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Mt. Blue Regional School District
MBHS April Update PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 01 May 2012 11:04
April 30, 2012


Michael R. Cormier, D. Ed.
Superintendent of Schools
Mt. Blue Regional School District
115 Learning Lane
Farmington, ME  04938

Re:      MOUNT BLUE HIGH SCHOOL LEARNING CAMPUS
Subj:    Monthly Update on Schedule and Safety

Dear Dr. Cormier:

What follows is a brief description of work accomplished at the construction site at Mount Blue High School throughout the month of April.  The weather continues to be favorable for construction with temperatures above average and precipitation in the normal range.  Work crews are being increased as more trades are being brought onto the site in preparation for the final completion of the F, C and D wings for the start of school in September.

Work accomplished this month includes:
  • Sitework was restarted in the area of the athletic fields and storm retention basins.  The large peat and loam piles along Whittier Road have been screened and moved to other locations on site in preparation for final grading, loaming, and seeding.
  • The foundation work has been completed at Buildings C, D, and F.  Excavation work and foundation work has begun on the two electrical wind generation towers to be installed near the parking lot at the Whittier Road entrance.
  • Underground utilities and underslab utilities were completed in the F wing followed by the placement of concrete slabs on the second floor of the two story F wing and the first floor of the F wing on the south side.
  • The masonry contractor continues to erect concrete block walls inside the first floor of the F wing and continues exterior brick and precast concrete work on the south side of F wing.
  • The inspection agencies have continued performing steel reinforcing inspections, concrete testing, masonry wall testing, compaction testing for backfilling and weld and bolt testing on structural steel joist and deck at Building D, F, and C.  The steel erector contractor continues to work on repairs required by the inspecting agencies.
  • Steel stud framing on the exterior of the F wing and the high wall areas of C and D wing continues along with steel stud framing for the classrooms on the second floor.  
  • Electrical, mechanical and plumbing rough-ins and wood blocking continues to be installed in the interior steel stud partitions in preparation for gypsum wallboard, which will begin in May.
  • The roofing contractor has been installing EPDM roof membranes on the roof of Building F.  Their roofing work has been inspected by the roofing representative from the manufacturer as their work is completed.
  • Windows are being installed throughout the F wing including curtainwall glazing and spandrel glass panels on the north side of the two story building.
  • The commercial cooking kitchen for the food court/cafeteria has had its’ quarry tile floor installed and the freezer and cooler installed.
  • The mechanical contractor continues to install sanitary piping, acid neutralization tanks for the science rooms, sprinkler system piping, and second floor VAV boxes and ductwork.  The wood chip boiler installer has been working on electrical wire runs and connections for their equipment to be installed in May/June.
  • The electrical subcontractor continues work on rough-ins for electrical devices and fire alarm systems throughout the C, D, and F wing and an antenna extension has been added for the fire system to achieve better reception for the dial up notification.
  • Wright-Ryan Construction, the general contractor, continues to have two full time construction superintendents on site who develop daily job safety plans; continue to have subcontractor meetings; and continue to meet every two weeks with Mount Blue personnel, the architect, and representatives from the Bureau of General Services and the Department of Education.
  • The next four months will involve more workmen on site as the general contractor pushes towards completion of the next phase of the work.

Very truly yours,
PDT ARCHITECTS




Lyndon D. Keck, AIA, LEED AP
Maine Licensed Architect
Principal

MBHS-SafetyLetter-30APR12-Cormier-ldk
 
PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 23 April 2012 13:12
Mt. Blue High School Aerial Views
Last Updated on Tuesday, 08 May 2012 12:51
 
MBHS Update for March PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 17 April 2012 08:23
April 1, 2012


Michael R. Cormier, D. Ed.
Superintendent of Schools
Mt. Blue Regional School District
115 Learning Lane
Farmington, ME  04938

Re:      MOUNT BLUE HIGH SCHOOL LEARNING CAMPUS
Subj:    Monthly Update on Schedule and Safety

Dear Dr. Cormier:

What follows is a brief description of work accomplished through the month of March.  The contractor made excellent progress, in part because of the above average temperatures and dry weather conditions.  In general there are about 70-80 workmen on site during the work week.

