Granby School Board Welcomes New Member

The Granby Board of Education welcomed a new (sort of) member Wednesday evening, as Bob Perron took over for John O’Connor, who stepped down from the school board last month after eight years of service.

It’s Perron’s third stint on the school board.

“I look forward to working with everybody,” said Perron, who works as a director of information systems at The Hartford Insurance Group. “I think this year is going to be [a] very challenging [budget year[ given the current economics.”

Perron was greeted with a full agenda, which included the school board adopting a new anti-bullying policy, as well as the acceptance of five teacher retirements from the school district.

The school board also unanimously voted to withdraw from participating on the governing board of the Great Path Academy .

School board Chairman Cal Heminway said that he no longer had confidence in the leadership of the GPA, which did not honor certain commitments that he believed left the Granby school district in an untenable position in terms of its management function of the magnet school.

Heminway said that any Granby students who attend GPA will not be affected by backing away from the management role of the magnet school.

The meeting kicked off with Alexa Bajek and Katelyn Murach of Kearns Primary School showing off their jump roping skills to introduce next month's Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. Last year, the school obtained $8,000 in pledges for the event, which will again take place in February the week of Valentine's Day, according to physical education teacher Karl Gates.