Dear members of our six town community,
As an HUUSD board, we would first like to extend our deep gratitude to our district leaders and school staff who have spent countless hours this week planning for and addressing the many needs of our students and their families while schools are closed. Meal service and instructional plans are well underway and we are amazed at the work that has been accomplished in just a few short days through their collaborative and individual efforts. Our staff have spent time away from their own families to ensure that our students continue to access learning materials and meals, that our schools are cleaned, and that families receive timely updates. In the coming weeks, our teachers will continue to manage instruction remotely, no easy feat. We are grateful.
We are also writing to update you on the status of our board's budget decisions. As the school budget failed on Town Meeting Day, we will need to decide on a new FY21 budget and schedule another public vote in the near future.
Given that public gatherings are strongly discouraged for at least the next several weeks, the earliest our board would meet would be Wednesday, April 8th. The earliest that our public would vote on a new school district budget would be Tuesday, April 28th. As we all know, these are very uncertain times so these dates are likely to change. We will be following guidance from the Secretary of State's office to adhere to open meeting law statutes.
At our most recent board meeting on March 12th, the board asked district administration to prepare updated versions of (what were formerly called) budget drafts 1, 3, and 4. These budgets do not involve changes to the current grade configurations in any of our schools. We will be sharing more detailed information about the budget drafts in the coming weeks, prior to the next board meeting.
Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings, to read recent meeting minutes, and to access meeting videos.
Thank you for your support of our students, families, and staff, especially during this unprecedented time.
Respectfully,
The HUUSD Board