School Committee narrows capital requests
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee will ask the towns for the funds to pay for four capital projects during this fiscal year.

The committee voted to support the requests for a new set of doors at John R. Briggs, repairs to the HVAC system at the elementary school, a new hot water heater at Meetinghouse and a new telephone system at Overlook.

"This is a good plan," School Committee member Leonard Beaton said. "It makes sense for the towns."

The cost of the doors is $5,000. They will replace the exterior doors by the gym.

The repairs to the HVAC system are expected to cost about $10,000.

"It's been an ongoing issue," Superinten- dent of Schools Michael Zapantis said. "It's not fixable in one stage."

Ashburnham voters wouldfund these two projects based solely on the regional agreement.

The hot water heater at Meetinghouse School is expected to cost $15,000 and would be funded by Westminster. Zapantis said the current hot water heater is 15 years old.

Voters in the two towns will be asked to buy a new phone system at Overlook Middle School, which will include more lines and voicemail. The committee voted not to cap the purchase at $5,000.

These items represent a portion of $195,000 in capital requests that Zapantis recommended to the school committee. The largest expense at that time was $100,000 for the repairs to the Overlook driveway and parking lot.

The committee said they would address the parking lot and driveway expenses in the next few months, noting that the roadway is deteriorating.

"I think we'll be talking about the road in a month," School Committee Chairman David Christianson said.

He said they would be looking at other funding mechanisms rather than seeking more money at a town meeting.

On Tuesday, the chairmen of the boards of selectmen and the advisory boards from Ashburnham and Westminster met with Christianson and Zapantis to hash out some of the details of these requests.

In other business:

• Heather Billings, the parent representative for wrestling on the Booster Club, told the school committee there is an ongoing fundraising effort with a goal of approximately $3,500 to run the program.

The wrestling program was cut due to a lack of funding after the failed override in August. Wrestling is a co-op program with Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical and Fitchburg high schools.

Christianson said Billings should return in November to let the committee know the funding is there and the number of participants so they can determine whether to reinstate the sport.

• Zapantis has applied for a grant to plan to institute full-day kindergarten. He noted that even if the district gets the grant they are not obligated to provide full-day kindergarten, which is something the district offers on a tuition basis.

• The school committee heard a presentation from two of the Chartwells Food Services managers who are covering the district. Chartwells took over the food service operations this year after the district's program ran in deficit for a number of years.

The managers said the program was only $135 in deficit for September this year as compared to the more than $10,000 debt last year. The number of full meals being served in the dinning halls is up 7 percent over last year.