Following is Superintendent Rex Germer’s Report from the Town of Webb Union Free School District’s Board of Education meeting held on October 21st. The regular capsule summary of the meeting, along with Principal Swick’s Report appear on Page 15.
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New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is going to be looking for feedback regarding the Common Core from various constituent groups.
The feedback will be in the form of specific comments/concerns as they relate to individual standards and the grade at which they are put in place.
Generalized comments of “too long” or “too hard” are not what she will be soliciting as feedback.
We will share information and links as they become available and may offer a night for people to become acquainted with the system of feedback being put in place.
Some members of the Board of Education and myself were in attendance at the New York State School Boards’ annual conference in NYC the last few days having just returned last evening.
There is a fairly consistent conversation and expectation across the state that the Common Core Curriculum will see changes coming as it has created concerns and implementation issues universally across various district demographics.
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Our sports teams are rapidly reaching the point of losing various levels due to enrollment numbers and participation rates.
Currently we only have, as of this morning, six student athletes for the girls varsity basketball squad not leaving us enough students to field a team.
Students used to participate throughout their years here at the TOW UFSD, but we unfortunately are seeing some students decide not to play during their senior year for their own personal reasons.
With smaller numbers this will ultimately cause hard decisions to be made and the loss of teams.
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Having had a number of conversations with various stakeholders within our community, I believe we are at a crucial time for the community and our future.
Part of the conversation that needs to occur will be with the Town Board who has already committed to a liaison to partner with the School Board.
We will need to do the same with the intention being that of an establishment of potential shared services, hopeful shared vision and the hopeful future growth of our community as well as addressing the needs of the community now and moving forward.
We need to be proactive in our planning and realistic to our needs.
We should have our Building Condition Survey completed soon which will serve as a guide for the needs of our campus and this will open up needed dialogue about necessary building and maintenance projects and should include a conversation related to the realities of our campus as both an institution of changing educational needs and a hub of the community that is limited in the types of recreational facilities offered to our community members, taxpayers and visitors.
These conversations heard individual ideas including campus expansion and/or replacement.
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Free and Reduced cafeteria applications will again be sent home and families may receive a call regarding this form.
We ask that all families take a close look at them and contact the school with questions or fill them out and get them returned to us so that we can process them and get you the help you deserve.
The free and reduced meals actually help the school cafeteria revenues besides the benefit they offer your students.
We are currently seeing an increase in free and reduced qualified families and are very close to a crucial percentage of our students qualifying which can lead to future funding and grant opportunities for the District.
• Our Girls’ Varsity Soccer team ended their sectional run on Tuesday. We congratulate them on a successful season.
Our boys played at home their beginning sectional game and won. They will play on Friday against McGraw. Good Luck Eskimos!