Musical Peformances Highlight School Board Meeting
by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board meeting began with performances from students who were chosen for area All State ensembles, and by the “Carnegie Chorus” which performed with Albany Pro Musica on Sunday January 22 in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall along with three other elite high school chorus groups from the Capital District area.
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The students who were chosen as “All State performers from an area encompassing 13 counties in the capital District area were Danielle St. Hilaire, who was chosen for the All State chorus and given a solo during its performance, and Devin Weingold, a senior chosen for the wind ensemble (his second time being chosen as an Area All State performer), and Hunter Davendonis, a Junior who was chosen for the All State symphony orchestra.
The chorus performed “Coventry Carol,” with a solo by Danielle St. Hilaire, and “Ave Maria.” Weingold and Davendonis played a trumpet trio with teacher Rob Allen.
At the conclusion of these performances, a short reception was held to honor the musicians. Punch and pastry were served. After this, the School Board got back to work and most of the people in the auditorium left.
Board President Greg Laurin was out of town, so Vice-President John Helft ran the meeting. Heft said the survey about the capital project was closed January 15, and the District got 200 responses. He read some the results. 54% of the respondents do not have kids in the school. 95% of respondents agreed that the education provided at HFCS is more than adequate. Three-quarters of respondents said they feel the Board has done a good job maintaining the facilities and the educational program without undue tax burden. 90% of respondents said the Board should put a capital project up for a vote.
Superintendent Facin said he and Business Manager Pam Hatfield have been working with the architects, doing walk-throughs and developing information for various options that may be part of the capital project. He also said they have met with the bus drivers, and the cafeteria workers, and they will be meeting with all of the employees of the district to get their suggestions about the Capital Project.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Facin said he watched all of the confirmation hearings of Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, and he was concerned that she did not seem to know what IDEA is. It is a law about inclusion of students with disabilities. He said DeVos seemed to think it was a policy. Facin called it, “One of the most noble laws this country has ever passed.” and added, “We have made great progress on inclusion.”
He was also concerned about the State aid picture. He said “after we finally got ride of GEA (Gap Elimination Adjustment, which took away aid from School Districts as a budget-balancing measure) last year, the idea was that we would fix foundation aid” to make it more fair. But he is concerned that that is not happening. He said Hoosick Falls has lost $18.6 million in foundation aid since 2009, while some districts in the State have been overfunded on foundation aid. He said, “It’s not about getting a bigger budget for State aid, it’s about a more equitable distribution of the aid.” He said he would be meeting with State Senator Marchione and Assemblyman McLaughlin the next morning and would express these ideas to them.
Business Manager Pam Hatfield told the Board about the Governor’s budget for the upcoming year. She said the headline is that there is a billion dollars in additional aid to school districts, but less than half of that is for foundation aid, and some of the foundation aid increase is earmarked for special projects and some is a repackaging of existing programs. The bottom line, said Hatfield is that foundation aid for Hoosick Falls is expected to go up by $145,000, which is a 1.7% increase in foundation aid.
Facin also said he is concerned that the District may lose some of its Title 1 funding (Federal money) because of “what’s going on at the Federal level.” He said some districts have very little Title 1 money, so are not much at risk, but Hoosick Falls gets “hundreds of thousands” in Title 1 funding and losing that would be a huge blow to the District’s finances.
Other Action
• The Board approved an overnight trip for the wrestling team to a tournament in Walkill. The trip will include a tour of West Point Academy given by Hoosick Falls alumnus and former HFCS wrestler Luis Weierbach. All expenses for the trip will be paid by one of the parents.
• The Board approved “Walk the Halls” on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 8 pm from January 1 through April 30, which gives local people the chance to walk the long corridors of the school for fitness during the cold weather when it is difficult to walk outside.
• The Board approved Non-Resident tuition for 2016-17 based on a calculation from the State Education Department. It will $5,495 for K-6 and $7,230 for grades 7 to 12. There are currently three out-of-District students who are paying tuition to attend HFCS.
The next regular School Board meeting will be February 16 at 7 pm in the high school library. [/private]