Town of Rocky Hill

Board of Education

Facilities Committee

December 10, 2007

Minutes of Meeting

A meeting of the Facilities Committee of the Rocky Hill Board of Education was held on Monday, December 10, 2007, in the Training/Conference room. Present were: Committee Chair Charles Wisnioski, Committee Member Jennifer Viggiano, Committee Member/Secretary Nadine Bell, Board Chair William MacDonald, Catherine Vargas, Frank Morse, Rene Rivard, Director, Finance and Operations, Gregory P. Turansky, and Interim Superintendent of Schools Carol Parmelee-Blancato. Others in attendance were: Frank Szeps, Councilman, and Steven’s School parents: Christine Gorski, Ned Gorski, and Deb Friday. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.

Steven’s School PTO Request to Upgrade the Playscape Equipment

Steven’s School PTO parents requested that the committee review a proposal that outlines a plan to upgrade the recess play area for 2^nd – 5^th grade students at Steven’s School. The proposal includes 2 pieces of playground equipment, a hemisphere climber and swing set. Barbara Gilbert, Town Manager, forwarded a memorandum to the Interim Superintendent stating, “The Town is in support of this equipment and the Parks and Recreation Department will assume responsibility for the maintenance of it. However, the question of whether or not this equipment poses a liability for the Board of Education in a recess setting; where there are many students and limited supervision is one that only the Board can answer. The only caveat the Town has, outside of the liability question, is there needs to be funding on the part of the PTO for installation, as workloads may prevent the Parks Department from doing the work.” After some discussion, it was decided that the superintendent would gather information on insurance liability and supervision of students when using the equipment. Also, parents were requested to provide the superintendent with names of other districts that have installed the hemisphere climber. This item will be placed on the January agenda for further discussion.

Discussion of Alternatives to Schoenhardt Report Scenario 5

Mr. Wisnioski stated that the council sent back Scenario 5 to the Board of Education. The committee will be looking at other scenarios, enrollment projections and programs (e.g. full day kindergarten, pre-school, special education, high school graduation requirements and labs for general science) as they relate to facility use. Also, there was discussion about a third elementary school and land requirements/specifications for new facilities. The Interim Superintendent was requested to prepare information for the next meeting on elementary present and future program needs and enrollment as it relates to facility needs at the elementary level.

The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Parmelee-Blancato

Recording Secretary

APPROVED BY: _____________________________

DATE: ________________________