Work accomplished this month includes:
  • The gym and locker room were finished during the first week of March and made available for school use on March 12th.
  • The contractor’s construction and safety fence has been moved to allow student access to the locker rooms from the west side parking lot.
  • The concrete floor slab for the second floor of the two-story academic building was poured with “in slab” radiant floor heating.  
  • The concrete floor slab for the future 3rd floor at the two-story academic building was also placed prior to the installation of the steel beams, steel roof deck and roofing insulation.
  • Exterior wall insulation and exterior brick was begun on the south wall of the two-story academic building.  Concurrent with this work was the installation of wood blocking at window wall openings and installation of the spray applied “air-barrier” system at the exterior walls of the two-story academic block.


  • Roof insulation and the roofing membrane has begun on the two-story academic building, as well as installation of steel framing and sheathing at the roof clear story windows and the performance Forum.
  • Structural steel columns, beams and bar joist have been installed at the library, forum, food court and Main Street in Buildings C and D.  This was done in conjunction with wood columns and beams and wood decking over Main Street.
  • The testing agency has continued to provide concrete and steel reinforcing bar inspection, as well as CMU inspection, soil compaction and backfilling inspections.  The testing agency also provided three days of structural steel inspection at Buildings C, D, F, and the Forum where corrective action is being implemented by the erector.
  • Windows have started to be installed on the 1st and 2nd floors of the two-story academic building.  Interior partitions are being laid out for classroom framing.  Mechanical, plumbing and electrical “homeruns” have been made throughout the 1st and 2nd floor of the two-story academic building.  
  • Wright-Ryan Construction continues to have two full time construction superintendents on site who develop daily job safety plans and continue to meet every two weeks with Mt. Blue personnel, the architect, and representatives from BGS and the Department of Education.
We will provide you with another monthly update at the end of April.  Thank you.

Very truly yours,
PDT ARCHITECTS




Lyndon D. Keck, AIA, LEED AP
Maine Licensed Architect
Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 May 2012 11:05
 
Proposed Budget for 2012-2013 PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 17 April 2012 10:02

To: Members of the Board of Directors

From: Mike Cormier and the Budget Sub-Committee of the Board

Re: Proposed Budget for 2012-2013

Date: April 10, 2012

 

Well it is that time of year when I have to put to paper an explanation and rationale for the proposed budget.

 

I often refer to Dickens and the famous quote from A Tale of Two Cities because we seem to repeatedly find ourselves between “the best of time and the worst of times.”

 

This upcoming year all of the funds we have received from the Federal Government (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Jobs Bill/Stimulus, Local Entitlement Funds-Special Education) are no longer available.  Although we tried not to fund positions with these funds, some of the Ed Jobs bill money had to be used for positions.  The valuation for the towns in the district continues to grow at three times the rate of the State.  Funds we have received from MaineCare (Medicaid) for some of our special needs students have gone from over $350,000 per year down to about $40,000.  Unfortunately, the programs and staffing to continue to education these children continues to exist.  So, that is a part of the “worst of times” news.

 

On “the best of times,” we have received a significant increase in our school subsidy, although the majority of it is committed to the construction projects.  Our student enrollment has stabilized.  Also, if the voters of Starks and this district vote to combine we will see a fairly significant increase in revenue as some of the children from Starks begin to attend Mt. Regional School District Schools.

 

Prior to beginning the process of building a budget the budget committee spent some time discussing and establishing goals to guide the process.

