North Stonington — Job vacancies in the schools' administration office prompted the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday to discuss ways to consolidate services, saving the town money and improving efficiency in the long term.

At its meeting at the North Stonington Education Center, the board explored the idea of implementing some shared services between the town and schools as a way to help fill jobs, streamline purchasing, improve communication and facilitate budgeting in the future. However, there are no exact numbers available on how much money the town would save, as the consolidation plan is still only in the discussion phase.

Following the resignation of the school district bookkeeper last week, the board began discussing the idea of consolidating services as a way to help alleviate vacancies at the school district's already depleted central office. Currently, there are openings for a variety of positions, including the superintendent's administrative assistant, the schools business manager and now the bookkeeper. When considering the increasing number of vacancies in the school district's front office, coupled with the start of new Superintendent Troy Hopkins on July 1, the board said it is the perfect time to have a discussion about consolidating services between the town and schools.

“We’re looking at combining some roles for the school department and the town,” Selectman Brett Mastroianni said. “It’s to have some more synergy between the municipality and the school instead of operating as two separate silos like we have for some time. We’re trying to open up the discussion.”

Although there was no definitive plan as to what the restructured administration would look like, the board explored the idea of having a director of finance who would oversee both the town's and schools' financial needs. That individual could then “bridge the gap” and improve communication between the municipality and the schools in the near future, according to Mastroianni.

Additionally, the board discussed how a greater collaboration between the town and schools could open the door for cross-training. By having administrative assistants and business managers learn both town and school operations, they could then step in if there were ever an absence on either side.

“Cross-training is always a good idea; it gets you out of a bind when you’re in it,” Selectman Nicole Porter said during the board’s discussion. “I think there’s a lot of benefit in having some shared cross-training people to help, as long as there's a really clear delineation of responsibilities and reporting structure.”

First Selectman Bob Carlson was to meet with Board of Education Chair Christine Wagner, Board of Finance Chair Paul Simonds, new Superintendent Hopkins and Administration and Finance Officer Christine Dias on Thursday to further discuss the potential collaboration.