August 3, 2016 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Rationale: 

1. Please note the personnel report as you will find several new hires reflected in it.  

2. While there is no enrollment report this month, the Board should be aware of our current kindergarten numbers which we have been tracking closely.  At this time, we have 31 students enrolled in Kindergarten at Lyme and 29 students enrolled at Mile Creek for a total of 60 students.  Our class size guidelines for Kindergarten remain at 15 students per section.  Due to an imbalance in K enrollments this summer, we moved the attendance boundary so Lyme now encompasses all roads north of 95 excluding the section of Whippoorwill from the intersection with Jericho south.  This change only impacts new enrollments.  No existing students will be moved unless they choose to go to a different school.  

3. We are holding our annual Convocation during the two professional development days on August 29th and 30th.  You are all invited to attend the convocation ceremony on the morning of the 30th.  In addition, we are running a new staff orientation the morning of August 25th. 

4. It has been a very busy summer as far as facilities projects and maintenance plus our numerous summer programs.  I will review some of the summer highlights in terms of maintenance and programming.  

5. Per Policy 4520, I am pleased to report that the OLRA has donated the following to the district:
Peinert racing single, Serial number:  PBOP1027G616, Boat value $5,000.00

6.  I will review two items of note that were made public today, specifically the release of the CT SAT day results and news about Curtin transportation.

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

Rationale:  Mrs. Dean will present the changes that will be in place at the middle school for the upcoming school year.

Rationale:  Section 10-215f of the Connecticut General Statutes requires that each local board of education or governing authority for all Connecticut public school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) must take action annually to certify whether all food items sold to students will or will not meet the Connecticut Nutrition Standards. This includes all NSLP public schools, regional educational service centers, the Connecticut Technical High School System, charter schools, interdistrict magnet schools and endowed academies.

Rationale:  As you may recall from our earlier meetings, we approved a tuition rate for the 2016-2017 school year of $19,400.  We currently have two students who have requested to attend our schools as tuition students.  As agreed upon, I will not review the children's record or information in public session.  Instead, I will recommend that the Board approve the admission of these children.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  While we have been talking about it for what seems like years, we are finally at the point where the town is going to begin the renovation of the boathouse.  I will review the attached documents and recommend that the Board approve them as a part of our agreement with the town for the renovation of the boathouse.  This requires Board action.

Rationale:  The policy committee reviewed and updated our student discipline policy.  The recommended changes are attached.  This is a first read and does not require Board action.

Rationale: 

In early spring, the Lyme Street Campus water system storage developed a leak on a hand hole cover at the bottom of the tank. The only way to make the repair is to drain the tank. While the tank is drained, we will take the opportunity to clean the tank interior.

The project involves installing an emergency water connection for a water tanker truck so water service will not be interrupted, cleaning the tank, replacing the hand hole cover, and refilling the tank with water from the tanker trucks. It is expected that the water tank outage will be one week. The work is scheduled to start on August 8, 2016.

This emergency project was publicly bid but only one bid was received. White Water is our water system contracted licensed operator. We recommend awarding White Water this work.