The Town of Webb UFSD Board of Education held a meeting on Tuesday, April 1, where it took the actions summarized as follows (not official minutes).
Approved the Minutes of March 18, 2014 meeting.
Approved the Warrants and Claims.
Approved the Committee on Special Education Recommendations.
Approved the Resignation for Retirement of Paul Giessler, with regret and appreciation for his years of service at the Town of Webb UFSD, effective June 30, 2015.
Approved the 2014-2015 school district budget in the amount of $8,109,420 and the Board of Education be authorized to levy the necessary tax on the real property of the district.
Approved the school holidays on Friday, May 23 and Thursday June 26, 2014 using two unused emergency closing days, unless needed earlier. If an emergency day is needed before May 23rd, we would have school on that day.
Approved One (1) bus and driver to transport Girl Scouts from Old Forge Camping Resort to Moose River Farm and back to Old Forge Camping Resort on Saturday, May 17, 2014.
Old Forge Camping Resort bearing all related costs and upon provision of a certificate of insurance from Old Forge Camping Resort and the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways, Inc. naming the school district as an additional insured and pending driver availability.
Approved the provisional appointment of Loretta Gaffney as Office Assistant II, effective July 1, 2014.
Approved the temporary, part-time appointment of Loretta Gaffney as Office Assistant II at the rate of $12.00/hour, for the period April 1-June 30, 2014.
This appointment is for the purpose of training necessary related to the provisional appointment beginning July 1, 2014.
Approved the acceptance of a donation from Gary Kunath related to a memorial naming the baseball field in honor of Kyle Riedman. [See story on Page 1]
Special Topics included: A Review of the 2014-2015 budget
Principal’s Report:
Students and faculty were consulted about the dress code. Presidents and Vice Presidents of classes brought the topic to their homeroom for discussion and feedback.
A meeting was then held to bring those suggestions to the administration.
The faculty was also surveyed about these suggestions and asked for their feedback.
Any changes or modifications to the dress code will be presented in July to the BOE.
Our very own Deb Church was nominated and won the Jefferson-Lewis BOCES Educa-tional Office Professional of the Year Award. This was out of the 18 component districts in our BOCES. Congratulations! We are so proud to have had Mrs. Church here for the last 25 years!
Thank you to Ms. Gaudin, Mrs. Herrman, Mrs. Amos, other faculty and community members, parents and all of our students who performed either on stage or as part of stage crew. “Annie Get Your Gun” was a terrific performance for our community.
Our 8th grade went on a field trip going to BOCES (Career Awareness) on Thursday, 3/27 with Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Amos.
Our Drug Quiz Team went on a field trip going to HCCC on Thursday, 3/27 with Mrs. Ehrensbeck and Mr. McGrath. Congratulations to the Drug Team (K. Russell, A. Mekkri, K. Zheng, N. Olsen, D. Ehrensbeck, B. Greene and Captain V. Slone) took second place amongst most Herkimer county schools.
Old Forge Library Poetry & Illustration Opening Reception took place on Wednesday, 3/26 with students from our English and Art classes.
• A. Townsend WINNER “Best in Show” drawing titled “Make a Wish.”
• Honorable Mention Awards: A. Cooper, C. DeFilipps, A. Dolan, A. Fallon, and M. Payne.
• Elementary Honorable Mention Awards: L. Bartel, C. Donovan, M. Eisenhart, L. Hodge, K. Hollister, J. Pratt, J. Rundell and M. Sinker.
Our PARP Finale took place with students taking part in different activities that were camping related such as knot-tying with Mr. Leach, tracking with Mrs. D. Ritz, S’mores with Mrs. T. Down, and fishing with Mr. Rogers.
Eskimos of the Month were announced today and displayed for all to see in the hallway.
Congratulations to M. Payne (Senior)! Miss Payne’s painting of her Father playing piano was one of six works selected at the Congressional Art Show on Friday night, March 28 sponsored by Congressman Hanna to represent the 24th Congressional District of NYS in a regional competition at Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute/Pratt School in May.
If Miss Payne’s piece is selected as the winner of this regional show it will then hang at the nation’s Congressional Office in Washington D.C. for one year.
