The School Committee voted unanimously at its Sept. 8 meeting to use $4,800 from the Shaw Trust to pay for a curb cut at the bus drop-off door of Hildreth Elementary School, making that entry accessible for all students. A curb cut was also installed at the entrance to the elementary school’s gym to improve accessibility for voters, now that elections are held there. The cost for that curb cut will come from the Department of Public Works budget, as the change was primarily for a civic purpose.
In another vote, committee members approved spending between $10,000 and $11,000 from the trust for each of two vending machines to sell snacks at HES and the Bromfield School. Currently, a food service employee is paid to remain until the end of the school day, so that students in after-school programs or sports can buy snacks. The vending machines will allow the district to cut that daily cost.
According to School Superintendent Linda Dwight, snack vending machines once provided some revenue for the schools. But those machines were removed because the items in them did not meet the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s guidelines for healthy snacks. The new machines will have snacks that fit DESE’s standards. Whether they fit the appetites of hungry kids after school remains to be seen.
