Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Baseball in the Schools

From the BCCT.

Seems like Morrisville is in the bottom the ninth with two out, bases empty, the bottom of the order coming up, and three back to back grand slams needed to tie.


Architect says new school project is in ‘great shape’
The district has used about half of the contingency funds it set aside to cover unforeseen costs.
By JOAN HELLYER

The Bristol School District is “in the top of the ninth inning” with the construction of its new $33 million-plus school, the project’s chief architect said Thursday night.

Most of the work should be completed by June, added Angelo Rago, the district’s project representative, during the school board meeting.

The building at 450 Beaver St. will open in September and will serve approximately 1,100 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade.

School board members asked the chief architect, Michael Minton, to address rumors that the project was way over budget. It’s not, the Vitetta architect said. The district has used only about half of the contingency funds it had set aside to cover unforeseen costs in the project, Minton said.

That amounts to about 2.5 percent of the project’s entire cost.

The contingency funds, as well as capital reserve funds are being used to cover costs relating to a soil remediation delay in 2007, change orders and contractor claims, officials said.

Mayoral Candidate Question

This was posted as a comment to the post and was prepared by one of our more perspicacious observers. It deserves open and serious consideration from all of us.

Peter has left a new comment on your post "Mayoral Candidate Speaks":

Mr. Thomson,

Let me start by saying thank you for reaching out to our little community of blogheads. I am hoping we can engage in some discussion and better understand your candidacy.

I'll be frank, your association with the QSRE makes me skeptical. I realize this may be unfair as we've never met (AFAIK) and I know nothing about you other than your name is attached to the QSRE and Stop The School crowd. In my experience, people can generally be judged by the company they keep, and in my opinion the QSRE/STS crowd is what this town does not need; they (or at least the most vocal among them) stand for stagnation, status quo, anti-progress.

That said, I am interested in knowing how you would improve Morrisville's position in the world. How did you feel about the Gateway project? How would you handle the legal wrangling of the proposed burlesque club? Smoke shops? In your mind, what are the top 3 things that are wrong with MV and how do we fix them? (notice the inclusion -- this is task for us all) What are the top 3 things that are RIGHT? And how do we capitalize on them? Have you read the 10 year improvement plan that was done last year? Please give us your thoughts on that.

If the other candidates are out there reading, I'd love to hear your responses too.

I suspect most of this blog readership will be voting in May and November. I know I certainly will.

I Ain't Bo Peep, and These Ain't Sheep

Thanks to all the emailers on this situation. We previously discussed this in this post and this post last December.

April 16, 2009

Dear Parent/Guardian:


This afternoon at 1:00 pm, Morrisville Middle/Senior High School went into restrictive movement. The purpose of the restrictive movement was to clear the school so Interquest Detection Canines could conduct a search. This search serves several purposes with the most important being ensuring a safe environment for all members of the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School community. Additionally, this will send a message to any student considering bringing harmful substances to the middle/senior high school. The school administration, faculty, and students will not tolerate this type of activity in their school.

The search lasted approximately two hours. During this time, teachers and support staff not assigned to students were available to escort any student in need of medical assistance to the nurse’s office. Students needing to use the lavatory facilities were also escorted to the lavatory. Prior to being able to use the lavatory students were searched. This was done to keep students from getting rid of any illegal substances while they were using the facilities. If a student’s locker was identified by the dog, the content of the locker and the student was searched. Additionally, the parent/guardian was immediately contacted. At no time was a student subjected to a search by the use of a dog.

Today’s search was conducted following School Board Policy (#226) and with utmost respect for student privacy. Students, teachers, staff, and parents/guardians have the right to expect to come to a safe place to learn, work, or visit.

Sincerely,

William J. Ferrara Principal