Regional School District 18 board approves Chromebook lease and several facilities contracts

At its meeting the Regional School District 18 Board of Education approved a four-year lease for roughly 600 Chromebooks, awarded two facilities contracts and voted to replace an aging middle-school hot water heater, actions board members said are covered in the district's approved budget.

The board approved a lease proposal to acquire about 600 Lenovo Yoga Chromebooks for students in grades 3'8 at a total cost of $301,920, to be paid over four years at approximately $75,480 per year. Ron, who presented the purchase, said the district compared options and favored the lease because it spread costs and included warranty coverage. "One of the other benefits of going through [the vendor] as we've experienced in high school, they have a 4 year bumper to bumper warranty, essentially," Ron said. He added that replaced devices will be resold and proceeds returned to the technology budget.

The board approved the Chromebook purchase by voice vote after a member moved and another seconded the motion.

In facilities business, the board awarded G Donovan Construction a contract for $62,800 to repair rear concrete stairs, the ramp and associated railings at Lyme Consolidated School. Ron said the work was publicly bid and that G Donovan was the only bidder; the company had previously done similar work at the site. The contract is scheduled to be performed July 1'August 15 to avoid work while students are present, and the board approved the award by voice vote.

The board also approved a competitively bid contract to replace an oil-fired hot water heater at Limelight Middle School for $77,775. The presenter said the district solicited multiple bids and that the selected contractor has worked with the district before; the project is scheduled for July 1'August 15. Board members asked whether an electric option would be more economical; staff said that, for this installation, the oil-fired replacement was the more practical solution now, though alternatives are being explored for other sites.

Business manager Ali gave the board a monthly budget update. Ali reported that the district is 78.7% to budget year to date (compared with 75.7% the prior year) and listed revenue at $25,102,798 through April; she said the town contribution was $5,544,843 through that month. Ali told the board there is an estimated encumbrance of $30,000 to move an existing generator from Mile Creek to the main campus and that the contingency balance is $83,477.

Superintendent Ian also updated the board on personnel and facilities work: hiring efforts continue for custodial, instructional assistant and specialized positions; HVAC projects are in punch-list mode with expected substantial completion around June 10; and neighbors were notified about summer exterior work, including rock hammering at Mile Creek.

After completing the open-session business, the board moved into executive session for the superintendent's end-of-year review and to invite Ian; the chair closed the public portion and the board did not take further open-session actions before adjourning to executive session.

Notes on transcript names and spelling: the vendor name used for the Chromebook lease appears in the transcript with two spellings ("Traferra" and "Travera"); the district presenter used both forms while describing the recommendation. The hot-water-heater contractor is listed in parts of the transcript as "F and F Mechanical" and elsewhere as "FNF Mechanical." The article reports the vendors and amounts as presented in the meeting record and flags these spelling inconsistencies for clarification in the minutes.