Daily Five: Health Department Update, Education Cuts

1. The Town of Stonington is beginning to form a plan for the Stonington Health Department following the decision not to join the . First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr., Town Sanitarian Karen Weiss and business owners have begun to discuss raising fess on restaurants and adding fees for hair salons, day cares and pools. What those fees would be has not yet been decided but it would allow the Stonington Health Department to hire contract health inspectors as needed. Haberek said he expects the town to hold a public hearing on the plan in the early fall and then have the final plan go to a Town Meeting in October. The town is also hoping to automate some of the administrative responsibilities of the health department such as starting an automatic renewal program. That program could begin for restaurants in September.

2. The Stonington Board of Education finalized for the 2012-13 school year Thursday evening. Following the the Board of Education was tasked with making $300,000 in cuts. Here is the final list of savings and cuts the board adopted:

• Savings on Heat Energy $38,158
• Savings on unanticipated retirements $8,000
• Reduction of Lead Teacher Stipends $6,346
• Relocation of Board of Education Administrative Office Personnel: $6,033
• Deferral of Instructional Consultant $7,000
• Reduction of Tutor Hourly Rate $14,350
• Deferral of Textbook Purchases $8,000
• Reduction of Operation Budgets District-wide $9,528
• Reduction of Retirement Allocation $20,000
• Reduction of High School Athletic Allocations $15,400
• Reduction of High School Co-curricular Allocations $4,600
• Elimination of Numeracy Support Request $120,758
• Transportation to out of town Magnet Schools $43,456
• Partial Reduction of proposed IT Tech $27,250
• Special Education Transportation Savings $30,000

The cuts and savings total $358,879 allowing the at West Broad Street and West Vine Street School for $52,000. The board will ask the Board of Finance if anything can be done to maintain the transportation to the out of town Magnet Schools.

The Board of Education decided not to cut the Mystic Middle School psychologist, French World Language teacher, and the Summer Academy for incoming freshmen.

3. is sponsoring its Annual Yard/Craft Sale on Saturday, June 9 with a Rain date of June 10. Proceeds from space rentals benefit the Bryan Bessette Memorial Scholarship Fund. The event will be held at the Stonington Human Services, 166 South Broad St.,in Pawcatuck, from 8 to 11 a.m. The cost to reserve a “space” for yard sale items or craft sales is $10 for the event. Scholarships donations are accepted at Human Services year-round. Call Stonington Human Services at 860-535-5015 for more information.

4. June 8 is the birthday of Porsche. The first car was completed on June 8, 1948.

5. Today's thought: "He who stops being better stops being good." —Oliver Cromwell.