 

Budget Goals/Priorities

1. Maintain or lower teacher-pupil ratios within our schools

2. Support curricula development by funding professional development, purchase of materials and providing extra time.

3. Support upgrades and advancements in the area of technology

4. Support and increase services/staffing in special education.

 

Personnel/Staff Goals/Priorities

1. Maintain status quo for personnel/staffing

2. Special Education Staffing at appropriate levels (Techs, Behavior Specialist/Social Worker)

3. Director of Curriculum position becomes full time

4. Keep math interventionist positions

5. Increase and provide additional staffing to support technology

 

Budget Increase/Taxes

1. Request an increase to support district needs.

We were able to maintain our balance forward at the same level as 2011-2012.  Our MaineCare reimbursement dropped from $250,000 to $125,000.  The only reason we could keep it at $125,000 was because we banked revenue from prior years anticipating a substantial reduction at some point in time.  The bank is about empty, so I anticipate that there will be a further decrease in MaineCare next year.

 

State revenue increased by over $2.9 million although $2.6 million goes to cover debt service for the Mallett School and Mt. Blue Campus.

 

In keeping with our goals and priorities we built a budget that figured out to be an increase of $1.6 million over the current operating budget.  This figure does not include debt service.

 

The committee worked diligently and pared the budget by over $600,000 dollars.  Fixed cost increases for insurances (health/buildings/buses), negotiated salaries (negotiating three contracts this year), facility and grounds repairs, heating fuel and diesel oil account for about $800,000 of the increase.

 

The MEA gave us a firm figure for health insurance increases, so we were able to remove some of the money we budgeted in anticipation of cost increases.  Money saved on retirements was also removed from the budget.

 

Even with all of these cuts we still had to remove two teaching positions from the budget (1 math interventionist and 1 reading specialist).  There were four teaching positions that had been funded with Federal  Jobs Bill money.  Initially, all four were included in the budget but as the committee worked and worked to reduce the increase it became evident that two of the positions should be eliminated.  It is the committee’s desire to reinstate these positions if additional savings can be found.  Two math interventionist positions and seven reading specialists positions have been retained.

 

Reductions made in school supplies, textbook accounts, and materials have been continued for another year.  Money to repair facilities was reduced with a plan to do some projects in pieces (roof job at Cape Cod Hill School).  Money for technology maintenance and staffing was also reduced from what was requested.  A small increase was budgeted in technology.

 

The extended day and year programs that have been funded through Federal funds have been reduced and portions of both will be funded through the local school budget.  Summer programming for students with special needs was also added to the local budget due to reductions in Federal dollars..

 

Mt. Blue Regional School District continues to be a high effective and efficient school system.   We rank 179th out of 225 public school systems in the State.  This means that over 79.5% of the school systems in the State spend more to educate their children than we do.

 

Another comparison that is used is to look at our elementary (K-8) and secondary (9-12) tuition rates, which are set by the Department of Education for all school systems.  At the K-8 level we are allowed to charge $953 less than State average and $1,579 less than State average for students in grade 9-12.  One might wonder why we don’t charge more.  The rate is set by the State and based upon how much we have spent in certain categories 2010-2011.

 

Now there are folks who might think that the two preceding paragraphs are something in which to be proud, but I have to caution that at some point we are reaching a level where we are diminishing the quality of education for children within our school system.

 

The board in the past has worked to present responsible budgets that attempt to maintain educational opportunities for children.  The amount requested in the proposed budget is needed to maintain class size, programming, and classroom teachers.   Further reductions have the potential of significantly diminishing the quality of the educational programs offered, which in turn spills over into a negative impact in the private sector.

 

 

 

Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 06:07
 
Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 15 March 2012 07:53
Cape Cod Hill School, Wednesday, March 28 from 2:00 to 4:00

Mallett School, Tuesday, April 3 from 12:00 to 5:00

Cushing School: Monday, April 9 from 2:00 to 5:00.

Students registering for kindergarten must be five years old by Oct. 15, 2012. Students registering for pre-kindergarten must be four years old by Oct. 15, 2012. To obtain a registration packet, parents should call Kimberly Porter at 778-3561. Parents registering their children at Mallett School (778-3529) or at Cushing School (645-2442) also need to call their respective school for an appointment on registration day.
 
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