The Town of Webb UFSD Board of Education held a meeting on Tuesday, November 18, where it took the following actions, which are summarized here and do not represent official minutes.

Approved the Minutes of November 4, 2014.

Approved the Warrants and Claims.

Approved the Treasurer’s Reports for October 2014

Approved the 2014 Tax Collector’s Report

Approved and authorized the Tax Collector to return unpaid taxes to the counties by November 14, 2014

Approved the following as 2014-2015 winter sport instructors: Grade 4, 5, and 6 Intramural Basketball – Erik Russell; Nordic Ski Lesson Instructor – Janine Phaneuf; Alpine Ski Lesson Instructors – Diane Heroux, Ashley Heroux & Giselle Kress; and Volunteer to Assist the Basketball Coaches – William Fenton.

Approved the increase in substitute bus driver’s hourly rate from $12.90/hour to $13.25/hour effective.

Accepted the bid for 10 surplus folding chairs from John Weedmark for $5.

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Principal’s Report – Mr. John Swick submitted information regarding:

Thank you to our Jr/Sr/Stage bands and Instrumental Music instructor on their great performances on Thursday, 11/6.

Our 7th grade students wrote some children’s stories that they were able to publish and read during a visit to our Kindergarten and 2nd grade classrooms on 11/12/14.

J.Pratt won the Masonic War Veterans – Oriskany Post Annual Essay Contest. Congratulations for his essay on the topic of “What the Veterans Mean to Me.”

The 8th grade, under the direction of Diane Amos and with the help of Mr. Kinney and Mrs. Boesche put on the annual Immigration Luncheon in our cafeteria. The students did a terrific job with costumes and the meals they prepared.

Congratulations to the Artist of the Quarter, A. Evans, for her digital photography piece hanging in the Principal’s office.

Our K–6 had parent teacher conferences after 11:15am dismissals on Friday, 11/14 and Monday, 11/17 went smoothly.

First Quarter ended on Friday, 11/7.

Studio Art/Drawing-Painting/Independent art students along with Mr. Fountain took a field trip to View to evaluate and critique the quilt show exhibition on Friday, 11/14.

Mr. Swick introduced C. Hamlin, D. Stefanko and M. Murphy to the Board. These three students along with L.Monroe, V. Franco attended the Climate Summit (a two day event with an overnight stay) at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake accompanied by their instructor, Mr. Cunningham on Wednesday, 11/12 and Thursday, 11/13.

The students gave a short synopsis of their experience at this summit, their ideas to implement what they learned and their expected future attendance at similar summits.

Mr. Fountain joined the group on the first day. They received great reviews and the district has received many compliments on our students’ presentations.

Mr. Swick thanked them for their presentation to the Board.

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Superintendent’s Report – Mr. Rex Germer included the topics: 

Discussed the annual gathering with the Inlet BOE.

Board goals have been used to align the administration’s goals both at the District level and the Building level. These have been combined and provided to you as a BOE.

I was in Albany last Friday to meet with the Commissioner and his staff as part of the Commissioner’s Advisory Council where I am the representative for our BOCES as well as the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES.

The meeting was very informative and gave the superintendents present the opportunity to ask questions and seek guidance related to a specific set of agenda items.

I will be using this information to guide discussion at both a local and regional level.

It will also help us guide instruction moving forward during what remains a very difficult time for education.

One item that was clarified in Albany was the release of information related to post graduation enrollment in colleges based on links through the National Student Clearinghouse.

There was discussion regarding discrepancies in the information the schools had independently gathered vs. what was being reported at the state level.

There are concerns state-wide regarding the accuracy of these reports that are being used as another indicator of college and career readiness.

I bring this to your attention as it may become a news item across the state due to the reported differences in what students tell schools they are doing after graduation vs. what actually becomes the reality for them.

Another item that came up is the pending future changes to what will be deemed “passing” for graduation requirements in the future years. 2022 seems like a long time away but in terms of cohorts it is not that far off and that is the first group that will have to live under the new more rigorous graduation requirements.

The graduating class of 2022, entering 9th grade in 2018-19, will have to demonstrate proficiency on the Common Core Math and ELA Regents exams at the aspirational level of 75/80.

The state is looking to close the gap between what they see as “completers” vs. those that exhibit “readiness.”

For June 2013 74.9% of students across the state graduated but only 37.2% were deemed to be college and career ready.

Budget information is starting to be gathered. The taxpayers should have at this point received their “tax rebate check” from the State as a result of the District staying within the constraints of the “tax cap” this year.

This process will be further complicated by the need for the District to demonstrate savings, documented in a plan, of approximately $60k individually or around $1 million dollars as a BOCES if we work collectively to enable the taxpayers to receive a rebate check in the future.

This demonstrated savings is above and beyond the constraints of the tax cap.

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The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 2, at 6:30 p.m. in the library of the school.