This week we had voting on both school and town issues. The number of people who came out to vote is encouraging- 1533 voters! Depending on what side of an issue people supported there is "good news" and "bad news". I will report on the votes on the school side of things.
First, I want to congratulate our two new School Board members: Joe Saulnier and Andrea Peterson. They will be sworn in over the next week and take their place on the School Board at the March 16 meeting.
Article 2 was for approval of a bond to build an addition on the elementary school and finally remove the aging portables. Since this is a bond, this article needed to win by a 60% vote. The final tally was 855 "yes" votes and 601 "no" votes. This means that the proposed building project failed to be approved by 19 votes.
Article 3 had to do with the school district's operating budget. The proposed operating budget of $23,285,667 was approved by a vote of 1140 "yes" to 319 "no".
Article 4 was a new contract for our teachers. This contract is for two years beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. This article was approved by a vote of 885 "yes" votes to 597 "no" votes.
Article 6 concerns the spending of Capital Reserve Funds. One of the big projects that this will fund is an access road at the high school. 996 voters approved this article while 472 voters voted "no" on this article.
Article 7 concerns a citizens petition for the after-school program. This article also passed with 1135 "yes" votes and 337 "no" votes.
This was a wonderful showing of voters. Thank you to all who showed up to vote for these important issues.
