Norton Schools Asking for $1.6 Million Budget Increase for Level Services

Norton schools asking for 6.78 percent increase for a level services budget.

The Norton School Committee presented their recommended fiscal year 2014 budget of just over $24M on Monday, an increase of just under $1.6 million from the fiscal year 2013. Norton Public Schools interim superintendent Christopher Martes said that this increase is mostly due to contractual obligations for salaries, but also to other mitigating factors. He said the loss of one of their grants from the EDU Jobs Grant, which ends this year, means an extra $290,000 in personnel costs. “It was part of some of the bailout work the president and his staff did,” he said. "We have to fill that obligation or reduce… We built that obligation into the budget.” He said that due to required cost of living increases and the grant ending, they are …

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Norton School Committee Interviewing Two Superintendent Finalists Thursday

The candidates, Joseph Baeta and Bonnie Gifford, have been in the running since November for the Norton schools superintendent position.

The Norton School Committee will be interviewing the two finalists for the schools superintendent position this Thursday night. School committee chair Andrew Mackie said that he is hopeful that a positive conclusion will be reached during the interviews and Norton will once again have a superintendent.  The candidates, Joseph Baeta and Bonnie Gifford, have been in the running since November. Mackie said that though the committee is in its final stages for the search, even if a candidate is picked, Norton might still not have a permanent superintendent. “We had a previous search that was not successful and ended up getting an interim superintendent,” he said. Mackie added that contract negotiations were the deciding factor in the failure of…

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AN INSIDE LOOK

School Lunch Ain't What It Used to Be

Healthier is obviously better, but columnist rues the heavily regulated school meal program.

It’s a good thing Norton’s school system is now going to be serving healthier lunches.  I know it is for the best, will make for healthier kids, and is a smart thing to do.  I also understand it is part of following the new state and federal guidelines.  There are a lot of reasons why it is a good idea. But I can’t help shaking my head at how things have changed over the years.  A school lunch was never exactly a great culinary experience when I was a student in Norton, or when my sons roamed the school cafeterias in town.  However it seemed to be fairly nutritional, had a modicum of taste, and gave students a reasonably varied choice. There will be no chips, no soda, no fries served in school this year.  That’s okay – we never had those …

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