Foss garners praise at meeting

Thursday, February 16, 2012

MILFORD – The school budget and a support staff contract were supposed to be the primary subjects of the school Deliberative Session last week but officials devoted almost as much time to praising John Foss.

Foss, the longtime principal of Jacques School, is retiring at the end of this school year after 11 years as principal of the kindergarten-first grade school and after a total of 40 years in public education.

Residents gave him a standing ovation after Superintendent of Schools Robert Suprenant said Foss has made the first two years of school a calm and welcoming “portal for children.”

“He gives new meaning to the phrase ‘the principal wears many hats’,” said Suprenant, because over the years he enlivened his school by wearing funny hats.

“Today is the 100th day of school and he had everyone dress like they are 100 years old,” the superintendent said.

Foss told the meeting that Milford was his fifth school district, and “unquestionably the best ... I’m extremely grateful for the support and caring this district provided me.”

The entire Deliberative Session lasted only 50 minutes, and the three articles – one for the operating budget, one for the support staff contract and the last a housekeeping article to authorize a meeting if the contract is defeated – were put on the ballot without amendments.

The School Board and Budget Committee essentially agreed with all aspects of the budget and the collective bargaining agreement with the Milford Education Support Staff Association.

Since last summer “there has been a lot of back and forth between the board and the committee,” said Joseph Stella, of the Budget Committee, and that led to an almost complete lack of conflict between the two groups.

“We are very pleased to support this budget as submitted,” Stella said, and the committee is pleased that spending in the budget maintains the quality of the school infrastructure and the school grounds.

Committee member Richard Wood agreed that budget talks this season involved an “amount of interchange I have never seen before,” but he disagreed with the board’s method of calculating the default budget and criticized the fact that the board decided to make the superintendent of schools’ position part-time in non-public session.

The default budget is $472,000 less than the $36 million operating budget, and school officials said the board would have to decide, but positions would probably be eliminated and major improvements to technology and math education would probably be cut.

If the two main articles, the budget and the collective bargaining agreement, are approved on Election Day, March 13, the school tax rate would increase by 61 cents to $18.26.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 304, or kcleveland@cabinet.com.