March 7, 2003
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
Greetings from Wayne Central School District. Below are some items of interest.
Board Meeting:
| 1.
| Jeanne Durfee: Jeanne would like to seek the Board’s nomination to the BOCES Board. The resolution is in this packet for board vote. Jeanne will be in attendance at this board meeting and would like to introduce herself, as some of you might not have worked with her in the past.
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| 2.
| Mid-Year Academic Report: We want to begin giving you quarterly reports on how our students are doing academically, particularly in the 4 core areas. Academics are the reason that schools exist yet it is easy for us to get sidetracked with the other 1,000 issues that come up each month. Mr. Spring has prepared the attached report which he will review with you.
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| 3.
| Budget Discussion: We will present the final portion of the budget which is the administrative section. You will also be given the projected revenues which gives us our potential tax levy of 12.36%. We understand that thatmaybe too high an increase and will be making recommendations to bring it down to 9%. This will occur at the work session Rick is proposing for the following Tuesday. The Administration has been working very hard on those recommendations. Obviously it has not been an easy task. Greg and I have also been reviewing the budget from an over all point of view to see if we can do some things differently. We won’t have a lengthy discussion at this meeting but will save it for our work session.
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| 4.
| Model Schools: You saw the Model Schools presentation at the last meeting. I will be asking you whether there is support for this endeavor. We recognize that it probably is not possible to implement phase one next year, but we want to make sure we are going in the right direction with a plan you approve of. We do want to try very hard to implement Block scheduling for next year. We have prepared all year for it and the staff is ready for the change.
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| 5.
| Financial Report: Greg will be giving his monthly financial report. We will also be asking that you pass a resolution authorizing us to borrow money. The Governor has suggested delaying the State’s next aid payment to districts. If that occurs we may not have enough money to cover expenses. He probably won’t delay and we probably would have enough money but we need to be prepared. Please see Greg’s enclosed letter explaining the situation.
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| 6.
| Action Items: I recommend approval of the Personnel Action, CPSE Action and Treasurer’s report as presented. Also included for action is the BOCES Board Nomination Resolution and a Four County Resolution which you will need to vote on.
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Newsletter Items:
| 1.
| Darlene is Back! On Wednesday Darlene Fousse returned to classes at the Middle School. She appeared very happy to be back. Her friends were also happy to have her back with us. The building tried to keep it low keyed for her. She began with just three classes, but she seems ready and excited to get everything back to normal. I have enclosed an article about her return. Thanks to all of you that prayed for this miracle.
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| 2.
| Breakfast of Champions: On Monday Marc Blankenberg and myself had breakfast at Konstantinos with our section 5 wrestling championship teams, our state bowling qualifier and our two alpine skiing state qualifiers. We had a wonderful morning with these athletes and they seemed very appreciative of the gesture.
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| 3.
| Spring Concert: Our spring concert will be held on March 13th. Last year the auditorium was overflowing beyond its 1100 seat capacity. It was a wonderful turn out but we have to be careful about fire code laws. This year we have made some changes in the set up that should alleviate the problem. These include not having the students perform from the rear middle seats, and not having students return to the auditorium after performing. We will also have people assisting with seating. I have already had a complaint expressed by a parent. Though we explained the changes she still was not satisfied. She said she was going to the commissioner. I am meeting with Larry and the department leader on Monday. I expect that all fire laws will be obeyed but you may get a phone call.
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| 4.
| Car accident: We had a student fender bender in the parking lot on Thursday. No one was hurt but if you get a call about why the sheriff was at school, it was just to take the accident report.
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| 5.
| Bus Driver Testing change: The State is requiring a change in how we test drivers for drugs and alcohol. It will require a change in our current Board policy. I will be bringing that change to our policy committee shortly. I don’t think we will get any complaints from our drivers but…..
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| 6.
| Staff Development day: Today is our spring staff development day. Teachers are working on curriculum and improving instructional practices. Interestingly it was three years ago at this spring staff development day I was introduced to the staff as their new superintendent. They presented me with a blanket and a brick. I’m not sure how I should have interpreted that message. It has been a quick three years for me.
