Hatfield School Committee Directs Administration to Exceed Level-Services Budget

HATFIELD -- December 14, 2022, Hatfield School Committee unanimously directed administration to draft a budget exceeding level services in order to fund the district's three-year improvement plan. Chair Christy Boudreau and the full five-member board agreed Wednesday that a flat budget would not achieve the enrollment-growth and programming goals the committee spent months developing, with Superintendent Wood warning the panel that adding specialty staff, such as a choral instructor, requires budget placeholders now even if final hiring decisions come in April. The committee received a capital planning summary showing $2.6 million in total deferred needs across both schools, including parking-lot estimates that roughly doubled in a single year, to $408,000 at Smith Academy and $402,000 at Hatfield Elementary. The committee also approved two new annual scholarships, a $750 Zigmat family award and the $2,500 Doris G. Gumet Memorial Award from the Crossman family, both beginning with the class of 2023, and adopted a new surplus-property disposal policy on its second reading.