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Watertown Board of Education
Regular Meeting
Minutes
Meeting Date: November 27, 2006
Meeting Time: 7:30 p.m.
Meeting Place: Watertown High Technology Center
Members Present: Ms. Mary Dzioba, Board Chairperson
Mr. Richard Mazzamaro, Board Vice Chairperson
Mr. Todd Griffin, Board Secretary
Ms. Mary Colangelo, Board Member
Mr. Kevin Killeen, Board Member
Mr. Chris Lafferty, Board Member
Mr. Thomas Lambert, Board Member
Ms. Joanne Pannone, Board Member
Dr. Joseph Erardi Jr., Superintendent of Schools
Ms. Amelia Grover, Dir. of Budget and Financial Planning
Ms. Betsy Hackett, Director of Special Services
Mr. Todd LoFrese, Director of Operations
Dr. Philip Pelosi, Assistant Superintendent of Schools
Mr. William Zeman, W.H.S. Student Representative
Absent: Ms. Gina Calabrese, Board Member
Ms. Kace DuPlissie, PTO Representative
Press: Jim Taylor, Sophie Bieluczyk, Town Times
Tommy Valuckas, Waterbury Republican American
Guests: Thad Hasbrouck, Pat Corvello, Eric Bernstein, Lisa Rommel, Janice Curulla-Pond, Fran Palmer, Steve Martino, Cynthia Murphy, Patricia Chipko, Ann Marie Schell, Vito Taccardi, Gabriel Pietrorazio, Elizabeth Brito, Dave King, Joe Dicarlo, Fred Khericha, Sandra Greenwood, Whitey Greenwood and Charlie Beliveau
A. Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 PM
Ms. Dzioba convened the Regular Board of Education meeting at 7:30 p.m.
B. Salute to the Flag
Ms. Dzioba led the Salute to the Flag
C. Recognition
Ms. Dzioba: Thank you very much and thank you all for coming this evening for which I would like to turn the meeting over to the Superintendent.
Dr. Erardi: Thank you Ms. Dzioba, before I start, folks who are having a hard time getting in there are some empty seats in the front. If we could move forward and slide to the right so that everybody could get in the room, that would be terrific.
We have both student and staff recognition this evening; we will start by recognizing two outstanding third graders from our Judson School. Gabriel Pietrorazio, I practiced that last name the whole day. Gabe you can please stand and come forward. Elizabeth Brito, can you stand with Gabe and come forward. Gabe and Elizabeth entered the Constitution Day Poster Contest sponsored by the Connecticut Consortium for Law and Citizenship Education. Watertown Schools, we are very pleased to announce we have the first and the second place winners in the State of Connecticut. (Applause) Despite the great certificate you are going to receive from Ms. Dzioba, their award from the Connecticut Consortium was a monetary award, a money award, so we have two very wealthy students in front of us. Gabe and Elizabeth, on behalf of the Board of Education, the Schools Administration, your principal Ms. Corvello, and I know your teachers, we congratulate you and thank you for representing our school in such a fine, fine way. (Applause)
Both students came forward to receive certificates from Ms. Dzioba
Dr. Erardi: This evening is a special evening as Watertown’s Board of Education has the opportunity to recognize four outstanding teachers that represent all of our teachers in the Watertown schools. Before we start with our recognition I would like to welcome back Janice Pond (Applause). As I am sure nearly everyone knows, Janice retired at the close of the 2005-2006 School Year but not before she was the manager and the director of the Teacher of the Year Program for the past 18 years. There is a lot of work that goes into this. I would like to recognize all three of the nominees and then Cindy Murphy who is our Teacher of the Year. If you could please hold your applause until I finish my comments in regards to Cindy.
Pat Chipko can you stand please. Pat is a third grader teacher at Judson School, she is a very dedicated professional. Pat I would like to share with you a comment from Pat Corvello, your building principal. “Mrs. Chipko works to individualize her instruction so that the particular needs of each of her students is met. She has given back to her profession by working on various curriculum and district initiatives and has recently mentored a young teacher from the University of Bridgeport. Pat has been part of our Watertown School System for the past 12 years and continues to do outstanding work at the Judson School.” Pat is one of the three nominees for the Teacher of the Year. Congratulations.
Ann Marie Schell if you would stand please. Ann Marie began her career 20 years ago as a kindergarten teacher at St. John’s School in Watertown. In 1988 she began her public school career as a special education teacher at Griffin School in Oakville. In 1996 she moved from a special education teacher to a second grade teaching position. In 2000 she was part of the inaugural teaching core at John Trumbull. I would like to share with the audience and with Ann Marie a quote from Cathy Sculley your building principle. “Ann is an exceptional teacher; she creates a positive nurturing environment in which she sets high expectations for herself and her students. Ann is an involved member of the school community. She is a member of the Watertown Intervention Strategy Team, the math and language arts curriculum committee and the language arts vertical team. She is highly respected by her students, their families and her fellow colleagues. Ann is truly one of Watertown’s finest educators”.
Vito Taccardi, Vito if you would stand please. I would like to share with you Vito and the Board and the audience comments from your schools administration. I would also like to preface my comments by sharing with the community that this is year 37 for Mr. Taccardi. “Vito Taccardi is an extraordinary eighth grade math teacher at Swift Middle School who has a passion for teaching. Vito has taught in the Watertown School System for 37 years, has been our Math Department Coordinator for the past ten years. Vito is very committed to educating students and takes very personally the success of his students and the position of the Swift Mathematics Department within the Watertown Public School Program as a whole. He has enriched the lives of many students in our school because of his extensive knowledge of teaching and curriculum. Vito is admired and well liked by his fellow administrators, teachers, parents and most especially his students”.
Watertown’s Teacher of the Year, Cindy Murphy, if you would stand please. Cindy I have a couple of things I would like to share. The first is an overall general statement from your new administrators at Swift. I would like to share a comment from our Director of Special Services, Betsy Hackett, and I would also like to share a quote that was important to you. Let me start off with the Swift administration, “The Watertown Public Schools has embraced the move in education today in meeting the needs of each student on an individual basis. Cindy Murphy exemplifies this movement. Since her joining the Watertown Public Schools Professional Staff in 1996, both regular education and special education students have benefited from her unending commitment to their individual academic, social and emotional growth. Whenever you pass Cindy in the hall she is with a student that needs personal attention, is going to assist a student who has a special need or coming from a meeting with a student. She is compassionate, she is kind and she is dedicated. Respected by her peers, her supervisors and most significantly her students, Cindy epitomizes the characteristics of a Teacher of the Year”. I would like to quote Cindy, back to you and to the community, a letter that supported your candidacy to the State Department of Education from our Director of Pupil Services, Betsy Hackett. “Does her attitude and commitment rub off on the special needs children with whom she interacts daily? Without any doubt. She creates for her young students a caring place where they know that they are safe and supported but at the same time encouraged to be independent and have a sense of enjoyment of what should be for all, the lighter side of life”.
