The Town of Webb UFSD Board of Education held a meeting on Tuesday, April 7, where it took the following actions—which are summarized here by the district and do not represent official minutes.
Approved the Minutes of March 17, 2015 Board of Education meeting.
Approved the Warrants and Claims.
Approved school holidays on Friday, May 22 and Thursday June 25, 2015 using two unused emergency closing days, unless needed earlier.
Appointed the election inspectors/poll watchers for Budget Vote on May 19, 2015 as follows: Dora Burnett, Carol Clark, Mona Lincoln, Joan Spring, Betty Draper, Anne Hasby.
Alternate Election Inspector –Janine Phaneuf and Joan Liddle.
Approved the Committee on Special Education recommendations.
Approved the fixed price for Propane 2015-2016 school year to Helmer’s Fuel & Trucking.
Accepted the resignation of Karen Morosko as Spanish Teacher, effective June 30, 2015.
Accepted the resignation for retirement of Bonnie Tracy, with regret and appreciation for many years of service at various positions, effective June 30, 2015.
Approved the Board of Registration shall meet in the schoolhouse of said district located at 3002 NYS Rt. 28, Old Forge, New York on May 14, 2015 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the purpose of preparing the final voter registration register of the school district for the Annual Budget Vote and, that a Budget Hearing be established for May 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the Big Moose Fire Hall, and on May 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Woodgate Free Library, that the Annual Budget Hearing be established on May 12 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town of Webb UFSD gymnasium, and that the Budget Vote be established May 19 from 2 to 9:00 p.m. in the Town of Webb UFSD gymnasium.
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Principal’s Report – Mr. John Swick submitted information regarding:
Thank you to our ELA and Art Departments for helping students submit work to the Old Forge Library Poetry/Art contest that took place on March 17.
Our first day of department meetings took place on Monday, March 16, at 3pm after school.
Students were asked to stay after in the library or choose a different day to stay with their teachers in an effort to carve out time for teachers to work together as a department or on interdisciplinary projects.
This will take place on the third Monday of every month.
The 9th Grade went to HCCC on March 18 for Career Day with the guidance office.
Mary Starring took several high school students to a presentation of ‘Life After High School’ by the Regional Center for Independent Living.
The K-5 students met their PARP Challenge with 85 percent of students reading 15 minutes a day.
Mr. Germer and Mr. Swick competed in an obstacle course after serving lunch as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
The Spirit Week Assembly and Hallway Decorating went over very well before leaving for Spring Break.
Our third mandatory K-12 bus drill took place on Tuesday, April 7.
The 3rd Quarter marking period closes on Friday, April 10.
We want to remind parents to have students get a good night’s rest after a healthy dinner and a healthy breakfast in preparation for the 3–8 NYS ELA exams April 14–16 and for the 3–8 NYS Math exams April 22–24.
Congratulations to N. Brownsell for winning second place in the 7th grade essay contest for the Scottish Rite Masons of Utica.
The Utica Board of Volleyball Officials gave the Varsity Girls Volleyball Team the 2014–15 Sportsmanship Award. Congratulations to the Girls Varsity Volleyball Team.
The Boys Alpine Team was presented with an award by State Senator Hugh T. Farley. Pat Russell, Herkimer County Legislator, presented the boys with an award prior to the Spirit Week Assembly in recognition of their NYS Skiing Champion-ship Plaque. A banner was hung in the gym recognizing their accomplishment as well.
Superintendent’s Report – Mr. Rex Germer included the topics:
The State did pass an on time budget and aid runs were released prior to finalization of language.
A total increase of 1.3 billion dollars was put in funding for education over the previous year. Town of Webb faired about as we had anticipated.
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Germer’s report on next week’s state assessments appears on Page 1.]
Within the plans next year we are looking to seize an opportunity to bolster the academic program and transition out of the traditional elementary classroom model and into the “middle school” model where students change classes.
It is our intention, after multiple conversations with students, parents and staff and after analysis of the failure lists and workloads that a chance to make an improvement on what we are currently doing exists.
We will be looking to have the students have fewer teachers as a transition from the single core teacher in elementary to the multiple core teachers in high school.
This will be accomplished by having only two core area teachers working with the students as they enter 6th grade instead of the four they have encountered for the last few years.
One teacher will be working with the Science and Math curriculum while the other will be working with the Social Studies and English curriculum.
The paperwork for the roof project has been finalized and submitted to the State of NY for approval of the project. We will be hoping for a fairly quick approval and bid process in hopes to get the work done this summer.
We are planning to approve a final budget at our next regular meeting on Monday, April 20th. Budget brochures need to go to the printer within a day or two of that meeting so that we can get our mailings out as required by law to inform the taxpayers of the spending plan they will be voting on.
The budget vote across the State is scheduled for May 19th this year.
The next Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday, April 20, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. in the library of the school.
