3/14/13 - The Brighton Area School District's community education program will not be eliminated or taken over by the Southeast Livingston County Recreation Authority, nor will the Brighton High School pool be closed. That's what Board of Education President Miles Vieau told the public at the board meeting Monday night. Vieau said he was responding to rumors, and to an e-mail sent to parents and others by community education Director Ann Rennie. Rennie confirmed Wednesday for WHMI that the e-mail said that the program was in danger of being eliminated or taken over by SELCRA. Vieau assured the packed audience at the meeting that neither scenario will happen. There are six distinct programs under the heading "community education", including The Bridge alternative high school, swimming, the performing arts center, enrichment, the senior center and the Tot Spot before-and-after-school and child care program for preschoolers. Rennie tells WHMI she sent out an e-mail after the Feb. 25 board meeting, in which Board Secretary Nick Fiani said the district should look into restructuring to save costs by giving aquatics and enrichment programs to SELCRA. Rennie says she was concerned community education would suffer if that happened and e-mailed her staff and parents of kids enrolled in swimming programs as well as adults taking enrichment courses, asking them to come to the school board meeting. Rennie says community education is nearly a self-sustaining program in that it largely relies on fees and donations to operate. SELCRA Director Derek Smith addressed the board, saying SELCRA was not there to create divisiveness but to serve the community, and the only way it would be successful is to work collaboratively with the school district. SELCRA operates through fees it collects for its athletic and other programs and by annual contributions from the municipalities in the Brighton school district. SELCRA also pays fees for using school athletic facilities since it has no facilities of its own. Looking at next year, the Brighton Area School District is facing a projected $3.5 million deficit, based on a projected enrollment decline of 150 students and other factors. That's on top of the $7.4 million in legacy debt the district owes the state. The board spent considerable time Monday poring over 33 potential areas in which reductions could be made for the coming year. One of those areas being considered is a potential $250,000 cut in the community education budget. Rennie says if that happens, program reductions and personnel layoffs would be the end result. (TT)
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