Tag Archives: schools

TOP STORY: Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Welcome Back Students, Spirits High Despite ‘Temporary Upheaval’ of Construction

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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.

Kindergarten Registration Open at Lyme-Old Lyme Schools

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LYME/OLD LYME — Registration for Kindergarten in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools for the fall of 2025 is open at Lyme Consolidated and Mile Creek Schools.

Children who will be five years old on or before Sept. 1, 2025 are eligible to register for the 2025-2026 school year.

If your child is currently enrolled in the Lyme-Old Lyme Schools preschool program, you do not need to register for Kindergarten. 

Registration packets may be picked up at either school. The following are needed for registration:

  • Birth Certificate
  • Three forms proving residency

While you may complete the registration process at either school, your child’s school placement will depend on District attendance zones, which are determined in August.

If you would like additional information, call either school at these numbers:

  • Lyme Consolidated: 860-434-1233
  • Mile Creek: 860-434-2209

Lyme-Old Lyme School Board to Hear from Music Department Amid Outcry About Threatened Cut to Elementary School Position

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OLD LYME—After backlash to a proposed budget cut that would eliminate an elementary school music position from the proposed 2025-26 Region 18 schools’ budget, the district Board of Education has invited members of the music department for a conversation about how to maintain a vibrant and appropriately-staffed music department amid declining enrollment.

The proposed cut comes as part of the $39.7 million budget proposal coming in at an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39 percent, over the current spending plan. It goes to voters at a May 6 referendum.

The district school board heard from about a dozen people each at its March and April regular meetings, who were clamoring to keep the music program undisturbed. 

Neviaser in a phone interview Tuesday cited “underenrollment” as the reason the district cannot maintain current staffing levels. 

“We just don’t have the students to support that, or the student interest in music that we used to have,” he said. 

Neviaser said the remaining five music teachers would ensure continued coverage throughout the district. While the schedules have not yet been decided, he suggested a framework that could involve the middle school choral teacher moving to Mile Creek to take over both chorus and band duties, with some support from both the high school band teacher and the music teacher at Lyme Consolidated School. 

“The high school choral teacher, because we have so few enrollments in chorus at the high school, would teach two classes and the rest of her day would be spent at the middle school teaching chorus there,” he said. 

Data provided at an April 2 school board meeting shows there are 40 students in the chorus program at the high school and 73 students in the high school band. At the middle school, there are 119 students in chorus program and 87 students in the band.

Small group chorus lessons at the middle school would combine under the new framework but would not exceed 10 students each, according to Neviaser. 

He has emphasized throughout the budget season that programs available to students would not change due to the staffing cut. 

Overall, the budget proposal assumes there will be 23 fewer students districtwide in the coming year than there are currently. Data in a January budget presentation by Neviaser showed enrollment at the high school is expected to go down by 13 students, while middle school enrollment is expected to increase by 17 students. 

Sara Goldin, a 2014 graduate of Lyme-Old Lyme High School, presented the school board at their April 2 meeting with a petition she started on change.org. It has since garnered 918 signatures. 

Goldin said the change has implications that will affect to varying degrees the number and quality of the ensembles, concerts, music festivals and small group classes in which students are able to participate. 

“Ensembles would be reduced and students at both the middle school and high school level would be losing dedicated staff. This is the definition of affecting programming for students,” Goldin wrote. 

Mary Powell-St. Louis, a former district school board member from Lyme, said retaining the Mile Creek music teacher at an estimated cost of $100,000 for salary and benefits could be accomplished by paying for planned upgrades to the high school sound system and middle school lighting system out of the district’s undesignated fund balance, or ‘Rainy Day Fund,’ rather than the operating budget. 

She said the move would end up lowering the overall budget increase to 6.85%.

There is $3.1 million in the undesignated fund balance, according to Neviaser.  

He said the Board of Education will hold a meeting with music department teachers this Thursday to gauge their thoughts, “and what their solutions might be to address these underenrollment and staffing issues.” 

The school board at the May 5 district budget meeting will vote to send the budget to referendum the next day. 

