Starting in September, school lunch prices across all Tri-Town schools will increase by 25 cents, said Food Services Director Caitlin Meagher on May 6 during the Marion School Committee Meeting.
The committee approved the rise in the school lunch cost at Sippican School, and other districts are expected to approve the 25-cent increase within the following week.
Meagher said the rising cost of food, aging equipment needing repairs, and the cost of replacing old equipment are the reasons behind the increase.
“It makes sense,” said School Committee member Christine Marcolini. School lunch prices at Sippican School have not increased since 2011, said Meagher, the year she took on the role of food services director.
The current price of $2.50 for lunch at Sippican School will be $2.75 come September 2015 into the 2015/2016 school year.
Also during the meeting, Sippican School Principal Evelyn Rivet said the school’s student body will increase by five students next fall as a result of round one of acceptance of qualified applicants for the 40B affordable housing development.
Rivet said the biggest impact would be on the kindergarten and third grade classrooms, with 55 students entering the three kindergarten classrooms in the fall and 66 entering the three third-grade classes.
“[That is] at the top end of the number that we would like to see,” said Rivet.
Superintendent Doug White said a total of 15 students moving to Marion Village Estates located off Front Street will enter the Old Rochester Regional and Marion school district.
In other matters, school administrators are unhappy about having to wait until November for the state to release the early data from this year’s piloting of the new PARCC testing that took the place of the MCAS.
“Which is very, very, very disappointing,” said Assistant Superintendent Elise Frangos. “And everyone in the education world has weighed in on it.”
White said one of the initial positive aspects of adopting the PARCC exam instead of continuing the MCAS for another year was the promise of the earlier availability of the resulting data.
“It’s not only bothersome to me,” said White, “but to many superintendents across the districts.”
Parents should expect to receive their child’s scores later in December.
Also during the meeting, the committee accepted a donation valuing $500 to $750 for free tick spraying around the perimeter of Sippican School from a local business.
Facilities Manager Gene Jones said the all-natural product consisting of oils such as rosemary and peppermint would be applied several times throughout the season early in the morning over certain weekends.
School Committee Chairman Joseph Scott and committee member Jay Pateakos both said their good-byes to the committee, the administration, and their constituents during their last meeting as School Committee members. They were both honored with a book for the library at Sippican School dedicated to each of them.
The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for June 3 at 6:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
