SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier Regional School District School Committee approved a $13.76 million budget for fiscal year 2027, representing a 3.63% jump of $482,460 over the current fiscal year, on Thursday night.
After an early draft of the budget projected a nearly $1 million increase, largely due to hikes in health insurance costs, the School Committee decided to send a reduced budget to the public hearing on Tuesday. To cut the nearly $1 million increase by $400,000, the administration recommended using $100,000 in rural school aid and cutting seven positions, three of which will lead to lost jobs.
On Tuesday, Director of Business Administration Shelley Poreda explained that these cuts will include a building monitor, three instructional assistants, a part-time school adjustment counselor, a special education teacher and the librarian, who would be replaced with a library aide. According to Superintendent Darius Modestow, unlike a librarian, a library aide is not certified and acts in a supervisory role, carrying out the basic tasks that are typically done by a library assistant.
Frontier Principal George Lanides said two instructional assistants have notified him of their plans to resign and a third resignation is anticipated. Poreda told the School Committee that the part-time school adjustment counselor is a grant-funded position that was added two years ago to provide additional support, and reallocating the funds to pay for an existing staff member would “bring relief” to the budget. She added that a long-term substitute has filled the special education teacher position since the teacher left last year.
“We do not take that lightly, bringing this request forward,”Modestow said of the cuts.
“It is my job to make recommendations to you that are the most fiscally responsible while balancing the needs of our students and, as Darius said, with enrollment changing … sometimes really hard decisions have to be made,” Poreda said.
On Tuesday, several Frontier staff members and residents spoke out against the elimination of the librarian, stressing the position’s value in the school.
“It felt like a gut punch when I heard there was a librarian position, or media specialist, on the chopping block,” said Laurie Prim Conlon of South Deerfield. “To me, the library is absolutely the heart and soul of the school, of education. I literally cannot imagine getting rid of that position. A library aide is great … but that cannot replace the skill set of a librarian.”
“Families are not going to choose a district that’s cutting out its backbone,” said Meghan Lena, a special education teacher at Frontier.
“Education is a public trust, and reducing the staff that directly serves students with disabilities and mental health issues undermines that trust,” added Andrea Carnes, also a special education teacher at Frontier.
In addition to the $400,000 reduction, the School Committee also approved another tweak to the original draft of the budget. The initial draft accounted for a total 40% increase for health insurance, coupling the 20% Oct. 1 bump with a placeholder of an additional 20% increase for anticipated premiums heading into FY27.
However, members of the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust voted on Feb. 25 to increase the rates for FY27 by 12.48%, which was less than the school districts had anticipated, leaving Frontier with $150,000 left over to work into the budget. The administration recommended applying the $150,000 to the general fund while still cutting the seven positions, and reallocating the rural aid to cover the nearly $110,000 project of repairing the Frontier parking lot. This move would reduce the capital assessments requested of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately and Conway, and decrease the budget by another $40,000, making for a total reduction of $440,000 from the preliminary number.
To fund the budget, Whately will contribute more than $1.11 million, Conway will pay nearly $1.54 million, Sunderland will pay about $2.8 million and Deerfield will contribute nearly $4.77 million.
During the discussion, School Committee member Diane Curtis asked Modestow for an explanation of the cut to the librarian position. Modestow said the administration considered that students research online using Chromebooks more often than they rely on hardcover books, and use of the library as a “hub for research” is “minimally happening.”
“We look at the impact on student learning,” Modestow said. “While many of the statements that people made are true, that many of those things will be lost, what do you want us to trade out instead? Do we want to have larger class sizes with less direct instruction? That is the next level.”
“It’s Frontier’s turn to help Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately, because they have big problems. … The educational component in a town budget is enormous,” School Committee member Bill Smith said. Referring to Modestow, Poreda and Lanides, he said, “They’re professionals. When they come to me with advice and tell me this is what we can do and not hurt the program, I have to take that on faith because that’s what I paid them to tell me.”
“These are heartbreaking cuts that we are considering, and Sunderland Elementary is looking at much more severe cuts than a librarian,” said member Jessica Corwin, who also serves as chair of the Sunderland School Committee. Tearing up, she added, “I apologize to everybody whose hearts are very much with the librarian and special education, but Sunderland needs a possible reduction so we can still have a functional elementary school.”