By Alex Malm
During the Oct. 17 School Board meeting, the School Board was presented with a preliminary proposal to potentially allocate funds to conduct a field study in next year’s budget.
It was explained by Superintendent, Dan Black, that they do their best to make sure they let the School Board early on in the process of any potential new items that may be added to the budget.
“I think this could be a priority we discuss in the budget season,” Black said.
He explained that they learned a lot from the master plan study, and they thought they could do the same for the fields.
It was explained by Athletic Director, Jimmy Lauzon, that they had a field study committee before in the 1980s, with the idea of finding out the conditions of the fields that existed then.
He said, however, over time they began to get more fields and added a track and more teams. Lauzon explained that after the passing of the former chair of the group, it began to dissolve, but has recently reestablished itself to study the current fields again and to look at the future.
Lauzon said that group came up with a prioritized list of what issues need to be addressed.
He stated that they felt that they should get a professional company to examine the fields and then come up with a plan on how to prioritize the fields.
“This is a proactive measure and would minimize or eliminate the likelihood of a much larger issue in the future,” Lauzon said.
School Board Chair, Bob Slater, said he thinks it’s similar to what they did a few years ago with their buildings and he thinks what they put together is a good “starting basis.”
Slater said they should create their own scope of work and get comparable quotes from other companies.
When asked, Facilities Director, Alan Miller, said some of the issues that some of the fields have include things like “depressions in various spots,” and some that aren’t leveled, which causes fields to become unplayable when there is enough rain.
Slater said the plan will help them with long term planning.
“This helps us for longterm in another area,” Slater said.
Slater said he thought going forward with the study would be a good idea.
“I think this is money well spent,’ he said.
Also during the meeting, the School Board approved the retirement of Brian MacDonald, a custodian at Londonderry Middle School and the resignation of Madison Taylor, a support staff member at South School.
The next regularly scheduled School Board meeting is set for Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.