School Committee Eases Hiring Freeze

The School Committee has cleared the way for some hiring to take place in the district, even as the issue of how to .

The committee voted Tuesday night to allow building principals to fill jobs left vacant by retirement or resignation only.

The move partially reverses a complete freeze on hiring put in place by the committee during a marathon budget workshop session earlier this month that was aimed at finding ways to close to a budget gap of more than $1 million.

The committee  stopped short of completely easing the hiring ban to include positions considered top priorities by principals, with some members saying the budget picture remains too clouded.

“I just want to remind the committee that we still don’t have clear, solid budget numbers,” said Mayor Arthur Vigeant.

Vigeant said he hopes to have accurate numbers on year-end spending for 2012 and more accurate revenue figures to work with within a few days.

The committee has scheduled a meeting for mid-July--a month it normally does not meet--and directed administrators to meet and come up with a list of budget priorities for each building to be addressed at that meeting.