BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Brunswick School Department may be close to finding a way to hold high school graduation at Bowdoin College’s Sidney J. Watson Arena without breaching a $10,000 spending cap.
If it does, it could eliminate the need for this year’s graduating class to raise money to cover the gap between the cap instituted last month by the School Board and the nearly $28,000 price tag estimated this summer for graduation.
After high school staff discussed options with Bowdoin, Superintendent of Schools Paul Perzanoski told the board Wednesday that costs could be trimmed by eliminating an expensive video screen for the event. He said the department also learned that the cost of renting chairs was less than originally thought.
Bowdoin would also allow Brunswick to shop for audio equipment vendors, which could bring the cost down even more, Perzanoski said.
Although a precise cost is still uncertain, the revised estimates put the district “in pretty good shape” to come in around the cap, he said.
School Board member Jim Grant said his understanding was that the costs were fluid, but it was never the board’s intent that students would have to shoulder the cost of graduation.
The message sent by the board was that it wanted to reduce the cost of graduation, board member Brenda Clough said. Now, she said, it is up to staff to make it happen.