Daily Five: East Lyme's Role In A New Shelter

1. Today should be sunny, with a high of 71, according to the National Weather Service. Expect it to be cooler tonight, with a low of 48, according to the service.

2. Patch recently had to call former Waterford superintendent Randall Collins about a story, and began talking with him about what he was up to. Collins retired three months ago after being the superintendent for 19 years at Waterford, and 30 years overall.

“I miss a lot of it,” Collins said. “But it was the right time for me to do something else. I was ready to stop being a superintendent after 30 years.”

Collins was quick to compliment the administrative team at Waterford, and said it always did well with the freedom he allowed. For example, some superintendents have zero-tolerance policies on discipline, which Collins opposed, instead allowing the principals that discretion.

“We’ve got a great group of administrators.,” Collins said. “I knew I could trust them; they would never make an outrageous error.”

Collins was complimentary of current Superintendent Jerome Belair as well, saying with the difficult budget season. “He had a tough year, but I think he’s done a good job at it,” Collins said.

Collins currently works in a variety of mediums, all related to how superintendents and school districts as a whole can best do their jobs. He does consulting, writing for district administration, works with the government and speaks at conferences, and helps do some superintendent searches.

3. Patch interviewed East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica Wednesday about constructing . The shelter is shared between the two towns, but so far only Waterford has been actively fundraising.

Formica will meet with First Selectman Dan Steward and decide a plan on how to raise money, he said. He also wants the ad-hoc committee to contact the East Lyme Times to get an article about the new shelter to help garner donations.

“It is a regional shelter, so I would expect we would be part of it,” Formica said.

4. A few quick shout-outs to Waterford students who have done good. Solomon Ross has been named the Charles O. Thompson Scholar at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for academics. And Renee Lanza has been placed on WPI’s dean list for the spring semester.

5. A day of streaks. On this date in 1925, Lou Gehrig gets the start at first base over Wally Pipp for the New York Yankees. Gehrig would go on to play 2,130 consecutive games, until he was diagnosed with ALS. And on this date in 2004, Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on Jeopardy.

Quote of the Day

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”

-P.T. Barnum

Trivia of the Day

The question (really, the answer) Jennings got wrong to end his streak: “Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.”

Yesterday’s Answer: The largest bankruptcy in American history was by Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. on Sept. 15, 2008. Lehman Brothers had more than $600 billion in assets when it filed for Chapter 11.