SchoolCom approves Mustang Sally retreat

The Norwood School Committee met last week with Blue Hills Regional Tech School senior and Life Scout Liam Flanagan and voted unanimously to approve his proposal for the construction of a relaxation area for Norwood Police Dept. comfort / therapy dog, Mustang Sally, at the Coakley Middle School (CMS).

The School Committee also voted unanimously to submit changes to the Town’s proposed refurbishment of its free cash policy.

For Mustang Sally’s play area, Flanagan said this will be his Eagle Scout project, and through it, he will raise more than $5,000 for supplies and materials. He said he wanted to create a safe outdoor area for Sally to play and/or interact with students at CMS. The area will be a 20-foot-by-20-foot enclosed space with a double-gated entrance, toys, benches and a dog house.

Flanagan said he was inspired to do good for Sally by the death of a fellow service dog.

“This project was inspired by the tragic loss of Walpole’s Service Dog Rebel, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while outside,” he said. “This heart-breaking event emphasized the need for an outside environment where comfort dogs can safely spend time outside without risk of traffic or other hazards. Given my background in public safety and my love of Norwood, I thought of no better dog to do this for than Norwood’s own, Mustang Sally.”

The area will be enclosed with chain-link fence and the double-gated entry will make sure Mustang Sally does not get out unintentionally. School Committee members asked Flanagan about complying with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and while he said he thought it would be, Norwood Public Schools (BPS) Superintendent Timothy Luff said they would work with the design to make sure it is.

Flanagan said he has looked at two potential sites for the rest area, with his preferred area being in the southeast corner of the CM behind the basketball half court in the front of the school.

“Now of course if it is not dig safe, I have a backup area right next to the football field,” he said, noting the field directly north of the basketball court.

“And I will say that (Townwide Facilities Director) Christopher Folan reviewed the plan and said he felt the area in front of the basketball courts was best and (CMS Principal) Dr. Margo Fraczek agreed,” said Luff.

Flanagan said the materials are estimated to run between $1,500 to $4,000, supplies from $300 to $400, and tools about $300, putting the cost range between $2,100 and $4,700. School Committee member Joan Giblin said the labor costs should be estimated for his presentation as well.

“Give yourself some credit,” she said. “Labor is usually three times the cost of materials. That’s a huge amount you’re donating so get that on your slides!”

Flanagan said he would need help from the Town for installing the fence posts, and Luff said Folan has agreed to that.

To raise that potential $4,700, Flanagan said he wanted to raise money through social media, letters to local businesses, a potential GoFundMe, and donation boxes at grocery stores. He also asked for permission to host a coin drive within the NPS, which Luff and the Committee approved.

If you didn’t infer that the School Committee really liked this idea, members did.

“My daughter doesn’t like dogs, but she likes Mustang Sally, and my other daughter is obsessed with Mustang Sally,” said School Committee member Judith Bromley. “Ensuring she has a safe spot for her and kids to play with – what a wonderful idea!”

The Committee voted unanimously to approve the project and delegate fundraising approval responsibilities to Luff.

Also at the meeting, the School Committee met with Finance Commission (FinCom) Chair Eric Fleming and Vice Chair Alan Slater to discuss the Town’s newly proposed free cash policy.

Fleming said the policy will remain just guidelines and will not dictate rules for spending free cash to Town Meeting. Town Meeting will still have the vote.

“It’s important to have formal financial policies as part of good financial management, and it’s also necessary to retain our bond rating in order to keep our borrowing rates as low as possible,” Fleming said. “These are guidelines and are not laws or things like that. They are guidelines that we should try, as much as possible, to follow.”

Fleming said the update comes from the Town’s recent inability to stick with its own guidelines that Town Meeting approved in 2020 and were voted in favor of by the Board of Selectmen, the FinCom and the School Committee.

“For the past several years, we have noted that we have not complied with our free cash policy, notable because the policy does not contemplate using free cash to balance the budget” Fleming said, “which is something we’ve had to do for the last three years and something we expect to do for at least another year. So we have gone through the process of updating our financial policy to reflect what we are actually doing.”

The policy now allows free cash to be used for the operating budget if not doing so carries long-term financial and community costs; the policy sets several conditions, which are as follows: The use is clearly identified and disclosed during the budget process; the Town has developed, or is actively developing, a plan to reduce its structural reliance on Free Cash for operating purposes in future fiscal years; and the amount used does not compromise the Town’s minimum Free Cash balance as established in Item 4 of this policy.”

Fleming said they are also looking at increasing the minimum amount of free cash in the general fund, Item 4 referred to above, to $1 million and increase the amount above which to start putting money away in reserve accounts, from a flat $5 million to a percentage of 6 percent, so it increases with inflation over time. The policy also states that “emergencies” may allow draining the free cash account further than $1 million.

Giblin said she had some issues with the policy, mainly with “vague and ambiguous language that doesn’t specify who the decision-makers are.”

“Ultimately the decision-maker is Town Meeting, but I’m confused how these will be adjudicated,” she said. “The policies were silent on that.”

Fleming said the decision-makers are all three Town committees and Town Meeting making these decisions together, and that the policy suggests courses of action based on the circumstances and judgment of those bodies.

“But that’s not how the policy is written – the policy is written with very causal language,” Giblin said. [Language such as] “shall not be breached, except in the case of unforeseen emergencies.”

Giblin paused here.

“I sat here and voted to close a school and still have leaf pickup because that was considered a vital service,” she said. “That’s where my concern is stemming from. Who decides what is an emergency? Who decides what level of staffing is important, and what level of staffing should stay?”

Giblin was referring to the 2019 operational override the Town passed. If it didn’t pass, a school would have been closed, sports and arts would be fee-based and no one could participate for free, and student-to-teacher ratios would have suffered, among many other issues.

“Ultimately the Town passed the override and we were successful, we just went for another override for vital services and we were successful. That’s great, but my concern is if we continue to end up in the hole, at what point do we consider schools vital, or do I get to keep my leaf pickup?” she said. “And I’m not disparaging that, I’m just saying I don’t know anybody else in any surrounding Town that gets leaf pickup, it’s an amazing luxury service that I love, but not at the cost of potentially bumping our kindergartens up to 30 students or potentially closing a school again – which is not far-fetched, we did it six years ago.”

Fleming said those kinds of decisions are part of the budget-balancing process, and under the purview of the Budget Balancing Committee (BBC). Giblin, and other members of the School Committee, asked that the BBC then be included in the policy. Slater said that’s not exactly kosher, as the BBC is technically an ad hoc committee and is not part of the Town Charter or legal/policy structure.

“It’s solely an ad hoc committee established 25 years ago and which I think was a great idea to do,” he said. “I hear what you’re saying, but I’m reluctant to reference a committee in a policy that’s really an ad hoc, quote-unquote ‘unofficial’ committee.”

“It’s been an ad hoc unofficial committee for 25 years,” said Giblin. “Let’s make it official. If you’re telling me it was a one-time thing put together to deal with a one-time issue, I understand that, but the BBC has been the authority for 25 years around these types of things.”

The Committee voted to approve the new free cash policy, with the addition of naming the FinCom, the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen as the deciding bodies. It will now have to go back to the FinCom and the Board of Selectmen to approve said change.