Neviaser said the budget proposal can be revised prior to or during the May 5 district budget meeting. 

“You can change those numbers right up to the last minute,” he said. “We’ve done it in the past.”

The meeting will be held Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Lyme Consolidated School. A livestream will be available here.

Editor’s Note: This report was updated with details of the time and location of the meeting with the district school board and music department .

Region 18 Schools’ Spending Plan Goes to Voters with $2.7 Million Increase Over Current Budget

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OLD LYME – Voters in Lyme and Old Lyme will be asked to weigh the implications of a relatively steep increase in education spending now that the Region 18 Board of Education’s proposed $39.7 million budget is on its way to voters. 

The district school board on Monday voted unanimously to set a May 5 district budget meeting prior to the May 6 referendum. The vote followed a 10 minute public hearing with a presentation from Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser during which no residents spoke. 

The public silence was a departure from previous meetings that drew a cacophony of concern from members of the school community regarding the cut of a music teacher at Mile Creek School that they said would affect music department staffing at all levels.

The proposed budget represents an increase of $2.7 million, or 7.39%, over the current spending plan.

District budget documents show that Old Lyme would be responsible for $31.51 million of the budget, while Lyme would pay $6.96 million. Both towns are billed by the regional school district based on enrollment.

That’s a proposed increase in Old Lyme of $1.99 million, or 6.7%, and in Lyme of $299,504, or 4.5%.

The figure comes from calculating the average number of students over the course of the current school year based on enrollment data from Oct. 1, 2024 and April 1, 2025. 

Neviaser in a phone interview this week attributed the bulk of the proposed budget increase to debt that is coming due on the extensive renovation project in all the district’s schools except Lyme-Old Lyme High School. 

The project involves heating and ventilation system work in the four buildings, plus the addition of new classrooms at Mile Creek School. Voters in late 2022 authorized spending up to $57.5 million on the project.

Of the proposed budget’s $2.7 million increase, $1.8 million is attributable to debt payments on the renovation project. 

“What I want to remind people is, yes, we have a 7.39% increase, but 4.7% of that is in debt service alone. So the operating budget is really only increasing 2.69%, which is exceptionally low if you look at surrounding districts,” he said. 

Proposed school board increases in shoreline districts range from 2.5% in Madison to 6.72% in East Lyme. But the East Lyme Board of Finance last week slashed that town’s proposed $4 million education increase by $1.5 million, leaving it up to the school board – as required by state statute – to figure out where the cuts will come from. 

In the Lyme-Old Lyme schools’ budget proposal, special education spending is up $726,721 over the current year, employee benefits are up $448,485, salaries for certified staff members are up $278,654 and transportation costs are up $164,234.

Neviaser said the increase in special education costs is driven by more students who need to be placed in programs outside the district to meet their needs. There are four students requiring outplacements in the coming year compared to one student when the current budget was approved. 

There are currently 180 kindergarten through grade 12 students with disabilities in the district compared to 162 in 2020-21, according to budget documents. 

The proposed budget includes maintenance and improvements to district facilities totaling $359,200 for a sound system in the high school auditorium, lighting in the middle school auditorium, replacement of the preschool playground and paving of the sidewalk in front of the middle school. 

Other staffing reductions include turning the high school assistant principal position into a ten-month position rather than a full-year position and reducing middle school education staffing by one position. 

The certified staffing cuts in total amount to the equivalent of just over three full time positions.

Neviaser during the public hearing pointed to district budgets going back five years, including the proposed 7.39 increase, that combine for an average increase of 2.73% per year. The second highest jump during that time period was 3% in the budget approved last year. On the opposite end, the budget decreased 0.1% in 2022-23.

But he also included historical data to illustrate that the impact of the renovation project will continue. 

“Just to remind you, anytime we take on new debt service it drives the budget up, especially in the first few years,” he said. 

When debt came due on the last round of elementary school renovations in 2000-01, budget increases hovered around 10% for the first two years and 8% in the third. 

This time around, he emphasized increases won’t be as extreme because the district will spend about $17 million less than what was projected when the project was put out to referendum due to grant funding and good interest rates.