by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board held its first paperless meeting on October 18, using small notebook computers instead of packets full of paper documents, and the new technology seemed to work fine. The meeting was also attended by Joe Patire and Emily Marpe, who were out of town and connected electronically. Joe Patire could be seen on the smart board screen for most of the meeting, from a location in Atlanta. The Board has been trying to set up a paperless meeting system for quite some time, and this meeting marked the success of this lengthy effort.
This was also School Board Appreciation week, so the Board was praised for its dedication and commitment, and presented with goodies from the Apple Barn from the District, and with chocolates from the HFTA.
Seniors Protest Dress Code
A group of Senior girls led by Grace Wysocki and Maddie Yeung made a presentation to the board about their reaction to the revised dress code in this year’s student handbook. While they agreed that very short skirts and low-cut tops were inappropriate at school, they felt that certain styles that they believe should be acceptable, such as “off the shoulder” tops and “bralettes,” have been banned. They asked that the dress code be modified to allow some styles that are currently banned. The girls had collected about 100 signatures from students to support their request.
They said they believed that only one boy has been “dress coded” this year, while many girls have been cited for such violations. Grace Wysocki said she would like to see less emphasis on blaming girls for dressing provocatively and more emphasis on teaching boys not to see girls as sexual objects all the time.
Board President John Helft suggested that a committee of the Board be set up to look into the girls’ request. Maggie Kinney and Jackolyn Houghton immediately volunteered to join such a committee. Superintendent Ken Facin suggested that the girls write and submit proposed new language to replace what is now in the handbook, as a starting point for discussions about modifying the language now in place.
Husser’s 250 Wins
Superintendent Ken Facin presented long-time girls soccer coach Tom Husser a certificate congratulating him on winning 250 games as coach of the girls soccer team, and then the meeting went into a short recess to have a short reception for Coach Husser in an adjoining room. Many of Husser’s former players who have graduated came to the reception to congratulate him on this milestone. Marisa (“Mo”) Manning, who played for Husser when she was a student at HFCS and is now his assistant coach, said a few words welcoming his former players and paying tribute to Husser’s amazing success, his deep connections with his players and his extraordinary commitment to his players and to the team. The deep bonds formed on the teams he has led were evident at this gathering, as both Coach Husser and many of the girls he coached were in tears as Manning was speaking.
Ken Fleming’s Cafeteria
Upon returning to the meeting, new cafeteria manager Ken Fleming talked about some of the initiatives he is pursuing. The first thing he mentioned is the push to sign up for free and reduced lunch everyone who is eligible for it. He said the District is at 51% free and reduced lunch at present, and would need to sign up 108 more students to get to the 60% threshold that makes everyone’s lunch free.
He then talked about his efforts to perfect his marinara sauce recipe, and served to everyone present a plate of pasta with the latest version of said sauce on it, which was delicious. He said he is always striving to improve recipes, with the particular goal of increasing flavor while reducing salt.
He said he is reaching out to many of the local farms and trying to get them to include the school in their planning for planting and marketing, so as to increase the amount of fresh local produce that he can include in the school lunches. He also said there are some grant programs which help fund farm to school connections, and he is looking into what funding can be found there to further the connection with local farms to get fresh and healthy food into the lunches.
He said he is working on putting together box lunches for students when they are going on field trips, so that the burden of providing lunch doesn’t suddenly fall on the parents when the kids go on a field trip.
Transportation Committee
Business Manager Emily Sanders said the first meeting of the Transportation Committee had been held. She said there are 18 to 20 people on the committee, and there were many good ideas presented. There will be several more meetings of this committee in the near future. Its goal is to plan a way to go from two bus runs each morning and afternoon to one single run. She believes it can be done in a way that would both serve student needs better and save money. She said she hopes the group can come up with a proposal by the next Board meeting in November.
Gettysburg Trip
Social Studies teacher Chris Farley made a presentation to the Board on a proposed overnight trip for 7th and 8th graders to Gettysburg and Philadelphia to see sites of great importance in American History. It would be three days and two nights, and the cost would be $415 per student. He said about 50 students are signed up already, and the trip can handle a maximum of about 98 students. Farley has led similar trips in the past which were very successful, and the Board enthusiastically approved the trip.
Staff Changes
The Board accepted the resignation of Eileen Druckenmiller as the District’s Communications Information Officer (CIO), and appointed Meaghan Keegan as CIO in her place. They then appointed Druckenmiller to a new position as Art Therapist Counselor. The Board accepted the resignation of Andrew Nolan as District Treasurer and appointed Gabrielle Pruso as District Treasurer to replace him.