The keynote address at LOL Middle School was given by Dr. Jennifer Hall, US Coast Guard Lieutenant (Ret.) All photos courtesy of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools.
LYME/OLD LYME—On Tuesday, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools commemorated Veterans Day with a breakfast for local veterans followed by ceremonies in each school incorporating speeches, music and singing to honor all veterans. Students of all ages were involved in the day’s events.
This Middle School student was busy preparing a hearty breakfast for the Veterans.
Each Veteran was presented with a thoughtful gift (below) from the Middle School student body.
After breakfast at the middle school, the veterans attended a program in their honor in the school auditorium. The program included a keynote address given by Dr. Jennifer Hall, US Coast Guard Lieutenant (Ret.) and the presentation of Patriot’s Pen Essay Winners.
Bandmaster Jacob Wilson leads the musicians in a rousing piece honoring the Veterans.
Later the Veterans moved to Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) for another event at which the LOLHS Band played …
… and the LOLHS Chorus sang.
This trio of Veterans—VFW Post 1467 Trustees David Griswold, (left) and Doug Wilkinson (right), along with VFW Post 1467 Commander Richard Mason (center)—enjoyed the high school reception..
A reception was held at the high school after the program there allowing the veterans to mingle with the students.
The Veterans were also enthusiastically welcomed at Lyme Consolidated School, as this young man’s face clearly shows!
These youngsters sang lustily at Lyme Consolidated School for their esteemed guests …
… and down at Mile Creek School, the students also gave a wonderful presentation for the Veterans.
After the event, David Griswold commented to LymeLine via e-mail, “Veterans Day at the school is special. The support we receive from the administration and facility along with the food, music, speakers, and especially all the students means so much to us. “
The sign says it all … and here at olwenonline.com/, we add our sincere thanks to all the Veterans who have served, continue to serve and, in some cases, made the ultimate sacrifice.
Baylee Drown, co-owner of Long Table Farm, gives a tour of the farm’s composting operation to students from Lyme Consolidated School. Photos and video courtesy of Long Table Farm.
LYME/OLD LYME–For three years, a local farmer has been teaching elementary school students in Lyme how to transform lunch leftovers into plant food.
This year, she’ll be expanding her composting program across the Region 18 school district.
Baylee Drown, co-owner of Long Table Farm in Lyme, doesn’t want the kids from Lyme Consolidated School to have to return to throwing their uneaten food in the trash when they make the transition to grade six at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School in Old Lyme.
“Going to the middle school should not be a step back for sustainability,” she said in a phone interview this week.
Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser, from his office in Center School before Wednesday’s start of school, said Lyme-Old Lyme Schools are committing to growing the composting program. The district includes four schools in Old Lyme and the single elementary school in Lyme.
“We have very little food waste from the cafeteria itself, but from student lunches we have quite a bit of food waste,” he said. “So if a student doesn’t finish their lunch, instead of throwing it out, we’re now going to be composting that.”
Lyme Consolidated School Principal Alison Hine said students have become accustomed to ending each lunch wave by disposing their garbage in the appropriate receptacles.
“They put their trash into the trash can, they put their food waste into the composting bucket that we have there, and they recycle their milk cartons,” she said.
Staff members from Lyme Consolidated School have traditionally dropped off 5-gallon buckets of scraps – typically two per school day – at the farm. That’s where Drown and her partner in life and farming, Ryan Quinn, undertake the process of turning the unwanted food into compost that helps nourish a wide array of crops.
Vegetables from the farm are sold in seasonal shares to subscribers and at farmers markets.
Drown said food scraps from Lyme Consolidated typically fill one 55-gallon drum per week. Each drum holds around 500 pounds.
Hine credited members of the Lyme Consolidated Green Team, a club of third through fifth grade students committed to preserving the environment, with overseeing daily disposal activities in the cafeteria. They’ve also visited the farm to learn about composting firsthand.
The school received a grant so the students could design new recycling containers and signage to make the process more efficient, she said.
“I think that we have a unique opportunity in schools to help students to understand how effective waste management really contributes to a healthier and much more resilient community,” Hine said. “And, you know, while these kids are young and excited about it, I think that to harness that and to help them be a contributing part of the society is important.”
Neviaser, the superintendent, said there are no costs to the district associated with the school composting program at this time.
Drown said she hopes to roll out the program by October as she continues to make contact with leaders in each of the district’s five schools. She said there are tentative arrangements for her to pick up five-gallon barrels filled with scraps from the high school and drop off empty ones, though she has not yet negotiated a fee.
Long Table Farm also works with leaders in Lyme to give residents a place to drop off their food scraps. The town last year began selling green-lidded, brightly labeled buckets at cost to residents interested in hauling their organic refuse to the farm.
