Gary VanRiper spoke to kindergarten through sixth grade students on November 20 with his wife Carol (seated). The pair who author and illustrate the Adirondack Kids book series with their son Justin, explained the process of creating and publishing children’s books. Photo by Gina Greco
The Town of Webb UFSD Board of Education held a meeting on Tuesday, December 2, where it took the following actions, which are summarized here and do not represent official minutes.
Approved the Minutes of November 18, 2014.
Approved the Warrants and Claims.
Accepted the bid for surplus items: 2 – four drawer filing cabinets – Bobby Roach – $5 each for a total of $10, 1 – two drawer filing cabinet – Paul Giessler $5; 1 – 19-inch TV – Paul Giessler $5.
Approved the increase in substitute bus driver’s hourly rate from $12.90/hour to $13.40/hour (an increase of 50¢/hour) effective January 1, 2015.
Approved the revised Administrative Procedure – 5310.02 – Employment of Long-Term Substitute Teachers.
Approved the 2014 revised Tax Collector’s Report.
Approved and authorized the Tax Collector to return unpaid taxes to the counties by November 14, 2014
Approved the appointment of Jennifer Kanclerz as Substitute Nurse.
Accepted the donation from the Ilsababy Foundation.
Approved the authorization to participate in the Co-Operative Energy Purchasing Service (NYSMEC) for electricity.
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Principal’s Report – Mr. John Swick submitted information regarding:
Congratulations to O. Phaneuf for representing Town of Webb for her Area All State performance on saxophone at the Crane School of Music.
Our Juniors took the ASVAB exam on Tuesday, 11/19 under the direction of Mrs. Griffin.
The VanRipers came to the Old Forge Library and grades K-6 went to visit on Thursday, 11/20.
Webb Way Rewards were distributed to students who did not receive a discipline referral for the entire first quarter. Keep up the great work!
The Presidents and Vice Presidents of each class in grades 9-12 have been meeting weekly to discuss their action plan after going to the Herkimer County Youth Leadership Summit. The goal of the group is to partner with local organizations to create positive alternative activities for students to take part in on the weekend nights.
The Learning Arts put on terrific performances and workshops for our students thanks to a generous grant from an anonymous donor from the Adirondack Park. Thank you to Val Gaudin for organizing and View for hosting!
National Honor Society inductions took place on Monday 11/24 in the gymnasium. Our new inductees were C. Barkauskas, L. Beckingham, M. Gaffney, C. Huber, and M. Levi.
Our new Eskimos of the Month will be posted in the elementary hallway. Soon we will soon have a video posted on our website and Twitter account as well.
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Superintendent’s Report – Mr. Rex Germer included the topics:
We send our condolences to the Schmid family and to all those impacted by this loss. Tayler was a son, brother, grandson, nephew, student and friend to many. The void left by his death will take some time to work through but the school is committed to supporting the family, community, our students and staff in whatever way we can as each person works independently and collectively through the grieving process.
Thank you to all those individuals and agencies that have offered their help so that we can support the needs of those here at school. We have had extra counselors on hand the last two days and will continue to do so for the remainder of the week. Catholic Charities, Mountain View Prevention and our local clergy have all helped with the effort to ensure our students and staff are supported while we move forward with the task of educating our youth.
The community has once again proven its ability to come together during crisis for our own. We know this will be a hard week as we look toward calling hours on Thursday and Tayler’s funeral on Friday. We will be releasing all students at 12:45pm on Friday to allow all students and staff the time to attend the funeral service and support the Schmid family during this difficult time.
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 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the library of the school.
