East Bridgewater School Committee Approves Updated Student Activity Protocols
Central School Building Project Moves Forward with Community Forum
EAST BRIDGEWATER - December 3 - The East Bridgewater School Committee approved updated student activity account protocols and procedures at its December 4 meeting, including changes to allow 7th and 8th grade classes to have their own accounts.
The committee also approved checking account caps and authorized check signers for student activity accounts.
John Shea, the District's Director of Business Administration, presented the changes to the committee. "We would like to increase that to 7 through 12, because they start fundraising when they're in 7th grade here," Shea said, referring to the expansion of class accounts.
The updated protocols also include two new forms: a check request form and a deposit slip form. Shea explained these additions will "make it easier for Erika to reconcile these accounts," referring to Erika Christie, who manages the accounts for the district office.
Shea praised Christie's work in modernizing the accounting system. "She went back six years and put everything in QuickBooks, trained the staff on how to use QuickBooks, and now we use QuickBooks for Central Mitchell and the high school account," he said.
The committee approved maintaining the current checking account caps: $10,000 for Central School, $15,000 for Mitchell School, and $40,000 for the high school. Shea explained the higher cap for the high school, saying, "When the junior prom and senior proms come, we're writing $20,000 checks. We need to have that amount of money in the checking account."
In other business, the committee received an update on the Central School building project from Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gina Williams. A community forum is scheduled for Dec. 10 at Central School to present updates on the feasibility study and potential site options.
"This will be for the broader community to attend," Williams said. "Really the first opportunity for the community to hear in a presentation forum the process as it's gone on so far and what can be expected."
The project timeline aims for a special town meeting in fall 2025 to approve the final plan. Williams noted that the current schedule would allow for project completion and move-in at the start of a school year, which she described as "definitely a much smoother transition."
Williams also mentioned that representatives from LeftField, the project's Owner's Project Manager, and RDA, the architectural design firm, will be available at Christmas on the Common on Dec. 9 to answer questions informally.
The committee also approved several policy updates, including new policies related to Title IX, emergency plans, and technology security.
Ellen Pennington, who presented the policy updates, said, "I'm trying to get them done by February because then we have to move on to the student handbook because the timeline's been pushed up."
Superintendent Elizabeth Legault provided updates on various district matters, including an invitation to participate in the Massachusetts School Building Authority's accelerated repair program for the Gordon W. Mitchell School's roof and windows.
Legault also mentioned ongoing contract negotiations with the Teachers Association, set to begin on Dec. 7.
The committee discussed the possibility of providing laptops to members to streamline communication and reduce paper use, though no decision was made.
The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17, where principals will present MCAS data from the previous year and discuss their goals for the current school year.