 teachers and staff, as well as making a variety of other cuts.
Hayes' plan had been publicly analyzed for two months as the community has struggle to come up with an alternative. Scanlon presented his own last-minute alternative last Wednesday, the night the School Committee was poised to vote on Hayes' plan.
With increased recycling savings and revenue through the city's trash fee, Scanlon said instead of putting $680,000 into Beverly's sanitation fund, the city would keep it in the general fund, and then hand it over to the schools to pay for the cost of keeping Cove open.
When Cesa asked him if that money would still be available if the School Committee voted to close both schools, Scanlon said, "No, you can't count on that money. I'm opposed to the four-school model."
The statement was followed by gasps from more than 50 people crammed into the conference room in the Memorial Building. A half-hour into the meeting, the audience rearranged their chairs and squished together to make room for people standing in the back of the room and the hallway.
"This is what the classrooms are going to look like," said Cove parent Vanessa Nelson.
Many in the audience encouraged the School Committee to vote down both plans, since neither addressed increased class sizes, and pushed instead for a $2.5 million Proposition 21/2 override.
Residents vote June 3 on the override, which would raise their property taxes by about $185 a year for a home assessed at $450,000. Once the property tax goes up, it stays that way for years to come.
If the override passes, the School Committee's vote will not matter. The school system would remain the same in September, and administrators would have a year to work out all the details of a future elementary school consolidation plan.
How they voted
Scanlon's plan
David Manzi Ward 1 No
Paul Manzo Ward 2 Yes
Jim Latter Ward 3 Yes
Karen Fogarty Ward 4 Yes
Annemarie Cesa Ward 5 No
Maria Decker Ward 6 Yes
Mayor Bill Scanlon ex officio Yes
Hayes' plan
David Manzi Ward 1 Yes
Paul Manzo Ward 2 No
Jim Latter Ward 3 Yes
Karen Fogarty Ward 4 No
Annemarie Cesa Ward 5 Yes
Maria Decker Ward 6 No
Mayor Bill Scanlon ex officio No
