by Alex Brooks
A presentation by environmental educator Howard Romack began the December 19 meeting of the Hoosick Falls School Board. He described a program he did for Mrs. Culver’s fourth grade class at Lake Lauderdale and a summer program he did a few years ago with Hoosick Falls students. [private]The summer program involves a series of trips to destinations in Eastern New York and Western Vermont to learn about the ecology of the area. The kids visited The Battenkill River, Lake George, Lake Champlain, the Ball Mountain dam in Vermont, Howe Caverns and the Albany Pine Bush preserve.
Romack is a retired science teacher who enjoys teaching, and continues to do these programs pro-bono because he finds it rewarding. He seems to have a knack for showing kids a good time while they are learning a lot at the same time.
He was chairman of the Science Department at the Cambridge Central School for many years, where he was a colleague of Hoosick Falls Superintendent Ken Facin.
Facin said he would like to make Romack’s summer program “a part of our school,” and told the Board he would like to include it in the budget this year.
Non-Enrolled Students in HFCS Activities
There was a discussion about developing a policy on allowing students from the District who are not enrolled at HFCS to participate in school clubs and activities.
These might be students at St. Mary’s, or Grace Christian School in Bennington or home-schooled students. While expressing a general desire to be inclusive, Board members also expressed a desire to give enrolled students priority in activities where numbers are limited. Facin said he has had phone calls, for instance, from parents who complained when non-enrolled students were given parts in Drama Club productions.
The Board did not try to resolve the issue at this meeting, and they asked Facin to provide them with a bit more information about how many outside students have been involved in HFCS activities in the past and what activities they took part in. Facin said he would provide more information, and he urged the Board to draw a clear line on this and not ask administrators to make judgment calls on a case by case basis.
Distance Learning
Board Member John Helft asked Patrick Dailey about the District’s plans for distance learning. The first thing Dailey said is that the purpose of developing a distance learning program at HFCS “is not to supplant things we already have – it’s for expanding our offerings.” Dailey said they will probably have one room which will become the distance learning room, where the technology is installed. He said he didn’t think bandwidth is going to be a problem, remarking that fiber-optic cables were activated over the Thanksgiving break which markedly improved the school’s ability to get data in and out of the school.
Superintendent Facin said there are a lot of logistical issues they are working on to set up a distance learning initiative. In addition to technical issues, they have to discuss with the HFTA how it is to be done, as it is an issue which must be negotiated between the District and the teachers.
Wrestling Team
The Board agreed to two requests from the wrestling team. The first was to take the team to a two day tournament in Herkimer on December 27 and 28. Funding for this trip was provided by the HFCS Varsity Club. The other was to give permission for varsity wrestler Luis Weierbach to participate in the Eastern States Classic wrestling tournament on January 10 and 11. Coach Landon Nelson said this is a prestigious invitational tournament, which he described as “the toughest tournament on the East Coast.”
Pellet Boiler Update
Superintendent Facin said they are finishing up the contract with Bioenergy Partners LLC for installation of a boiler fueled by wood pellets. “It’s close to a final draft,” he said. School Board President Greg Laurin said, “It’s gonna happen, folks.”
Other Business
• The Board accepted a donation of an Epson scanner and a digital camera from John Button for the high school yearbook. The donation was valued at $250.
• The Board approved the sale of surplus bus #24 to the highest bidder, Mathies & Sons, for $2,850.
The next regular meeting of the Hoosick Falls School Board will be on January 16 at 7 pm in the High School Library.[/private]