Preston School Board approves amended 2025-26 meeting calendar, accepts financial report and readies elevator bid

The Preston School Board on Jan. 13 approved an amended 2025–26 Board meeting calendar, accepted the district financial report and draft audit, and announced that bids for an elevator project will be advertised with a Feb. 6 deadline.

Vice Chair Cindy Luty called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. The board voted unanimously to approve the amended meeting calendar after Dan Harris proposed moving the October meeting from Oct. 20 to Oct. 6 (the change also required moving the Finance Committee meeting). The motion to approve the calendar was made by Harris and seconded by Courtney Ennis.

Director of Finance Cindy Varricchio reported she had received the district’s draft audit and said the 2024–25 school year is tracking well. She told trustees Preston had not been impacted by ECS cuts affecting other districts and that the district locked diesel and unleaded fuel at under $3.00 per gallon. The board voted unanimously to accept the financial report on a motion by Ennis, seconded by Mike Hinton.

Varricchio also said the elevator project will be posted in The Hartford Courant with bids due Feb. 6; results will be reviewed at the board’s next meeting. The Board of Finance will begin capital discussions on Jan. 16, and administrators will finalize a non‑lapsing account after the audit number is confirmed.

The meeting record shows routine procedural business was handled by unanimous votes: the consent agenda was accepted (motion Burke‑Grabarek/Serra), the financial report accepted (Ennis/Hinton), and the meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. (Burke‑Grabarek/Ennis). Absent from the meeting was member Megan Gallant, who was excused.

Next steps: the board asked administrators to return a revised 2025–26 school calendar at the February meeting, and the district will review bid responses for the elevator project once submissions are opened.