Somerville school to be closed due to lack of funds
The Somerville School Committee decided to close the Powder House Community School (PHCS) at a meeting last week.
This decision was made in the interest of saving money and because the building could be used to house other departments of city government.
Superintendent of Schools Al Argenziano also cited the uncertainty of the school department's financial situation in the upcoming year. "We are hoping we'll be level-funded, but it seems very possible that it will be a little less and we'll have to cut about $2 million in funds," Argenziano told the Journal.
There are two other schools near PHCS, so that students attending it will most likely not have trouble relocating to a new school. Also, the resolution dictates that the site of the former PHCS will house mostly educational programs.
Medford superintendent of schools has mixed reactions to proposed budget
Although disappointed that the state has level-funded several educational programs, Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson is still hopeful.
In the proposed budget released by the House Ways and Means Committee, financial support for early childhood programs, kindergarten programs, and school nursing was all level-funded. "Level-funding is better than a cut," Belson told The Medford Transcript. "But it does not provide us with the additional resources necessary to support normal increases in budgetary costs at the local level."
Still, Belson believes that the state may come through in other ways. $80 million has been added to the Special Education Circuit Breaker fund, which is intended to reimburse towns 75 percent for student placements that exceed $29,330. It only provided 35 percent of the expected funds, but the new addition may help to prevent this from happening in the coming year. "We are hopeful that this funding will help recapture our expected financial position," Belson told the Transcript.
Somerville and Everett to cooperate in spanning the Mystic
Officials from Somerville and Everett met in the middle of the Mystic River last week to shake hands over their intent to work together to beautify the Mystic riverfront.
The officials hope to build a path across the Amelia Earhart Dam, which connects Assembly Square in Somerville with the Gateway Shopping Center in Everett.
"This is about creating vital riverfronts on both sides that benefit from the connection," Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said in a press release.
The state is enthusiastic about this project as well but officials are concerned over the path's design. "The challenge we face and the reason we have to do some thorough design work ahead of time is that we have to make sure the walkway doesn't compromise the essential function of the dam," Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for Katherine Abbott, commissioner of the state Conservation and Recreation Department, told The Boston Globe.
-- compiled by Zosia Sztykowski
