The Town of Webb Union Free School District Board of Education held a meeting on Tuesday, August 12, that was preceded by a 6:30 p.m. public hearing on the Code of Conduct, as required by the Dignity For All Students Act.
The following actions are summarized and do not represent the board’s official minutes.
Special Topics/Public Forum:
a. Tax Levy Discussion
b. Board Goals
The Board of Education took the following action:
Approved the Minutes of June 30 and July 1, 2014
Approved the Warrants and Claims
Approved the Treasurer’s Reports for June 2014
Approved the recommendations from the Committee Special Education
Approved the appointment of Sharon Finkle-Kleps as the 2014-2015 Tax Collector.
Approved the following Bank Employees as Deputy Tax Collectors for the 2014-2015 school year: Linda Rodriguez, Barbara Criss, Sarah Morin, Leslie Beauchamp, April Deis, Katlyn Payne, and Barbara Bolognia.
Appointed Homeroom Teachers/Grade Advisors/Club Advisors for 2014-2015:
K-12 HOMEROOM TEACHERS: Hannah Payne, Kinder-garten; Karen Mitchell, 1st Grade; Madeline Fenton, 2nd Grade; Gayle Ritz, 3rd Grade; Diane Gaige, 4th Grade; Anne Phinney, 5th Grade; Philip Petty, 6th Grade; Mary Starring, 7th Grade; Nathan Smith, 8th Grade; Diane Amos, 9th Grade; Tracy Down, 10th Grade; Dave Leach, 11th Grade; G. Michael Cunningham, 12th Grade.
GRADE /ADVISORS: Mary Starring, 7th Grade; Nathan Smith, 8th Grade; Diane Amos, 9th Grade; TBD, 10th Grade; Madeline Fenton, 11th Grade; G. Michael Cunningham, 12th Grade.
CLUB ADVISORS: Danielle Harmer, Science Club, Co-Advisor; Andrew Huntress, Science Club, Co-Advisor; Robert Fountain, Art Club; Karen Morosko, Travel Club; Kandis Griffin, National Honor Society; Emily Herrmann, Stage Band; Jed Kinney, Student Council; Anne Phinney, Student Council Social Committee; David Leach, Varsity Club; Brad Donovan, Yearbook; Brad Donovan, Central Treasurer; Diane Amos, Key Club; Valerie Gaudin, Drama Production; Kirsten Down, AV Coordinator.
Approved the Confirmation of the Tax Rolls & Authorized the Tax Levy:
Total Assessed Valuations by Towns are:
• Webb: $1,698,983,533;
• Forestport: $145,653,470;
• Total: $1,844,637,003
Equalized Tax Rate by Towns:
• Webb: 100%;
• Forestport: 85%.
Total Tax Levy by Towns:
• Webb: $5,086,928.00 (School); $127,241.33 (Library); $5,214,169.33 (Total).
• Forestport: 513,072.00 (School); 12,833.67 (Library); 525,905.67 (Total)
• Total for both Webb and Forestport: $5,740,075
Tax Rate per Thousand:
• Webb: 2.994101 (School); .074892 (Library); 3.068993 (Total)
• Forestport: 3.522553 (School); .088111 (Library); 3.610664 (Total)
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Authorize the District’s business office and District Treasurer to accept payment of penalties, rents, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations or other amounts, including penalties, special assessments or interest via online credit card payments accessible through the District’s website, with the understanding that other forms of payment remain acceptable.
Appointed Joseph Phaneuf and Sharon Evans to to the District’s Liaison Committee.
Accepted the resignation of Amanda Williams, Teacher Assistant with regret and appreciation for her service to the District, effective Aug. 30, 2014.
Approved J. Patrick Kinney as substitute teacher; Teri Perl as Substitute Teacher, Substitute Teacher Aide and Substitute Cafeteria Worker.
Approved and declared a list of items as surplus.
