The Nobleboro Central School was the recipient of a $700 grant to support a project to improve the quality of snacks that are available to students.
The grant from the Let’s Go! program at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center will provide equipment and supplies for the program.
According to the website at letsgo.org, the Let’s Go! program is “a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program.”
The program’s goal is to increase physical activity and healthy eating for children from birth to age 18 through policy and environmental change.
NCS also received a grant for the school’s Senior Buddies inter-generational program originally called Miles of Friends. The funds will help purchase craft supplies and snacks.
The $500 grant came from the non-profit organization Forever Friends Inc.
According to the website foreverfriends.org, the nonprofit’s mission “is rooted in the value of inter-generational relationships. The organization strives to bring children and elders together in a variety of settings so both groups learn from and about each other, form friendships, and break down age-related stereotypes,” the website states.
Once a month, NCS third graders get together with local senior citizens. Meetings generally take place at NCS and may include crafts, bingo and guest speakers.
The program is coordinated by teacher Paula Schuster. Recent field trips have included a tour of The Lincoln County News facility in Newcastle and a trip to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay.
The NCS School Board heard a review of the preliminary budget when they met Dec. 10.
Superintendent Steve Bailey told the board that he could not project revenues, since figures were not yet available from the state Dept. of Education. He said he hoped plans for a curtailment of spending, suggested by Gov. Paul LePage, would not negatively impact local school budgets.
At this point, with seven months remaining in the fiscal year, there should be 62 percent of the budgeted funds remaining, Bailey said. As he went through the budget lines, he told the board spending was on target.
Bailey said there were some fixed costs over which the board and administration had no control. He said special education is one of those areas that fluctuates widely from year to year, as students enter and leave the district.
When special needs students move from the elementary and middle grades into high school, the cost of educating them increases dramatically, he said.
The cost of paying tuition for those students who attend private high school or are not served within the district is another factor that Bailey said was outside his control.
“We can’t control who our population is,” Bailey said. “We have to serve students in Nobleboro.”
Bailey reminded the board that the current draft budget is only a proposal. He asked them to consider it carefully and present their suggestions at an upcoming budget workshop meeting, scheduled to take place Thurs., Jan. 3 at 6 p.m.
The next meeting of the Nobleboro Central School Board will take place Mon., Jan 14 at 6 p.m. Both meetings will be held in the NCS library and are open to the public.