Previous plans to apply for a $350,000 to $375,000 grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to grow the municipal composting program failed to materialize after she was not able to secure a partnership with the town of Lyme or the Lower River Valley Council of Governments by the June deadline.
Composting piles are churned periodically at Long Table Farm in order to reach an optimal, sustained temperature that keeps away weeds, germs and offensive odors.
Drown said she hopes to host more field trips for Lyme-Old Lyme students as part of the expanded program. Key to the students’ education is the difference between composting and decomposition.
High quality compost is a mix of decayed organic matter that doesn’t just break down on its own, according to Drown. The process takes time and attention. She has to churn each compost pile periodically so that ideal temperatures – from 113 to 165 degrees – can be sustained for two weeks.
“I have temperature probes and they’ll be able to see how hot, and feel how hot, it is in the compost,” she said.
When food scraps go to the landfill, they break down from the lack of oxygen. That leads to the release of methane, a key contributor to global warming.
Drown said composting is different because it relies on oxygenation to fuel optimal decomposition without unpleasant odors.
She emphasized her compost doesn’t stink.
“We want to keep it that way because odors are indicative of nitrogen leaving the farm, and we want to keep all the nitrogen on the farm because nitrogen is our fertilizer,” she said. “And we also don’t want to draw in things that might want to eat food scraps, like wildlife.”
According to the U.S. Composting Council, composting fights climate change by diverting food scraps from landfills and replacing synthetic fertilizers. It can also improve soil health, reduce erosion and help conserve water.
Another benefit touted by the national organization is one Drown touts locally: the ability to help build community through sustainability.
“I’d really like to see us be successful here in Lyme and Old Lyme, and then have other farmers and municipalities develop this type of a relationship,” she said.
Drown’s composting philosophy acknowledges that towns and school districts have food waste they need to get rid off, whether it’s hauled away on a municipal contract or processed barrel-by-barrel at the local farm.
“Farmers already have the infrastructure, farmers already have a tractor, they already have land where they can handle this material and they have a vested interest in using compost,” she said. “And I think it’s a synergistic arrangement.”
Center School preschool teacher Kinny Newman promised her classroom—a work of progress as of Monday morning—would look “stunning” by the start of school on Wednesday.
OLD LYME–Preschool teacher Kinny Newman early this week sat at her desk in a Center School classroom preparing for the start of school on Wednesday.
Newman, surrounded by rows of signature fern plants, reviewed a class list with instructional assistants Jennifer Martin and Sakura Gemme.
Six students on the roster were siblings of previous students, according to the teacher.
“It makes it all really real when you read their names,” she said. “And then you get really excited about it.”
Newman said the ongoing renovation project to update the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system in the building – as well as three other schools in the district – slowed down classroom preparations, but she predicted the latest crop of preschool students wouldn’t be bothered by the temporary upheaval.
“They’re resilient. We’re resilient. We’ll figure it out,” she said.
The staff members were working on a tighter timeframe than usual because the renovation project had closed the doors of Center School, Mile Creek and Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School for most of the summer. Operations at Lyme Consolidated School during the same timeframe were condensed as staff members relocated within the building.
Ian Neviaser, Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools, said on Monday that the contents of all the classrooms were emptied into the auditorium for summertime storage while crews abated the building’s original ceilings of hazardous components.
The previous Friday was the first day teachers could get into their classrooms, he said. The crunch to prepare for Wednesday’s opening had teachers, assistants and cleaning crews working throughout the weekend.
“Normally, our teachers come back early and set up their classrooms – and many of them come in long before they’re required to be here,” he said. “They didn’t have that option this summer.”
In Newman’s classroom, spirits were high after all the hours put in over the weekend left the women in a good position to be ready on time.
“We’re not quite finished yet,” Newman warned. “I have a whole reading tent coming from Amazon.”
The renovation project involves upgrades to the HVAC and security systems in the four buildings, plus an addition and an expanded parking area at Mile Creek School. Voters in late 2022 authorized spending up to $57.5 million on the project, though the district will save about $17 million due to grant funding and lower than expected interest rates.
Center School preschool instructional assistant Jennifer Martin on Monday helped prepare the classroom for the 2025-26 school year.
The most noticeable changes to the schools will be seen in the front vestibules that welcome students on Wednesday, according to Neviaser. He said security changes made as a “retrofit” following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting more than 10 years ago have been overhauled to align with state requirements for new construction.
“These are more modern,” he said of the new doors and windows. “They are both blastproof and bulletproof, and allow us to monitor the comings and goings of visitors more easily due to increased visibility.”
With work at Center School, Lyme Consolidated and the middle school expected to be completed by the new year, he said the project at Mile Creek will extend for about a year and a half.
Parents hoping for improved traffic flow due to the expansion will find themselves disappointed because the pickup and dropoff area is not slated to be reconfigured until next summer.
