Bill Ritchie, facilities director of the schools and who is in line to become the first director of the new town Facilities Department, gave the school committee an update of a variety of maintenance and property management issues. Included in his inventory were roof maintenance, insulation upgrades, and summer cleaning schedule right down to the amount of wax it will take to cover the school floors and hallways. Guess how much?

Ritchie estimates it will take about 1,200 gallons of wax. He noted drily, “That’s a lot of wax.” It is also a reflection of how well Ritchie knows these buildings and what it takes to maintain them.

The roofs of the Glover, Tucker, and Pierce need a sealer to be applied which will have 10 year warranty. Ritchie recommends bringing the work in-house for the Glover and Tucker which could save the schools over $50K per school and maintain the manufacturers warranty. The Pierce is more problematic due to number of patches required and the sales rep stating the manufacturer may not warranty it.

But Ritchie was most enthusiastic about his new light bulbs. He proposes installing LED bulbs in the schools. He noted there are 27 different light bulbs in the schools. LED bulbs are very expensive, about $50 a piece. However, there is grant money available that reduces the cost to $10. “They will pay for themselves in 3 months,” estimates Ritchie.

Other business included but was not limited to:

• The Pierce Site Council presented their school improvement plan. Principal James Jette was joined by Department head Amy Gale and Teacher rep Brian Waldman. The Pierce has had a tough time making AYP for all subgroups on the MCAS. For ELA they have not made it for the last 6 years. They did make it last year for math (NOTE: They did achieve AYP [annual yearly progress] in aggregate). However, as Mr. Jette noted, they missed by just 0.3 which could be a couple of students missing a couple of questions. One area that did jump out as needing improvement across all grades (6-8) was in ELA open response questions. To address issue and improve performance, Pierce faculty are implementing a number of measures including Study Island a popular online teaching tool that allows students to progress at their own pace, Slam Dunk an innovative program that uses basketball to teach math skills, before and after school help, and more. The presentation will be made available online on the MPS website shortly.

• Assistant Superintendent Phelan and School Choice Committee member Meg Kasuba presented their assessment of School Choice and a recommendation. School Choice is a state program that districts can elect to join. It allows for students from outside of the town to attend a local school for a fee. Outgoing School Committee member Chris Huban had asked that the administration look at the feasibility of Milton allowing School Choice. The findings, according to Phelan and Kasuba, recommend that Milton not opt into the program for the following reasons: a) the amount of money the schools would receive is not sufficient to cover the expense of instruction b)the schools really do not have any excess capacity to take on additional students c) the reimbursement is through the state’s cherry sheets. That is the money goes to the town and then the town would reimburse the schools, a cumbersome process. It is a progar that in the opinion of the group does not make sense for Milton. There are very few schools in the Boston metropolitan area that participate. Schools that do tend to have dwindling enrollments and need the supplemental revenue. Mr. Huban commended the group on its work. A vote was not taken; but will likely be scheduled before Mr. Huban leaves the committee. The committee has consistently voted against joining school choice and that will likely be the outcome of their next vote given the recommendation they received.