New sign outside Salisbury Central School lists events

SALISBURY — There is a new sign on the lawn outside the lower building at Salisbury Central School, near Route 41/44. At the Board of Education meeting Monday, Sept. 28, board members expressed admiration for the sign; chairman Roger Rawlings said, “That was fast!�

“You give me the go-ahead and I move,� PTO Co-president Louise Fallon replied.

The board then heard from Amy Shackleton, cousin of PTO Secretary Tracey Kaufman, about a healthy snack program she developed at the grade school in New Marlborough, Mass.

Shackleton, a nutritionist, said the program at the kindergarten-to-grade-four school is in its second year.

For $3 a week, students get healthy snacks such as cheese sticks, yogurt, pretzels, fruit. Shackleton said the program does not use foods containing hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, food colors or dyes, or artificial sweeteners.

She prepares and takes snacks around on a cart, with pitchers of water, at about 9:45 a.m.

The New Marlborough school has about 90 students.

Kaufman would like to see a similar program implemented at SCS. The board was receptive to the idea, and Rawlings asked Principal Chris Butwill to talk to the staff about it.

Shackleton said she expects a fee for her help, but did not specify how much.

Butwill spoke about the results of the April 2009 Connecticut Mastery Tests (see story, next page) and said that the elementary school students would watch President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren on Friday, Oct. 2 (see below).

The middle school will see the speech at the end of the first marking period, he added, in conjunction with an assembly noting student achievements.

Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain reported on the various grants SCS receives. The Title I grant (which provides reading support services) is $59,224 (less than last year); Rural Education Achievement Program, $11,599 (same); Education Cost Sharing (ECS) from the state stayed stable at $187,266, and $34,984 in new funds, from the federal stimulus bill (ARRA), were obtained.

Chamberlain wrote in an e-mail to The Journal that Gov. M. Jodi Rell “decided to utilize federal dollars, calling them the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, to keep the ECS grant at the same funding level of previous year.  Generally, the ECS for this year would have been 14 percent less than the previous year if the federal money had not been utilized.â€�

The state received $53.6 billion from ARRA.

Board member Brian Bartram said the transportation committee had a request for bus pickup in the walk zone (1 mile from the school). There were no extenuating circumstances, Bartram said; the request was denied.

And Kay Lindsay from the public relations committee invited all veterans, especially those from World War II, for a Nov. 10 assembly.

Board member Jim Meyer raised concerns about communication between the Board of Education and the Board of Finance. “I think [the boards] were on different pages last year and we were left out to dry.�

The 2009-10 budget process was more difficult than usual, as the Board of Finance, looking at significant reductions in town revenues, asked the Board of Education to make cuts, which in turn led to some disagreement about class sizes.

Rawlings said he attends finance board quarterly meetings, as well as special meetings and hearings at budget time.

“There are eight or nine opportunities for board members (and anyone else) to get involved,� he noted.

Meyer said, “I’m looking for some kind of guidance. We got no indication we were going in a direction� that the Board of Finance would later reject.

Jennifer Wiegel said, “Last year was exceptional, but they could have given us a number or asked us to come in lower. It’s nice to know early rather than late.�

Rawlings said he would bring the subject up with the Board of Finance.

The board also voted to add 15 minutes per shift to the cafeteria cashier’s hours, from two and a half to two and three quarter hours, at a cost of  $545.60 for the school year.