Stoneham School Committee Votes 5-0 to Upgrade Budget Director to Full Time

STONEHAM — September 2, 2025 — Stoneham School Committee unanimously approves full-time budget director and new administrative hire. The committee voted 5-0 on all three substantive items at its September 2 meeting, backing Superintendent Kristen DeFrancisco's request to convert the budget director from a shared part-time position to a full-time district role and to add a district administrative assistant split between central office and high school guidance — a position cut in last year's budget reductions. DeFrancisco placed the administrative hire at roughly $70,000, funded by shifting reading interventionist salaries into Title I grant dollars to free up operating budget funds, and cautioned that relying on one-time grant sources is "a very dangerous place to be." The committee also provisionally approved a contract addendum to compensate high school guidance counselors who worked beyond their six contractual additional days after the district's late budget passage forced schedule-building deep into the summer; a formal MOU is expected at the September 11 meeting. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Catherine Castonguay, who told the committee she personally rode school buses that day to gather route data, was cited by DeFrancisco as an example of senior administrators absorbed by operational tasks that a dedicated operations-capable budget director should handle.