New Milford BOE Discusses Flooding, Approves Tentative Budget

Board members and the administration of the New Milford School District expressed their concern and frustration at Monday night's meeting over what they believe was a lack of proper notification from United Water in regard to the rapid flooding of the high school's athletic complex and field house. 

"The water was rising and the staff got as much as they could out of the field house and trailer," said BOE President Dan Conner. "We have no idea at this time how much is lost in the field house."

Michael Sawicz, business administrator for the district, said there was probably no major loss of equipment. 

"It really is more of a nuisance," said Sawicz. "It's more that our time will be spent doing all of the clean up, disinfecting and cleaning the items that were in the flood and the time it took to get everything out of the shed."

Sawicz said when staff members arrived at school there was no significant flooding but that changed rapidly through the morning when custodial and grounds staff noticed the water rising.

New Milford Police Chief Frank Papapietro said the flood gates to the United Water dam were open throughout the night to relieve the flooding and that the heavy rains and snowmelt were a crucial factor in terms of the volume of water.

"We notified the school district as well as all residents via Reverse 911 around 9 a.m. that due to heavy rains and snowmelt there was a good chance of flooding particularly in the low-lying areas prone to floods," said Papapietro. "The custodial staff are vigilant in weather like this since they are aware of the flooding issues on the high school field."

Calls to United Water were not immediately returned for comment.

In addition to the flooding, the Board of Education covered a variety of other topics during their meeting. One discussion centered around an alternative physical education option.

During the Director of Curriculum and Instruction Danielle Shanley's report, a program was discussed which would allow a student to apply to be excused from traditional physical education courses and be given a study hall in place of those classes.

The example given by Shanley was a student who is a competitive swimmer, who may be practicing six days a week, two hours a day, with training sessions beginning at 4:30 a.m. who could be excused from gym class and use that time as a study hall to catch up.

"We really have to evaluate these programs students would be participating in" said Superintendent Michael Polizzi. "The requirement is to meet the minimal standard in time of 150 mins a week--we are looking for bona fide replacement activities that qualify for physical education."

Several board members expressed concerns about who would monitor these outside programs and how grades would be calculated. Both Polizzi and Board President Conner said it would be discussed in the Athletic Committee and more information on grade calculation would be brought to the next BOE meeting.

Another item on the agenda was that the preliminary budget for the district was filed with the county and the next step will be budget hearings for the community. There is a public budget hearing scheduled for March 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the high school. There will also be a presentation of the budget on March 22 to all borough PTOs at the middle school beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, a couple of parents expressed concerns over the new carpool incentive being run by Principal Scott Davies at Gibbs School. The parents said they didn't approve of a "no homework" pass being given out for those who carpool and also didn't agree with the wording of the letter that went home to parents encouraging participation.

"I understand what you are saying and I agree with you," said Polizzi.

Polizzi asked both parents to reach out to Davies to express their concerns directly to him.

"I will also have that conversation with Mr. Davies," said Polizzi. "I think in a case like this there is a law of unintended consequences--did I really think it through?"

Also addressed was the construction of tennis courts in the park across from Gibbs School, which formerly housed a temporary parking lot that is adding to the traffic woes at the school.

"It has been a problem for the past few weeks," said Polizzi. "Thanks to Christine Demiris [borough administrator] for contacting Boswell Engineering to make sure the bigger trucks didn’t start until later in the morning."

[Editor's Note: A correction was made to the dates of the public budget hearing the presentation to all borough PTOs in regard to the tentative 2011-12 school budget.]