Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) president Mary Baudo gave a presentation to the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District Board of Trustees Sept. 6 on an initiative to replace the 19-year-old playground behind Boothbay Region Elementary School. Baudo gave her presentation by PowerPoint until about halfway through when the power in the Boothbay Region High School library cut out, leaving everyone to view schematics of examples by security light and smartphones.

The PTO’s concerns do not lie so much with the age of the playground and equipment, but with the functionality and practicality. “They are not in compliance with today’s regulations as far as playground structures, yet they still exist,” said Baudo.

Baudo said the playground doesn’t have enough wood chips to be certified as a safe playground.

The PTO estimates its suggestions would cost $20,000 to $30,000, though there are no formal proposals yet being placed in front of the trustees.

After the PTO’s presentation, Dave Benner, maintenance supervisor, gave a detailed overview on a range of projects and issues from summer cleaning to the water and boiler issues and fuel pricing.

“I would like to share that this has been the best cleaning result since I have been here,” said Benner in his report. “Many extras were completed because of our dedicated, hard-working custodians and maintenance workers.”

Benner reported that 52 cold water fixtures and 12 water fountains have been replaced with new fixtures in the elementary and high schools, and all water testing since the upgrades have yielded results below the maximum containment levels for lead. Testing will continue every quarter for the 2017-2018 school year with 10 samples from the high school and 11 from the elementary school. All remaining fixtures are posted with signs reading, “no drinking or food use.”

The schools have completed their 10-year energy cost avoidance saving a total of $473,091. With the maintenance contract soon expiring with Honeywell, the board plans on pursuing another multi-year contract. Honeywell’s Jim Lucy will be arranging for boiler company Weil-McLain to inspect the school’s cracked boiler later in the season during its use. On the subject of energy costs, the board locked in its fuel oil price at $1.659 per gallon through June 2018.

The two computers from the Route 27 traffic light and the five computers from the football scoreboard are back from their refurbishing in Texas. Benner said both seem to be working well and that he will be watching them closely.

Hussey Seating Company installed new railings on the BRES gym bleachers and a new, easier method for opening the bleachers. The company also performed planned maintenance at the same time bringing everything up to date on safety codes.

The board discussed traffic flow around BRES and has designated the student drop-off area at the stop sign. Concerns arose from moments last year when cars would be parked side by side, some cars double-parked, with students weaving and crossing between them and in front of speeding traffic.

“I went out every day starting with the first day of school to help alert parents to the change in sides,” said Tricia Campbell, BRES assistant principal. “It was brought as a concern by our PTO last year, (so) we’ve done some work around the parking and trying to help with the pattern of traffic.”

Superintendent Eileen King announced the financial information from the 2017-2018 school year. The annual budget is $9,748,283. Nine percent has been used, to date. Expenses from August are $435,881 and overall encumbrances to date are $51,542.

The next trustees meeting is Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. beginning with a walk of the grounds to discuss traffic and drop-off stops. The board will regroup in the BRHS library at 5:15 p.m.