Cindy the plaque and the clock that the Board of Education has prepared for you quotes Mahatma Ghandi, which I think is someone you look to for inspiration. “I want to be able to fulfill one of Mahatma Ghandi’s messages that said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’”. Cindy on behalf of the Board of Education, Vito and Ann Marie and Pat, on behalf of the Board of Education, we recognize the four of you as outstanding educators and thank you for the work that you do with students everyday. Congratulations to all of you.
Applause
Ms. Murphy came forward to receive a clock from Ms. Dzioba
1. The Board would like to recognize Watertown’s 2007 Teacher of the Year, Ms. Cynthia Murphy, Special Education Teacher, at Swift Middle School.
The Board would also like to recognize the nominees for Teacher of the Year:
Ms. Patricia Chipko, Grade 3 Teacher, Judson School
Ms. Ann Marie Schell, Grade 2 Teacher, John Trumbull School
Mr. Vito Taccardi, Math Teacher, Swift Middle School
2. The Board would like to recognize the following students from Judson School for being winners in the 2006 Constitution Day Poster Contest sponsored by the Connecticut Consortium for Law and Citizenship Education, Inc.:
Gabriel Pietrorazio, Grade 3, First Place Winner
Elizabeth Brito, Grade 3, Second Place Winner
Both students received a gift card to Barnes and Noble in the amount of $25.00.
Dr. Erardi: We will take a five minute pause at this time.
Meeting suspended at 7:44 p.m.
Meeting reconvened at 7:48 p.m.
D. Public Participation
Ms. Dzioba: I would like to open the meeting to public participation, is there anyone who would like to address the Board?
Pat Corvello, Judson School Principal
Good evening, I would also like to congratulate our teacher of the year and nominees. Watertown is indeed fortunate to have such fine professionals. When Judson School heard last June that Cindy Murphy was Teacher of the Year we were full of plans for celebration and we are still very excited. After talking with Cindy we decided that the best way to celebrate her Teacher of the Year would be to make a donation to the Watertown Education Foundation in Cindy’s name for $500.00. We hope that you will all enjoy that.
Report from Student Council Representative – Mr. William Zeman
Mr. Zeman: Thank you Mrs. Dzioba. I have a couple of different small items to report tonight because while Thanksgiving Holiday might have come for Watertown High School and the entire School District, these students didn’t really go on holiday and instead accomplished a heck of a lot. At the meeting I mentioned the Pep Club had recently been created at Watertown High School and within three weeks of being created they held their first pep rally at the High School. It was an extraordinary accomplishment especially considering I think there is about twelve of them and they had only been around about three weeks. It was quite a rally, there were noise makers, pie eating contests, even Mr. Geary got involved with that. It is the peppiest that I have seen the school in quite so time so commendations to them. Also the traditional powder puff football game was held between the Junior and Senior girls to raise money for the Student Council. The seniors won of course, as it should be. Again great time had by all. Finally the Homecoming Dance was held last Saturday, that was fund raiser for the Senior Class, good turn out, fun for all. Finally, this wasn’t an official activity but last week was Thanksgiving break for a lot of students at college and pretty much the entire class of 06 came back and visited their teachers. They walked in on classes and just filled the place. I think that is more indicative of good work that Watertown High School teachers do and the Middle School teachers and all the Teacher of the Year nominees and recipients do. The fact that students keep coming back to the school and are willing to come; it is an obvious sign that these people have had an great influence on their lives. Finally Mr. Hawley, the Music Director had required me to inform you that the winter concert is going to be held Monday, December 18th at 7:00 pm and he is presenting everyone on the Board with free tickets and he also anyone in the audience who is 65 or older also gets free tickets. You can see me afterwards if you would like some. Thank you.
Ms. Dzioba: Kace is not here so we do not have a report from our PTO/PTA representative.
E. Budget Summary – (Information Only – No Action Required)
Ms. Dzioba: Budget summary is in the packet for all Board Members.
F. Committee Reports:
1. Advertising Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair
Mr. Griffin: There is no report this evening
2. Athletics Committee, Chris Lafferty, Chair
Mr. Lafferty: Right now there hasn’t been a meeting since the last time we met here, there will be one coming up shortly, once I call and schedule it. Seeing as it is the beginning of the winter sport season I think one is appropriate so there will probably be a report for you next meeting.
3. Budget Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair
Mr. Griffin: The budget committee did meet this evening. Reviewed was the 06-07 volatile accounts update, our 07-08 preliminary budget and the financial impact of the negotiated Custodial and Maintenance contract.
4. Curriculum & Instruction Committee, Gina Calabrese, Chair
There is no report this evening due to Ms. Calabrese absence.
5. Facilities Committee, Rich Mazzamaro, Chair
Mr. Mazzamaro: The committee met on Wednesday November 15th, among the items discussed was the Board ability to buy fuel oil and diesel fuel through a buying consortium for the 2007-2008 heating season. Todd LoFrese reported that we purchase roughly 200,000 gallons of oil and roughly 60,000 gallons of diesel annually. The price we can buy and lock in at through the consortium is between $2.00 and $2.10 a gallon for oil and the same for diesel plus some additional taxes. There is an action item on tonight’s agenda for Board consideration.
The other item discussed was consideration of removing pay phones from the schools. In the past the Board was paid a commission based on the usage and over the years with the many cell phones have come into use. The commissions have lessoned to the point where the Board is actually billed for the pay phone installations due to lack of any money being spent to make calls. The one concern the committee had was that we should have a Board discussion about having an emergency phone, something there in case there are any after hours activities there would be some communication. Just for information, today there are about 8 phones in all the schools at a cost of about $55.00 a month for each.
6. Policy and Labor Committee, Mary Colangelo, Chair
Ms. Colangelo: I have no report except to say that we will be meeting December 6th at 7:00 pm at the John Trumbull conference room, we have some guidelines to review and a few other items.
7. Cablevision, Vacant
No report this evening
8. PBC Representative, Rich Mazzamaro
Mr. Mazzamaro: I attend the November 15th Public Buildings Committee meeting with members of the Facilities committee and among the items discussed there was the ongoing Swift renovations. Members of Kaestle, Boos and Associates, the architect and O & G, the general contractor updated the committee on the building schedule and budget. Both reported the project is on schedule and on budget. Kaestle Boos reported that the new addition at Swift should be completed by April 2007 and turned over to the school system. As of that meeting O & G reported that the renovation work is about 42% complete, site work is about 52% complete. Kaestle Boos also presented to the committee site plans for installing artificial turf on the playing field under construction at Swift. Kaestle Boos submitted probable construction costs of $790,000 which includes all the base preparations, perimeter, turf, storm drains, electrical conduit and concrete for future lights, grading and a retaining wall. $600,000 of this project would be funded through the state grant with the remaining $190,000 covered under the projects contingency fund. This fund could also complete the project with lights and bleachers. This item will be presented for a first read under the Superintendent’s report on tonight’s agenda.