Also congratulations to A. Townsend who received an Honorable Mention for a mixed media drawing.
The Junior class collection for the annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society pennies for patients drive concluded on Monday, 3/31 with 8th grade coming in 1st place for collecting the most towards drive! Overall, the school collected over $1,000!
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Superintendent’s Report included the topics:
The baseball/softball field work will begin when we can actually see the fields again. We have sought information and pricing on work to cut back and realign base paths and install clay bricks to help alleviate drainage issues and reduction in base path in certain areas as both of which are potential safety/maintenance issues.
We have moved to finalize our annual snow day give back in our calendar. With the use of one actual snow day this year we are left with only two to return.
This means Memorial Day will receive one with one held in reserve until the end of the year in case we have an unforeseen need to close the building.
Our building Principal sent out a very well written letter to our students who began the 3-8 ELA testing this week.
The letter was a letter of support and recognition for who our students are as unique individuals. Fortunately we truly do get to know our students here simply based on our population size. This letter has gained notoriety and has been shared a great deal via social media outside the initial intended audience. (See letter on pages 4 & 5)
State Budget: The state budget looks better for our school in terms of funding for the upcoming year through both formula aid and GEA (Gap Elimination Adjustment) restoration.
Some of the funds listed on our run sheet are tied to expenses so the numbers are not a true reflection of every dollar we will receive.
The budget included over a billion dollars of new monies for schools.
There were however some big benefits reserved mainly for the city including 300 of 340 million dollars of pre K money being earmarked for the city.
There is also Charter school tuition and other perks for these schools.
There is a maximum allocation for Smart School money listed in the documents received from the State but that money will only happen if a two billion dollar bond proposition passes at the State level this coming November.
All in all the funding puts us in a better position when we look at our 5 year projections and plans.
There was legislation tied to the budget conversations at the State related to Common Core and Teacher/Principal Evaluation among other things.
The following highlights were tied to and came out of the process:
GEA monies were partially restored but GEA (Gap Elimination Adjustment) was not eliminated.
No significant mandate relief (failure of special ed waiver plan)
No provision to allow regional high schools
Student promotion cannot be based solely on State Exams (only moratorium successful related to 3-8 testing; teacher evals remain the same)
Charter school building aid was rejected
Tax cap permanency rejected
New reporting regulations associated with DASA were rejected
Items specifically related to Common Core
• Third party involvement with student data storage was rejected (inBloom) at the state level but local schools can still use third party vendors
• Use the RICS to store student data in state
• Schools will be allowed to “opt out” of sending data to the RIC or BOCES. Parents will not have the right to opt out of this individually
Imposed on SED:
• Increase of number of questions released after each exam
• Education for parents and community regarding Common Core
• No new funding to accomplish the above with the funding source suggested against Federal Law
Directed to the Commis-sioner:
• Restrict K-2 state testing
• Place time restrictions on total time allowed for high stakes testing
• Test scores not included in permanent folders
• Students with disabilities will now be tested at their developmental age
• ELL (English Language Learners) can be tested on progress instead of proficiency
• Expedited revisions in APPR (Annual Professional Perfor-mance Review) approval for time allocation changes
• Testing transparency reports to the school districts
• Employment of a chief privacy officer
• Parents will have a Bill of Rights created by SED (State Education Department)
Property tax rebates will rely on schools staying at or below their yearly cap. The state will issue refund checks. Schools must develop a plan to reduce their levy by 1% in subsequent years through shared services or consolidations.
*This language still needs clarification and guidance as the exact language seen so far is unclear.
Smart Schools Money – Two Billion dollar bond act; if passed would include funding to replace temporary classrooms with new construction, funding for broad connectivity for schools and communities, laptops, whiteboards, student tablets, high tech security equipment.
Pre K monies– Would provide bulk of first year funding to NYC. Will possibly reimburse funding of up to $10k for certified and $7k for uncertified instructors.
Many things will have to be clarified prior to knowing and understanding the exact implications of each part of what has been included in the state budgetary process.
We are receiving multiple updates per day at this point giving snapshots and beliefs as to both the short and long term implications of each component.
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On Thursday, April 24, the next meeting is scheduled in the Library.
Approved minutes can be found at www.towschool.org
