School District Unveils New Website: It has the same web address, but the Old Saybrook Public Schools website now has a completely new look. Rotating photos of students, staff, and events, and tabs with easy-to-read pull-down menus make the newly-redesigned website more up-to-date, dynamic, and easier to navigate.

Want to go check it out? Visit www.oldsaybrook.k12.ct.us to explore the new website for yourself.

Turf Field Work Restarted: Superintendent of Schools Jan Perruccio reports that the BSC Group and turf field contractor Guerrera Construction are making good progress on completing a mock-up of a new field base material installation.

The mock-up area will be used to test whether the newly chosen base material adequately improves the drainage characteristics of the planned base layer for the field. The percolation test will be done on the mock-up before the new base material is installed over the entire field as a new replacement base.

“After the percolation test results come back, we’ll be getting a phasing report,” said Perruccio.

If the results are favorable, the contractor and BSC Group will then develop a schedule for project completion.

High School Graduation Event Changes: Usually, the Old Saybrook High School (OSHS) graduation ceremony is held on the high school game field, where the bleachers are located. But not this year.

With the synthetic turf field and track surrounding it still unfinished, Perruccio and OSHS Principal Sheila Riffle have announced that the graduation ceremony will be relocated to the high school’s back field. The stage will be set up on an angle to avoid having parents looking directly into the setting sun as the students walk across the stage.

Goodwin Principal Retiring: In April, Kathleen Goodwin Elementary School Principal Sheila Brown announced that she would retire at the end of this school year.

The Board of Education has appointed Heston Sutman, currently the district’s director of curriculum coordination, to serve as Interim School Principal of Goodwin School for the 2015-’16 school year. This step will allow the board to advertise for a new permanent school principal starting in February 2016, when the annual school district hiring season begins and more candidates are typically seeking new positions.