Lynn school board OKs health, wellness project request

LYNN – School Committee members on Tuesday approved a request by Marshall Middle School Principal Richard Cowdell to take part in Salud y Exito, a health and wellness project that targets high-risk behaviors among Hispanic students, including early sexual activity, alcohol use, drug use and dropping out of school. Superintendent Catherine Latham said she thought it was an admirable program and recommended it.The School Committee also heard a presentation from Shoemaker School Principal Alice Mann and Miki DiVirgilio, the new program director for COACH, a program designed to serve students with Pervasive Development Disorders, such as autism and Asperger syndrome. The COACH program at Shoemaker has been considered a model program which has been visited by school systems throughout the state.”There are 12 classes of regular education and nine classes of COACH,” Mann said. “The two programs work well together and create an environment of tolerance, acceptability and understanding that I don’t think can be replicated if not for having this balance of the two types of programs we have in this school.The Building and Grounds Subcommittee will again investigate the claims of Marguerite Puleo, a neighbor of the Ingalls School who has repeatedly complained about the Ingalls School Food Project garden and the rats she said it attracts.Puleo, who has lodged several complaints about the garden since its installation several years ago, said the rats are not interested in the 34 traps that were set for them so much as they are interested in eating what is being grown. Puleo said the school’s neighbors were never asked for permission for the “farm,” which she insists was built on what used to be the city dump. She said students are forced to play in the parking lot because they are not allowed on the grass.The School Committee also voted to allow a two-day paid leave in May for two Breed teachers who will be attending the American Federation of Teacher’s Teacher Development and Evaluation Institute in Minneapolis, Minn. Members also confirmed that the last day of the 2009-2010 school year will be on Wednesday, June 23.