Selectmen Chairman: DESE Hasn’t ‘Reached Out’

Posted Friday, January 31, 2020 12:00 am

Joe Siegel

Rehoboth Selectmen Chairman Gerry Schwall feels the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has given a cold reception to town officials. “No one from DESE has reached out to either of the towns,” Schwall said Thursday.

DESE has been in control of the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District’s finances since December 1, after the two towns failed to approve the 2020 school budget. Voters rejected the FY20 budget at the October 29 town meeting and the district-wide meeting scheduled for November 2 was cancelled. DESE established the regional school budget at $45 million.

Schwall discovered officials from DESE had visited the district a week ago, but Selectmen were never notified in advance. “We were unaware of that,” Schwall said. “We heard that anecdotally through the School Committee meeting.

The Rehoboth Board of Selectmen met with the Dighton Board of Selectmen on January 22. The boards discussed a letter sent by School Superintendent Anthony Azar, who announced he was cancelling future meetings of the Advisory Finance Committee. Azar told the Reporter the committee was not under his control.

Schwall will be meeting next week with Ken Pacheco, the Chairman of the Dighton Board of Selectmen, along with the members of the advisory committee. “We will organize them so they will actually have a chair who can post meetings legally and things like that,” Schwall said.

Schwall noted there had been some confusion among school committee members about the role of the advisory committee. “They weren’t quite sure if (the committee) was about bringing the needs of the town before the school or the needs of the school before the town,” Schwall said. “It was also determined they had not organized properly.”

“Mr. Schwall seems to be the only one confused,” said School Committee Chairperson Katherine Cooper. “I tried to clarify for him, but he doesn’t seem to know what the role of the Finance Advisory will be. It’s a (Board of Selectmen) created board, so it’s up to them to decide.”