School Lunch Problem At BCS
by Doug La Rocque
A proposal to reduce the size of the cafeteria staff at the Berlin Central School, by apparently one person, was questioned at the Tuesday, November 17 School Board meeting by the board’s newest member Derrick Gardner. He indicated that some students, whose parents had apparently followed the school lunch ordering procedure, were not on a daily list, and therefore did not have their lunch prepared for them. The district does have alternative lunches available for such situations. Mr. Gardner said one of the students impacted was his own child, and that several other parents had complained to him about the very same thing. That was echoed by another board member, Sherry Bowman-Kluck. Mr. Gardner asked if the cafeteria staff is having problems meeting the lunch demand, why are they reducing its size.
He was told by Business Manager Karen Capozzi, while there might be a staff component to the problem, she believes it involves the app the district is using for parents to order food. She said the lunch orders can also be placed via the school district’s website, and that perhaps, at least for now, is the better way to proceed. She also indicated she had few complaints and asked the board members and parents to contact her with any problems.
Board President Frank Zwack told the administration this is not a situation that can be tolerated, and asked what are the plans for a fix. He was told by Ms. Capozzi the district has already begun to check with students at the start of the school day as to whether they ordered lunch, and comparing it with the daily list. If they are not on it, the alternate lunch is prepared. Ms. Capozzi also said part of the problem may be parents are not ordering lunches on time.
No Real Audit Problems
All school districts in New York State not only face a State Comptroller’s audit, but must also have its fiscal affairs reviewed by an outside independent auditing firm. The results of the most recent inspection of the books were released at the meeting, and no major discrepancies were found. One item that was pointed out, is that the district’s unexpended fund balance is higher than four percent of the next year’s budget. Under NYS law, the district must reduce this total, preferably in a method that lowers or helps hold the line on school taxes.
COVID-19 Concerns
Board President Zwack mentioned in his report, he is very concerned about the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, even though to date, Berlin has not had any student or staff reported to have contracted the disease. Apparently, Berlin is the only school district in the Questar region to have no positive tests reported.
Given the number of cases in close by district’s (Averill Park has gone fully remote because of the high incidents of the virus), Mr. Zwack feels the district must be prepared to switch to all on line learning at a moments notice. Middle/High School Principal Jodi Sullivan assured the President, they were. Elementary Principal Tracy Kent was not at the meeting, citing other school commitments.
Mr. Zwack said they would be looking at a change in the way lunches are provided if they have to close the school buildings. Last year, cafeteria and transportation staff delivered the meals to the students homes, but according to District Superintendent Dr. Stephen Young, the state has not yet released the monies earmarked to pay for that program. Mr. Zwack indicated they are considering a program that would bring the meals to a drop off point in each town for pickup.
Special Education Concerns
Because of COVID-19, the district was granted some “flexibility” in the last school year when it came to preparing and reviewing Individual Education Programs (IEP) for students with special educational needs. This must be done yearly. According to the Director of Special Education, Samantha Brewer, the state Education Department has now greatly reduced that flexibility, which she says is very challenging. One thing that has not changed, is the ability to prepare and view these IEPs on line as well as in person. Currently about 100 students are involved in this program.
Ms. Brewer said there were plans underway to have the Rensselaer County Department of Health open a satellite mental health office in the district. This has been placed on hold, but the department’s services will be available remotely until then.
Sports May Be In Some Jeopardy
As is reported in our sports section, low risk high school sports were supposed to be able to start practice on Monday, November 30. Section 2 officials have now pushed that date back to December, with high risk winter sports, such as basketball, wrestling and hockey, off until January 4. Superintendent Dr. Young said both the section and the WASAREN league, of which Berlin is a member, may hold zoom meetings about those dates later in the week. He told the board he would not be surprised if scholastic sports locally were not canceled through the rest of the year.
Capital Projects
Dr. Young also said all three phases of the current capital project (repairs, improvements and additions to district facilities) should be wrapped up in December, possibly a little later at the new bus garage. He also indicated the recently approved capital project is on track to start construction at the end of this school year.
A Remote Meeting
The board generally meets twice a month, first in a round table session and then in a regular meeting. It announced Tuesday night that the December 3 round table meeting will be conducted on a Zoom platform. The December 15 meeting will most likely be in person, as it may well be Dr. Young’s last meeting as superintendent. He has announced his retirement as of December 31, but the board has not yet announced who it plans to take his place. Both meetings start at 7:15 pm.