PERU – Following two back-to-back executive sessions lasting two hours, the Peru School Committee unanimously ratified a new three-year teachers contract.

Now the onus is on the Peru School Teachers’ Association to ratify or reject the contract when they review it at a meeting Monday, Aug. 25, the day before school starts.

The first executive session dealt with an expelled student’s request to be reinstated for the 2003-04 school year. After meeting with the student and the youth’s parent, directors agreed to reinstate the student with Superintendent John Turner’s acceptance of the student’s academic product.

In the second closed-door session, the committee discussed a tentative 2003-06 contract agreement reached on Aug. 8 with the Peru School Teachers’ Association.

The committee then reluctantly accepted the resignation of middle school teacher Frederick Conlogue who moved to Farmington and took a job with SAD 9. Directors then hired Jennifer Whittemore as the middle school language arts instructor.

Committee members also learned that installation of the school’s first ever alarm system would be finished Wednesday, Aug. 20. However, the new intercom system won’t be completed until after school begins.

Turner said the $16,800 alarm system was installed by Simplex-Grinnell of Westbrook through whom emergency calls will be routed to Oxford County dispatchers and then local police and fire departments.

The alarm system matches flashing strobe lights in every room, including small restrooms, with a loud, pulsing beeping noise. In past years, the school relied on a klaxxon alarm held up to the intercom system’s microphone for fire drills and emergencies.

As a result of the new fire alarm system, directors also added a new rule into the 2003-04 student handbook. It states that should a student intentionally set off the fire alarm when no emergency situation exists, the student’s parents will be billed emergency response costs accrued by the school.

Directors also learned that the aging school needs a new roof.

“We have a leak in the roof over the science lab,” Turner said. “In the past, this leaking has been cured by covering it with tar. I walked on the roof and water is squishing out of the tar on a clear dry day as you walk.”

Turner said water, which has seeped into the walls under the roof, is also leaking around the ventilation system and cannot be stopped.

“Every time it rains, we get a new puddle downstairs in the fifth grade classroom,” he added.

After listening to one estimate by Maida Roofing of Mexico to redo the roof for either $8,500 or $10,300, directors asked Turner to seek out other bids. However, they did authorize Turner to spend up to $11,000 to repair the roof.

Following a tour of the leaking areas at 9:35 p.m., the committee entered into a third executive session, which wasn’t listed in their agenda, to discuss a communication from the school’s attorney.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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