HFCS Develops Exchange Program With Beijing China

by Alex Brooks
Hoosick Falls Schools Superintendent Ken Facin said he has been working with the Beijing School system to develop an exchange program which would initially bring a group of Chinese students to Hoosick Falls to study but which might eventually allow Hoosick Falls students to study in China as well. Facin described a visit from Chinese representatives of the Beijing School system to the Hoosick Falls school. They were quite impressed with the school and its programs and facilities, and they were eager to bring some of their students here to study.
[private]Facin waxed eloquent about the value of the cultural exchange that would be engendered, talking about the things HFCS students could learn from their Chinese counterparts and vice-versa, winding up with this pronouncement, “The better relations we have with China, the better the world will be.”
Facin said he had finalized an agreement with the Beijing representatives on academics and is now looking to craft a model host family agreement and recruit some host families.  The number of Chinese students who would be coming here has not been determined yet, but Facin said it would be less than 20. The students would pay tuition, which would be a welcome shot in the arm for the District budget.
Facin said Special Education teacher Kuan Chan, who is Chinese, has been very helpful during this process, as he was during last year’s student trip to China. If all goes as planned, Mr. Chan will probably offer an adult education course in Mandarin next year for host families or others in the community who may want to learn to speak some Chinese.
Capital Project Update
Facin said that as they get further into the planning of the capital project, the administration has been thinking they may slow down a bit so they can research all the elements of their plan more fully.
Facin said the District is getting very close to completing the remediation project at the bus garage. The District had at one time 20 monitoring wells measuring levels of contamination in the soil but is down to two now.  The State has told the District that if they get one more clean sample, they will declare the clean up completed and close the file on this project. Facin said there is grant money available to cap the wells and pave the parking lot, and since these had been included in the capital project planning last month, he wanted to see about the grant funding before doing the clean up work under a capital project.
Facin also met with a representative from Johnson Controls to learn more about modern options for more efficient heating systems. Johnson Controls has done major projects with other school districts in the State, and Facin said he will be contacting those districts to see how the projects worked out for them. He said he hopes to have an engineer at the District’s December 6 workshop on the Capital Project to tell the Board about possible energy solutions.
Facin also said he has had a lot of back and forth with the State Education Department about whether or not photovoltaic projects might become “aidable” in the near future. He said while implementation of the project may be slower than initially projected, research and planning are continuing apace.
New Treasurer Appointed
After the retirement of Mike Shea last spring, the District has been seeking a new Treasurer, and this month it took action. The School Board abolished the position of Senior Account Clerk, which was Shea’s title, and created instead a position called District Treasurer. When this position was advertised the District received 27 applications for it. The Board interviewed four of those people and have now offered the job to Emily Sanders. She has accepted it.  Sanders is a 1998 graduate of HFCS. She was the Valedictorian of her class, and she lives in the community now. She has a good deal of experience working for an accounting firm and has worked on audits of the HFCS. School Business Administrator Pam Hatfield and Superintendent Ken Facin spoke very highly of her, and Board President Greg Laurin said, “This is a great hire. I don’t think we can do better.”
The Board approved the appointment, with an annual salary of $65,000, unanimously.
All State Band
The meeting began with musical performances by four students in the high school who made the All State Band. Logan Brogue played baritone saxophone; Caitlin Harrison and Lydia Casavant played a clarinet duet, and Julia Baker played violin. Baker, unfortunately, had a difficult decision to make, as the All State Band was at the same time as her soccer team’s trip to the State Finals – she decided to play soccer and had to miss the State Band event.
Varsity Club Calendar
Lisa Ferrannini and some of the officers of the HFCS Varsity Club gave the Board a presentation on the calendar they have put together. The calendars will sell for $10 and feature pictures of HFCS luminaries past and present. Varsity teams will be selling the calendars in the community as a fundraiser for the Varsity Club  – each athlete is asked to sell at least two. The calendar is dedicated to Paul Baker. He was present when  the dedication was unveiled, and he got a rousing round of applause from those attending the meeting.
HFTA
English Teacher and Wrestling Coach Chris Marsh spoke to the Board on behalf of the teachers union. He said that there had been quite a bit of apprehension among the teachers about the new teacher evaluation program, known as APPR. He said there is an APPR committee which meets each month to discuss the implementation of the new program, and he feels “things are going smoothly.”  He said the new curriculum being implemented now involves increasingly rigorous material, but the passing rate is only slightly down.
School Board President Greg Laurin congratulated Marsh and the teachers on all the teamwork which is producing this progress.
Wrestling Team
The Board approved an overnight trip to Baldwinsville, NY, for a wrestling tournament on December 21-22. This is the team’s first trip to this tournament which Marsh described as the highest level of competition in the state. He said it is a sign of the wrestling team’s high expectations for the upcoming season, and of their effort to improve their skills by taking on the most formidable competition.
The next regular meeting of the School Board will be on December 20 at 7 pm.[/private]