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District moves ahead on pole‑barn, storage and transportation changes; food‑service badge system to replace monthly ordering
Summary
Superintendent Peter Colaso described a new pole barn built this summer, plans for a phase‑2 expansion on the agenda, relocated shipping containers for storage, new bus routing for remote students and a cafeteria badge system for elementary schools. The board received notice and approved related agenda items.
At the New Milford Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Peter Colaso updated the board on facilities and operations changes that the district installed or plans to expand, including a newly erected pole barn, relocation of shipping containers to the middle‑school property, revised bus routing for remote students and an elementary food‑service badge system.
Why it matters: storage and vehicle sheltering can reduce equipment damage and replacement costs, bus routing affects eligible students’ daily schedules, and a badge‑based lunch system changes how families manage school meals and accounts.
Colaso said the district erected a pole barn adjacent to the middle school in two days this summer and that phase‑2 expansion to increase covered storage and house snow‑plows and other equipment was on that night’s agenda for approval. He said the pole barn allowed the district to move expensive field and maintenance equipment to higher ground to avoid flood damage. Colaso thanked the borough public works (DPW) crews for assistance moving concrete blocks and other heavy items.
He described other facility work: three shipping containers (two 40‑foot and one 20‑foot) were moved behind the middle school to store lumber and props for the spring musical and general maintenance supplies; the district plans to pave a small area and add picnic tables near those containers. Colaso said the athletic field house equipment was also cleaned up and that an athletic sound system was installed over the summer with funds from the Ed Foundation.
On transportation, Colaso said nine general‑education students who live remote from David Owens Middle School were initially identified as eligible for transportation; software review reduced that number to seven and then to five students who are, after route adjustments, eligible for remote routes. He added the district is running five nonpublic routes under contracts with vendors and is using tri‑tiered routing to absorb some out‑of‑district special education dismissals.
On food services, Colaso said Berkeley and Gibbs elementary schools will no longer use monthly pre‑ordering (except kindergarten) and will instead issue each student a badge to swipe in the cafeteria; money will reside on the family account and students can select meals on the spot.
Colaso also told the board the high‑school cafeteria windows and door project approved in the spring will begin in about two weeks and run after school hours for about two weeks. He reported the district received an additional extraordinary aid notification for 2024–25 of $1,227 and said the district closed the 2024–25 budget and is operating on the 2025–26 budget. He asked the board to approve agenda items that included the phase‑2 facilities request; the board voted on agenda items later in the meeting.
Board members asked about neighborhood outreach; Colaso said letters were mailed to nearby residents and staff visited neighbors to gather feedback on landscaping and signage; he said neighbors suggested planting trees and installing a deer‑crossing sign, and the district planted four trees.
