Finances, COVID-19 make campaign for Grafton override challenging
YES! Grafton began campaigning in earnest for the $4 million Proposition 2 1/2 override Sunday night, facing an even more daunting challenge than was anticipated at the start of the year.
It’s not just that the schools are facing a budget shortfall that will force teacher layoffs and increased class sizes. It isn’t even the added pressure to revamp the fire department as its current top brass faces retirement.
It’s COVID-19, the pandemic that has shut down Grafton businesses, schools, and residents’ jobs. The town’s projected income is in disarray, residents may be unwilling to take another financial hit, and there are still unknowns about how the pandemic will change education going forward.
YES! Grafton is trying to tackle the problem of social distancing by taking its campaign online. Sunday’s Zoom session brought 43 people to their computer screens to learn more about the town’s finances.
“Many people say reduce papers and pencils,” Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings said. “We will, but that will not fill the gap in salary.”
With the current funding, the schools will have to eliminate four positions in Fiscal Year 2021. That would be followed by 11 positions in FY 2022, and about 75 percent of the sports program and two positions in FY 2023.
Select Board member Peter Carlson discussed the public safety aspect of the override, which would hire the town’s first full-time fire chief and two full-time deputy chiefs. Grafton’s fire department is now entirely on-call, but the number of volunteers have substantially dropped over the past five years, Carlson said.
And the need to overhaul the fire department has a time limit: Fire Chief Mickey Gauthier is set to retire in two years, while other top brass is either retired or close to retirement age.
One participant asked how Grafton will be able to make any changes required by the pandemic. The CDC has floated the idea of class sizes no smaller than 10 to maintain social distance.
“How can we go from 30 students to 10 students by class?” School Committee Chair Laura Often said. “The answer is, we can’t.
“In the old days, we’d have that concern that they won’t get much attention from the teacher,” she added. “Now, we have to worry if they’re safe in class.”
The override will be on the ballot for the Town Election on June 23.
YES! Grafton has established a Facebook page and is surveying residents about their views.
A second forum will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m., at this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82870024014?pwd=ejR6VHFhM2x6aVlIOFhQbk9ra2F3Zz09
Password: 062320
