Daily Five: Acting Superintendent Will Update Parents Friday

1.  Today is Thursday, May 10.  The National Weather Service predicts showers, mainly before 11 a.m. and areas of dense fog before 10 a.m. It will be cloudy otherwise, then gradually become sunny, with a high temperature of 64 degrees. The low will fall to 47 tonight.

2.  Acting Superintendent Mary Anne Butler said she will post a letter to parents on the school department website Friday updating them on redistricting and middle school consolidation. “And it’s going to explain where we are in those processes,” she said.

The school board pending an investigation, and named Butler acting superintendent. The Groton Board of Education is in the midst of plans to redistrict the public schools and consolidate from three to two middle schools, and meets next at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Town Hall Annex.

Butler told Representative Town Meeting Wednesday she was grateful for the support she received during the past 48 hours. “We’re all going to move forward in a positive direction to support our mission,” she said.

3.  Groton has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed $5.6 million project to rebuild Crystal Lake Road, the main entrance to Naval Submarine Base New London.

The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 24 in the Town Hall Annex. The project would include 2,050 feet of road widening, realignment of the intersection of Military Highway and Crystal Lake Road and improvements at the Route 12 intersection. It would be paid for this way: 80 percent from the federal government, 10 percent from the state and 10 percent from Groton.

4.  The Groton Open Space Association plans to apply to the Connecticut Department of Environmental and Energy Protection for a grant to buy a 91-acre parcel of land on Lambtown Road and Gold Star Highway.  The property would be kept in its natural state and accessible to the public.

Animal species found on the site include the endangered Blue-winged warbler, Sedge Wren, Common Nighthawk and Yellow-breasted Chat. The deadline for the grant application is June 28.

5.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary are offering a public education course about boating safety. The program will be held from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, at Gales Ferry Marina on Chapman Lane. The cost is $50. For more information, call Tom Ceniglio at (860) 262-0688.