Board Honors Retirees
by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board did a walk-through of the school buildings on Monday August 31 to verify that the buildings are ready for the start of the school year. Some of the rooms have been reconfigured for pandemic-related purposes, and all of the rooms have had the furniture re-arranged to set up classrooms where the students can sit six feet apart from each other.
The heating system for the building was not operational at the time of the walk-through, as the new boilers were delivered the next morning, on Tuesday September 1. It will take two weeks or so to install them, and the contractors are expected to fire them up, tune them and test them in the latter part of September.
After the walk-through, the Board held a meeting centered around a ceremony to honor the District’s retiring staff. Each of the teachers received a bouquet of flowers and words of praise from Superintendent Patrick Dailey. He began with 5th grade Math teacher Ann Marie Ferrannini, who could not attend the event. Dailey said she had a 30 year career at the school, specializing in teaching math. He said she became “very good at it,” and she is also “very organized and “super-efficient.”
The next honoree was 2nd grade teacher Leslie Green, who worked at the school for 34 years. Dailey called her “a fantastic teacher, well organized and very positive.” She was there to accept her flowers, with her husband and daughter in attendance to cheer for her.
Dailey then spoke of the long career of Karen Tommasino, 34 years teaching in the District. For most of her career she was a science teacher, but in the latter part of her career she proved very versatile in taking up new projects. She started a very successful GED program, and became the primary Graduation advisor, helping to plan and execute all of the details of the graduation ceremony. And most recently she started a new program called the Learning Center to help students with school assignments, studying for exams, or whatever help might be needed, some time with assistance of honor students in the school recruited by Tommasino.
Presenting flowers to School Bus attendant Diane Hunter, Dailey remarked that her 22 year career with the District was marked by a cheerful and positive approach, and despite the late hours and early hours sometimes required for out of town trips, there was “never a complaint” from Hunter. Dailey then celebrated the 31 year career of Terry Couch, who started in the cafeteria and then became a bus driver. He said she will be missed after so many years of cheerful and reliable service to the District.
Dailey then spoke of Secretary Cathy Conway, who couldn’t attend this meeting. Her 23 years of service to the District included time spent in the high school office, the guidance office and as claims auditor for the District. He said as she developed expertise in the District’s financial procedures she became quite a valuable employee, hard to replace. Dailey presented flowers also to Payroll Clerk Vicki Dwyer, who also gave the District 23 years of service, remarking that she has been for a long time a central pillar of the District’s financial administration, and “she is very good at it.”
The final presentation of flowers was to Executive Secretary and District Clerk Pam Cottrell, who will be retiring at the end of December after 30 years working for the District. Dailey, who works closely with Cottrell every day, said he doesn’t think he could have made it through his first year as Superintendent without her. He said her experience, competence and good sense always helped him to deal with the many issues that came his way over the past year. He noted that Cottrell has served four superintendents in her time at the District.
The Board appointed Elementary teacher Toni Hanselman to a one-year leave appointment for this school year. It appointed Martha Coon as a teacher aide for the upcoming school year, to replace Mary St. Hilaire who is taking an unpaid leave of absence this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coon is taking a one year leave of absence from her job as a food service helper at HFCS.
The Board approved COVID-19 manuals, one for the Elementary School and one for the High School, spelling out rules and procedures instituted to prevent the spread of the disease.
The next regular meeting of the Hoosick Falls BOE will be September 17 at 6:30 pm.