Following is Superintendent Rex Germer’s Report from the Town of Webb Union Free School District’s Board of Education meeting held on February 16th. 

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In the continuing effort to secure mental health services locally we have engaged in a number of meetings with various agencies and groups including Catholic Charities, The NYS Office of Mental Health and The Neighborhood Center.

Right now we are looking at implementing a program called Sources of Strength within the school.

The training for this will begin soon and involves our students as well as volunteer staff mentors. 

We were added to the State trained and funded list after the initial meetings.

We have also qualified for postvention services and have a representative coming to meet with us soon regarding the possible future placement of mental health services within the community.

Although the last piece remains very preliminary and would rely on the availability of professional personnel it is our hope that our school community will be benefiting from new, locally available services in the near future.

A meeting was had with Supervisor Moore last week to discuss a number of topics including the liaisons between the Town Board and the School Board.

This was a topic of discussion at the Town Board gathering last evening from what I have heard.

I will be looking to further meet with him to solidify the expectations of this person and have this implemented as soon as possible.

I am hopeful this relationship will further solidify a relationship among community elected officials as we move ourselves forward and look to build a successful future as a school and community.

We want to remind the public that this year there will only be one planned Budget Hearing as opposed to the three the Board of Education has scheduled in the past.

If a group would like us to do a presentation for them we ask that you contact the District Office so that we can schedule a presentation for you.

My absence at the last meeting was due to a conference with BOCES in South Carolina.

This conference was for High Schools that Work and directly connected us to industry.

This conference included high tech industrial tours as well as panel discussions with the industry leaders.

We were gathering information on how best to connect to and offer our students real world experiences to help prepare them for their futures.

Industry also shared their concern for a lack of soft skills and motivation among new workers.

They stated multiple times their willingness to hire students with HS diplomas or college degrees if they were intrinsically motivated and were not only willing but motivated to learn.

One company also shared that although they were willing to hire good entry level employees who met the above stated criteria but when it came time to negotiate their salary the GPA came into play.

This leader stated that the difference between a 2.9 college GPA and a 3.0 college GPA yields a $20,000 difference in pay discussion.

The take away was that we need to have students with a broad set of skills who are motivated to learn and work and in many cases are self driven learners and workers.

It was also stressed how important internships and externships were along with community connections to further enhance the education of students prior to placement in college or the work force.

We have an insurance claim regarding our auxiliary gym floor. We had flooding during the summer and the moisture was trapped below the wood floor. The wood floor is now buckling.

Estimates have been received to sand down the floor to bare wood and then refinish.