The Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District Board of Education Finance Committee Meeting dated February 11, 2021 was called to order at 6:08 by Mrs. Ricci.
Present: Marcia Ricci, David Lee, Denise Carutasu, Jamie Maloney
Also Present: (in person) Patrick Pomerville, Joel Richardson, Jennifer Bull
Also Present: (via Webex) Jack Catanzarita, Carolyn Bell, Rachel Ingalsbe,
Ms. Ingalsbe presented a summary of the 2020-2021 district budget and the first draft of the preliminary 2021-2022 district budget. (See attached)
Finance meetings scheduled for March will contain more detail. Mr. Pomerville and Ms. Ingalsbe will be meeting with all district stakeholders to come up with ideas to cut costs, and yet maintain services. Mrs. Maloney suggested that sharing examples of the financial impact scenarios with various levels of cuts, and not just monetary amounts, would be helpful for the Board to fully understand decisions that are being made.
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The Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District Board of Education Regular Meeting dated February 11, 2021 was called to order at 7:05 by Mrs. Ricci, who then led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Present: Marcia Ricci, David Lee, Denise Carutasu, Jamie Maloney,
Also Present: (in person) Patrick Pomerville, Joel Richardson, Jennifer Bull, Christopher Scanlan, Joseph Siracuse
Also Present: (via Webex) Jack Catanzarita, Carolyn Bell, Rachel Ingalsbe, Crystal Rich
There were no comments from the public regarding items on this evening’s agenda.
Comments from Administration
Mr. Scanlan reported the following;
- Mr. Scanlan took part in a focus group put together by Cindy Dort, from the Cornell Cooperative Extension, on the topic of teen drinking and parental responses. The group met for about ninety minutes and the open and honest information that participants shared will be used to put together programs for parents. Mr. Scanlan thanked the following parents, Terry Bills, Sheila Kennedy, Melissa Shagalaski, Paul Barna and Danielle Giroux as well as Deputy Brooks from the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department and Sgt. Dilbone from the Waterford Police Department for participating.
- National Honor Society members are taking part in the Letters for Rose organization. It is a campaign to reduce loneliness amongst nursing home patients during this time of COVID quarantines. Students will write letters that will then be shared with patients. It is a worthy cause, and Mr. Scanlan is proud of the students volunteering to take part. Mr. Lee noted that his own mother benefited greatly from receiving letters during her nursing home stay.
- Mr. Scanlan reported that the second quarter had just ended and he and Mr. Richardson have looked over the data. While most students are working hard and succeeding with virtual and hybrid learning, many are struggling. Overall about 20% of students in grades 7-12 are failing two or more classes. Many of the students that are struggling academically are not attending classes and could use more parental support. Mr. Scanlan and Mr. Richardson are reaching out to parents and reminding faculty and staff to do the same throughout the marking period. Mr. Scanlan emphasized that students will not be pushed through to the next level in the upcoming school year and that he expects a greater need for summer school for many of our students. Mrs. Carutasu asked if there were specific trends that were noticed when looking over the data such as particular subjects or classes that students are failing. Mr. Scanlan and Mr. Richardson reported there was no discernible pattern. Mrs. Maloney asked if parents are aware of the Parent Portal to keep up with their students' grades, and Mr. Scanlan reported that tool is consistently recommended to parents.
Mr. Siracuse reported the following:
- Registration packets for a new cohort of Kindergarten students are being sent to parents and guardians.
- Surveys are being put together to see how many families are interested in returning to in-person instruction for the third semester as well as how many families wish to return to using school transportation to bus their students.
- The elementary school is also suffering from a higher rate of students having failing grades. Many students are able to excel at virtual learning, however a higher than average number of students are not participating enough or at all which could result in more students being held back at the end of the year.
Mr. Richardson reported on the following:
- The Cohoes-Waterford Elks Lodge held its annual essay writing contest for fifth and eighth graders. This year’s theme was, “How Can Patriotism be Demonstrated”. The fifth grade winners are Makenzie Esterby and Noah Forget in Mrs. Pogue’s class and Mason Selin and Allison Sheehan from Ms. Sorenson’s class. The eighth grade winners are John Gilbert, Meaghan Paul, Nadezhda Sandul, and Katie Stallmer. The Elks Lodge is hoping to have their annual Flag Day Ceremony where all the essays will be read by their authors if possible.
- New York State has applied to the Department of Education for a state testing waiver and there has been no final decision as of yet. At this time administrators and faculty are preparing to proceed as if testing will be taking place. On Monday, February 1, 2021 all faculty attended a training presentation on test security.
Ms. Bull reported the following:
- BOCES offered SEL You First-An Introduction to the 5 Competencies: A focus on the five CASEL SEL competencies to reflect on a teacher’s own strengths and challenges so as to create opportunities in the classroom for student acquisition of these SEL skills. Presented by Sarah Battiste and Kelly Sheppard. This is a prerequisite to the professional development being offered in March (before/after school) that was discussed at the last meeting.
- Special Education Annual Reviews are being scheduled to begin in early March. At this time all meetings will take place virtually so as to continue to keep our students and staff members as safe as possible.
