Following is Superintendent Rex Germer’s Report from the Town of Webb Union Free School District’s Board of Education meeting held on December 15th. The regular capsule summary of the meeting, along with Principal Swick’s Report appear on Page 10.
—
As mentioned previously changes have started to occur with the Common Core and the Gover-nor’s stance on the teacher evaluation connection to the tests.
We are getting daily updates at this point and will look for final guidance from State Ed. before making any statement of evaluation of the changes that have been suggested.
The Federal Government has acted to approve a new ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) that ultimately gives some control back to the states, although it does not reduce the number of grade levels to be annually evaluated by testing.
Again we will wait for full guidance before making any definitive statements about the changes that have been included in the new authorization.
Our usage of the fitness center has seen a dramatic decrease since the opening of the fitness center in town. Currently it does not look to be making sense to stay open at night even for the limited hours we do. I will be looking to give the BOE a full accounting of the hours and usage early next year, so staying open can be evaluated.
We will be creating a brochure for the school during our upcoming break to share with placement agencies for foreign students.
Mr. Swick has already reached out to agencies with some responses and interest received, although our tuition price will limit the market we can reach.
With questions about the ski instruction and program during our last meeting I wanted to give you some historical information about the contribution level of the District toward ski passes, instruction and the Summer Rec Program during my tenure as Superintendent:
Ski Passes – $2,000 annually to offer students a season pass at McCauley Mountain
Summer Rec Program – 2011 ($12,106.63); 2012 ($11,843.74); 2013 ($9,790.51); 2014 ($9,539.50)
Ski Instruction – 2012 ($843.75); 2013 ($1,102.50); 2014 ($1,155); 2015 ($1,125)*
*Does not include other payroll related expenses or insurance coverage
A survey of districts within our BOCES yielded the following results, when asked if home schooled students are able to participate in extracurricular programs (18 component districts).
• No information available from Superintendent or online policy: 5 (Inlet, Lowville, Watertown City, Indian River, Beaver River)
• Allows participation in extracurricular activities: 2 (South Lewis, Belleville-Henderson)
• Does not allow participation in extracurricular activities: 11 (Lyme, General Brown, Carthage, Copen-hagen, South Jefferson, Sackets Harbor, Alexandria Central, Lafargville Central, Thousand Islands, Adiron-dack, Town of Webb UFSD).