The Daily Five: School Security, In the Swim, In the Arts, And a Soldier Remembered

1. We should see some sun today. Weather.com is predicting a partly cloudy day with a high temperature of 49 degrees and a clear night with overnight lows of 32 degrees. 

2. Having featured the record setting achievements of two swimming siblings from Old Lyme yesterday, it would be remiss of me not to mention the outstanding achievements of East Lyme High School's swim team, which remains undefeated for the sixth season straight.

The swim team had its annual banquet at the High School Cafeteria last night to celebrate the season's greatest victories. Those include Christian Berg, who was named Swimmer of the Meet in the EEC Championship in Groton earlier this month during which he set new records in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard free events, and Adam Opsahl, who set a new record in the EEC 100-yard butterfly and a new school record this season. 

For space reasons, I can't mention everyone here, but I can say congratulations to everyone!

3. Brooke Erinakes, a 10-year-old East Lyme resident, was recently named the winner of the 2013 Online Sleuths Contest, sponsored by Bob’s Discount Furniture and the Garde Arts Center.

This contest, now in its sixth consecutive year, challenged Connecticut and western Rhode Island students to use their sleuthing skills for a chance to win a gift card to Bob’s and a trip for their entire class to see a Schooltime Performance Series show at the Garde Arts Center.  

Bob’s Niantic store opened an hour early on Saturday for a private shopping event for Brooke and her family so she could use her gift card. Bob’s sponsors Garde Arts Schooltime Performance Series because the store believes it's important for local businesses to support the performing arts.

Another business that is supporting art in schools in a very literal way is Vasiloff Stained Glass LLC, which has offered a donation to East Lyme Middle School's Art Department valued at $3,700.

4. East Lyme Board of Education met last night and, as has become standard procedure since Sandy Hook, part of the meeting was dedicated to school security. Although the school district has made great strides in identifying areas of weakness and shoring them up, the emergency drill that ran through a potential shooting scenario conducted at the High School earlier this year exposed a few flaws in the system.

"We failed on a lot of levels," said East Lyme Resident State Trooper Sgt. Wilfred Blanchette at a recent forum on school safety. The drill, which was originally planned before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened, involved emergency responders from surrounding towns including Old Lyme, Montville, Salem, Ledyard, and Waterford.

Although Blanchette didn't get into details about weaknesses the drill exposed for obvious reasons, communications inside the school were reportedly problematic. East Lyme emergency responders are currently assessing which areas could stand some improvement but that, said Blanchette, was the purpose of the exercise. 

"It was a very realistic drill," Blanchette said. "It was an exercise that everybody learns from working together with the schools. It was a great learning experience." 

5. Funeral services were held yesterday at St. George Church in Guilford for Army Capt. Andrew M. Pedersen-Keel, 28, who died March 11 in Afghanistan.

Pedersen-Keel, who was one of two soldiers killed by small-arms fire that day, will be buried Wednesday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Gov. Dannel Malloy had ordered flags remain at half-staff until this Connecticut Army Captain had been laid to rest.