Methuen – Mayor William Manzi, Superintendent Jeanne Whitten, teachers union President Donna Gogas and School Committee members met for more than three hours today.
The teachers insisted that they will not give up the raises they’re slated to receive next year, but they came up with other ways to save money and help the school budget, Manzi said.
“It was a very productive session,” he said.
This should make for an interesting School Committee meeting tonight, where the committee is scheduled to vote on the fiscal year 2010 school budget. Students and parents will be waiting to learn whether there will be a good outcome for the middle school band program, and for program assistants who help teachers in classrooms.
“There will be additional changes that we will talk about tonight that will address some of the concerns,” Manzi said. “Not everybody will be delighted with it, but we’ve made some changes.”
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall of City Hall. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s Eagle-Tribune for more coverage.
