by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board Meeting this week began with the presentation of scholar athlete awards, and foremost among them was the Girls Softball team, which came in for much praise, as they won the Scholar-Athlete team award as well as a Sportsmanship award. Board Member John Helft said the team is impressive not just because they won the sectional title for the first time in 16 years and made it to the final four in the State, but they did it while every member of the team achieved at a high academic level. District Superintendent Ken Facin noted the importance also of the sportsmanship award they won saying “they represented us with dignity and class.”
Mentoring
Mentoring Coordinator Nora Senecal gave a presentation to the Board about the mentoring program that she led this year. She said there were 22 teachers new to the District this year, and each one was matched up with a mentor to help them get up to speed and become better teachers. All of the mentors attended a two day training program. Over the course of the year a total of 700 hours of mentoring took place. Senecal presented many quotations from both mentors and mentees about how valuable the program was to them.
There was a ceremony for retiring staff. After presenting each retiree with a flower, Facin thanked each of them for their service to the District and talked a little bit about the work that each of them had done. The meeting then paused while everyone adjourned to a reception honoring the retiring staff. A sumptuous table of refreshments was laid, with food, desserts and punch.
Laurin Concludes Board Stint
This was Greg Laurin’s last meeting as a member of the School Board, and Board President David Sutton presented him with a plaque to honor his service to the District.
Laurin served on the Board for nine years over the past eleven years. He was on the Board for five years, then stepped down, and two years later he was appointed to fill a one year vacancy, then ran for another three year term. He served as Board President for two years starting in July of 2001.
Laurin told Sutton the plaque means a lot to him. “I couldn’t be happier,” he said.
Dave Sutton said he was inspired to take a leadership role on the School Board by Laurin’s example, and he learned a lot by watching the effective and professional way that Laurin led the School Board meetings when he was President.
HFTA
This was also Karen Tommasino’s last Board meeting as President of the Hoosick Falls Teachers Assn. Tommasino received praise from fellow teachers, Board members and administration for her leadership over the past two years, noting her positive energy and cooperative spirit. Facin said, “Your optimism, cheeriness and forward-looking attitude have helped tremendously to re-establish a team atmosphere in this District after the contract dispute was settled.”
Superintendent’s Report
Facin reported “incredible gains” in testing results in the elementary school in both ELA (English) and Math. He said full results would be presented later in the summer when they can be assembled in a complete report, but, for example, the overall passing rate in Math went from 75% to 90%. He also noted that two drug-sniffing dogs had visited the school recently and toured the campus, but no drugs were found.
Despite this good news, Facin said he is concerned about the ongoing problem of underage drinking and drug abuse among young people in the community. He cited some incidents involving alcohol this year and the recent major drug bust in Hoosick Falls as symptoms of the problem, which he said we must acknowledge and confront. He said he felt it is a community-wide problem and any solution must involve all parts of the community. He would like to see the school cooperate with other leaders in the community to take steps to address the problem. At a Board forum time later in the meeting, Don Skott praised Facin for being honest about the problem of underage drinking and drug abuse and publicly seeking solutions.
PTA Officers
Laurie Gormley announced that the PTA has elected new officers for the 2009-10 school year. The new President is Margaret Stevens; Vice President is Jeannie Gilson; Treasurer is Amy Sutton, and the Secretary is Linda Bird.
Goals
The Board unanimously passed a resolution specifying their goals for student achievement for the upcoming year. These are:
1.) 90% passing rate (levels 3 and 4) on all New York State and Standardized Assessments, 30% Mastery on all New York State and Standardized Assessments;
2.) 90% graduation rate;
3.) 9 out of 10 students reading at grade level by the end of sixth grade;
4.) 90% students participation in one or more co-curricular activities;
5.) grades kindergarten through eleventh grade will engage in one meaningful community service event each year, seniors will engage in 20 hours of meaningful community service each year.