Jaycee Welsh is the Tupper Lake Central School District’s new superintendent. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

TUPPER LAKE — After several weeks of touring Tupper Lake, getting to know the community and learning the ins and outs of its school budget, the Tupper Lake Central School District’s new superintendent, Jaycee Welsh, says she’s excited about the school year starting in just three weeks.

After former superintendent Russ Bartlett announced his plans to retire at the end of this past school year, a search started for a new one and 13 people applied and went through a gauntlet of interviews with the school board and community members.

Welsh was selected in early July. She had been an executive principal and director of special education at La Fargeville Central School District in Jefferson County.

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“All in on Tupper”

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Welsh said she knew she was ready for the “next thing” in her career, and she was adamant that she would not be a superintendent of just anywhere.

“It wasn’t about becoming a superintendent for me. It was about becoming a superintendent in the right place,” she said. “I wanted to be a superintendent of a place that I thought was a good fit for me. Tupper Lake has a lot of those criteria.”

She said she could have applied for many other positions around the state, but TLCSD has been on her radar for several years. She plans to be here long-term.

She’s now moved to an apartment in Tupper Lake full-time and hopes her husband will eventually be able to move up. He is taking care of his parents in La Fargeville and is an administrator in the Brasher Falls district.

In the meantime, she’s splitting her weekends between La Fargeville and here.

Before she was selected, some people in Tupper Lake voiced concerns that Welsh wasn’t from here, saying a Tupper Laker should lead Tupper Lake schools. But Welsh said she’s an “Adirondack girl” whose parents live in Lake George.

“Just because you weren’t born here doesn’t mean you can’t have the same exact presence. That’s what I’m hoping to show people,” Welsh said. “I’m all in on Tupper.”

Welsh comes from an education family — her parents and grandparents were educators. She said TLCSD is a similar district to La Fargeville in terms of demographics in teachers and students, and that she loves its community.

“This first year is really about listening and learning,” Welsh said.

Between the interviews, she spent evenings in town, interviewing people about life in Tupper Lake.

“Only a couple of them asked who I was. Most people didn’t ask, and that was wonderful because I was able to get, I think, some honest responses from people,” Welsh said.

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The budget

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One of people’s main concerns, Welsh said, is the school budget.

She’s been on the job here for 17 days now and said the majority of them have been spent talking about the budget and looking at every budget line.

The district’s budget for 2024-25 passed a public vote in April by a slim 55% majority after a controversial budget season as pandemic-era aid ended and the district eliminated several positions.

Voters chose to accept higher taxes for fewer services with the concern that shooting down the budget would result in the district reverting to a contingency budget, with even more cuts to the district’s services.

At the time, Bartlett predicted the district likely has years of hard budgetary work ahead of it.

Welsh said she certainly didn’t seek a district with a tough budget, but she’s got the experience to handle it.

She said La Fargeville had a tight but responsible budget she knew inside and out as that district’s internal claims auditor. She’s now learning the financial culture here and said people have been bringing her up to speed.

Every district in the state is likely to have a tough budget this year, she said, because the state’s aid formula is changing and the “save harmless” provision which ensures districts don’t have a decrease in state foundation aid from year-to-year is not guaranteed to continue.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to end the “save harmless” provision earlier this year was stopped after lobbying from the state teachers union, which saved TLCSD from losing $140,000 in state aid. But Hochul has indicated she plans to eliminate it in the coming year.

“(The state has) told us for years that it’s the last year. And they told us last year that it is definitely the last year,” Welsh said.

This means there are a lot of unknowns in the coming budget process.

“Typically, you start a school year and you can guess what you’re getting in foundation aid,” Welsh said. “Nobody has that number this year.”

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New financial adviser

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She’s making several changes to how the district’s finances will be run. On Monday, the school board approved a change in the district’s financial adviser from Bernard P. Donegan, Inc. to R.G. Timbs, Inc.

Welsh said president and CEO Rick Timbs — a former school superintendent — has testified to the state Senate about save harmless before, and advocated for reform to make the distribution of state aid more equitable.

She said his firm is “renowned” for long-term financial planning. TLCSD has been doing year-to-year planning, she said, adding that it needs a different approach to plan for the future.

A significant portion of the district’s revenue comes from purchases they get state aid on. Making purchases on things like BOCES shared services in one year increases revenue the next year. It’s an initial cost that pays off in the future.

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Enrollment

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Being a rural community with declining enrollment is extra tough because enrollment decline is a big factor in the state aid formula, Welsh said.

She hopes to address this decline by building connections with the community and bring the issue to the other boards who guide Tupper Lake.

On Wednesday, she broke out two large planner binders on her desk, each with a calendar filled with events. She’s scheduled to attend Rotary Club gatherings, village board meetings and other community events.

On Aug. 29, she’ll be at a meet and greet at the Goff Nelson Memorial Library from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Welsh said she’s only been in Tupper Lake for a couple weeks but she consistently hears that housing is a major challenge to enrollment. Families need to live in Tupper Lake to attend its school, she said.

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For the students

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Welsh said the budget is her number-one concern this year. It weighs on her mind and she said she owes it to Tupper Lake to do well.

“We have to enter an era of fiscal responsibility,” she said.

The other week, when a custodian was repainting the walls in her office, they discussed doing one wall in an accent color. Welsh said she she told him to go to the basement and find all the partial cans and she’d pick one.

“We’re not spending money on new paint,” she said.

Welsh said the district has a difficult task of balancing taxes with services. They want good programming, education and extracurriculars at the schools, but “nobody likes taxes to go up.”

“When they do, it’s for the students,” Welsh said of past budgets.

She described a “triangle” of fiscal responsibility, education and community relations — all with the student at the center.

“We need a responsible budget to be able to do the things that we want to do instructionally, extracurricularly. And we also need community support,” she said.

Welsh said she plans to “lead with kindness and enthusiasm.” She not only wants to produce educated people from the schools, but good people.

She said as she’s been learning about the district, the district’s principals — L.P. Quinn Elementary Principal Elizabeth Littlefield and interim Middle High School Principal Chris Savage — have been doing academic planning this summer.

School starts on Sept. 5.