By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — At last Tuesday’s school board meeting, members voted unanimously to accept a proposed list of capital requests, among them handicap compliance at the high school. The list of requests will now go to the Finance Committee for review.
Earlier in the week, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen K. Zrike said that the handicap accessibility request had been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1 due to “a response to thoughtful feedback from the School Committee about making optimal accessibility for all students a priority for upgrades at Wakefield Memorial High School.”
The total amount requested is $1,585,712. Items on Tier 1 also include HVAC balancing, exterior door replacement and exterior painting at the high school.
At the Greenwood, flooring and interior painting were deemed Tier 1 priorities.
Dolbeare: HVAC (art, hallway, cafeteria), resurfacing kindergarten playground and interior painting.
Woodville: Commission HVAC and interior painting.
Walton: Repaving parking lot, interior painting and replacement of stage curtains.
Early Childhood Center (Doyle): Gas boiler, intercom/clock system and flooring.
Systemwide: Heating, bus lease payment for year 3; playground repairs, renovations and painting and paving.
Food service: Tilt table, steamer.
Custodial: Riding scrubber for the high school.
Athletics: Safety mats for gymnastics, field house championship banners, field hockey goals and field house scoreboard.
Tier 2 priorities:
Greenwood: Ceiling repairs.
Walton: Flooring,
Systemwide: Roofing,
Custodial: Walking scrubber (high school).
Athletics: Field house sound system.
Systemwide: Heating, playground repairs, renovations and painting; paving and roofing.
Athletics: Field house score board, team room locker replacement, field house entry carpeting and strength and conditioning room air conditioning unit.
Tier 3 priorities:
High school: HVAC repairs, flooring replacement, interior door replacement, science lab upgrade, elevator upgrade or replacement, locker replacement, minor window repairs and interior painting.
Some Tier 3 priorities are also listed under Tier 2, such as team room locker replacement in the Athletics category.
Capital requests for technology totals $279,100 and includes Chromebooks for grades 3 and 4 classrooms, wireless projectors and Lenovo leases.
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Dr. Zrike announced that the next Parent University session will be held on Saturday, March 21 from 8 to noon. A flyer with more details will be released soon.
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School board members unanimously accepted school improvement plans. The plans will be reviewed at a later date. Dr. Zrike commented that parent-teacher conferences can be improved in Wakefield by making them more accessible for parents. Assistant Principal TJ Liberti is planning to review the situation and give his recommendations to Dr. Zrike.
“There’s only so much you can do in five minutes,” Zrike said.
A new parent teacher plan should be in place next year.
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Dr. Zrike said he is currently having discussions with the teachers’ union about the opening of school for the 2015-2016 academic year since Labor Day in 2015 falls on Sept. 7.
“Some people will be making vacation plans for the end of the summer,” said Zrike. “We need to make a calendar right away in January.”
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In his report about personnel matters, Business Administrator Michael Pfifferling said that three new people have been hired in the district: Eric Lamson, lunch and recess monitor at the Dolbeare School, Theresa Hall, Individual Service Plan coordinator at the Early Childhood Center and Susan Tracy, system-wide crossing guard.
Pfifferling also said two people resigned, including Sandy Teixeira, crossing guard and Geraldine Orozco, building substitute teacher. Pfifferling announced that Katherine Ralph, ISP coordinator at the Early Childhood Center retired.
