Daily Five: RTM Begins Budget Debate; School Board Approves Portables

1.  Today is Tuesday, May 1.  The National Weather Service predicts mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature of 59 degrees. The low will drop to 46 degrees tonight.

2.  Representative Town Meeting convened is annual budget meeting Monday and discussed whether to approve the budget for town operations as one lump sum and fund it at last year’s spending level, rather than looking at items line by line.  The suggestion failed overwhelmingly.

3.  The Groton Board of Education on Monday approved final plans to install two double-classroom portables at Cutler Middle School, at a cost of $687,620, and one double-classroom portable at West Side Middle School, at a cost of $388,120. The portables are needed to accommodate additional students, because .

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4.  The school board also approved plans to replace a portion of the roof at Fitch High School, at a cost of $644,000. State grants may be available to reimburse half the cost, according to Wes Greenleaf, director of buildings and grounds for the public schools.

5.  Students at are taking part in the 23^rd annual “All Children Exercising Simultaneously”, or ACES event, at 10 a.m. today. The program, sometimes called as “the worlds largest exercise class,” asks students from schools across the globe to exercise at the same time on a day in May, to encourage physical fitness. Parents may join the children on school field. May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.