June 7, 2017 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Rationale: 

Rationale:  The Memorial Day essay contest winners have been invited to the meeting to read their winning essays. We will welcome and recognize them for their accomplishments.

1^st place: Emma Bayor

2^nd place: Jack Porter     

3^rd Place: Abby Hale

 

Rationale: 

Phil Parcak of the Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club will be presenting scholarships to several Lyme-Old Lyme High School students.

 

Rationale:  Shannon Glorioso and some members of the team will be present to discuss their ongoing success and be recognized by the Board.

Rationale: 

Each year, CABE invites its member Boards to recognize outstanding student leaders at the middle and high school levels.  The principals of each school are asked to facilitate the selection of the students based on a given set of criteria.  Mr. Wygonik and Mrs. Dean will recognize the award winners.

From Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School: Isabella Hine and Aidan Powers

From Lyme-Old Lyme High School: Callie Kotzan and Daniel Cole

Rationale: 

The following administrator and teachers, who are retiring in June, will be present at the meeting so that the Board can recognize them for their years of service to the district:

Beth Borden, Director of Curriculum, 17 years of service

Elizabeth Matis, Mathematics Teacher at LOLHS, 19 years of service

Deb Pardue, 1st Grade Teacher at Mile Creek School,  33 years of service

Maria Varga, Preschool Teacher, 35.5 years of service

Andrea Tyler, World Language Teacher at LOLMS, 18 years of service

 

 

Rationale: 

Please note the personnel report as you will find updated employee information reflected in it. 

Please take note of the June enrollment report. We have a total of 1311 students enrolled which is again higher than last month. We are continuing to track our Kindergarten enrollments.  Last year at this time we had 56 kindergartners enrolled.  We currently have 66 enrolled for next year. As we move through the summer we will once again be evaluating where these incoming students live, whether or not they have siblings already in our schools, and determining their school placement to figure out the number of sections we must run at each school.  This may require further adjustment of the attendance boundaries for new students.

I will review a proposal for future end of year recognition banquets.

Rationale:  Mrs. McCalla will provide a year to date budget status report as well as a contingency fund report.

Rationale:  There is no presentation this month.

Rationale:  Each year the Board is asked to appoint a designee(s) to act in the absence of the Superintendent as necessary.  It is useful to have the Board designate two individuals for the rare occasions when both the Superintendent and Director of Curriculum are unavailable.  I recommend the Board approve Michelle Dean and Melissa Dougherty as designees for this purpose.  This requires Board action

Rationale:  Each year the Board is asked to approve application for all state and federal grants.  These include those for special education as well as remedial, staff development and other entitlement grants.  A single motion authorizes the administration to apply for all that the District is eligible as well as any additional grants deemed appropriate by the Superintendent.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  Each year, the USDA and State of Connecticut require school districts to renew their food service management contracts. We are under agreement with Chartwells until June 30, 2021; however, we must renew the terms each year after receiving state approval.

Rationale:  With the hiring of a new Assistant Principal at LOLMS, LOLA has agreed to revise the Assistant Principal positions so that they mirror those of the other administrators.  This does not include any increase in pay or other benefits.  I recommend the Board approve this MOA.

Rationale:  I am recommending the approval of both John and Holly's contracts which include previously negotiated salaries and benefits but still require annual approve to continue their three year contracts.  This requires Board action.  Approval of my contract should wait until after my evaluation at the end of the meeting.

Rationale:  I will review some opportunities we have with some schools in China.  While there is no action required I will be looking for the Board's approval of my moving forward in this area.

Rationale: 

This purchase is part of the annual computer replacement program.  These new laptops will replace the existing six-year-old staff laptops.  Approximately 75 of the best current staff laptops will be recycled for one year on Middle School computer carts. This will increase the number of Middle School computer carts from six to nine.

The proposed action is based on a four year computer lease. Lease pricing was obtained through a publicly bid request for proposals. Only Connecticut Computer responded to the proposal request. The base equipment cost is $143,800. The total expenditure following four annual lease payments is $151,686.60. This is a $7,886.60 finance charge or 5.5% over the four-year lease.

At the end of this lease period, we will be purchasing the laptops for $1 each for continued use in the school district.

Rationale: 

As part of the 2017/2018 Capital Project budget, we will be installing window air conditioning units in both the Middle School and Lyme Consolidated School classrooms. Once completed, all of our school district classrooms will be air conditioned.

This project was publicly bid. Bid results are listed below:

AJ Madison                             $18,236.24

Bell Simmons                         $22,819.31

Grainger                                 $22,696.68

Granite City Supply                 $23,349.00

We recommend awarding AJ Madison the bid to supply window air conditioning units.

 

Rationale: 

As part of the 2017/2018 Capital Project budget, we will be installing window air conditioning units in both the Middle School and Lyme Consolidated School classrooms. Once completed, all of our school district classrooms will be air conditioned.

To support the window air conditioning units, additional electrical circuits need to be routed to the classrooms. This project was publicly bid. Bid results are listed below:

AM Electric Company LLC                        $98,960

Sicuranza Electric LLC                             $34,500

We recommend awarding the contract to Sicuranza Electric for this work.

Rationale: 

The infield mix used on the High School softball field needs to be replaced and the infield needs to be regraded. There are a number of problems with the current installation:

• Existing grades on the infield cause puddles to occur resulting in numerous game cancelations.
• Existing infield mix gets very hard if allowed to dry and contains medium to course aggregate. This has caused athlete injuries sliding into bases.
• Existing infield mix requires significant amounts of maintenance time to dry the infield following the rain or keep the infield wet so it doesn’t become too hard.

We are proposing to rebuild the High School softball infield. First, we are proposing to purchase an infield mix which is suitable for high school softball and requires less maintenance. Second, we have obtained an estimate to have the existing infield material removed and replaced. Because of the specialty of this material and work, we are recommending these two items not be bid.

Since the softball field was built, an engineered infield mix called DuraEdge is available which is easier for athletes to slide and requires much less maintenance. In addition, the engineered mix can be purchased in different grades from recreational (softest/least maintenance) to professional (hardest/most maintenance). DuraEdge is the premier infield mix used successfully by many school districts and professionals. We are recommending DuraEdge supply the infield mix for our high school varsity softball field.

For the last six years, we have used Sports Turf Specialties for our athletic field maintenance. They consistently supply quality advice. In addition, Sports Turf Specialties rebuilt our track field to resolve the long standing drainage issue. Due to the critical nature of the softball infield rebuild, we are recommending Sports Turf Specialties perform this work.