Mausert Resigns From HFCS Board

by Alex Brooks
Hoosick Falls School Board Member Rye Mausert submitted his resignation prior to this week’s monthly meeting, and the Board accepted it at the meeting. Mausert was not present at the meeting and no information was offered as to why he resigned at this time.
The School Board is actively seeking people who might be interested in an appointment to this seat. Those who are interested are asked to send a letter of interest to the District Clerk.
State Of The Schools
The School Board began with a lengthy presentation on the “State of the Schools.” Overall, the numbers showed a picture of a school that has been steadily improving over the last three years.
Regents
The percentage of students passing the Regents test has increased every year for the past three years. In 06-07 72% passed, in 07-08 81% passed; in 08-09 86% passed; and this past year 88% passed. This fell just short of the Board’s goal of a 90% passing rate, and the board set the same goal of a 90% passing rate for the upcoming year.
The percentage of students achieving mastery on the Regents exams has also been rising steadily, from 18% in 06-07 to 21% in 07-08 to 32% in 08-09 to 36% this past year. The Board had set a goal of 30% for this year, and having exceeded it, they set a goal of 40% for the upcoming year.
The graduation rate for the past year was 83%, which was the highest of the last four years, but did not meet the Board’s goal of 90%. Superintendent Facin noted that students who got their high school diploma by passing the GED test or through an IEP diploma are not counted in figuring the graduation rate. If those were counted the rate would be about 10% higher.
The District’s GED program has been increasingly successful over the three years that it has been operating. The first year, five out of the 16 students enrolled in the program passed the test; the next year 19 of the 27 students enrolled passed the test; and this year 12 out of 14 passed.
Disciplinary referrals were cut in half from the 08-09 year to the 09-10 year. High School Principal Stacy Vadney gave a lot of credit for this to Assistant Principal Brett Lamy. Superintendent Facin pronounced it “amazing.”
The report also noted that the ranking of HFCS in the Capital District Business Review’s evaluation of the quality of Capital District public schools has risen for the past two years. In 06-07, it was ranked #63 among the 85 schools evaluated.. In 07-08 it was #49, and in 08-09 it was #45.
Board member Dwain Wilwol complimented the school administrators on the State of the Schools report, saying it was clear and comprehensive, the best report of its kind he had ever seen, Superintendent Facin thanked him for his kind words, and said there will be some public presentations of the State of the School Report in the community, perhaps at the Firehouse.
New Teachers
Superintendent Facin said the greatest weaknesses in the testing results were in the area of Social Studies and Math. He has responded by  arranging to create two new teaching positions, one in Social Studies and one in AIS Math, which will be funded by the Federal government through Title 1 ARRA funds. These are two year appointments, which are fully funded for both years. Laura Edick, who has been working in the district as a long-term substitute teacher, was hired for the AIS Math position, and Sabrina Graham was hired for the Social Studies position.
Tax Rates Set
Tax rates for this year’s school tax were approved at this month’s meeting. Although the tax levy is exactly the same as last year, tax rates in most of the towns were slightly up, probably because the total value of all taxable property in the District fell by over 4% in the past year. The tax rates per thousand of assessed valuation are these:
Grafton: $205.61  up 0.7%
Hoosick: $62.36   up 0.9%
Petersburgh: $30.35  up 2.9%
Pittstown: $27.89   up 4.8%
White Creek $30.61  down 2.8%
Transfers Into Reserve Funds
The Board put money into various reserve funds from the unexpended balance left over from the 09-10 school year. They put $174,400 into the Bus Reserve Fund, and $98,976 into the Reserve for Terminal Pay, and $243,600 into the Reserve for Retirement Incentive, and $70,590 into the Unemployment Reserve, and $550,000 into the Debt Service Fund
New Funds On The Horizon
Superintendent Ken Facin said the Federal government has approved a $10 billion education jobs program. The District has not yet heard any details of how this is going to be implemented, but an estimate put out by Senator Schumer’s office said the Hoosick Falls District would get something in the neighborhood of $400,000 from this program.  Facin said you have to be careful with these kinds of windfalls, because if you hire more teachers, then in a subsequent year when the Federal funding isn’t there, you would either have to lay off the new teachers or pay them with local funds.  He said he is considering creating one-year positions to explicitly acknowledge that the funding is temporary. He summed up by saying, “We will use these funds to improve student results.”
In addition, this week Federal education officials announced that New York will be awarded $700 million in “Race to the Top” funds, but it is not known yet how that funding may become available to the local districts.
PTA
Laurie Gormley said the new officers of the PTA have met twice this summer to plan their budget and activities for the upcoming school year. The officers are: Heather St. Hilaire, President; Tracy Niles, Vice President; Laurie Gormley, Treasurer, and Sarah Steller, Secretary.
Other
The Board approved the annual agreement with the Hoosick Falls Soccer Club for the use of their fields. The District will pay $5,000 for the period from now through November.
The Board appointed Paul Baker as provisional Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, replacing John Nealon, who is retiring.
The next regular meeting of the School Board will be September 16 at 7 pm in the High School Cafeteria.