An upgrade to a generator that will allow school to remain open, with basic utilities when there is an outage, was approved this week by the Leland Board of Education.

The board voted 4-0 Monday night to accept a proposal from Windemuller Electric to install and wire a single phase "step-down" transformer at a cost of $15,503. The upgrade will provide enough power to support the facility’s boiler and air circulation system as well as kitchen refrigerators.

The district had to cancel classes on three occasions in the past year due to the loss of electrical power. The generator in place wasn’t suffi cient to continue to hold classes, Stowe said.

“By upgrading the generator there will be no reason to close school,” Stowe said. “If we can get them here, we can have school.”

Stowe said that the upgrade, paid for through the district’s sinking fund, will also allow the school to be used as an emergency shelter if the community experiences extended outages similar to that which happened in March.

In other business during the 58-minute meeting the board:

• Tabled a resolution in support of a ballot initiative by the county Early Childhood Development Commission seeking a referendum to publicly fund early childhood development programs. “We wanted to wait until more board members were present to act on it,” Stowe said.

• Designated Stowe and business manager Sandy Thomas as authorized signatories for the district.