The Jaffrey-Rindge School Board discussed the future of district facilities projects after a summer of intense work, including upgrading the district bathrooms, windows, and doors.
District Facilities Director John LeClair told the Board that the summer’s projects, including cleaning up an outbreak of mold due to humid weather and flooding remediation, had taken up much of the Facilities Department’s time. “For a while I thought I was going to have to build an ark,” he said of the flooding under the Pratt Auditorium.
Some of these projects still have components that are not complete, LeClair said, like the hole under the Pratt which needs to be filled soon, after they pumped the dirt out to fix the pipes.
As for the future projects, the Board discussed the potential for including high-priority items in the upcoming budget process and how to do this in a way that communicates the need to voters. One of the higher-priority items included the bathroom upgrade, as LeClair and Superintendent Reuben Duncan presented photographs of the bathrooms at various schools that have issues with lack of privacy and handicap accessibility.
The Board decided to return to the issue as the budget process continues in the coming months.
Duncan also presented updates on COVID-19 in the district, including a cluster designated New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services on one of the district’s bus routes.
“The likelihood that it was a cluster because of the bus or transportation is highly unlikely,” Duncan said, as after reviewing footage of the route, he found that children were well-spaced, wearing masks, and the bus windows were open. Additionally, Duncan pointed out that other bus routes in the district carry more kids. As it is, the cluster, as identified in late September, has not led to a large spike in cases, according to Duncan.
The Board also approved a slight language change to the district’s reopening framework to clarify the district’s position on masking in the “yellow level,” which designates masks as recommended but not required and in which the district is currently operating. The original language stated that wearing a mask indoors would be optional “except when social distancing (of at least three feet) cannot occur.”
Duncan and Communications Coordinator Nick Handy suggested the Board change the language to clarify that in cases where social distancing cannot be maintained, masks will be required.
“It’s just cleaning it up and making it a little firmer,” Duncan said. “There have been learners and adults that I think needed clarification on that.”
In this change, the Board asked that language also be included to give examples of situations where social distancing would be impossible, such as close quarters group work or travel in the hallways.