by Phillip Zema
A number of the District’s crucial issues were discussed at the Tuesday, September 21, Berlin Central School Board of Education meeting. One of these issues concerned whether local health officials found asbestos and/or lead in the District’s buildings.
In May, there was an asbestos and lead study conducted at the Berlin and Grafton Elementary Schools. The inside of Grafton Elementary was found not to contain above normal amounts of lead. Berlin Elementary, however, contained four rooms that had above normal lead levels. Rooms 104 and 105 were slightly above normal, while rooms 111 and the library contained concentrations slightly higher. There was no asbestos study at Grafton Elementary, but the one at Berlin found the substance in the south stairwell’s ceiling material. Reportedly, the ceiling has been sealed and no airborne asbestos was found. Regarding the rooms containing above average amounts of lead, the District has implemented and followed a cleaning program that complies with HUD guidelines. At a yet to be confirmed date, another lead test will be conducted at the school.
There was concern that prior to the lead and asbestos tests, the building could have just been cleaned, the reasoning being that if you know you have company, you clean your house more thoroughly. If so, the cleaning could have distorted the accuracy of the tests. The health official’s position was that the maintenance at the building seemed routine and nobody appeared to be preemptively cleaning the rooms.
District Superintendent Search
With the resignation of Interim Superintendent Eileen Leffler, the BOE is looking to hire a new District leader. School Board Member John Nash stressed the need to expedite the process, stating that “we need to move, and we need to move fast.” It was requested by the BOE that Board President John Greene contact Hoosick Falls and New Lebanon and see if either might be willing to share superintendents. Board Member Beverly Stewart has contacted several hiring consultants that specialize in superintendent searches. She reported that these firms have experience in helping schools demographically similar to Berlin. The Board encouraged Stewart to set up a meeting with these firms on a Wednesday in October, ideally October 6.
Stewart also mentioned that the election sub-committee has considered making BOE elections an at-large process. Instead of having elections where two individuals compete for one seat, candidates would be nominated at an at-large basis. That is, if there were two openings, whoever were the top two vote-getters would win the seats. The committee also considered whether the District should have multiple polling sites. More discussions about these potential changes will occur at future BOE meetings.
New TA And Health Official Hires
The District was recently awarded a Title 1 grant. The funding will be used to hire two teaching assistants who will provide additional classroom instruction in Berlin Elementary. Nobody on the Board denied the importance of the teaching positions. Stewart supported the positions, claiming that since the class sizes were larger than normal, the assistants would be an asset to the kids. Nash was not against the positions either. Yet he added that, as part of its fiscal responsibility, the District needs to investigate ways to reduce costs and ought to evaluate whether it can fulfill such positions internally with existing staff. Ultimately, the Board approved the appointments.
There was also concern about whether the District needed to hire another full time health officer (6.5 hours a day for 10 months). If it did so, the District would be back to having three full time health officers, which is where Berlin stood before consolidation took place. Besides typical health duties, the staff member would be chiefly responsible for making two round trips from Berlin to Albany each day to provide health services for a student. The general concern was that these health duties could be provided without having to hire a full time health officer by, for example, making it a per diem position. The District’s lawyer said that the Board could, at a later time, re-evaluate the position and decide whether a full time hire was necessary. The appointment passed, but with several conditions – that it be a probationary appointment and that a time study regarding how much time is needed to provide the health services be conducted and presented to the Board.
Another source of contention was whether the Board should hire a long-term substitute at a rate of $443 a day; a typical certified substitute only gets $85 a day. Reportedly, this large rate was due in part to the individual’s past teaching experience. Nash asked whether this opening had been publicly advertised and whether the District could consider other candidates. Stewart, like several other BOE members, was incredulous that a substitute’s pay could be comparable to an interim superintendent’s. The Board, however, made no decision on the issue and will further look into the matter.
Summer Education Program
High School Principal Cathy Allain, Middle School Principal Jason Breh and Curriculum Coordinator Leslie Nichols gave a presentation on Berlin’s summer learning program and its positive educational impact on various students. During the summer, a number of pre-k and elementary students took part in a summer educational program. The program focused on improving and maintaining various ELA and mathematical skill sets. It was emphasized that a substantial number of these students, anywhere between 30% and 82%, improved in these areas.
Budget Issues
Concern also arose over the 2010-2011 school budget. Last spring, voters approved an $18.2m budget, but a recent report shows that the District will spend $18.5m this school year. Sandra Owens said that in many cases the District has a surplus from the previous school year, left over for example, because of faculty payroll schedules. In such cases, the money is typically used in the following school year. It was initially stated that the bulk of this money goes towards salaries. Heinz Noeding later pointed out that a considerable portion of this money went towards various school operational expenses, such as textbooks.
Public Comment
During the public comment period, Noeding stated that getting students into college, especially four-year degree programs, should be added to the District’s academic mission. Referencing a recent New York Times article, he said a college degree provides a number of long-term social benefits. Accordingly, people with such a degree are more likely to be employed, to be wealthier and healthier than those with just a high school degree. At the end of the meeting, Noeding expressed his concern that the BOE was not properly prioritizing the District’s financial issues.
Thomas Morelli expressed his disapproval with a $340k line-item transfer that took place in August. He questioned why the transfer did not take place in July, the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. Morelli wanted clarification as to why the transfer took place. President Greene said that the District would provide Morelli with a written memo in a week. Morelli, however, felt that an earlier answer was warranted, and Greene agreed to get the memo to him as soon as possible. Stewart recommended that the topic be discussed at next month’s BOE meeting.
Shelly Bedford voiced her discontentment to the Board. She provided the Board with a number of quotes from concerned residents. The increased class sizes, lengthened bus rides, and general safety concerns were the subjects of many of these quotes. Additionally, Rebekah Hartman asked if the District would provide graduation numbers from the previous school year.
The Board voted to reinstate the Leadership Advisory Committee with Thomas Morelli and Atsushi Akera as its co-chairpersons. At a later date, the group will be notified of its tasks. Both Berlin and Hoosic Valley’s TRACs coalitions were awarded a two-year, $150k grant ($75k per year). The coalitions are to share this money and use it to train and educate others.