by Alex Brooks
Petitions for candidates running for the Hoosick Falls School Board were due this week. The District Clerk received two, so there will be two candidates on the ballot running for two open seats. Laurie Gormley is running for re-election, and Ryerson N. Mausert 3rd is running for election to the School Board as well. Greg Laurin, whose term is expiring, declined to run for another term.
The School Board meeting began with a presentation by Senior Class Advisor Holly Emerson and a group of the seniors asking for permission for an overnight class trip on June 1 and 2, which was approved.
Graduation Revised
District Superintendent Ken Facin said the Shared Decision making Committee has been discussing revisions to the format of the Graduation ceremonies and, most particularly, having an awards ceremony that is separate from the graduation. They came to the conclusion that both parts, the awards and the conferring of diplomas, could be enhanced if they were separate ceremonies on successive nights. So this year the awards will be given out on Thursday night, and the diplomas on Friday evening as usual. Facin said more details will be forthcoming as they are worked out.
The End Of French
The Board accepted the resignation of French teacher Laurie Pendergast, abolished a French teaching position and established a Spanish teaching position. This completes the process, underway for a couple of years, of phasing out the curriculum in French and replacing it with an expanded curriculum in Spanish. Spanish will now start in the seventh grade, which is earlier than the District has done in the past. Facin noted that languages are easier to learn when one is younger, and he is exploring the feasibility of starting language instruction even earlier, while kids are still in the elementary school.
Sports Trips
Two requests for Board permission for sports trips were on the agenda, a three day varsity baseball trip to Cooperstown and a three day varsity softball trip to Niagara Falls. Both of these trips would require the players to miss one full day of school. Superintendent Facin said these trips are a tradition, and he didn’t ask the Board to turn them down for this year, but he said in the future he would like to phase out trips that require student athletes to miss a full day of school. He added that he is not talking about sectional games or state level playoffs when he says this. The Board approved the two trips for this year.
Smart Board Donation
The Hoosick Falls PTA donated $3,578.80 to the District to be used for SMART Board technology, and a ceremonial check was presented to the Superintendent and the School Board President. SMART Boards are large screens that can be manipulated by touching parts of the screen to bring up images, data or text that are stored in an attached computer. We’ve all seen them in action because the weathermen on TV use them. High School Principal Steven Leunig said the boards are “a fabulous tool.”
Instrument Donation
The Board also accepted a donation of a trumpet and a french horn, valued at $900, from Harold Moore.
The Board then went into an Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations with the School Support Staff.