9. Education Connection Representative, Mary Dzioba
Ms. Dzioba: There is no report this evening
G. Communications – Secretary
Mr. Griffin: There are a few communications this evening. The first was a question that was asked by Mr. Guerrera. When will the Board of Education endorse or lead and support turf on the Mills Complex? What was received back in writing to Mr. Guerrera, I believe that Board Member Gina Calabrese answered your question publically with a response that included, the continued open ended questions that have yet to have answered by the Town Council. The Board of Education is waiting for additional information and directions from the Town Council before returning the item to their agenda. Also, why was the Youth Football program relocated for their tournament games? The answer is, the Board of Education’s working agreement with all groups, includes the right to waive field use due to inclement weather that may lead to further field damage. Heavy rains were forecasted on the Saturday before your game and school administrators needed to exercise that option to mitigate field damage. I hope this answers your questions and I thank you for being an active participant with the Board of Education. Respectfully Dr. Joseph Erardi.
The second communication that I have this evening concerns the giving tree at John Trumbull Primary School. We have available tags that show whether a boy or girl, age and what type of gift they would like. We would like to have these passed out, if anyone is interested in taking these we would like have these back to the school, unwrapped by December 6th. I do have these available in picking these up for a great cause.
H. Minutes
1. Regular Board of Education Meeting – November 13, 2006
Motion Presented by Mr. Mazzamaro seconded by Mr. Griffin to accept the Regular Board of Education Meeting Minutes of November 13, 2006.
Motion Passed
(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 1-Abstained)
In Favor: Ms. Colangelo, Mr. Griffin, Mr. Killeen, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Lambert, Mr. Mazzamaro and Ms. Pannone
Abstained: Ms. Dzioba
I. Superintendent's Recommendations and Report
Dr. Erardi: Item #1 is information only. I don’t know if Board members have any questions, comments or concerns with the appointments that were made since our last meeting.
The Board had no questioned regarding Item #1
1. Appointments – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Mr. William Hosking to the position of Assistant Boy’s Soccer Coach at Watertown High School for the 2006-2007 school year at a contractual stipend of $1,625.00 payable at the end of the season.
b. Ms. Beth Hannon to the position of Girl’s Soccer Coach at Swift Middle School for the 2006-2007 school year at a contractual stipend of $1,625.00 payable at the end of the season.
Dr. Erardi: Item #2, this evening the administration presents to the Board of Education a first read for 2007-
2008 School Calendar. You should have a copy of that in your packet, if you need another copy I have
additional copies here and perhaps the extras for the press that is here this evening and our audience. As I
mentioned at our last Board meeting the one significant change would have our students return after Labor Day.
That is different than the calendar that you have approved over the last few years. The reason for that is to buy
one additional weekend to prepare Swift Middle School for an appropriate start to the new school year. I would
also like to share with the Board of Education that when I met with the executive PTA council last week and
actually Board Member Killeen was able to attend. I shared with the PTA council that that would be my
recommendation to the Board of Education and the after Labor Day return was unanimously endorsed by our
parent group. I thought that was important information for the Board to have. Board Members if you have
questions about the school calendar now or before our next meeting please let me know. It will be back to you
on December 11th for a second read and action.
The Board had no questioned regarding Item #2
2. Proposed Calendar 2007-2008 – First Reading
A draft of the proposed calendar for the school year 2007-2008 is presented this evening for the first reading. (See Attachment A.)
Dr. Erardi: Mr. LoFrese is prepared this evening for Item #3 to update the Board of Education and the
community with the work that we have done in our schools regarding our air quality program.
Mr. LoFrese gave a power point presentation on Tools for Schools (See Attachment B)
Mr. LoFrese: The spring administration updated the Board of Education on the School Districts plans to move
ahead with the Tools for Schools indoor air quality program. I have put together a power point presentation
describes the process that we followed with the results that came out of this survey.
What is Tools for Schools? It is a program designed to evaluate school air quality. It is put out by the
Environmental Protection Agency. It is a comprehensive self study, including training for building
stakeholders, teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, custodians, to evaluate their facility. It is a proactive
approach to solving air quality issues. We are using existing resources to diagnose and fix problems. It also fulfills a State law requirement that we evaluate the air quality of our schools by January 1, 2008.
The State of Connecticut formed a School Indoor Environment Resource Team; this team is a group of health professionals as well as other members of the state community. They provided additional training and support for Watertown, at no cost, to implement this program. They provided tool kits for each school to use, they conducted multiple training sessions, they helped us do walkthroughs of the facility and provided assistance when needed in other areas.
An overview of the process, we received an initial training followed by the communication of the plan, we communicated to the Board of Education, we sent letters to all staff members, a letter went home to each parent in the district and we also sent out press releases. We conducted a survey of all staff occupied areas, summarized these results, completed walkthrough investigations and then using that information developed an action plan.
In the initial training team members learned about air quality, reviewed processes for completing a survey, and worked on developing the communication plan. We then offered an online survey of teachers and other building occupants, over 90% of the areas were completed, we had a very high completion rate among staff. The purpose of this was to check for any concerns and check for patterns that may exist, some sample questions are listed here on what was included in the survey. Such as is temperature maintained at moderate levels and are there signs of draftiness? Other areas of the survey covered moisture issues, roof leaks, are there any types of pets or animals in the classroom? Food products that are stored in unopened containers. That gives you an idea of some of the questions that were asked.
In the second training session representatives from ConnOSHA and the American Lung Association and helped us review our survey results and offered training on conducting a building walkthrough. They also instructed the team on how heating and ventilation and air conditioning systems work and then we performed a building walkthrough. That walkthrough occurred at Judson School.
The next two slides summarize the walkthrough results and some of the actions that have been taken and that we are recommending be taken to date. At John Trumbull there are many roof leaks however that is under construction and many of those leaks are being repaired. There was a significant bird colony which was creating a health hazard with bird droppings in the front entryway as well as the rear of the school. Working in conjunction with the Public Building Committee, we were able to authorize a change order for the construction and they provided some metal closures to prevent the birds from nesting there. I am happy to report that that has been successful. Green pod is overheating, we are going to be asking for some funding in the budget for 07-08, there is an issue in the attic in the green pod area that is causing the ventilation system not to work properly. There were some concerns about diesel fumes, and this was at all of the schools and it was a simple fix. We issued a no idle directive to the bus company so when the students are being dropped off or picked up the buses are being turned off and as the doors are opened to the building, bus fumes are not entering the facilities.
