| Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. - - Napoleon Bonaparte | |
| 1. | Bomb Threat – I held Superintendent’s hearings on the two 8th grade students accused of writing a bomb threat in the girl’s bathroom on Friday. Both girls were found guilty. I concurred with the principal’s request that they be suspended from school for the remainder of the year. We are also pressing full criminal charges against them. Parents were accepting of the discipline and appeared to fully understand the gravity of what their child did (this is not always the case). | |
| 2. | Teacher Dismissals – This is a difficult day for us at school. We will be letting a number of teachers know that they will not be invited back. Some are very nice people, they simply aren’t what is best for our children. There is always some deterioration of moral for a period of time when this happens. It will be even more significant at our middle school where they have had a difficult week anyways. This does not in any way change our mind about what has to be done. It is a critical part of our job as we continue to build this exemplar academic program. But we will need to use care in dealing with other issues these next few weeks. | |
| 3. | Ambulance Calls– On Monday ambulance was called to Ontario Elementary for a handicapped child with a severe nosebleed that was difficult to control. This created some anxiety in the child that in turn caused difficulty breathing. I do not believe the child was taken to the hospital. A middle school student was taken by ambulance to the hospital on Thursday because of an allergic reaction to food. Bob Armocida rode in the ambulance with her because a parent could not be reached. The father was at the hospital when the ambulance arrived. | |
| 4. | School Trips - Phone calls about the cancelled trip have been surprisingly few. The questions mainly deal with how the money will be refunded. Mrs. Morrin has called a meeting of the club advisors for 6th period today when they will establish procedures. I told her that the most important criteria be that it is done in a consistent manner across clubs. I have also been asked whether our Science Olympiad team is considered a field trip or an athletic team. They leave shortly for State competition at New Paltz. After some reflection I believe that it is a team that is continuing its competition at the State level. This is similar to our wrestling squad who won the Section V title and was sent to the State Meet. We would not have said they could not go to that next level of competition whose spot they earned. The Science Olympiad team won their sectional title and are now going on to the State competition. I differentiate between this competition and the one the baseball team was having at Cooperstown in that that one was a game with a neighboring Wayne county team set up as a way to play on Doubleday field. That competition can still take place through a one-day trip. I have also enclosed the Science Olympiad trip security sheet in case you should have any parent questions. | |
| 5. | May 3 March on Albany - The Wayne Teachers’ Association is organizing a bus trip to Albany to participate in the March on Albany to show support for education and to rally legislative support for sustained education funding. Four County is also organizing a bus trip for superintendents and Four County members. This is a one-day trip. If you are interested in participating, please let me know. | |
| 6. | Web Site – We have added a counter to our web site. Web Master Cynthia Marines tells me it will allow us to compile daily stats. I also ask you to think about some questions you might like to ask our community as part of our “Question of the Week”. We would like to roll that out to the public right after the budget vote. | |
| 7. | MCC Snag- We have run into a snag with MCC. We have a two-part plan to introduce all of our students to the possibility of college in our future. The first part was to have each student fill out a college application and write a college essay as part of their senior English course. MCC has agreed to waive all processing fees and to actually consider the application. This will be good instruction for them for when they fill out their other college applications. For students who didn’t think they could ever go to college this will be eye opening for them because it is likely that each student would actually be accepted. This will should them that colleges do view them as college “material”. This portion of the plan poses no problem. | |
| 8. | School Report Card – I have enclosed a copy of the report card that will be mailed out to districts shortly. It was the basis for Mr. Spring’s report last Wednesday. | |
| 9. | Events: | |
| April 3 – High School Talent Show – HS PAC – 7:00 ish (I will confirm time) |
| 10. | Attachments: | |
| a) | Science Olympiad Security Sheet | |
| b) | Newspaper Article on School Trips | |
| c) | School Report Cards | |
| d) | Four County Information | |
| e) | HR position brochure | |