“So this year the traffic flow is probably going to be about the same as it was in the past,” he said.
He said the school added a preschool class at Lyme Consolidated after a new state law required students to be five-years-old by Sept. 1 to start kindergarten, resulting in fewer kindergarteners and more preschoolers. Officials condensed four kindergarten classrooms, which were evenly spread between Lyme Consolidated and Mile Creek, into three while moving a Lyme Consolidated kindergarten teacher to the preschool level. Preschool classrooms are traditionally in Center School.
Neviaser this month emphasized at a Region 18 Board of Education meeting that Lyme Consolidated will house a preschool class for one year only because the shift promises to reverse itself when this year’s four-year-old cohort enters kindergarten next year.
“So that’s new and unique,” the superintendent said from the school Monday as he prepared for the new school year. “And then we will be living through construction for a few more months.”
Fire Marshal Dave Roberge, in an email to Neviaser shared with the Region 18 PreK-8 Building Committee, acknowledged construction is ongoing. Roberge said he found the buildings are in compliance with fire detection, notification and evacuation requirements, and he will continue to monitor the situation as construction continues.
LYME/OLD LYME—Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free or reduced-price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.
For income guidelines for determining eligibility of participants for free and reduced price meals, contact Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools.
This photo taken Friday, Aug. 15, shows the new base coat on the driveway at Mile Creek School that was applied on Wednesday. LymeLine photo.
LYME/OLD LYME–UPDATED 8/16 with new photo of driveway (above.) Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Ian Neviaser on Thursday said he’s more confident than ever that schools will reopen on time now that an intensive summertime push is winding down on the $57.5 million renovation project affecting four of the district’s five buildings.
Neviaser in a phone interview said crews overseen by Downes Construction were working double shifts this summer to ensure Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, Mile Creek School, Lyme Consolidated School and Center School would be ready for the first day of school on Aug. 27.
Work at three of the schools will shift to the night once school starts, he said. For Mile Creek, where the most extensive upgrades are occurring, daytime work will continue.
Last week, Neviaser during a regular meeting of the Region 18 Board of Education acknowledged concerns around Lyme and Old Lyme that the district wouldn’t be able to welcome students as scheduled.
Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Ian Neviaser said Mile Creek School, which was unpaved when this photo was taken earlier this week, was paved Wednesday with a base coat that will provide a functional surface until the final coat is applied after site work is complete. Photo credit: LymeLine.
“I know there’s been some questions out there about whether or not we’ll be able to open school on time, especially if you drive by Mile Creek and you see that they have not paved the new parking lot or entranceway yet,” Neviaser told school board members.
But he reported being assured by project officials that the schools would be ready.
The prediction was bolstered by the completion of paving at Mile Creek this week, the superintendent said over the phone.
“As we get closer, I’m even more confident,” he said.
Center, Mile Creek and Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School closed June 23, with Lyme-Old Lyme High School absorbing displaced staff members as well as campers in the Old Lyme Park and Recreation Department’s summer program. At Lyme Consolidated, staff members were relocated within the building.
HVAC on Track
The renovation project involves Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and security upgrades in the four buildings, plus an addition and an expanded parking area at Mile Creek School. Voters in late 2022 authorized spending up to $57.5 million on the project, though the district will save about $17 million due to grant funding and lower than expected interest rates.
Neviaser said the buildings will be ready for teachers when they arrive for three days of professional development on Aug. 22. The majority of security upgrades to the building’s front vestibules should be done by the time students get there at the end of the month.
He said work on the HVAC system will shift to the nighttime at Center, Lyme Consolidated and Lyme-Old Lyme Middle Schools, with “substantial completion” expected by the end of this year.
“When we walk into school on August 27th, there will still be ceiling tiles down,” he said. “There will still be ductwork going on.”
Mile Creek Construction
While students will be welcomed on schedule at Mile Creek, Neviaser described the overall timeline there as “a little bit of a different story.” That’s because six classrooms are being added currently, with the pickup and dropoff area to be reconfigured next summer.
“While the majority of that project, too, was focused on HVAC – and they have continued to work on that – their intent this summer was to really try to get a lot done on the addition,” he said.
He estimated the new classrooms could be ready by January, giving administrators the space to move some other classrooms around while work on the heating and cooling system continues in the rest of the building.
The Mile Creek project likely won’t be complete until midway through the 2026-27 school year, he said.
Neviaser expressed gratitude to the neighbors of the four buildings for their patience over the summer.
He noted some construction crews this summer had to come out on Saturdays to keep the project on track at Mile Creek as they removed rock from the site.
“I know there was a lot of noise coming from the construction sites, and people were very understanding of the noise,” he said. “And we, like them, hope that it will be done soon.”
