January 11, 2001

 

Wednesday evening’s Board of Education meeting began with announcements and committee reports from the

Board members. Amy BennettLepel reported on the most recent SAVE Committee meeting. The Committee

is making good progress and hopes to be done by March 1

st

. Amy also reported on the plans for the next

“What’s Happening,” due out in February; and reported on the Curriculum Council meeting she attended earlier

this afternoon. Bill Herbert reported on the Town Board meeting he attended. The Town is beginning to

prepare for the bi­centennial in 2002.

 

The Board approved the Consent Agenda. Items included substitute teachers and support staff approvals and

the acceptance of the Single Audit Report and Extra Classroom Activity Fund as prepared by District Auditor,

Raymond Wager, CPA. The Board also approved Chris Castellon as High School Marching Band Director and

Deb Ameele as High School Drill Team Instructor. Marcy Osburn, Physical Therapist, also tendered her

resignation effective February 23, 2001. The Board accepted this with regret and best wishes.

 

Under Reports to the Board, Wanda Miller, CSE Chairperson, provided the Board with a written report outlining

the progress toward her goals and the activities she’s been involved with since beginning her new role. Wanda

summarized programs outside of the District that she has visited and provided a program description for a

number of those programs. She also talked about upcoming modifications to student IEP’s and summarized

how many disabled students are involved in Academic Intervention Services (AIS). The Board approved CSE

Case Summaries with one exception. Case #42 was tabled until a future meeting.

 

Maria Ehresman, Director of Curriculum & Instruction, provided the Board with a mid­year report on curriculum

and instruction efforts. Highlighted in the report was the Academy of Professions, a High School program

designed to provide interested students college credit for courses taken in our High School and the Nazareth

Graduate Program, a program being designed to assist teachers in procuring their certification in Reading.

Maria also provided a status report on the technology project planning and her work with architects and

engineers on program design.

 

Under Old Business, the Board entered into a discussion around High School course credit. Principal, Dan

Starr, provided the Board with information and recommendations from the High School on the topic of credit for

the remedial labs (English, Global History & U.S. History & Government), AP course credit and credit for the

School­to­Work Program. The Board had a number of questions on course expectations, pupil selection and

especially student performance. While there remains some questions because of the relatively new status of

these programs, the Board supported the High School efforts to integrate these offerings into the overall

program. The Board continues to want to provide the most opportunities we can for our students so they can

be better prepared for their next level of endeavor, while being conscious of budgetary constraints.

 

Under New Business, Bucky Jordan provided an update on the Superintendent search and that the first round

of interviews had been completed by the Board President, Vice President and Superintendent. The Board will

be discussing the candidates in Executive Session. It is expected that three (3) or four (4) top outside

candidates will join the three (3) internal candidates and move into the next round of interviews in late January.

The Interview Committee is being finalized at this time. Deb Larson suggested that the Board consider

sending two (2) members to the Winter Academy sponsored by NYSSBA. The Board voted to support this

recommendation.

 

After Public Participation, the meeting was recessed to Executive Session at 9:20 p.m.