Children of Weston town employees who live outside Weston could attend the town's public schools at half the tuition charged to non-resident students, under a pilot a Board of Education committee asked staff to draft on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Nothing has been decided. The draft language is to come back to the committee.
Children who live in Weston attend free. The district already lets the children of its own faculty and staff who live elsewhere enroll for 25% of the standard non-resident tuition, which the board sets each year. At the committee's Sept. 1 meeting, members discussed extending that discount to other groups, including coaches and town employees, and compared Greenwich, which charges its own school employees 15% and town employees 25%, according to the meeting's minutes.
Board Vice Chair David Felton and board member Michael Guido took it up again at the Policy Committee's Oct. 6 meeting.
What the town's numbers show
Superintendent Erica Forti brought numbers from the town. Of 72 town employees eligible for benefits, 14 live in Weston, and none of them have children, she said. The other 58 have 61 children between them. The town was not comfortable with the district surveying its employees about interest, she said, so the district doesn't know how many would apply or how old the children are.
“Of that group, 14 of them are Weston residents and none of them have children.”
Erica FortiSuperintendent, Weston Public SchoolsVideo: Weston Public Schools
The proposal
Felton proposed three things. District staff would keep first claim on open seats. Town employees would pay half the non-resident rate. And the offer would start as a pilot "that has a known sunset," open to new applicants for about two years, so the board has to look at it again. A child admitted during the pilot could keep reapplying each year through 12th grade, as long as seats allow.
He wanted the end date built in, he said, in case the benefit became an administrative burden or caused problems no one foresaw.
“We should offer it at 50%.”
David FeltonVice Chair, Weston Board of EducationVideo: Weston Public Schools
Summing up, Forti suggested an end date of "let's say" June 30, 2028. Later in the meeting, committee members spoke of the 2027–28 and 2028–29 school years. The draft language is to set the dates.
Guido called 50% "an arbitrary number" but said it seemed reasonable because it keeps district staff ahead. He questioned the sunset: a town worker who knew the benefit might last only two years might not uproot a child for it, he said, and the end date could give "a false sense of demand." He said he would go along with the trial.
How many seats there are
Forti said she had no exact count of spare seats, but there would "probably be dozens" across all grades combined. How many depends on the grade, Guido noted; one grade might have a single opening, another six. Felton said he thought spare seats were limited. This year's kindergarten has about 134 or 135 students, and Forti said that is why Open Choice, a program that places non-resident students in Weston schools, was given one kindergarten slot this year.
Board Clerk Jodi Sacchetta said she did not expect demand to be large. Town employees' work hours don't line up with the school day the way teachers' do, she said, and the district doesn't provide transportation. Under the district's rules, non-resident families must reapply every year.
A $50 limit on vendor gifts
The committee also asked for revisions to the district's policy on vendors: a $50 cap on gifts from vendors to employees, with more allowed only with the superintendent's approval, and a new title, "Vendor Relations and Conflicts of Interest." Felton said the point of the policy is keeping gifts from influencing what the district buys.
The committee's next meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 9 a.m.