Rehoboth Selectmen to Meet with Azar and DESE

The Rehoboth Board of Selectmen will be meeting with Dighton-Rehoboth School Superintendent Anthony Azar and representatives from DESE (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) on February 25.

DESE assumed fiscal oversight of the district’s budget on December 1 after both member towns were unable to approve a budget. DESE later established the Dighton-Rehoboth school budget at $45 million.

Rehoboth Selectmen Chairman Gerry Schwall has since called last year’s budget process a “debacle” and said it was the school committee’s responsibility to “make a recommendation to voters.”

Selectmen also intend to invite Azar to attend one of their meetings in March to discuss the 2021 budget. “The time is right,” Schwall said Monday. “Dr. Azar has asked several times to meet one on one with us. We can’t do that. Our business needs to be conducted in public.”

Schwall had criticized DESE for not “reaching out” to town officials. Officials from DESE visited the district last month, but selectmen were never notified. “We were unaware of that,” Schwall said. “We heard that anecdotally through the school committee meeting.”

The school committee plans to vote preliminary assessments for Dighton and Rehoboth at tonight’s meeting. The Board of Selectmen will be holding budget workshops with town departments on February 19 and 26 and plan to vote on a preliminary budget at the beginning of March. The budget will be put to a vote at the May 12 annual town meeting.

The relationship between town and school officials has been fraught with tension for the last few months.

Selectman Michael Costello will continue to serve as the board’s liaison to the school committee.  Schwall asked Costello about the lines of communication with the school committee. Costello’s response was succinct but telling: “They’re open yeah, but to a point.”