The Lynnfield School Committee recently voted to approve the fiscal year 2025 operating budget of $30,806,245, and a capital budget of $225,000. 

Preceding the vote was a discussion regarding the decision to eliminate the Lynnfield High School library media specialist position, and keeping manageable class sizes. 

School Committee Member Jamie Hayman said that “this is a year where you are scraping together nickels, looking under couch cushions.” 

Hayman, who ultimately voted against the budget, also said that he is all for having small class sizes, but because the class sizes at Huckleberry Hill Elementary are still well within the guidelines, he thinks that the Committee should prioritize keeping the LHS media center specialist position.

“If it’s a way to save a salary and reallocate that into something that is needed, in my opinion, it would be to do another year with the LHS Media Center Specialist while we figure out what we want that job to become,” Hayman said. 

Committee Member Jim Dillon responded to Hayman and thinks that the elementary school class sizes should be prioritized. 

“My take on that would be that making ‘high need’ elementary classes more unmanageable would certainly have a big impact in each one of those kids’ education,” Dillon said. “So everything has an impact, you have to weigh everything. Myself, I would put in high priority the elementary class.”

Committee Member Phil McQueen, who also voted against approving the budget, feels that high school students are not being taken into account.

“If we remove the library media specialist, I feel that the elementary and middle school level, based on current and projected class sizes, that both the elementary and the middle schools are getting everything we can possibly give them,” McQueen said. “I don’t feel that we’re giving the high school students everything we can possibly give them, we’ve also had cuts in staff at the high school.”

Committee Member Timothy Doyle recognized that McQueen made a valid point, however, Doyle still prioritizes having lower class sizes.

“Nothing moves me to reinstate or bring back the media specialist at this point,” Doyle said.

Committee Member Kate DePrizio said that she also “would like to err on the side of caution with class sizes.”

“I know that grade (the third grade) was our kindergarteners on Zoom, and has quite a bit of need, with placement, with additional emotional needs that are quite pressing,” DePrizio said. 

Hayman believes that the stakes are higher in high school.

“You’ve got kids that we are sending off either into college or into the world,” Hayman said. “The stress is higher. In the high school, we are asking them to deal with it on their own. Our young kids have parents who are advocating for them. We are asking our oldest kids to advocate for themselves.”

Interim Superintendent Tom Geary also announced that the School Committee will add a floating nurse to the school budget. 

“I feel like this is a setup that can work,” Geary said. “It’s fair, and it addresses the administrative load but it also addresses the need for nursing on site at the schools.”

Geary said that the money to fund the position will primarily come from a Department of Health grant of $50,000 that they receive every year. 

DePrizio clarified that this addition has not changed the overall budget.