Mr. Pomerville reported the following:
- At this time the Fall II Sports season is expected to begin on March 7, 2021. Volleyball is one of the sports included in this season, and is considered a high risk sport. A resolution to approve students participating in this sport has been placed on the evening’s addendum.
- COVID-19 update: The current percentage of positive cases among K-12 students is 0.005% and 0% for faculty and staff. Only one staff member is on precautionary quarantine at this time. 85% of the 77 staff members that responded to the district survey have received their first vaccine shot for COVID-19 and some staff have received their second shot.
- Practices for Varsity Boys and Girls basketball began on February 5, 2021 and our first games are scheduled for February 16, 2021. Mr. Robbins and Mr. Spretty are working on live streaming our games to YouTube for families, friends and fans.
- Mrs. Ingalsbe and Mr. Wulff are putting together a cleaning and maintenance schedule for the February break. The building will be closed on President’s Day, but will remain open for the rest of the week.
First Reading
Presentation
- Project SAVE Addendum Pandemic Plan - Mr. Pomerville
- September 7, 2020 Governor Cuomo made an Executive Order requiring schools to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving communicable diseases.
- The plan includes the following:
- Designation of essential positions
- Facilitation of remote work for non-essential positions
- Provision for PPE’s
- Protocols for supporting contact tracing
- Plan will be posted for public comment and questions for 30 days
- After 30 days, BOE will be asked to approve the plan and it will be added as an addendum to our District Safety Plan
- Our plan lists the essential functions and then the essential positions that support those essential functions on a day to day basis
- The plan also outlines how to implement a staggered shift plan if needed to help limit exposure during a pandemic
- Another section provides plans and information for Personal Protective Equipment. This section includes information on:
- PPE’s needed for various job duties
- The district’s plan for procurement of PPE’s
- Cleaning and disinfection protocols
- Documentation of work hours and locations for contract tracing
- Housing of Essential Employees if required for safety purposes
Mr. Pomerville thanked Chief Emergency Resource Officer Jason Davis for all of his hard work putting this plan together.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the minutes of the January 21, 2021 Board of Education Meeting.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the following Warrants and Corresponding Claims Audits
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the Treasurer’s Report ending January 2021.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the Appropriations Report ending January 2021.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the Revenue Report ending January 2021.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the Extra Classroom Report ending January 2021.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the 2020-2021 Budget Transfers Requiring Board of Education Approval.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the 2021-2022 District Academic Calendar.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the appointment of Brendan Frazier as Substitute Custodian for the 2020-2021 school year effective 1/29/21; salary per the CSEA contract.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the appointment of Kyle Carson as Substitute Custodian for the 2020-2021 school year; salary per the CSEA contract; effective 2/12/21; pending fingerprint approval.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the appointment of Kyle Carson as Substitute Bus Monitor for the 2020-2021 school year; salary per the CSEA contract; effective 2/12/21; pending fingerprint approval.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the final request from Hollie Russo to take 5th and 6th grade students to Mets Education Day (anti-bullying theme), Citi Field, NYC on May 27, 2021 pending world events. Mrs. Ricci inquired as to who would be in charge of making the decision pending world events and Mr. Pomerville replied he would be making the final decision.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the resignation of Colleen Rishel as Secondary Music Teacher, effective January 29, 2021.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the appointment of Nicole Spulnick and Deb Ford as SAT prep teachers for the 2020-2021 school year; salary per the WTA contract.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the Minutes of the February 4, 2021 Board of Education Meeting.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the appointment of Christian Kilmer as a long term Substitute Teaching Assistant to cover for Wayne Bowmanchester; effective February 22, 2021 through June 25, 2021; salary per the CSEA contract; pending fingerprint approval. Mrs. Carutasu inquired if Mr. Bowmanchester was taking a leave, and Mr. Pomerville responded that Mr. Bowmanchester is filling in for Mrs. Dobert’s leave.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board approved the participation of Waterford-Halfmoon students in the high risk athletic activity of volleyball in accordance with Saratoga County regulations and guidance; pending world events. Mr. Lee asked if the Board needed to approve soccer and Mr. Pomerville responded that soccer had not been deemed a high risk sport. Mrs. Maloney asked if WHUFSD would be competing in the Wasaren League for the Fall II season, and Mr. Pomerville answered that it is the District’s hope to be able to compete in the Wasaren League.
COMMENTS from the Board of Education, residents and staff.
- Mrs. Carutasu asked if there was any way to bring students in more frequently in order to provide more in person opportunities for students that are failing classes. Mr. Richardson replied that due to space constraints the District is having a difficult time transitioning students from fully virtual to a hybrid schedule and that at this time, it just is not possible while maintaining safety for staff and students. Mr. Pomerville added that the District is still waiting on guidance from the state regarding all students returning to in-person learning in the fall or if we will still be offering virtual learning at that time.
On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney, and by a vote of 6-0 the Board went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter at 7:45pm. The Board returned to regular session at 8:43pm and adjourned.
Donna Cramer District Clerk