January 17, 2019

The Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District Board of Education Regular meeting held Thursday, January 17, 2019 was called to order at 7:00pm by Mrs. Ricci.

PRESENT: Marcia Ricci, David Lee, Jamie Maloney, Jack Catanzarita, Carolyn Bell

ALSO PRESENT: Patrick Pomerville, Carol Lyon, Jennifer Bull, Joseph Siracuse, Christopher Scanlan, Paul Gervasio, Ann Dobert

ABSENT: Tammi Dehler, Kory Galuski

There were no comments from the public regarding items on this evening’s action agenda.

Comments from Administration

Mr. Scanlan reported the end of the second quarter and the end of the first semester is January 25, 2019.  Regents exams will be administered to 26 of our students the following week.

Mr. Scanlan announced a 2019 Health Advocacy Project led by Cear Burns, Zachary Layh and Kamil Trantham.  The goal is to introduce and expose the dangers of vaping to the 7th and 8th grade middle school students.  The group hopes to decrease their chances of deciding to vape and show them some possibilities that could happen to them such as: smokers cough and a weakened immune system.  The group will host an anti-vaping table during lunch period on January 23rd.  The group will display a banner, provide information on the dangers of vaping, as well as a pledge.  Their slogan is “Grapes Not Vapes”.  Any middle school student who pledges against vaping and signs the banner will receive a bag of grapes.  Students will have the opportunity to take a short interactive quiz from www.truth.com on available Chromebooks.

Mrs. Bull arranged for Amanda Bergin, WSWHE BOCES, to work with teachers on a data dive - ELA and Math.  Mr. Pomerville and the building principals will be meeting with the teachers to discuss targeted instruction.  Ms. Bergin will return to our district to work with teachers on how to navigate the I-Ready - 2nd benchmark system and to track student progress through online instruction.  Mr. Pomerville and Mrs. Bull are working on the March 18th Superintendent’s Conference Day schedule in which teachers will have options to choose from.

Mr. Siracuse announced that NYS Assemblymember John McDonald was here at school today to visit the 5th grade in recognition of Bring Your Student to Vote Day.  The newly formed PBIS Club members performed a Family Feud skit at the last PBIS assembly focusing on the four “Be’s”: Be Positive, Be a Learner, Be Responsible, Be Respectful.  The PTO will again host The Brain Show coming to school on February 1st.  The show will run all day with an additional evening session.  There were two special guests in the elementary this week from Australia.   The two students were in Waterford visiting family during their summer vacation.  Their mother is a teacher in Australia and was pleased with her children’s experiences.

Mr. Pomerville, along with other staff members, was asked to be a judge for Mrs. Gervasio’s Family and Consumer Science “Chopped” competition.  The students were given secret ingredients and directed to cook and serve a complete meal.  The students were judged on creativity, taste and presentation.  Mr. Pomerville shared pictures of the fun learning experience.

Mr. Pomerville has been in contact with the school district’s attorney regarding the pending tax certiorari issue. Attorney Christopher Langlois, of Girvin and Ferlazzo, P.C. was in communication with David Murphy, the attorney representing the Towns in the tax certiorari case with Momentive Performance Materials.  David Murphy did correspond with Saratoga County Court in December.  Appointments were scheduled as follows:  
Preliminary appraisals need to be completed by both sides by April 30, 2019
An initial conference will be set with both sides to discuss the case with the judge on July 8, 2019.
Trail date is set for October 28th if no settlement is reached.

Chris Langlois did note that these dates are often changed and pushed back and he will notify us with any date changes.

Mr. Pomerville announced that our long standing external auditing service, Stark and Basila, CPAs will no longer be providing auditing services for public schools or municipalities.  The district will need to begin the process of looking for a new company.  Mr. Pomerville and Mrs. Lyon will contact other districts in the WSWHE BOCES consortium for input and prepare Request For Proposals.  

Mr. Pomerville was contacted by the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA) recently.  They are completing a study for Lake George School District and are looking for similar schools to complete comparison research of schools with similar frameworks and enrollments.  They will be looking at staff ratios, class size, ELA and Math assessments, graduation rates, school electives, AIS programs, high school electives, etc.  This information will be presented in a report which will be shared with our District.  It should give us some valuable information especially as we head into our budget development season.  Thank you to our administrators who agreed to work with CASDA to share information about our district.    

Tonight’s addendum includes a first reading of Policy #5741 Drug and Alcohol Testing for School Bus Drivers reflecting new vehicle and traffic laws.

Presentation: Budget Time Line in Preparation for the 2019 - 2020 Budget and May 21, 2019 Vote See Attached

ACTION

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the minutes of the January 3, 2019 Board of Education meeting.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the Treasurer’s Report ending December 31, 2018.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved Revenue Budget Status ending December 31, 2018.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved Appropriation Status ending December 31, 2018.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved Student Fund Report ending December 31, 2018.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the following warrant:  School Lunch #11 for $2,119.35

The Board reviewed CSE minutes dated 11/30/2018, 1/3/2019.

First Reading of Policy #5741 Drug and Alcohol Testing for School Bus Drivers

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the following warrants:
School Lunch #12 for $8,907.44
Capital Fund #11 for $58,932.54
General Fund #48 for $10,968.75
General Fund #47 for $4391,550.39

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the appointment of Carol Connelly as substitute teacher in the high school for the 2018 - 2019 school year; salary per the WTA contract.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board approved the second request from Mrs. Brophy to take the Junior Honor Society to Mystic Aquarium on May 22, 2019.

The Board review CSE minutes dated 1/10/2019.

There were no comments from the Board of Education, residents or staff.

On motion by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mrs. Maloney and by a vote of 5 - 0 the Board adjourned at 7:24pm.


Julie Caulkins
District Clerk

2019-2020 Budget Timeline Presentation.pdf