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| 7.
| Drinking Incident: Last week seven members of the freshman and sophomore class were disciplined for alcohol. Apparently over a two day period three students brought alcohol in to the building. Three other students tried the alcohol and one other student “held” the stuff in her locker for a period of time. Students received 2 to 5 days of suspension. They were all referred for counseling. Six of the seven were also athletes and will be facing additional consequences.
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| 8.
| School Play: Don’t forget to come to the school play on Friday or Saturday. We had the senior citizens’ dinner and play on Wednesday. Over 100 seniors attended. They appeared to thoroughly enjoy the performance. Comments included that they couldn’t believe these were high school students and that many were going to come back and see it again. They gave the players a standing ovation (and you know how hard it is for us old folks to get up). They seemed particularly pleased that Mr. Prince provided a bus for transportation for many of them.
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| 9.
| FEMA Drill – This past week the Wayne County Office of FEMA conducted its drill. This simply tests the phone tree notification system. Our district does not actually take the actions that are requested of us by the FEMA coordinators during this drill. We routinely receive an initial call informing us that for the purpose of a drill – Ginna has experienced a “site area emergency” which requires us to be on alert status. We then receive a call about an hour later informing us that the situation status has been upgraded and we are ordered to evacuate. We go through the motions of reviewing plans as if we were preparing to react.
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| March 7 & 8 – High School Musical “Bye Bye Birdie” High School PAC 8:00 p.m.
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| March 9-11 – NYSSBA “State Legislative Network” – Albany Mariott, Albany
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| | Topics: Fiancial Crisis/ Assessments/ No Child Left Behind/ Charter Schools
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| | Costs: $165 Tuition + lodging, etc.
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| | Please Let Lori know if you are interested in attending.
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| March 15 – Four County School Boards Legislative Breakfast – Club 86, Geneva - 8:15 a.m.
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| | Invited Guests: Senators Kuhl, Nozzolio, Volker,
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| | Assemblymen Oaks, Kolb, Errigo, Bacalles |
| | Please Let Lori know if you are interested in attending
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| March 18 – Four County School Boards Steering Committee Mtg –location TBD
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| March 29 – Four County School Boards Prospective Board Member Seminar – Newark
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| 11. Attachments:
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| a)
| Darlene Fousse D&C Article
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| b)
| RAN Resolution Memo
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| c)
| BOCES Nomination Information
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| d)
| Policy Committee Meeting Minutes – 2/27/03
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| e)
| Policy Committee Meeting Minutes – 3/6/03
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| f)
| Four County Information
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| g)
| Walworth Town Board Meeting Minutes – 2/20/03
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| h)
| Ontario Town Board Meeting Minutes – 2/24/03
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Att. b
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To: Board of Education
From: Gregory Atseff, Assistant Superintendent for Business
Date: March 7, 2003
Re: RAN Resolution
At the March 12, 2003 Board of Education meeting I will be recommending that you adopt a resolution that would allow the district to borrow money, if the need arises. The resolution that is included in your packet is a revenue anticipation note resolution. The adoption of this resolution would allow the district to borrow money to meet cash flow needs, if necessary. I do not believe the district will need to borrow money, but I am recommending this to you as a precaution. Recently, I have received information that the Governor might delay spring state aid payments to school districts by one to two months. A delay in state aid payments could save the state at least $1.5 billion dollars. The state’s fiscal year ends March 31st, so the delay could help the state address a current fiscal year deficit projected to be $2.2 billion. My concern would be if the delay were longer than the one to two months that are projected. I will continue to monitor this situation very closely, and keep you informed when I do the monthly financial update. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Michael or myself.
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Att. d
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POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 2003 TIME: 4:00 p.m. PLACE: District Office
PRESENT:
Trustees Triou, Lyke & Diller, Mr. Switzer
GUESTS:
Holly Young, Christopher Shaffer
PRIOR MEETING MINUTES: Minutes of the meeting of January 30, 2003 were reviewed and filed. (Meetings of February 6 & 13 were not held).
