JAY – The high school science laboratories will undergo some renovations using money from the federal recovery act.

The $169,000, which will encompass more than the labs, will need to be used and the project done by July 1, according to federal guidelines, Superintendent Robert Wall told School Committee members Thursday.

Building and Grounds Supervisor Sue Weston has been visiting other schools to see how other science laboratories are set up, he said.

Wall told gifted and talented teacher Rob Taylor that he would need his input on the project.

The high school science labs were built in the 1970s, and are in dire need, Taylor said.

There may even be some knocking out of walls in another location of the school to make functional areas for the labs, Wall said.

He also informed the board that next year there will be a system in place that will allow parents to go online to pay for their children’s breakfasts and lunches.

They’ll even be able to know what their children ate, he said.

The trays will be scanned and it will alert food service workers if a child is allergic to anything on that tray.

Next year, the plumbing trade program now housed at Livermore Falls High School will move to Jay High School, Principal Joe Moore said. Livermore Falls Principal Shawn Lambert has been over to look at available areas and officials believe it would work well in the auto bay, Moore said.

In other business, the board approved several appointments for coaching positions, and accepted the resignation of high school reading teacher, Janet Benedetto effective April 24.

After an executive session, Committee members voted 3-to-1, with Judy Diaz opposed, to extend Wall’s contract one year to June 30, 2012, Chairwoman Mary Redmond-Luce said Monday.

Redmond-Luce said that action on a superintendent’s contract is usually done in December but with the consolidation vote pending in January 2009 at that time, they didn’t do it.

From information she had, Redmond-Luce said that consolidation of central office operations with other school systems would be two or three years out.

Wall voluntarily agreed to take a wage freeze for 2009-10, Redmond-Luce said.

His salary for the current year is $91,219.