HFCS BOE Approves Siege Club

by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board monthly meeting began with a presentation from Science Teacher Anthony Malikowski about the HFCS team’s experience building a machine to compete in the recent  pumpkin chunkin’ contest at the Pumpkinpalooza Festival. Their machine, called Grape Shot, won the contest, and the students who participated were so fired up they wanted to do more of this kind of thing. Malikowski proposed a Siege Engineering Club and talked of organizing interscholastic competitions for siege machines. The Board approved the new Club later in the meeting.
New Special Education Teachers
Superintendent Ken Facin said the District is hiring two new teachers this month in response to an influx of special needs students to the District in the month of September. The District now has a 17% Special Ed classification rate. That rate was at 13% last Spring. The Board created a new position for a teacher of English as a Second Language and hired John MacDonald to fill it. The Board also created a new Special Education teaching assistant position and hired Zenia Skalij to fill it. These positions are “based on enrollment,” which means they could be discontinued if they are no longer needed.
The Board accepted a resignation from Michael McGraw and hired Steven Keena as Teacher of Business & Marketing to replace him.
1,000 Books
The PTA presented a check to the District for $4,000 to buy the books for a new program to encourage pre-k reading. The idea is to have kids read or have read to them 1,000 books before they enter kindergarten. There will be 100 bags with ten books in each, and they will be available to be borrowed. You read the ten books in one bag and then bring it back and get another bag. The idea to implement this program came from two elementary reading teachers at the school, Tiffany Grant and Jennifer Barron. They brought the idea to Elementary Principal Patrick Dailey, and it took off from there. Grant and Barron have been tasked with implementation of the program. They have chosen the books, with input from staff at the school, and are now thinking of outreach strategies to encourage parents and kids to take part.
Audit Presentation
John Bryans, principal of the CPA firm of Bryans & Gramuglia, gave a presentation on his recently completed audit of the District’s finances. The firm spent about 300 hours reviewing the District’s financial practices and found them to be sound and the financial statements provided to be accurate. The auditors made one “significant” recommendation to improve accounting of fixed assets. Bryans praised the cooperation of the staff at Hoosick Falls and praised the quality of the financial statements provided to him by District Business Manager Pamela Hatfield.
Race To The Top Numbers
Superintendent Ken Facin said those who have seen news of the $700 million award of Federal Race To the Top funding for New York State may have thought that the District was in for a windfall, but by the time the money gets divided up and distributed, the aid to the Hoosick Falls District is not that much. Facin said half of the money will be used by the State Education Department itself and half will be distributed to school districts. Eighty percent of the money distributed to school districts will go to high poverty areas. The Hoosick Falls District will receive $53,000 per year for four years. Facin also said there is quite a lot of paperwork involved.
Teacher Contract In The Works?
HFTA Vice-President Jennifer McDonald said a contract renewal proposal has been formulated in negotiations with the District, and the HFTA members will be voting on contract renewal this Friday.
Energy Efficiency Project
Superintendent Facin said the Facilities committee, now that the Capital Project is completed, is turning its attention to projects aimed at making the building more energy efficient. One of the “Green” building projects they are contemplating is one to replace lighting fixtures throughout the school with more efficient ones. This is an idea that came out of a NYSERDA energy audit of the school completed in 2009.  The total cost of the project would be about $185,000, but a $45,000 grant from National Grid would make the cost to the District $140,000. This would generate savings on the District’s annual electricity bill of $28,000 each year and additional savings in the cost of replacement light bulbs. The analysis showed that these savings would pay off the cost of the project in 3.6 years. The Board will be considering financing options and working out details before taking a vote on whether to go ahead with the project, but there were many positive comments about it, and the Board seemed enthusiastic about the idea.
School Board Recognition
In honor of School Board Recognition Week, proclaimed for the last week in October for New York State, the administration offered baked goodies and kind words to the School Board members. Superintendent Ken Facin said, “You are examples of volunteerism at its finest. Your leadership has been essential in moving the District to where it is now.”
Three Flutes And An Autoharp
It was a good night for the school band. The Board accepted a donated flute from Fred & Jane Verderosa valued at $175 and two flutes donated by Bill Johnston valued at $200 each, as well as an autoharp, also from Bill Johnston, valued at $150.
The next regular meeting of the School Board will be November 18 at 7 pm in the High School Library.