$500G gift to Saugus High making an impact

SAUGUS – A $500,000 gift bequeathed to Saugus High School nearly two years ago is finally making its first impact.Superintendent Richard Langlois said 75 Chromebook laptops will be purchased for $20,000.According to Langlois, a portion of the gift, which was left to the school by Gloucester resident and Saugus High alum Ed O?Neil, is to be used for scholarships while some is to be used for new projects and not to supplement the school?s budget.Math curriculum supervisor Michael Hashem said at Thursday?s School Committee meeting that the Chromebooks will create three mobile computer labs for the high school.?This would basically expand our labs by three and would allow them to have the labs in their classroom as opposed to traveling and seeing if they?re booked,” he said.School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed called the purchase a “nice boost” while Geoff Bruno, Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability, noted usage of Chromebooks at the elementary level is “off the charts.”Finance Director Pola Andrews said the town is putting out a bid to see where to invest the remaining money.In other School Committee business, Andrews said the district has spent $16.6 million as of March 31 and spending remains “on target” with 35 percent of the budget available for the next three months.However, despite the “positive position,” Andrews said there are “some areas of concern” because an increase in free and reduced lunch participation has resulted in a decrease in revenue.Andrews said this could affect the athletic account and the fine arts account and said the athletic account isn?t in deficit but has an operating deficit of $30,000.Andrews said she will institute an athletic budget for 2014 based on this year to ensure all sports are offered and all fine arts programs are offered.Andrews also said the substitute nurse line item is overspent, which shows a need for a full-time nurse as was requested in the school department?s budget proposal, and the food service equipment line item is overspent by $4,000 due to “a lot of equipment failure.”The committee transferred nearly $4,000 from buildings and grounds to the food service equipment budget.Langlois also spoke about the Boston Marathon bombings and said the district offered support to students at all the schools and noted students were “pretty strong under the circumstances.”?It certainly gave rise for reflection,” he said. “Thinking about all that happened the impact it had on Boston and the lives in our community. Many people we know were impacted and for that I want to extend the support of the schools. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who?s immediate family?s were affected.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].