SAUGUS — During the latest School Committee meeting, the committee approved multiple donations that would go towards field trips for the students.
The first donation was from the Veterans Early Learning Center PTO in the amount of $3,619.50 for a trip to the Boston Children’s Museum and transportation.
School Committee Chair Vincent Serino asked if anybody was there to speak about the donation, and the president of the PTO stood to speak. Serino also jokingly asked if she remembered the “big phone at the museum.”
“You ask that every time,” School Committee member Ryan Fisher said.
To which Serino responded, “Because I remember the big phone,” leading to a light laugh from the committee and the audience.
“We spend a lot of time there, so it’s great to see everything that we’re putting into it and seeing the teachers enjoy it, but also see the kids get to benefit from it, and part of that is their field trips that they have very much enjoyed,” she said.
Serino mentioned that he wants to bring back the field trip to the Freedom Trail, which was met with a little bit of confusion, as some couldn’t remember the trip.
“First the phone and now this,” Fisher said. “Does anybody remember this phone he’s talking about?” Fischer joked.
“There used to be a giant phone at the museum…You could climb on it,” Serino said. “Imagine bringing a giant rotary phone back? The kids wouldn’t know what to do,” he said.
The next two donations were accepted quickly, without the mention of a giant phone.
The Belmonte STEAM Academy PTO donated $5,090.45 to cover the cost of field trip buses, including a trip to the North Shore Museum of Science. There was also a $9,000 donation from WIN Waste for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade field trips to Canobie Lake Park and money for their field days.
