Proposals prompt board opposition
School Board
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During her staff development presentation, Assistant Superintendent Donna Guiffre recommended re-aligning the 5th through 8th grade math curriculum in order to make algebra an 8th grade class rather than a 9th grade class. To do so, she proposed hiring a freelance staff developer to guide curriculum writers through the re-alignment. The proposed hiring would cost the school $650 per day for 10 days worth of work, something Ms. Clifford said would be paid for with federal grant money, not from the school's budget.
Because Ms. Clifford and Ms. Guiffre would like the curriculum in place before the new school year starts, they wanted the staff developer to start at the end of this week.
Board members debated the cost and what the change's educational impact might be. Ms. Clifford and Ms. Guiffre told the board other school districts nearby have made the same change, and that Shelter Island School had done something similar in moving earth science from 10th grade to 8th grade curriculum.
Donna Clark, the school's special education and guidance secretary, said if 8th graders could handle the more technically challenging earth science course, they could keep up with algebra, something math teacher Virginia Gibbs echoed.
Should students fall behind, Ms. Clifford and Ms. Guiffre said extra math labs and summer instruction could be added without additional cost and staffing.
When it came time to vote on the hiring, board members initially veered toward acceptance until Tom Graffagnino, who was sworn in Monday as the board's new vice president, objected. This was not based on the merits of changing curriculum, he said, but any potential hire should interview with the board.
“I feel like there's a gun to our heads,” board member Mark Kanarvogel, who opposed the hiring, said. “Hurry up and do this in two days.”
Ultimately, the board voted 4-3 to hire the staff developer whom Ms. Clifford said she would bring in to meet the board. Board President Rebecca Mundy, who also opposed, said the board should consider member Linda Eklund's proposal to set a policy requiring a longer lead time on such hiring proposals. Near the end of the meeting, resident Gerry Siller stood up to commend Mr. Graffagnino for his opposition and pressed the board to set a new hiring policy.
Mr. Kanarvogel also voted against awarding a construction contract. Larry Salvesen, a senior architect from Burton, Behrendt & Smith, the school's architecture firm, said two bids were received to build an ADA accessible ramp to the school's main entrance. After negotiations with Carter Melence Inc. of Sound Beach, Mr. Salvesen said the final cost had been reduced from $27,888 to $25,000, the work would take one to two weeks and could possibly be finished before September 1. The contract was awarded on a 6-1 vote.
At the board's reorganizational meeting Mr. Kanarvogel had asked not to approve the contract with BBS until after meeting with a representative. The board met with Mr. Salvesen during the executive session that followed Monday's meeting.
Other presentations
Ms. Guiffre also gave a presentation on student attendance and the need to revise school policy. She said student attendance has trended downward by half a percentage point over the past five years, a direction she does not like. On the extreme end, she said 13 of 192 middle and high school students missed more than 20 full days last year, with one student netting 53; the high for elementary students was 27.
Her suggestion was to set an absence threshold of 20 for missing full school days or an individual class. At pre-determined markers, seven, 14 and 19 absences, she would call the student and parents as well as send formal correspondence to warn them that should the student hit 20, he or she would be denied course credit for whatever classes they missed that many times.
“We were seeing patterns with individual students” that got worse as they moved into high school, said Robert Barber, middle school social studies teacher and member of the attendance advisory committee. “We're not looking to trap people.”
He added that the current policy does not have the teeth or enforcement capability that he would want to see. Ms. Guiffre asked the board to take the statistics and recommendations under advisement when formulating a new attendance policy.
Jo-Ann Robotti, president of the Library's Board of Trustees, told the board she would like to use the school's voting mechanism for an October referendum on a tax increase to fund the library's planned expansion. She said the library will try to hold down the increase as much as possible.
“We've squeezed as much into the library as we possibly could,” she said, adding that the library hopes to expand its current 5,700-square-foot area by 75 to 100 percent.
