By Emily Gabert
New technology will soon be coming to the New Lebanon Central School District. Using the Smart Schools Bond Act, they are proposing to spend a total of $101,332.89 on server upgrades and on new cameras. The proposed preliminary spending plan for the project was presented to the public during its monthly meeting on Wednesday, June 12.
New Lebanon Central School District was approved for the Smart Schools Bond Act in October 2018. Superintendent Leslie Whitcomb said the District had technological needs that fit the Smart Schools objectives.
Once the Board accepts the spending plan, it will be submitted to the State for feedback and review. Once the State accepts the plan, they accept the total cost, Superintendent Whitcomb explained.
When asked about how long the process would take, Whitcomb replied it could potentially take four or five months for the review to be looked at and accepted. It’s estimated that the new equipment would be ready to be installed by next spring, which is why Superintendent Whitcomb said she wanted to get the process started now.
Public Hearing on the
District-Wide Safety Plan
Each year, the District must update and present its district-wide safety plan to the public. The presentation shown at the meeting is a more ‘generic’ form of the overall safety plan, Superintendent Whitcomb said.
She said this plan looks similar to other districts, but some parts of it are tailored for New Lebanon specifically – such as risk reduction, prevention, and intervention.
This plan is up for public comment for thirty days before it is voted on by the Board of Education at its next meeting.
Free Breakfast, Lunch, and
the Arrival of a New Bus
The District’s Business Administrator, Kevin Fottrell, announced that New Lebanon has plans to apply for a community eligibility program for Walter B. Elementary School. It will get the school increased subsidies from both the state and federal government if they start offering free breakfast and lunch to all students.
The school could qualify for this program for up to four years depending on the number of eligible students. In the past, it has been close to being eligible for this program, but the numbers haven’t quite been high enough.
Superintendent Whitcomb said that they looked at the overall district’s eligibility for this, but the percentage wasn’t high enough for the District as a whole to qualify, and it could cost as much as $250 a day. There is a higher number of children in the elementary school who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
“The biggest benefit that I see is that for people who may not qualify for free or reduced, but have a bad month or a bad week, they’re not worrying about having to pay for their kid’s lunch,” she said.
The District will receive its new sixty-sixty passenger bus in July, which was budgeted in the 2019-2020 budget. It is last year’s model, which saved the district about $10,000.
The bus that is being replaced is eleven years old and there are plans to auction it off online on a website dedicated for government surplus items.
TRS Reserve
Fottrell presented informtion about the Teacher’s Retirement System Reserve (TRS) budget for the upcoming year. Its assets are over $110 billion. This pension goes to those who are public school employees, which includes: teachers, teacher’s assistants, and administrators, bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
About 85 percent of the reserve’s revenue comes from investments, Fottrell said. Assessments on the school districts bring in about 12 percent, and members are required to contribute money toward their own retirement fund.
Member Recognition
Superintendent Whitcomb thanked both Sharon Putnam and Raymona Griffin for their work and contribution to the school district. Neither of them ran for re-election this year. Griffin originally was a write-in candidate who ended up serving. Putnam had done work for the District for a number of years and had attended schools in the district and had worked for the district before serving.