Dracut Forum

The latest talk around the campfires this weekend was that the figures from the state that came to the town after the conference committee completed its job and the budget was sent on to the Governor to be signed showed another cut of $600,000 to Chapter 70 school aid.
Town Manager Dennis Piendak notified the school [...]

Tonite’s school committee meeting was highlighted by a long discussion of the proposed budget for the upcoming school year.
Ultimately, the board voted to accept the budget 3 to 2, with the two newest members, Bonnie Elie and Dr Mike McNamara voting against the budget.
The long discussion went very in depth on how Superintendent Mullin was [...]

By Bridget Scrimenti, Lowell Sun
While many Greater Lowell school districts have been forced to lay off hundreds of teachers, some say union concessions could have helped save jobs and eased painful budget cuts.
In Dracut, the teacher’s union refused to renegotiate its recent three-year contract to include a wage freeze for 2010, which would have [...]

By Michael Wurm , Sun Correspondent
DRACUT — About 15 mothers of students at the Campbell Elementary School packed the seats at the Dracut School Committee meeting last night to discuss the likely increase of class sizes at the school.
“We have great concern about class size,” resident Kim Tyler said. “That’s why we came tonight.” [...]

An anonymous email to the school district, copied to all the local press, brought down the camera’s of the local networks once again to the Town of Dracut schools.
Some “innocent mutual joking” during a study hall, after spreading as rumor though the students, was reported by a parent as innapropriate behavior and “teacher misconduct.”
The School [...]

I was watching the school committee meeting while also answering phone calls, so I only saw bits here and there. Its on the tivo, so I’ll go throught it all again.
What I did catch was the vote to join with the town in dealing with state local aid cutbacks by reducing their spending by $72,000.00. [...]