At Polk School some other types of issues with third grade bathrooms, they are really designed for kindergarten grade level, they had extensions on the toilets which make them difficult to clean and that will be addressed with the three school building study which Kaestle Boos is here this evening to present some additional information on that. At some of the other schools like Judson, there was poor general ventilation, and that is simply a design issue of the facility, it doesn’t have up to date ventilation systems that meet today’s air quality standards. Again that will be addressed with the study. We continue to complete ongoing repairs to exhaust systems, there are broken floor tiles at Judson Elementary School and moisture issues on those floors, especially in the summer months, some of which is going to be addressed with the building study, others we are providing humidifiers to try and alleviate this moisture.
Similar type issues at Hemingway Park, Swift and Watertown High School. At Swift fortunately these issues are being addressed with the current building project, Heminway we occupied the basement area, something as simple as vacuuming chalk trays is helping control dusty rooms. Another item that was explored by the team walkthroughs was general classroom clutter. We have asked all parties involved to be responsible and help reduce that. It helps with the custodians being able to clean and reduce the general dustiness of the room. Again at Watertown High School, there were widespread concerns about inadequate ventilation and thermal discomfort, again that will be addressed with the three school study. General clutter was again addressed at Watertown High School and the concern over some air vents, we are going to be looking at cleaning those or see where the three school study takes us.
Complete results of all the schools are available at my office, you can either write or contact me and I can provide copies of those results. Many of the items we have already addressed. The three school study that Kaestle-Boos will begin to present this evening will help evaluate the building mechanical systems, we encouraging staff to reduce classroom clutter and larger items are going to be requested in the operating budget. If there are any questions I would be more than happy to answer them at this time.
Ms. Pannone: I would just like to make a comment, thank you for the very thorough report.
Mr. LoFrese: Not a problem, this was largely a result of hard work of staff members in all schools, each team
comprised of teachers, nurses, custodians, paraprofessionals, administrators, so hats off to everyone involved.
Mr. Lafferty: I have one question. Just looking at the points you brought up there were really a lot of details
that are not minor but often overlooked that were addressed in the walk throughs and your problem solving.
Are these types of walk throughs something that are possible financially and manpower wise to do more of? It
sounded like this is a pretty well thought out plan that was put into action but are there more opportunities that
you have Todd that we can exercise these more often?
Mr. LoFrese: The plan is for the committees to meet at least annually. We are required by state law to
complete a very thorough evaluation every five years. Some other things that are being done through the school
system is evaluations of general cleanliness and the condition of rooms through custodial evaluations.
Mr. Lafferty: Because a lot of the problems that were addressed really play into how well we do preventative
maintenance, not just maintenance after the fact and I think that more of these studies in fact help us out in the
long run and they are worth the time just by what we are seeing tonight.
Mr. Killeen: I was wondering if there was any funding or grants available federally in light of what Chris
mentioned to take up some of the cost of what is involved here. Even though it is minimal, there still might
be something federally.
Mr. LoFrese: There is funding at the state level however it is generally reserved for an indoor air quality
emergency and that has to be determined by the local health department. There are also state grant funding that
would cover any type of large scale construction as well.
Ms. Dzioba: Todd more information will be coming over to the facilities committee and the budget committee
as to work that specifically has to be done.
Mr. LoFrese: Correct
3. Tools for Schools Update
Administration will present information about the Tools for Schools Indoor Air Quality Program.
Dr. Erardi: We will move onto the 4th item on the Superintendent’s report before I go back to Mr. LoFrese to introduce Kaestle-Boos and Associates, I’d just like to reiterate the time line that we set up for this study and review. This evening the administration is prepared with K. B & A to share with the Board and the community the findings that deal with compliance. On December 11th Kaestle Boos will be back again and again December 11th is our only meeting in December. On December 11th, Kaestle-Boos will be back with their recommendations for Judson School, for Polk School and the High School. There’s anxiousness in community to the question of how much. I think that is the question that I certainly do not want to be on record until we move through the first and the second presentation. After the December 11th presentation of the recommendations from KB & A, with all three schools, on January 8th, Kaestle-Boos will be back again with dollars attached to the plans that they brought forward. The timeline between the December 11th meeting and the January 8th third meeting gives the Board an opportunity to weight in on where they would like to see this study go. Again, this evening we will be talking about compliance, December 11th will be the recommendations and January 8th, about six weeks from now we will have an opportunity to put all of the first two pieces together with a dollar amount for the High School, Judson and for Polk.
Mr. LoFrese: Before I introduce our architects that are with us I would like to give the Board of Education a brief overview of what has been going on, this project started in earnest in September and over the past few months, architects, engineers, design professionals have been visiting the facilities, they have been crawling through tunnels, they have been looking in boiler rooms, they have been meeting with school administration, they’ve been meeting with the Fire Marshall, with the building inspector, they have been reviewing old building plans, new addition plans, the addition portion of the High School. They have been reviewing these which is an important part of getting to tonight’s presentation. They have compiled the information and they are going to be presenting that this evening which we will discuss some of the code issues, some of the building mechanical issues, site concerns that need to be addressed with traffic, and with that I will turn it over to Kaestle Boos Architects, Mr. David King is here, Mr. Fred Khericha, and Mr. Joe DiCarlo.
Mr. Mazzamaro: Todd before we start, I have copies of the compliance issues if anybody doesn’t have a copy or the report.
Mr. Mazzamaro distributed copies of Kaestle Boos and Associates compliance report (See Attachment C)
Mr. King: Thank you for having us here this evening, we will start our discussion with the High School and then talk about Judson and Polk. In general, a little bit of an overview of where the presentation is at least tonight. The first thing we do when we do a facilities assessment like we are performing here is to look at the existing conditions within the three schools. Those conditions are generally grouped into Code Compliance issues, where the building meets or doesn’t meet aspects of the Code, and there are several codes that apply to a school. Physical Conditions, which talk about the building envelope, structural systems, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection systems. To give you a base line of where the physical buildings lie, what condition they are in and what kinds of things might be expected to be incorporated into some kind of a project to address those issues somewhere down the road. Secondly we also looked at the schools from a curriculum and program stand point. That is we reviewed with our Educational Consultant, reviewed with the principals of the three schools and with the administrative staff to look at what programs are offered and what programs are anticipated to be offered in the future in the schools, how those programs match up with the number of students and the spaces that are available at the school, for teaching those programs. From that we then develop a list of rooms and space where we might not deficiencies either in the number of spaces or in the size of spaces or both. We will touch briefly on that because that will lead into the next presentation we will be doing for you next month.
