The chair of Weston's Board of Education has raised the idea of hiring a communications consulting firm to help with the Weston Middle School building project, and it may come up as soon as Monday, Oct. 19.
Chair Deborah Low brought it up Friday, Oct. 16, at the board's Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee. The board could think about hiring "a consultant firm on communications," she said, and "it's not something we budgeted for." She asked whether the district's non-lapsing account, where the schools can set aside money left over at the end of a budget year, could pay for it.
Chief Finance and Operations Officer Phillip Cross said he thought it would qualify. "I think broadly speaking, the way the law is written really covers anything educational," he said, and the consultant would have "a direct educational benefit."
“I think broadly speaking, the way the law is written really covers anything educational.”
Phillip CrossChief Finance and Operations Officer, Weston Public SchoolsVideo: Weston Public Schools
Cross said the school board is "very independent" in how it uses the account. It has agreed to give regular updates on how the money is spent, he said, and anything outside the uses already described would probably need "a pre-conversation with the Board of Finance." A consultant for the middle school would generally fall under those plans, he said. "So I think we're fine."
Low said the board "may be talking about this on Monday, you know, as an agenda item." Even so, she said, "the board would need to decide if this is a project." No firm has been named and no cost has been given. The committee took no vote.
Outside help on the project has come up before. At a joint meeting of the town's three governing boards on Sept. 24, Low asked them to hire outside professional services to lobby the legislature and help with community engagement, ahead of a townwide vote on a new middle school that the draft schedule puts in November 2027.
The full board meets Monday at 7 p.m. As of Friday evening, its agenda had not been posted.