Board of Education approves capital improvement plan and Northeast Middle School design plans

Board of Education chair Dante Tagariello, center, leads the December Board of Education meeting. | David Fortier

Posted By: David Fortier January 5, 2024

By David Fortier

The Bristol Board of Education approved its 2024-2025 capital improvement plan, approved and forwarded design costs for Northeast Middle School to the City Council and Board of Finance for approval and accepted a donation from MOVIA Robotics for over $40,000 at its meeting this Wednesday evening.

In addition, as part of the staff and student recognition portion of the agenda, 10 individuals were cited for programs that received grants from $500 to $2,000. Superintendent Dr. Catherine Carbone announced the four themes for district priorities for 2025-2030, as well as setting the dates for the 2024-2025 budget workshops, later this month.

Peter Fusco, director of facilities, outlined the projects for the 2024-2025 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which were reviewed and approved at the last operations meeting.

The first item is round two of a security grant for $950,000, he said. Last year the schools received the first portion. The second is the HVAC upgrade for Chippens High Middle School of $16.5 million. The Chippens Hill upgrade had originally been presented for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding.

“We have moved it to the CIP and we are looking to see if we can get it accepted and we can move on that,” Fusco said.

The next is an Indoor Air Quality commissioning for $1.25 million, tied directly to new state legislation that requires a review of building mechanicals.

“We will be doing that every five years as a result of the legislation,” he said. “We don’t currently have a funding source. It’s a mandate, but there was not a funding stream available, so we are asking to have that as part of our CIP.”

Next are targeted alterations to both Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern High School, including work in the theaters, such as floor replacement, seating upgrades and ADA compliance issues.

Also, included is $3 million for estimates for roof replacement and roof top mechanical repairs at Bristol Central High School.

Board members approved the plan.

Fusco also presented the new costs for the design estimate for Northeast Middle School with an increase of $13,298,611, bringing the total estimate to $102,367,574 from the original of $89,068,963.

“Part of the process is for the board to approve this increase and forward it to City Council and the Board of Finance,” he said. “Upon full approval by all boards inclusive of city of Bristol joint board the Board of Education will request the additional funding from the state of Connecticut.”

Fusco said the difference came from increases in labor and equipment costs, including a fire pump that is required to meet compliance standards and was not included in the original estimate.

Changes made to reduce costs include a reduction in square footage, the elimination of an elevator and other amenities.

The board approved the motion to accept the new estimate and to forward it to the City Council and Board of Finance for further action.

The board accepted a donation from MOVIA Robotics of $40,000 in the memory of Nicholas Parenti, Alex Hamzy and Dustin DeMonte. The donation covers the use of four robots, teacher training and site management for three years.

The company, which has relocated to Bristol from Hartford several years ago, builds robots and software to assist children, particularly those on the autism spectrum,

“We have found the community to be very supportive in many different ways that we didn’t expect, and it’s been really wonderful to be here, so we have been wanting to do something for a while,” said Timothy Gifford, founder, president and chief scientist at MOVIA.

“And we wanted to do something substantive, and this is something that we can uniquely do,” he said, “We can provide these tools and really help the children who have some need, and we also wanted to make sure we weren’t giving something that required additional support and additional assets, etc. so we made it a three-year contribution with additional support and training to make the impact as light as possible.”

Board of Education chair Dante Tagariello thanked MOVIA for the contribution in the name of some important people, including Nicholas Parenti, who was a student in the Bristol School System and the two police officers whose lives were lost on Oct. 12, 2022.

The following individuals were recognized for grants that they procured:

  • Alyssa Gokey, Hubble/Ivy Drive for the Nutmeg Bowl Competition, $1,177.58
  • Kara Banda, Bristol Central High School, from Dress for Success, $1,000
  • Holly Caruso Pugliese, South Side School for Zen Dens, $1,998.42
  • John Stavens, Bristol Eastern High School, United Nations High School Conference, $2,000
  • Bridget Gohla, ACCESS Program BCHS/BEHS for Sewing for Success
  • Crystal Caouette, Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School for multiple 3-D Printers $567.96
  • Gina Gallo, BCHS and South Side School for “Michelangelo Comes to Bristol,” $658.99
  • Ken Boudreau, West Bristol for the Robotics programming, $1,025
  • Paige Flint, Mountain View for Sensory Space programming, $500
  • Erin Hall, West Bristol from Classroom Enrichment CT Humane Society,

In the superintendent’s report, Carbone shared that during the first weeks of January staff and families will be offered an opportunity to comment on the draft 2024 through 2025-2030 strategic plan priorities and strategies.

Currently those priorities are “Future-Ready and Globally Prepared,” “Developing and Supporting the Whole Child,” Family and Community Engagement” and “Innovative and Strategic Operations.”

Families and staff will be using the Thought/Exchange platform for the exchange of ideas.

Two 2024-2025 budget workshops will be held on Jan. 16 and Jan. 23, respectively, each beginning at 6 p.m., available virtually. The first workshop will focus on the general fund. The second will focus on federal and state grants.

The board also approved a trip to Italy for students from Bristol Central High School.

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