With that kind of background in mind, we’ll start with the High School and Joe DiCarlo will give you a brief overview of issues and observations that we made with regards to the site as it exists today.
Mr. DiCarlo: I am just addressing the issues on the outside of the building, as a landscape architect I’ve analyzed the areas around the building on this plan (first page) you can see French Street is up here, the main long entry drive, this white part represents the building and in very general terms the biggest issue is accessibility, there are very few areas that comply with accessibility codes. The parking, there are insufficient handicapped parking spaces; this causes a concern for people getting around here. The second big issue, and the public safety people have also mentioned this, the single access at arrival and departure times, I believe the word used was a “zoo” and that they feared any sort of emergency should occur during those periods because it would be very difficult to access the building, again an issue we would be addressing. I am also aware of the fact that we have rear gated entrances and exits that are a concern for some people and that there is also an issue with students gathering outside of these gated issues, and that is again something that we hopefully address when we get into the proposal part of the project. Also the athletic people felt the need, or would like to have at least two more athletic fields and there is some additional land available on school property that we would again look at. The brand new stadium has the same problems with accessibility issues, as well as the grand stands and issues that don’t comply with the current codes.
Mr. King: Just for reference, there is approximately 308 parking spaces here now in 5 separate lots, there is a couple of handicapped spaces and generally speaking you found that the condition of the pavement, both the road pavement and the walks and the curbs, is in not very good condition.
(Referring to second page) The next graphics that you see are what we call an egress plan which analyses for code compliance purposes only. This has nothing to do with educational use of rooms. To determine what the building occupant load when it is at its maximum capacity and do we have enough egress capacity within the building, that is corridors and exit doors and stairwells. To be able to develop a plan where by we can prove that the building can exit those number of people should an emergency occur? What you see is a very complicated plan where each room is given a design occupancy load and that load is then transferred to some kind of egress path through the building and then egresses outside. There are a couple of things that we noted and when you see something in red on the plan, that is a red flag where there is an issue. That has to do with, this is the main entrance to the school, right now this main lobby and what we found is because of code requirements for egress from the places of assembly, which is the gym and the auditorium, that they lobby is not sufficient in width to accommodate the exiting of all those people. That is why there is a little red flag at this block here.
(Referring to third page) On the second floor, next page, you will notice at two of the stairwells, we also again have the red flag, and what we have here is these two stairs do not appear to be sufficient in the width for egress capacity and that represents a code problem that would have to be addressed somewhere along the line.
(Referring to fourth page) The next sheet, this graphic talks about code violations for life safety code, building code, accessibility issues, also to a minor extent some health code issues and OSHA type issues. What you see is a listing of some 80 almost, different issues that occur in different locations within the building. In this case red is for the fire code and blue is for the ADA, so any color here is an issue that has been identified. You see that at the main level and also at the upper level.
(Referring to fifth page) Other issues at the high school with regard to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protections systems, we note that most of the systems and equipment that are in the buildings are at what we call the term “end of their useful service life”. That means that they come to a point where it makes to replace rather than to repair them. We will have a full written report that catalogues all those items coming to you at the December meeting. While we are still at the High School, on the educational programming side of things we found that in general, that the number of classrooms and educational spaces pretty much matches up what the curriculum is. However we do note that there are deficiencies in the size of many spaces, particularly in the science labs and also the art rooms, the choral room and the media center and some of the support spaces for the auditorium, that is the dressing rooms, green room, set construction. In general there should be a number of additional smaller conference spaces scattered through out the school for that purpose. Any questions on the High School?
Mr. Lafferty: Going back to the entrance and the outside, you said that the lobby you said the width was too small to accommodate masses exiting, by how off are we from code?
Mr. King: What you will see if you look, it is hard for you to read.
Mr. Lafferty: I am going from the second page of your presentation, the first level.
Mr. King: It is hard for you to read on your plans but in the little red box, there are two numbers there, the top number is 1,002 the bottom is 624 and the 1,002 is the way that we calculate the egress and the number below it is the capacity.
Mr. Lafferty: So where it should be 1,002 we only have 624.
Mr. King: You only have width for 624.
Mr. Killeen: What were the total numbers of violations? You said it at the beginning of your presentation for the High School.
Mr. King: Well there are about 79 items that we flagged; some of them may be flagged more than once.
Mr. Killeen: That was what was going to be my point, that from a quick observation a number of the violations were recurrent, such as fire door ratings not be posted on the doors, window egress and ventilation. So it is not so much to the extent that it would paint the building for unsafe for having that kind of concern.
Mr. King: I should say that all of our findings were reviewed with local officials, with fire marshal and building officials, because they could interpret sections of the code differently than we have and their jurisdiction is what really counts. So we have done that, I don’t believe that anything has come up where we have been overly conservative, I don’t believe.
Mr. Lambert: Back to your original legend you had up there, it showed the High School courtyard (first page) you had that up just a minute ago and it showed the number of violations as Kevin was saying for the windows going into the courtyard, is that just because you can’t egress into the courtyard or is that just the size of the windows, you can’t egress out of the windows. My concern is the design itself because you can’t egress into the courtyard that is a major problem.
Mr. King: Yes and the issue with the violation is two fold. However, a building that has a full sprinkler system, which presently the school does not, the need for the egress window goes away. In other words, there is more than one way to skin a cat, to correct something like that.
Mr. Lafferty: Do some of the other violations that you mention come with recommendations on how to solve them or like you said there is more than one way to skin a cat on some of these, where they just left up to officials of the town or us to solve?
Mr. King: What we will do when we go through this, our charge is to present to you a comprehensive report including a comprehensive solution. So what we are going to do is talk about the educational solution and also the building solution which is code envelope, physical conditions, all of its systems and present you with an estimate of what all that means, what all that is worth.
Judson School
Mr. DiCarlo: (Referring to eighth page) I am the outside guy so we will site with the site plan first, Judson School has probably the most congested arrival departure procedure of the schools we looked at. The term again zoo and hectic were used. Obviously everything occurs right in this area in front of the building which is a major concern. The other issue again, as with the other schools is accessibility, there is very limited or no accessibility to a majority part of the site. The pavement areas in here are probably the worst of the three schools we looked at, very bad as well as things such as requiring for accessibility around the building but in fact in back it is lawn. This creates a problem in the winter for maintenance when they plow it, the snow get pushed up against the buildings which creates rotting of the siding. So you have an accessibility issue from a public safety point of view around the building that again the school is doing the best it can but it doesn’t really meet the requirements of what you should have. The play equipment is outdated by today’s code, both the consumer product safety commission and the ADA, there are some issues with some of the pieces of equipment and again the biggest one is probably the severe lack of parking. I am told during events it is absolute craziness along the entire street here. There are 53 spaces solely. The Town has a municipal regulation that says that the public facilities like this that the amount of parking is at the discretion of the planning commission so you are not in violation of anything but it is obvious that the reality use is there are not enough spaces here. Again the handicap issue is that there are slightly less than there should be and that they don’t conform to the configuration of the present code.
