Remaining Notes from Feb. 8 B-W School Board Meeting

B-W School Board Won't Remove Softball Field Parking Ban

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B-W School District Does Some Restructuring

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More Security Cameras Coming to Baldwin High School

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District to Save Money Through Refinancing

Who doesn't like having more money?

Jamie Doyle, of Public Financial Management, the 's financial adviser regarding debt, discussed a potential savings with the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board on Wednesday night.

Doyle informed the board that, if it granted approval to refinance a general obligation bond that it issued in 2005, the district could realize savings anywhere from $96,600 to around $250,000.

Any savings above $96,600 won't be known until after interest rates lock in on May 9 and the district conducts an Internet bond sale.

"We're not going to replace the debt at all," Doyle explained. "We're simply going to replace those higher rates with today's lower rates.

" ... Interest rates are basically setting new all-time lows."

The school board voted, 8-0, to allow Public Financial Management to proceed with the refinancing. Board member Nancy Lee Crowder was absent.

Sciulli DiNardo Wants More Payment Details

Although she ultimately voted in favor of approving the payment of a number of district invoices, including those in the general, cafeteria and athletic fund accounts, board member Nancy Sciulli DiNardo took issue with what she thought was a lack of details for the payments as presented to the board by the district's finance and operations team.

Sciulli DiNardo, as well as fellow board member Larry Pantuso, asked William D. McKain, the district's assistant to the superintendent for finance and operations, to provide more details in the future for expenses that might not be as clear to school board members as they are to district administrators.

McKain said that he sees no problem with doing so.

"We want to give you as much information as you need," he said.

Board Honors Outstanding Students

The B-W School Board honored 16 students on Wednesday for various academic achievements:

• Zia Amanullah (Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School Extra Effort Award - Machine Shop)
• Matthew LaPlace (Steel Center Extra Effort - Electrical Construction)
• Sean Meyer (Extra Effort - Collision Repair & Refinishing)
• Mariah Nelson (Extra Effort - Cosmetology)
• Robert Schricker (Extra Effort - Auto Mechanics)
• Neil Sutton (Extra Effort - Building Trades)
• Kaylin Thornhill (Extra Effort - Cosmetology)
• Daniel Hutchison (Steel Center Top of the Shop Award - Carpentry)
• Chelsea Pilarski (Top of the Shop - Cosmetology)
• Nakeya Tompkins (Top of Shop - Cosmetology)
• Alicia Mastroianni (Scholastic Art Competition Gold Key Award - Drawing)
• Christina Danielson (Scholastic Art Gold Key - Drawing)
• Bridgette Mekkelsen (Scholastic Art Honorable Mention - Painting)
• Joe Orsini (Scholastic Art Honorable Mention - Painting)
• Lydia Gallagher (Scholastic Art Honorable Mention - Painting)
• Vivianne Mazzocco (Scholastic Art Honorable Mention - Ceramics)

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