DSB Receives RMS Chemical Leak Report; Board To Discuss Community Service Motion Soon – Dresden School Board Update (05/22/2018)
The Dresden School Board had a busy agenda at its May meeting, so they wasted no time getting down to business. Board chairman Neill Odell started the meeting off by welcoming some representatives from Hanover’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) to talk about their ongoing monitoring of a gas plume at RMS. The contaminant is a compound called trichloroethylene, or TCE. However, testing shows that the concentration is minute and that the leak has been adequately contained. Testing will end in the foreseeable future (after 2020).
Next a representative of Twin Pines Affordable Housing discussed a plan to develop school property near the Dresden Fields into affordable housing. They promised that the facility would remain open for school use and even talked about the possibility of building bathrooms or a field house.
Lastly, they discussed the Community Service Graduation Requirement motion, a piece of legislation passed by Council in May 2017 that would require HHS students to complete ten hours of community service each year in order to graduate. The DSB has yet to pass the motion (which requires board approval) but did schedule debate for the June meeting. A group of Council members will go to that meeting with the goal of providing insight about the motion and the process by which it was debated and passed. Current HHS students will likely never be required to fulfill the requirement because Principal Campbell and the administration have decided that it would be best to implement the policy starting with an incoming class should the motion pass the board.
Editor’s note: Since he was chosen by Council to serve as the Dresden School Board representative for the 2018-2019 school year, Oliver Minshall will now be writing mostly DSB meeting updates. The Broadside would like to give special thanks to former DSB representative Perrin Milliken for the updates she has written over the past school year and to Oliver for continuing the series.