Mr. King: (Referring to ninth page) We will turn the page and go to the analysis of the egress and exiting. Again the issues to be flagged are found in red and you will see a couple of dashed lines which says that the travel distance, which is allowed by code and which exists in those two areas, exceeds that which is allowable by code. You can see in one it is a distance, the excess is about 4 feet and the other one is closer to 47 feet. So one of those is more significant issue than the other.
(Referring to tenth page) Moving on to code compliance issues, this shows again, as you noted earlier, you have a pair of violations that occur more than once so in each and every instance it is listed on the plan here so you can see where they all occur. Some of the highlights here have to do with the ramps which the code states the degree of slope that the ramp should have and also that every 30 feet there is supposed to be an intermediate landing and these ramps do not possess that. That would be something that would have to be addressed. With regard to mechanical, electrical, fire protection systems, again much of it is at the end of its useful service life although the boilers I should note are about six years old so they are not as far along as the rest of the systems. I’d say the biggest issue for Judson has to do with the exterior envelope that particularly the original part of the school the window wall system is deteriorated, it is single glazing so it is not very good at all in terms of energy efficiency and we would recommend, and of course you will see in the report, that that should be replaced with some other type of system. There are a lot of things available to be discussed as solutions and all of which would greatly enhance the efficiency of the building.
Polk School
Mr. DiCarlo: (Referring to eleventh page) At the Polk School again the issue is accessibility, it is an extreme problem. There are very limited areas; it is kind of on a slopping sight. I also found an interesting story in my research, I went to the engineering department and drew out the plans for the original survey before the school was built and found it interesting that it indicated a large brook running through this part of the site and on either side of that were the words in very big letters VERY SWAMPY. I think that may be contributing to some of the problems as the moisture in the school. As to the facility that is here now, as I said there are accessibility issues, there are only two handicapped parking spaces, they aren’t near the entrances; they don’t comply with current code. There is no handicapped parking in the visitor parking lot, no accessibility to the main entrance from there. The recreation field is at an elevation that has no walk to it, except out at the street, except that the gate is too small to get anyone out to it. The play equipment again wouldn’t comply with current codes for consumer product safety commission or ADA. That is really it for issue for site at the Polk School. There are 69 spaces; I did not hear any complaints about lack of parking at this facility.
Mr. King: (Referring to twelfth page) With regards to egress, you see a couple of red flags here. There dash lines indicate where travel distance exceeds that which is allowable. In this case, in both instances it is around 10 feet. The other two red blocks indicate that these doors are not of sufficient width for egress from both sides of this classroom wing. What you would do in a situation like this is a pair of doors at each end and you would change it and put in three doors or perhaps four and that is how you would resolve this kind of issue. On the code compliance issue, you see not as many indications here flagged, probably owing to the fact this building was renovated some twenty years ago. Of course the biggest issue here as Joe alluded to is moisture. There is a lower basement level within the building that at one time had a significant amount of water in it. Some measures have been taken to help mitigate that which have worked although there is still a moisture issue down there. Some further testing should probably be warranted to help isolate the case of where the water is coming in. If it is a ground water problem there could even be a broken pipe somewhere that nobody knows about. In any case, it is possible I think, to do some engineering work to help make that space dry so that even though it is basement space it could be used for storage for the school district and would be valuable I think in that regard.
Mr. Lambert: Would it be possible through the study that you may have to put deep curtain drains in there to help capture the water before it gets to the school.
Mr. King: Yes, that is one possibility, a drainage system also excavating down and waterproofing the foundation wall, there may be a need for, part of the floor there, there is no floor in part of the space, it is just dirt. With a proper membrane underneath it and a properly designed slab, it might be something, not just and ordinary concrete slab but where in you could effect that and make that dry.
Mr. Lafferty: When you were talking about parking a few slides ago, you said there were really no complaints about parking. I was just wondering though, a question I had, is there any opportunity for more parking? The only reason I am bringing this up and I remember there was an event at Polk last fall or spring and the place was filled. They were parking down on the grass almost along the sidewalk, in the street, everywhere was filled. Just say we had another event like that or another couple events like that and it was a really wet day and they tore up that entire part of the grass right by Buckingham and Parkman Streets, the bottom right in the very corner there. That area was all filled up. Is there any availability for more parking if it was needed?
Mr. DiCarlo: Well it would appear as though there is room to create more although and again, I don’t know the incident you are speaking of, there is a gate here that would allow parking here and another one that would allow parking here. Now I am not sure if that was available at the time of that event.
Mr. Lafferty: I believe they were, not the area in the upper corner where the basketball hoops are but right by the playground.
Mr. DiCarlo: It appears as though there is some room here; some more spaces could be created there, so there is some room for flexibility.
Mr. Lafferty: I can see that this was just one incident and it was the first time I have ever seen anything like it but just to bring it up for everyone’s purpose that these events do occur. While there is never a great need for it, it certainly does happen every once in a blue moon.
Mr. DiCarlo: In the interviews with the staff here that was not mentioned, parking issues were not mentioned. And I might add that of the schools we looked at this one had the most organized bus drop off at the front door, parents dropping off at the side, so it was a lot more organized here also.
Mr. Killeen: On the egress plan, I had a question about the note it states that there is travel distance and along the dotted line. It says the allowable is 250 feet and it says actual is 190. Wouldn’t that meet the requirements by 60 feet? I am not sure if I am reading your notes correctly. Is that the worse case scenario that you are projecting?
Mr. King: This one?
Mr. Killeen: And the other one as well, the lower one also states that.
Mr. King: This one exceeds it by 10 feet, he may have the numbers reversed here, we will verify that for you.
Mr. Killeen: The below one says 250 and the actual is 210, apparently those numbers are allowable is actually 190 and 210.
Mr. King: You are right this say 250 and this says 200 so it is reversed. So we will review that for you, thank you for pointing that out.
Mr. Lafferty: I have just one more point about Polk as far as the parking, it is kind of my forte tonight for my questions. That hard surface play area up towards the top center of the map, that isn’t available for parking correct? Because the entrance way to it would only be about one car width, right next to the swing set and where the generator is. Yeah right in there. So that wouldn’t even be available if say we wanted to.
