by Alex Brooks
At the Hoosick Falls School District Board meeting on Monday night, Physical Education Teacher Lisa Ferrannini outlined a plan for developing a lacrosse program at Hoosick Falls Central. The program will begin with boys and girls club teams this spring. Ferrannini will coach the girls team, and first grade teacher Mark Marquart will coach the boys team.
The program will be supported by a Hoosick Falls Lacrosse Club, independent of the school, which is being organized by Eric Crawford and which is scheduled to start its activities this spring with the launch of boys and girls U-13 teams. Crawford said his organization has already signed an agreement with the Hoosick Falls Soccer Club to use their fields and is working on setting up a league with neighboring communities in three states. The Lacrosse Club will hold an Open House on Thursday, December 10, at which youngsters can sign up for the U-13 team, meet the coaches and learn about the game. It will be from 6 to 8 pm in the elementary school gym
Ferrannini said she has done a survey of students to determine student interest in playing lacrosse and found that in grades 9-12, 52 boys definitely wanted to play and 17 more were thinking about it and 30 girls definitely wanted to play and 33 more were thinking about it. A survey of fourth to sixth-graders at both HFCS and St. Mary’s found that 39 boys wanted to play and 32 more were thinking about it and 24 girls wanted to play and 40 more were thinking about it. The conclusion was that kids want to play lacrosse.
Ferrannini said the goal would be to eventually have competitive varsity teams for both boys and girls, but it would start with modified teams and build up from there as the players move up into the higher grades. She estimated start-up costs for uniforms and equipment at $3,500 to $6,500 for a girls team and $5,000 to $10,000 for a boys team. Grants may be available to help with this cost, and Ferrannini suggested a number of fund raising ideas to help with the cost.
Superintendent Ken Facin said this program would be a great addition to the school because sports participation in the fall is about 43% of the students, while in the spring it is in the single digits because there is only one sport offered. “This would provide more opportunities for our kids,” he said. Facin said the District will move forward with a club program this spring and asked the Board to consider establishing a modified program for the spring of 2011.
Senior Ball
Senior class officers gave a Powerpoint® presentation on their proposed plans for the Senior Ball. The plan is to travel by school bus to the Great Escape Indoor Water Park, have dinner there, have the dance in a ballroom there, then change clothes and play in the Indoor Water Park all night until the buses come back to get them in the morning. The Ball is scheduled for March 27 and will cost $50 per person. There will be one chaperone for every six students. The Board approved the plans.
Honor Society Raises The Bar
The Hoosick Falls chapter of the National Honor Society is changing its rules, and teachers Lia Nielsen and Isabel McGuire presented these to the Board. The induction ceremony will be moved to the fall, and sophomores will no longer be eligible, so a student’s first opportunity to be inducted would be in the fall of the junior year rather than in the spring of the sophomore year. Those inducted as seniors would then be able to put it on their college applications. They are also raising the standard for acceptance into the Society from a cumulative GPA of 85 to a cumulative GPA of 90. Members of the Society will pay dues of $10 to help pay for the induction ceremony.
Sports Team Success
School Board President David Sutton in his report reviewed the remarkable achievements of the HFCS sports teams this fall. The football, field hockey and girls soccer teams all finished first in their leagues, and all three won scholar-team awards for their high academic achievement as well. Field hockey and football both made it to the final four in statewide competition. Girls soccer made it to the quarter-finals in sectionals and boys soccer to the semi-finals of sectionals. The field hockey team also won the WASAREN League sportsmanship award. Overall, said Sutton, it is an extremely impressive record.
Superintendent Ken Facin said first quarter grades are all in and while there has been improvement, he said, “We’re not where we need to be academically.” He said the most important thing to understand is that his administration doesn’t just gather student results and put them in the file cabinet and move on. He said, “We’re meeting regularly, assessing results and thinking of ways to improve.” He said, for example, that in grades 7-12 6% are failing English, 19% are failing Social Studies and failure rates are between those numbers for other subjects. He talked, as he often does, about raising expectations and also about partnering with parents to improve student performance.
Capital Project
Facin said the focus of the Capital Project in recent weeks has been on finishing the drainage projects around the sports fields and building bleachers for the visitors’ side of the football field. The tower by the football field is slated to come down very soon. Sutton assured everyone that the panther and the Ken Baker sign that were mounted on the tower have been saved. Facin said the Capital Project will be completed by the spring because certain weather dependent projects may have to wait for the return of warm weather to be completed.
VonSchilgen Granted Tenure
The Board unanimously approved tenure for Martha VonSchilgen, the High School Librarian, in the tenure area of School Media Specialist. Sutton and Facin both offered her their congratulations.