Saugus middle school project going ‘really well’

SAUGUS – School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed said everything is going “really well” with the Belmonte Middle School repair project.?I?m very pleased to be on budget and of course on time,” said Reed during Thursday night?s School Committee meeting. “The only issue to come up was phase 4 and our timing. We almost lost a week for phase 4.”Due to the six snow days that have to be made up, Reed said it could affect a portion of the project, but noted workers are trying to make that time up.?Hopefully that will not cause any delay,” said Reed.Reed said the deadline to finish the project is Aug. 24 and she?s hoping to hold a grand opening/open house in late September for residents to see the finished school.With six snow days taken this year, Superintendent Richard Langlois said graduation is still scheduled for Friday, May 31 with the last day of school on June 26.Reed said the Superintendent Search Committee met Thursday to do “preliminary reviews” of applications and noted that applications are still coming in.Reed also said she had no update on the audit into the high school and middle student activity accounts, “but hopefully we will soon.”In his update to the committee Langlois said a new fingerprint check bill will go into effect over the summer and all new school employees will require fingerprinting.Langlois also said a statement of interest for a new high school was “submitted electronically” on Thursday and is now with the Massachusetts School Building Authority.In other business, Finance Director Pola Andrews updated the committee on the schools budget. Andrews said as of Feb. 28, $14 million has been spent of the $25 million total budget, which she called “on target.”Saugus High School junior Jonathan McTague said he had an amazing time at Shadow Day last week, where he shadowed Sate Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein (D-Revere). McTague said the experience made him want to pursue a career in politics.?It was an eye-opener for me,” he said. “I talked to many students that participated and they were all floored.”School Committee member Arthur Grabowski said he wants the committee to “propose a protocol from the superintendent on down” for any communication from parents or residents to be responded to within 48 hours.?I believe the residents and parents deserve to get, even just an acknowledgement, in that 48-hour period,” he said.Lastly, Grabowski asked Reed to send a thank you letter to resident Russell Tripp, who lives across from the Belmonte Middle School and helps plow the sidewalks during snow storms.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].