Board Members Zwack And Willis Running For Re-election, Newcomer Margaret Gutermuth-Swim Also Running
by Thaddeus Flint
There is little to report from last Tuesday’s April meeting of the Berlin School Board. While the District’s administrators, as usual, had interesting items to inform the Board about, the Board itself had little to say publicly about its own responsibilities and decisions.[private]
The Consent Agenda items which included Personnel Actions, Approval of Claims Audit, 2016-2017 Budget Transfers, Final Tax Collector’s Report, Field Trip Requests, 2016-2017 Fundraiser Request, Health Services Contracts, a Memorandum of Understanding with SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, and Transportation Requests to Non-Public Schools were voted on with all in favor, except Board member Jim Willis who abstained from Personnel Action, without any discussion at all. Any in-depth Consent Agenda item discussion for the Board in the past few years is unusual at most meetings, and this night was not an exception.
Board President Frank Zwack did note during his brief President’s Report that “things are very good here,” at BCS. In fact some parents who had been considering trying to get their children into the Tech Valley program, changed their minds and decided to enroll at BCS after meeting with Principal Dr. Cathy Allain and touring the District’s facilities. The facilities “are really coming together,” added Zwack.
Some of that “coming together” involves pulling pieces of the District apart. Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, Cyril Grant, reported that the old playground equipment at Berlin Elementary is now out and that Steve Goodermote of Stephentown did a “phenomenal job” of completing the work. A VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system at that facility is also just about completed. In the future the bus garage will similarly be linked in. Grant also reported that new blinds were put in throughout the High School/Middle School during the recent break. Grant is now working on getting estimates for changing the lighting in the gymnasium there to LED fixtures.
Board member Kellie Kaschak, in what would prove the be the lengthiest of discussions from a Board member that night, questioned Grant about some cracked and uneven sidewalks at the front of the High School/Middle School. With Prom season just around the corner, “It’s an accident waiting to happen,” said Kaschak, who worried about girls in heels being toppled by the uncooperative pavements.
Grant agreed that parts of the sidewalks are a known problem area. Any rise over 1/8th of an inch above a walking surface is considered an area prone to trips and falls. Grant said that the sidewalks were on the list to be addressed at some point when funding is available. In the meantime, at the suggestion of Kaschak, some kind of carpeting may be considered for Prom night.
The only other real discussion by a Board member was from Sherry Bowman-Kluck, who praised several teachers for their recent work in the District, noting especially Social Studies teacher Bob Gould.
“He’s a wonderful teacher,” said Bowman-Kluck, who described how Gould’s daily posts to Facebook during the recent school trip to Italy allowed everyone back home to follow along. Meanwhile, in Italy, Gould made sure nobody became overwhelmed with the stresses of foreign travel. “He took the time and made it special for those kids,” said Bowman-Kluck.
Another teacher doing amazing things, noted Dr. Allain, is technology teacher Dawn Wetmore. This summer, Wetmore will be attending a program at the NASA Flight Facility on sounding rockets. Sounding rockets carry scientific instruments into space along a parabolic trajectory. Traveling lower and slower than other rockets, they have been very useful as scientific platforms.
The District is currently looking for one new teacher and some other additional staff. According to Berlin Elementary Principal Tracy Kent, there has been a “large response” to the candidate query for a new Fourth Grade teacher. And Business Manager Karen Capozzi reported that the Transportation Department needs attendants, drivers, and subs. “It’s not a bad gig,” said Capozzi. Food services is also looking for subs (people, not the sandwiches) for next year.
Next year is “going to be a big year” promised Fred Hutchinson, the District’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment. One of the big changes will be teaching literacy through a content basis. And writing will taught “through the lens of Social Studies in all subject areas K-12,” said Hutchinson. The payoff is that “our kids will graduate Berlin with a real understanding of social sciences, citizenship, and integrity,” said Hutchinson. “I think our scores are going to go up across the board.”
When it comes to the Common Core assessment tests in English Language Arts (ELA), however, there will not be scores from about 24% of the students in the District, as they have chosen to “opt out” from those exams. Hutchinson said that that 24% is less than last year and “right in the middle” of statistics for similar schools in the area.
The next upcoming meeting will be a Round Table meeting on May 4. The public hearing on the 2017-2018 budget will take place the same night at the Berlin Elementary School Library at 7:15 pm.
Board president Zwack asked residents to talk to their neighbors and ask them to come out and “vote for the budget, vote for Board candidates” at the upcoming election May 16. There was, however, no mention to the public (maybe because there is rarely anyone from the public in attendance) of who was running for the two open seats on the School Board.
According to the District’s own newsletter, The Berlin Banner, both Zwack and Willis are running for re-election. Willis has been on the Board for almost six years and Zwack has served the District for over 30 years.
A newcomer, Margaret Gutermuth-Swim, will also be running for one of those seats. Gutermuth-Swim, The Berlin Banner says, is a “lifetime resident of the Berlin area, and a graduate of the Berlin Central School District.” She is currently employed as a caseworker for Child Protective Services with Rensselaer County Department of Social Services. Full bios of all three candidates can be read online by going to http://berlincentral.org/district/budget-information/ and clicking on the Berlin Banner PDF. [/private]