Update: DeDomenico says it’s Champ’s job to meet with public on district budget, not school board members
School Board President Jessica DeDomenico said it is Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ’s responsibility to inform the public about the district’s proposed $83.7 million budget and capital reserve fund ballot initiative at three information sessions—while school members may attend if they want.
Her statement was in response to an email from the Pelham Examiner on why school board members would not be answering questions at the district’s budget information sessions being held in advance of the May 17 school elections.
“The board of education has held numerous public discussions about the budget over the past two months,” wrote DeDomenico on Tuesday. “Now that the board has adopted the budget proposal, it is Dr. Champ’s responsibility to share details about the proposal with the community, as she is ultimately responsible for implementing the budget approved by voters. The sessions are for the purposes of informing and clarifying details of the adopted budget for voters and not to advocate for or debate the merits of what is included. Board of Education members are of course welcome to attend these sessions.”
“As always, residents are more than welcome to email the board of education at [email protected] or at their individual email addresses,” she said. “Additionally, there are four ‘Let’s Talk’ listening/discussion sessions planned for the spring that will be attended by Dr. Champ and me, the first of which was held at Prospect Hill yesterday morning. These dates were shared with families last week.”
However, DeDomenico didn’t exactly answer the Examiner’s questions. While it’s true board members had “public discussions,” they did not answer questions of residents during any of those public meetings, as it is the board’s unwritten policy to not publicly respond to questions or comments made during the public comment period of board meetings. In addition, the Examiner asked if there would be any evening meetings where trustees would answer questions. The four “Let’s Talk” sessions were and are scheduled for either 8:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. at the elementary schools.
Here is the original email the Examiner sent with its questions:
Dear Ms. DeDomenico and Mr. Wolff,
The school board voted to send the budget and the capital reserve fund proposition to the voters, recommending the budget and proposition it adopted be approved by the voters. At least according to the district’s announcement, trustees will not attend the “2022-23 School Budget Discussions” with Dr. Champ. Why is this so?
Two of the three discussions are the only public sessions so far scheduled in the evening where voters would be able to ask board members questions and receive answers on the budget and the capital fund that the trustees approved. As you know, questions aren’t answered during board meetings. Will there be at any point an evening event at which voters can ask board members questions on the budget and the capital fund?
Best regards,
Oliver Tam
Executive Editor
Scott Wolfgang • Apr 22, 2022 at 11:59 pm
Honestly it’s bc very few understand it or even care to pay attention IMO. Why else would no one ask 1) does it make sense we are projecting health insurance costs up 13% y/y 2) why are we over budgeting health insurance expense by at least $500-1M ever single year 3) why are we raising the levy when we have banked $7M in surplus the last 4 years 4) why are we creating a new reserve when we already have reserves way in excess of other districts our size and 5) why does the admin keep misleading the public saying reserves are restricted to specific expenses when we opportunistically used them to buy a $1.1M home 3 years ago. We desperately need new BOE leadership this election who is willing to actually roll up its sleeves and not rubber stamp everything the admin wants.
Natali Wind • Apr 27, 2022 at 6:38 pm
Agreed, and we need BOE leadership who will say more than just, “Not my job.” That is such a cop out.
Scott Wolfgang • Apr 27, 2022 at 9:58 pm
I’ve attended 2 meetings now and I applaud Dr. Champ and Mr. Hricay for answering everyone’s questions. Kudos to Leah Tahbaz for attending as well even tho she’s not even running for re-election. You’d think the BOE president would at least be interested to hear what residents/voters are saying rather than have a ‘let them eat cake’ attitude. Again, just another example why new BOE leadership is needed.