Present: W. Morrison, M. Morrison, C. Morrison, W. Koenig
Excused: K. Powell, S. Heinrich
Guests: Kathy Traut (member Kindergarten committee), Kathy Custer (principal MES), Matt Shevenell, Marge Chiafery, Helen Schentanis (NH Dept of Ed.), Frank Marinace (architect)

W. Morrison called the meeting to order at 4 P.M. He noted the purpose of the meeting was to tour Mastricola Elementary and Reeds Ferry looking at possible methods of implementing kindergarten while meeting the state guidelines. He noted that the committee would be looking at set-up costs, traffic flow within and without each building, classroom sizes and how to obtain 1,000 square feet for kindergarten.

Kathy Custer told the committee that the application for the kindergarten grant aid has 13 points, some of which W. Morrison had mentioned. Others were methods of transporation, a kindergarten site plan and a building plan showing the kindergarten playground. She noted that there does not have to be a separate kindergarten play area, but there must be kindergarten play equipment and this equipment if needed would be covered by the kindergarten grant. M. Morrison asked what it costs to outfit a kindergarten classroom. H. Schentanis replied approximately $15,000 per classroom and that cost does not include consumable supplies and playground equipment.

W. Morrison stated that the big question was how to implement kindergarten and relieve the space issues in the elementary schools. He also wants the committee to look at the future numbers as well as the current ones.

Kathy Custer indicated that the Kindergarten Grant Committee would be working with the PBC to get as much specificity in the application as possible. It appears that kindergarten will not be part of the annual school district warrant this year but the application will be completed and filed as soon as possible. H. Schetanis told the PBC that kindergarten grant funds can be used for middle school classrooms as long as the middle school is still under construction when implementing kindergarten is passed by the district.

A tour of the buildings resulted in the following observations and comments: the bathrooms in the current first grade classrooms are not handicapped accessible and will need to be renovated. Two classrooms might have to share one bathroom in order to make it accessible. F. Marinace recommended not enlarging rooms to reach 1,000 square feet as other code issues will then have to be addressed. His suggestion was to designate permanent kindergarten storage in a part of the nearby classroom in a quantity that when added to the room size would equal the required 1,000 square feet. He questioned the lack of sprinklers in Mastricola Elementary, but indicated that renovating three bathrooms into two would not be a large enough project to require that sprinklers be installed. H. Schitanis told the PBC that the kindergarten grant money would cover the renovations to the current elementary classrooms as well as the cost to build replacement classrooms in the new middle school. Committee members suggested that Mastricola Elementary eventually should be sprinklered. Playground areas were looked at as well as access and egress for students from the parking lot to the classroom and the classroom to the playground area.

The committee traveled to Reeds Ferry School where Frank Hoell gave the committee a tour of his building. Essentially Reeds is a mirror image of Thorntons Ferry, except there are three classrooms at Reed Ferry that currently serve the special education pre-school program. Two of them are currently used for kindergarten classes. There was a potential concern regarding whether there would need to be any asbestos abatement at the Ferry schools. F. Hoell told the committee that there is a possibility of building a driveway completely around the building which would help with kindergarten drop-off and pick-up. He noted that this will need to be investigated at Thorntons Ferry as it might not be possible there.

M. Chiafery thanked everyone for their attendance and requested that work on the grant application continue and that the PBC be kept aware of progress on the application and ways that they could assist.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 P.M.

Last Updated: March 31, 2003 by Wayne Morrison