Mr. King: So naturally a space or area used for hard surface play needs to be restricted during the school day for obvious safety reasons. We could however for overflow parking at particular events we could make that wider and change it so that’s wider so you have a controlled way of allowing that area to be used for parking only during certain times.
Mr. Lafferty: Thank you that was just a point that I thought of while you were giving your answer before.
Ms. Dzioba: We look forward to your next report.
Mr. King: Thank you
Dr. Erardi: Board members before we move onto Item #5, Administration from Judson School, from Polk School and the High School, they are present this evening if you have any final questions in regards to daily operations and compliance issues that were just presented, now would be the time to ask those questions.
The Board had no further questions regarding Item #4
4. Three School Study
Administration and representatives from Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc. will present information on the progress of the study thus far. (Board members should bring the packet of Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc. drawings that they recently received to the meeting.)
Dr. Erardi: On November 13th a representative from the Alumni Association approached the Board of
Education and asked the Board of Education to endorse that by-laws that had been created by the Alumni
Association. This evening there are a number of Watertown High School graduates, if there are questions that
the Board may have for the first reading of the by-laws. I would suggest to the Board that you look at the
Alumni Association in the same way that you look at project graduation. That although you endorse and
support project graduation it is the understood that the activity is outside of the purview of the Board of
Education. Project Graduation being for the most recent graduates of our High School. If there are questions at
all with the by-laws between now and our December meeting please let me know. It is back on agenda for a
second read in December. I don’t know if there are any further comments from our graduates that would like to
share information with the Board.
Ms. Pannone: I have a question, in reading the by-laws you had a wall of honor, where would that be situated,
as you come into the entrance?
Dr. Erardi: I don’t know Joanne if they are to that point yet, Tom do you have an answer for that?
Mr. Valuckas: Still working on it.
Dr. Erardi: Just as far as background information, this is part of the Board’s five year strategic school plan. It
was something that you endorsed three years ago and there has been a core group and an emerging greater
group that have come together and have brought paper to light. They had their first formal/informal activity this
past weekend with an alumni breakfast at Crestbrook, it was well received; it was a lot of fun. I had a chance to
stop by and thank the folks who put it together and I know it spanned many generations and many decades of
graduates. Any further questions on the alumni association?
The Board had no further questions regarding Item #5
5. By-laws of the Watertown High School Alumni Association, Inc. – First Reading
The By-laws of the Watertown High School Alumni Association, Inc. are presented this evening for the first reading.
Dr. Erardi: The last item on the Superintendent’s report is in regards to the $600,000. State of Connecticut
Grant. I believe there were six Board Members who were in attendance on November 20th, a week ago, in the
audience of the Town Council meeting. At that meeting the Town Manager, Mr. Frigon recommended to the
Town Council to continue the pursuit in two different places regarding the $600,000, one being to turf
Veterans Field and the second to come back to the Board of Education to endorse turfing Swift Middle School.
As we all know Swift is in the middle of a renovation project. After discussing the endorsement with Mr.
Frigon and a further discussion with Ms. Dzioba, the item is on your agenda this evening as a first read with a
December 11th second read and action. We felt that it was appropriate, for some Board members this is new
information for many Board members you have followed the bouncing ball over the last few months. I know
there are a number of Public Building committee members in our audience this evening, a number of Town
Council members in our audience this evening and we will do our best work to get the answers to the
questions that you may have regarding the information that we received from the Town Manager. I don’t
know if there are questions at this point that Board members may have regarding the $600,000 grant.
Mr. Lafferty: I have a few questions and I am not going to speak in favor of or against any projects just so I
can get that out there right now. One is I know last time back in August I know we had a problem with the
explanation of what we were actually voting on. When this comes up I see a lot of similarities with it when we
actually take action on any possibilities of using this money at Swift. My question would be are we endorsing
as a Board that this money should be spent on Swift or are we just saying that in the instance that you want to
go ahead with this project, we accept not taking a stance on any project over another?
Dr. Erardi: Mr. Lafferty I believe the answer to the question and Mr. Frigon help if I am wrong, that there
Remains two options that originated from the Town Manager’s desk to the Town Council, if the Board endorses
the turf for Swift Middle School that creates both options for the Council to further consider. If the Board of
Education takes action and does not support the turf for Swift Middle School that I believe would minimize the
Town Manager’s recommendation to Veterans. So the short answer to your question, a yes vote at our next
meeting would allow the Town Council to continue the consideration of Swift Middle School.
Mr. Lafferty: So right now the Swift is only a recommendation and we are just a step in the process of seeing
Whether that is actually an option in the end. My second question was, once again not speaking for or against
any project, in respect to the people who have been coming to us about turfing the Mills Complex, are all of our,
I know we haven’t gotten answers to our questions, do we know if we are going to receive any more of that or
are we done with that? I just want to clean up the edges on that part of it.
Dr. Erardi: I think I understand your question, let me give it a shot. The second presentation by K. B & A,
which will take place at your December meeting will be their recommendation, you have heard from their
outdoor architectural landscaper on all three sites. At the December meeting part of the faculty upgrade will
certainly include work that needs to be done outside of the building. The Board of Education will have a
number of options at all three buildings in regards to a finalized plan going forward to the Council and to the
community. I am sure that included as one of the options that the Board may consider would be the turfing of
the Mills Complex. If you play that out in the potential plan of the work you are probably looking at three years
out on that project. The information that was shared on Monday November 20th, if the Board endorses the turf
for Swift and the Council finalizes that recommendation and ultimately back to the community, that the
projected installation for Swift turf would be this upcoming summer, the summer of 2007. The project at the
High School, depending on when and if it goes to referendum, the upgrade for the facility at the High School is
always the back end of the project, it would most likely be a least a couple years beyond the summer of 2007.
Mr. Lafferty: I guess just to tie it all together, what I was trying to say before and thanks for your answer, was
that when it does come to a vote for us as an action item about using the $600,000 at Swift, that doesn’t mean
we are taking any other options off the table as far as if it is going to be used on school property that it is only
going to be used at Swift and it is not, that we are only giving the ok if the Town Council asks us to use it here.
We are not voting for on project over another.
Ms. Dzioba: No, we are just giving permission that if that is what they choose to do with their grant that we
would be willing for Swift to be used for the $600,000 grant award. The decision is not ours, it is just that
the Town Council needs to know from us that if is what their recommendation is then we would be willing to
allow the improvements to be done to Swift and that is what this is. It doesn’t mean that they are going to do it,
its not, like you said there are two options, it is just that before they can go on to make their decision they have
to know from us whether or not we are going to be willing participants, partners in this project at Swift.
Mr. Lafferty: Thanks for your answer, I just hope that now it is more understandable to the public as far as
what our situation is, not just our stances on these projects.