Approved the Outside Bus Use requested/submitted by the Central Adirondack Kiwanis Club for the use of buses and drivers for
One Square Mile of Hope – September 13, 2014. The Central Adirondack Kiwanis Club bearing all related costs and upon provision of a certificate of insurance naming the school district as additional insured and pending driver availability.
Approved the appointment Kirsten Down as AV Coordinator for the 2014-2015 school year.
Approved the 1st reading of Board Policy: 503.11- Parent Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security.
Approved the 2014-2015 K-6 Instructional Contract with Inlet Common School
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Principal’s Report submitted information regarding:
There were eleven (11) students who participated in elementary summer school for the four weeks of July with Madeline Fenton and Gayle Ritz as their teachers.
Student Sport Physicals went smoothly last week.
Varsity and Junior Varsity Fall sports will begin practicing on Monday, August 18th.
We have twelve (12) students taking regents exams on Wednesday, August 13 and Thursday August 14 to either improve their grade of achieve a passing score. Several are from out of the area.
The master schedule for the upcoming year is complete and will be mailed to faculty and staff.
The Family Information packets will be mailed to parents/guardians next week.
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Superintendent’s Report included the topics:
The architect has been in and given us a preliminary work up on the roof over the science wing.
The firm that was involved in the design and construction of that section of the building does not exist anymore.
The architect is recommending a restructuring of the current roof along with replacement of the roofing.
The current structure has a wall protruding several feet into the roof aligning with the angular wall protruding from the building where the large stairs are.
This does nothing more (from what he currently knows) than create a snow and rain catch area which leads to increased loads and wear on the roof surface.
I believe this component needs to be separated from the scope of our larger project (currently in conceptual plans of scope) and done as a separate item as the roof has been repaired several times already.
• Projected cost without wall restructuring is $197,000
• Projected cost with wall removal and restructuring is $226,500
• A taxpayer vote on the project is anticipated after initial engineering is complete with an anticipated spring/summer completion of the roof replacement
Many projects have been completed and many more are still yet to be completed this summer.
We have had a number of outside contractors in due to the scope of work we have undertaken and the building needs.
I will plan on touring the building with the BOE at our next meeting September 2nd.
The masonry repairs on the post office side of the building were much more extensive and expensive than originally anticipated but we did get the base of that side of the building completed.
Senator Farley has been contacted regarding potential grant monies for repairs needed to the front of the building including the pillars.
The State, in response to parent and school concerns, has released 50% of the questions on the 3-8 Assessments and has also given the District access to raw data showing how students answered questions on the assessments.
The data piece alone is daunting as it gives no indication of what the actual scoring will look like when all is said and done.
Teacher scores are not in nor is there formal guidance in respect to the reforms that were put in place at the end of the school year which keeps student scores off of student records and creates a safety net for teachers previously reported at the lower two levels of the mandated evaluation rankings.
We are looking forward to the beginning of another school year in few weeks.
Our teachers have already begun to trickle in and our 12 month employees continue to work hard to gear up for the new year and finish all of our regular summer maintenance and projects.
We have decided monthly school newsletters will not be mailed to families starting this year.
Previously the school newsletter has been mailed home to parents and was available in a digital format on our website for families and the community to access.
The newsletter will take on a new format with articles/updates available digitally.
We received a letter from Senator Farley with information regarding receipt of a $5,000 Bullet Aid Grant and we thank him for his help and consideration.
Our BOCES created a consortium to enable a better approach for grant writing and acquisition.
Currently the Town of Webb will be receiving the benefits associated with several million dollars of grants awarded to the consortium which will lead to curriculum development, data review and testing validity review.
The monies will also bring in a BOCES support person to help our teacher a couple of days a week with items related to the reform agenda.
We have been contacted by a Foreign Exchange student that is looking for a host family. If a host is found the company who has advertised locally would also need a local coordinator.
Town of Webb buses were provided to aid in transporting rescue teams to and from the missing person search area in Woodgate.
Our bus drivers donated 61 hours of volunteer time to drive the buses. We thank them and all involved for their continued commitment to our community.
The next meeting will be held on September 2, 2014 at 6:30 pm in the library of the school.
