Topics not published in last week’s HFCS School Board report.
by Alex Brooks
Capital Project
Clerk of the Works Ron Bugbee gave an update on progress on the Capital project. He said overall it’s going well and is on schedule. The parking lot has been repaved, the new windows are nearly done, the stage lighting is completed, the auditorium seats will be done by the end of the week and all the new lockers are on site and should be done soon. He mentioned two things that are delayed – an elementary playground set which will be installed September 8-12 and the doors to the concession stand, which are back ordered. Some temporary doors will be installed until the doors arrive.
Bugbee said everything else is on target and there will be no problems starting school on time. In fact, he quipped, it would be fine with him if school started a week early.
Board President David Sutton’s report was brief: “School will open on time.”
Board Forum
Dwain Wilwol said he would like to get a committee together to discuss displays and decoration in the lobby of the school. He would like to see displays of student accomplishments other than sports in those spaces. School Superintendent Ken Facin said he thought this was a good idea but it would need to be done sensitively, with an inclusive committee, as many people may have strong feelings about those displays. The Board agreed to seek members for such a committee and begin discussions.
John Helft said he would like to see the District look into getting some photovoltaic panels for the roof of the school. He said he thinks there is grant money available for that and the District should take advantage of it. Business Manager Pam Hatfield said there is a NYSERDA energy audit of the building in progress, and looking into photovaltaics may be a natural follow-up to it, working with NYSERDA. Facin said when the Board sets its goals for the year, it may want to have a “green school” goal.
Student Handbook
Superintendent Facin discussed some of the changes in the revised Student Handbook. The first is that mid-term exams are no longer optional. A mid-term assessment of student progress was considered essential and will now be given in all classes.
Working Papers
Another change concerns working papers for students. Students under 18 who want to work after school or on weekends need to have working papers given by the School District. The new rule is that students have to be in good academic standing to get working papers. Facin said, “We understand that there will be hardship situations, and we can make exceptions where appropriate, but students and parents have to know that school comes first.”
Incentives
The third major change, and the one that provoked the most discussion, was the District’s rules for handling students who are failing two or more courses. The District will provide academic tutorial sessions after school. Any students who want extra help can go to these sessions, but students who are failing two or more courses will be required to go. If such a student’s grades and effort do not improve after a 3 week period of attending academic tutorial, they will be excluded from one of their extracurricular activities, such as sports games or drama performances. The idea is to keep the pressure on students to improve their performance rather than dismissing them from their team so that they no longer have an incentive to keep working hard.
Facin said he, the teachers and administrators will be presenting the revised rules to the students when they return and both students and parents will be asked to acknowledge that they have read the handbook and understood it.
Appointments
The Board approved a 3-year appointment for Social Studies teacher Christian Farley and hired Lynda Bilow to teach English, taking the place of Linda Hutchins. The Board granted Math teacher Susan Huber a one year leave of absence and hired William Clairmont on a one year appointment to take her place. The Board approved a 2-year appointment for Science teacher Bruce Bailey.
The Board approved the appointment of 22 senior teachers to serve as mentors, to be paid an extra $1,200 for the year for such service and approved Nora Senecal as Mentor Coordinator at a rate of $2,200 per year.
The Board established four child care worker positions for the morning child care program. Each position is a 10 month, 1.5 hour per day position. Facin said these positions will be filled with existing personnel.
The Board established a new bus driver position for 5.75 hours per day for 10 months. Business Manager Pam Hatfield explained that by working with neighboring districts, she has been able to work out cooperative arrangements to get all of the students going to outside placements without hiring contract transportation. This new bus driver will be hired instead of hiring an outside company (usually it was Durrin, Inc.) to drive the students to placements at more distant institutions, which will save the District some money.
On Wednesday, August 27, the Board held a walk-through of the building to view the completed or nearly completed capital project.