DOVER- As the new school year gets underway, Dover School students and staff are enjoying upgraded meals above and beyond the usual cafeteria fare. The board announced at their Monday night meeting that Jim Martis, the school’s new chef, worked with famed chef and television personality Emeril Lagasse for several years and came to Dover School with a letter of recommendation from the culinary celebrity. Board member Vicki Capitani is confident “eatership” will rise this year with the addition of Chef Martis.

Prior to the start of the official meeting, the board met with a group of representatives from Kids in the Country Daycare to discuss the possibility of moving the daycare facility from the space it currently occupies in the Dover Free Library building to Dover School next year.

According to Andrea Sumner, Director of Kids in the Country, “It was a preliminary meeting to discuss cooperation between the school and the daycare as a possible way to enhance quality and availability of early childhood services in the community.”

Economic issues have also become a concern for Kids in the Country since United Way changed its funding policy and will no longer fund individual childcare facilities. The daycare will receive its last check from United Way in December. In the meantime, the facility continues to seek grant dollars and hold fundraising events. Kids in the Country also received some emergency financial assistance from the Dover Economic Development Committee.

According to school board chairman Rich Werner, housing the daycare requires office and storage space along with classrooms and activity areas. Werner noted that while the school does have empty spaces, they aren’t grouped together. “Before we jump in, let’s make sure there’s enough water in the pool,” said Werner.

The board also discussed the school’s energy-generating windmill that was funded by a combination of grant and school dollars. While originally erected in 2005 as a source of power for the school, the windmill quickly became a source of frustration for school staff and board members. It has been fraught with problems from the get-go and never came close to meeting energy expectations. “In three years, the windmill has generated only about $500 worth of electricity, nowhere near the thousands of dollars it cost to bring it here,” said Capitani.

In addition to not fulfilling its power promises, parts of the windmill have been broken for some time and Tom Halnon, of Vermont Green Energy Systems, agreed to take it down and send it to Oklahoma for warranty repair. The board is awaiting Halnon’s timeline for repair.

As a next step, the board asked that Windham Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Wendy Houlihan contact Halnon and also appointed Dover resident and volunteer Ed Barber to help coordinate the remediation issues. Principal Mach told the board that Halnon was willing to take down the windmill and relocate it, but the school would be unable to recoup any of its investment dollars.

In her principal’s report, Mach stated that there are two new state-placed students whose educational expenses are currently Dover School’s responsibility. “We will incur expenses not budgeted for their placement but it is 100% reimbursable from the state and will eventually catch up with us,” said Mach.