School Building May Close Early Under Cost Cutting Plan

The Board of Education Tuesday began the process of finding several hundred thousands of dollars in savings in the 2011-12 budget, money that was taken from this year's budget to plug the hole in the last school year's budget.

Administrators have analyzed the budget to try to find the funds, but it's tough because it already was about as lean as it could be, Supt. of Schools Fran Rabinowitz said. So while she doesn't want to do it, closing school buildings early may be the only way to find the cash, she said.

"We will freeze all discretionary spending, but there's not a lot of discretionary spending in the budget," she told the Board of Education at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday. And much of what is in there is funded through grants, she said, and can't be used for other purposes.

They also will freeze hiring and bring any hiring requests to the board, Rabinowitz said, but already 10 positions were eliminated in the current budget.

A lack of options brings them back to the proposal to close the school buildings early, she said.

"It is awful for me to propose this because for years I have worked for schools to be beacons in the community," she said. "I never thought we would have to talk about closing the schools early."

A variety of organizations -- some private, some town-run -- use the buildings after school for their activities. Private organizations, like the Hamden Regional Youth Baseball League, pay for that privilege, while town-sponsored activities, such as Hamden Father's Baseball, don't.

It's the groups that don't that may be shut out if the buildings close early. The Parks and Recreation Department is one of the largest users of the buildings after school is out for the day, and school officials said they would like to discuss with that department the possibility of them paying something toward the cost of custodians on duty while the buildings are being used.

"I have scoured the budget and looked for any place possible to cut," Rabinowitz said, "but we have already cut staff and instructional supplies.

"It is not without a lot of deep thinking and consternation that we bring this to you," she told the board.

When she presented her budget to the board last year, it had already included $1 million in cuts, she said, leaving very little left that is not contractually obligated.

"We didn't fund some of our critical priorities like a reading specialist at Hamden High School," she said. "If there is another way to do this, we are willing to embrace it -- we know what this does to students and we know how important sports are to the kids."

Hamden High School and Hamden Middle School would not be affected by the early closings, and as many activities as possible that currently take place after school in the elementary school buildings, including PTA meetings, would be moved to those two buildings.

Church Street School also would not close early because of the specialized programs that take place there such as parenting classes, Rabinowitz said, much of which is grant funded.

If the remaining elementary schools closed at 3:30 p.m., the district would save $144,000, Finance Direcor Michael Belden said, and if they closed at 6:30 p.m., that savings would drop to $132,000.

"Are we prepared to shut Parks and Recreation activities out of our buildings after 6:30 p.m.?" board member Myron Hul asked.

The board also debated when the buildings would begin to close, mentioning Oct. 1 and Jan. 1 as possible start dates. But ultimately the board opted to continue the discussion at its next meeting.