The Board of Trustees expects to have final cost and tax increase estimates some time next month, at which point Ms. Robotti will again appear before the School Board to make a formal request.
Personnel
The board set salary for Assistant Superintendent Donna Guiffre at $139,650 and District Clerk Debbie Vecchio at $56,673. Members also approved non-union salaries for Edward Sabillon at $41,260 and Jacki Dunning at $36,389.
After changing poll hours from eight hours to nine during its July 9 reorganizational meeting, the board increased payment to poll workers and the Board of Registration to $125 per day.
The board approved Rick Osmer for varsity girls basketball at a rate of $5,156, athletic director at a rate of $4,759 and intramural weight training at $1,014; Alan Garrison at a rate of $4,364 for girls junior varsity basketball and $2,381 for girls junior high basketball; Michael Mundy at $5,156 for boys varsity basketball; Cindy Belt at $4,692 for varsity volleyball; Linda Springer at $2,828 for cheerleading; Susan Warner at $2,181 for junior high girls tennis; and Phyllis Power at $1,014 for intramural golf.
These co-curricular positions were approved: Ginny Gibbs as 7th grade advisor for $623, 8th grade advisor and Disney Trip coordinator at a rate of $1,568 and middle school coordinator at a rate of $1,568; Phyllis Power at a rate of $1,568 each for auditorium coordinator and select choir; Ms. Dunning as substitute dispatcher at $4,084, newsletter/public relations at $1,261 and 10th grade advisor at $311.50; Debbie Vecchio as 10th grade advisor at $311.50; Audrey Pederson as 11th grade advisor at $1,568 and high school city trip coordinator at $623; Roberta Garris as literacy program coordinator at $4,084; Janine Mahoney for arts-in-education at $1,261 and National Honor Society at $1,261; Donna Clark as detention supervisor at $1,568 and district newsletter coordinator at $1,261; Bob Barber as audiovisual coordinator at $1,568; Sharon Gibbs at $1,568 each for elementary/middle school science coordinator and for the Science Fair; Dan Williams for Science Club at a rate of $1,261.
Medical waiver payments of $3,855 each were approved for Frank Perry and Linda Springer. Mary Kanarvogel will receive $1,500 for performing the 2008-09 school year census. She, Christine Moran, Mr. Barber, Ann Marie Galasso, Virginia Gibbs and Ms. Mahoney will earn $60 per hour for afternoon school detention duty. Ms. Kanarvogel and Helene Starzee were appointed 12th grade co-advisers at a rate of $784 each.
Other business
After a presentation by Mr. Barber, the board approved his request to spend $5,771.15 for 70 Holt U. S. history textbooks that also come with various multimedia presentations the technology department can install on students' laptops.
Mr. Graffagnino and board member Kim Reilly volunteered to remain on the joint professional practices committee and Mr. Graffagnino, Ms. Eklund and Mr. Williams were appointed to the audit committee.
The board authorized contracts with Sunrise Busses for three routes, effective from September 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, those being for regular education at $43,104,71, special education at $36,766.34 and CDCH at $43,741.29. Currently, the CDCH route does not require a monitor. Were one needed, the added cost would be $14,248.93. The board also authorized a private school route at $43,741.29 and for sports, a van at $58.24 per hour and bus at $63.44 per hour.
The board accepted a bid from Sunrise for students attending JB Ward and Brookhaven for three trips per day for the 2008-2009 school year at a total cost of $41,415 and two transportation options for Westhampton Beach Learning Center. One is a van to Westhampton, with or without a monitor. The other is a van to Greenport and then a Greenport School District bus to Westhampton.
The board also approved a contract with Sunrise for the period of July 7 through August 15.
Members approved recommendations from the Committee on Special Education for 11 students.
The board added Smith Barney to its list of tax deferred annuity companies for the coming school year and appointed EMT Governmental Accounting Service to provide accounting services for the school year at $600 per day, not to exceed 12 total days nor a seven-hour day. The board adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance of a tax anticipation note not to exceed $2 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.
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