OLD BUSINESS:
Erie #1 BOCES Policy Update Progress: Final drafts were distributed to committee members. The service manager and our new liaison met today with Mr. Havens and Mr. Switzer. They complimented the committee on excellent preparation of working drafts from which they worked.
Timeline – Policy Review: Committee members discussed the timeline for review of the final draft, presentation of highlights to the Board of Education and production of the final handbook. By March 21st, the committee will forward final revisions to Erie #1. Presentation to the Board of Education is proposed for meetings in May with final adoption of the new handbook at the organizational meeting in July, 2003.
The committee also reviewed the distribution of print and electronic formats of the final document to policy book holders. Availability of the handbook on CD-ROM, the district file server and web site makes it easily accessible.
(Existing handbook also available in those formats)
NEW BUSINESS:
Presentation: Report on Comprehensive Attendance Policy Review Committee: Committee members welcomed Holly Young, assistant high school principal, and Chris Shaffer, assistant middle school principal, for a report on the work of the staff/student committee on the revised student attendance policies. They co-chaired the committee; Mrs. Lyke served as trustee liaison to the committee.
Ms. Young and Mr. Shaffer outlined proposed policies for grades K to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12. They follow amended §104.1 of Regulations of the Commissioner of Education re: policy for monitoring student attendance. Significant changes are consistency of format, streamlining of procedures and definition of expectations of students, parents and school personnel in developing proper attendance. They will replace existing 5100-1-R
(high school) and 5100-2-R (middle school).
Review of the proposals has occurred by building planning teams and the administrative council. After final council review on March 20th, the policy committee will review and process them for first and second reading by the Board of Education. The committee thanked the co-chairpersons for their report today.
NEXT MEETINGS:
Thursday’s, March 6 & 20 @ 4 p.m. at the District Office
NEXT/FUTURE MEETING AGENDA ITEMS:
● Follow-Up On: Final Draft of New Policy Handbook from Erie #1 Policy Review Service
● Follow-Up On: Potential Policy on Student Privacy & Parental Access (NCLB)
● Presentation: Report on Annual Review of §5300.1 to §5300.12 (Code of Conduct) (Existing Policy)
● Status Report: Review of Needed Regulations (Existing Policy)
ADJOURNMENT:
6:15 p.m. Recorded by Jim Switzer
Att. e
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POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
DATE: Thursday, March 6, 2003 TIME: 4:00 p.m. PLACE: District Office
PRESENT: Trustees Triou & Lyke, Mr. Havens, Mr. Switzer
PRIOR MEETING MINUTES: Minutes of the meeting of February 27, 2003 were reviewed and filed.
OLD BUSINESS:
Erie #1 BOCES Policy Update Progress: Committee members devoted the meeting to review of the final draft of policy revisions from the Erie #1 Policy Service.
The committee noted that the proposed policies on student attendance will be included with the revisions to this final draft when returned to Erie #1 Policy Review Service.
Timeline – Policy Review: Dates on the timeline for review of the final draft, presentation of highlights to the Board of Education and production of the final handbook were reviewed.
NEW BUSINESS:
None
NEXT MEETINGS:
Thursday’s, March 20, April 3, 24, 29 (Tuesday) @ 4 p.m. at the District Office
NEXT/FUTURE MEETING AGENDA ITEMS:
● Follow-Up On: Editing of Draft of New Policy Handbook from Erie #1 Policy Review Service
● Follow-Up On: Potential Policy on Student Privacy & Parental Access (NCLB)
● Presentation: Report on Annual Review of §5300.1 to §5300.12 (Code of Conduct) (Existing Policy)
● Status Report: Review of Needed Regulations (Existing Policy)
ADJOURNMENT:
5:45 p.m. Recorded by Jim Switzer
JES/jes:wp
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