LUNENBURG – The Lunenburg School Committee at its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday December 6 received good news that some Lunenburg High School alumni classes had reached out to transfer their class accounts to their class officers, but a handful of accounts still remain unclaimed.
The committee voted to create a timeline for classes to acquire their account, at which point the money will be reallocated over to a different student activity fund for current students in the form of scholarships.
Class officers from the class of 2003, 2007, 2010, 2016, and 2018 are encouraged to reach out to their respective class advisors at the high school to get the process of transferring over the money started, before the deadline hits in May.
Lunenburg Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kate Burnham said that there will likely be hurdles with the bank in transfering the money, which member Peter Beardmore said was due to federal regulations. There is also a process of securing the money from the school committee. In total $11,215.23 combined remains unclaimed from all the accounts.
Class of 2017 President Brendan Tobin wrote a letter to the committee informing it that the process dealing with class accounts had changed since departing from Lunenburg High School. The previous process involved leaving the accounts with the school and getting authorization for spending the funds. School committee vice chair Brian Lehtinen confirmed that the existing policy regarding the funds came after all of the remaining classes had departed Lunenburg High.
Burnham said that the classes that have come forward are working through the process to secure the funding. Secretaries at the high school reached out to all class advisors who attempted to reach out to their class officers, but some fell through the cracks. It wasn’t until the school committee took up the issue, broadcast on Lunenburg Public Access and published in the Lunenburg Ledger, that some of the classes whose accounts have been dormant for years, came forward.
The recommendation from the previous meeting was to apply the sum of dormant balances to a scholarship for students engaging in culturally rich field trips that can’t afford them. Burnham said if the committee took that direction that a policy for disbursement to the needy students would need to be established.
Chair Carol Archambault said it “makes me uncomfortable,” that Tobin was told that he could leave his funds in the account, if the committee were to reallocate. Member Laura Brzozoski said that if the classes of 2001 and 2005 reached out, then any class could reach out down the line.
In the end the committee voted 4-1 to communicate through Facebook and other free means to try and reach the final classes, and if they don’t hear back by the end of the fiscal year, then to reallocate the money to the scholarship fund for student field trips. Brzozoski cast the lone dissenting vote.
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