N-P School Board makes progress on budget reductions

Nashua-Plainfield Community Schools is “getting there” when it comes to finding about $400,000 in savings in its 2018-19 budget, but the School Board and administrators still have some work to do.
On Monday, the School Board accepted their second early retirements and also approved the reduction of two more positions, and it also set March 27 as the date for a  public discussion about the future of the district’s building in Plainfield.
And although the reductions are painful, Superintendent Keith Turner’s message the day after the meeting is that the proverbial sky is not falling.
“Absolutely, we are still a viable school district,” he said, “and we’re not running out of money. But we are in a time that is not good and if we don’t address these issues now, they will only magnify.”
Two teachers — one in social studies and the other a special education instructor — took the early retirement package the district offered, and Turner said those positions will not be replaced. The board also approved the reduction of the district’s alternative school position, a half-time special education instructor and a half-time preschool teacher.
“We just don’t have enough students to offer a third section in our 4-year-old preschool,” Turner said.
The superintendent, who began work with the district in January, said the issues for Nashua-Plainfield remains the same as it did when he announced the district needed to find $400,000 in savings in next year’s budget.
 

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For more of this article, see Thursday's Nashua Reporter.