Ms. Colangelo: At a previous board meeting we had taken a vote about if they were going to make a field
down here at the High School that we would turn that over to the Town, is that different than this or does
that still stand with Swift or would we have to turn it over?
Ms. Dzioba: No I believe that Swift’s field would be our field. This is one of the other things for consideration
is that it is my understanding that all maintenance, liability, repair and replacement of the turf would then
become the responsibility of the Board of Education, that is what we have to discuss and fully understand
when we vote.
Mr. Killeen: With respect to some of the members who are here, our Town Manager, our Council Members
and Public Buildings committee, would it be appropriate at this time to ask them to provide us with any
information in a nutshell that might be helpful for us, looking towards our next meeting?
Ms. Dzioba: If Board Members would like information, if there is anybody who like to come up. I think if
there are any questions or concerns as Board Members review this before our next meeting if you could get
your questions to the Superintendent so he could review them with the Town Council and the Town Manager
and we can have an outline of what our concerns are and know exactly what our agreement is and what we
are agreeing to.
Dr. Erardi: Thank you that concludes the Superintendent’s report.
6. Use of $600,000 State of Connecticut Grant – First Reading
Presented for the first reading tonight is a request from the Town Council for the Board of Education to endorse the alterations to the athletic field presently under construction at Swift Middle School to be partially funded through the $600,000 State of Connecticut grant.
J. Report from the Chairman
Ms. Dzioba: First I would like to welcome Kevin Killeen to the Board, I wasn’t hear when you were inducted,
Congratulations and thank you very much for being willing to give up your evenings. Also to let you know that to add to your calendar of monthly meetings you are going to be assigned to the Facilities Committee, the Curriculum and Instruction and also our Board representative to Cablevision so you can get with Joe and he can fill you in with what is required with Cablevision. Mr. Marks was also on the Athletics committee and so I have asked Joanne Pannone to fill his place on the Athletic committee so we have some female representation on the committee. I would also like to congratulations to Cindy Murphy and all the other Teacher of the Year nominees, they are a fine example of the caliber and the excellence of our teaching staff and I thank the committee who picked Cindy Murphy and all of the runner ups, it must have been a very difficult decision for you since Watertown does have an amazing and excellent staff to pick from.
The only other thing that I have is I was watching CNN news today and it seems that the was in Iraq and the Middle East is getting worse and I was thinking of it being the holiday season and I was wondering if we could get together with the people who do our webpage and maybe the Alumni Association in the High School if we could get a list of our Watertown residents who are serving over seas and put them somewhere where it would be available for people in the Town to get their names and addresses and hopefully send them Christmas greetings and just words of encouragement that we are thinking of them and we do support them in this terrible time and that we hope and pray that they all come home safe and sound very soon. That concludes my Chairman report,
Mr. Lafferty: Going along with that as far as getting messages out to our Watertown residents serving I know that the VFW is very helpful as well, I see Elaine in the back there, you are very active with Veterans organizations too. There are a lot people we can utilize, great idea Mary.
Ms. Dzioba: I would like it to be on our website, and I would encourage people just a simple card or word of encouragement, especially since when you think of the typical holiday season in New England and then you think of what they must be experiencing in the desert, it is quite a difference. So any kind of encouragement we can send on to them would be appreciated. No we can move on to action items.
K. Action Items – Adoption of Items to be Approved by Consent
a. Consideration of the Approval of Board of Education Meeting Dates for 2007
The 2007 schedule of meeting dates for the Watertown Board of Education was presented to the Board for the first reading on November 13, 2006. It is presented this evening for the second reading and for Board approval.
It is recommended that the Board of Education approve of the 2007 schedule of meeting dates as presented for the Watertown Board of Education.
Motion presented by Mr. Mazzamaro, seconded by Mr. Griffin to approve of the 2007 schedule of meeting dates for the Watertown Board of Education.
Discussion: None
Motion Passed Unanimously
(8-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained
b. Consideration of the Approval of Purchasing Fuel Oil and Diesel Fuel for 2007-2008 Through Consortium
It is recommended that the Board approve of the purchasing of fuel oil and diesel fuel for the 2007-2008 school year through the Cooperative Oil Purchasing Consortium of school districts and municipalities.
Motion presented by Mr. Griffin, seconded by Mr. Mazzamaro to approve of the purchasing of fuel oil and diesel fuel for the 2007-2008 school year through the Cooperative Oil Purchasing Consortium of school districts and municipalities.
Discussion:
Ms. Colangelo: I know Rich you went over this in your report but Todd just give us the numbers again, what we are purchasing at.
Mr. LoFrese: The purchasing price has not been determined yet, the consortium is targeting somewhere between $2.00 and $2.10 as the lock range, and that will be dependent on market conditions. What we are authorizing is to enter into an agreement to purchase through the consortium at whatever that lock price is.
Mr. Lafferty: Would it be smart to hold off on going into this consortium and seeing what the rates are before we go in or would the rates rise much higher than the expected lock rate that we should go for it right now?
Mr. LoFrese: The comfort with joining the consortium is we are one of about, one school district in a group of about 100 plus municipalities and school districts. On an annualized basis we purchase roughly 200,000 gallons of fuel oil, the consortium as a whole is coming close to about 5 million. So there is some leverage with the volumed purchase through the consortium.
Ms. Dzioba: Historically we have made out better than if we did this on our own?
Mr. LoFrese: Historically we have but again the oil market really is a guessing game some times, especially in recent years.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(8-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
c. Consideration of the Approval of Acceptance of Gift
Mrs. Theresa Baldwin, Grade 6 Teacher at Heminway Park School, would like to donate a clarinet valued at approximately $750.00 to the Watertown Public Schools band program.
It is recommended that the Board accept this generous donation and a letter of thanks to be sent to the donor.
Motion presented by Mr. Mazzamaro, seconded by Ms. Pannone to accept this generous donation and a letter of thanks to be sent to the donor.
Discussion: None
Motion Passed Unanimously
(8-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
L. Future Agenda Items and Board Members’ Comments
None
M. Public Participation
None
N. Executive Session
Personnel Matter
Motion presented by Mr. Mazzamaro, seconded by Mr. Griffin to enter into Executive Session with Dr. Erardi, Non-affiliated employees and all Board Members listed as present.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(8-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
Executive Session convened 9:05 at p.m.
Executive Session ended at 9:37 p.m.
O. Adjournment
Motion presented by Mr. Mazzamaro, seconded by Ms. Pannone to adjourn the Regular Board of Education Meeting of November 27, 2006.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(7-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
Meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by
Todd Griffin, Board Secretary
Bonnie Goulet, Board Clerk
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