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Garrison School to Get Two "SMART" Boards
District to appeal denial of Summary Judgment motion
by Margaret Sternberg
After numerous discussions over the past several years, at its February 21, 2007 meeting, the Garrison Board of Education announced that it will purchase two SMART Boards.
Trustee Marilyn Palefsky reported that the SMART Boards would be for the Middle School and would be stationery, not portable, due to the possibility the portable boards could be knocked over. The boards will be shared as the teachers move from one class to another. A demonstration of the boards will be given to the faculty in early March.
In other business, Superintendent Gloria Colucci announced that the district will appeal Justice Andrew O'Rourke's recent decision denying the Garrison Board of Education's motion for summary judgment against St. Basil Academy.
Sal Ferlazzo, who has been assisting on the St. Basil litigation and was recently appointed lead attorney by the school board, explained that the appeal is being made for "protective reasons." He said that he will be reviewing all of the areas of litigation to assess the district's options and that lodging the appeal "protects the district's rights to ask a higher court to make decisions on what we believe are uncontested issues."
Trustee Palefsky said that at its most recent meeting the Education Committee considered ways in which "the Arts" can best be integrated within the academic programs of the school. The Committee also made an allowance in the budget for a part-time foreign language teacher in order to bring foreign language into the lower grades. The position would be almost full-time at .8 and, Palefsky said, would therefore probably attract a greater number of applicants.
School board President Anita Prentice asked whether the board had any interest in pursuing information on an "International Baccalaureate Program," which she described as having a more integrated and "richer" curriculum with "a lot of project-based…and cross-curricular learning." Because the school already has a similar type of curriculum, Prentice suggested, it would be a relatively easy transition. Prentice said the program is "well respected in terms of college admissions" and can be "an alternative to the AP program."
Superintendent Colucci said that they would have to look at the high schools in terms of integrating the program, and President Prentice noted that the portfolio program at Haldane is "very much like the International Baccalaureate." Other area schools were mentioned as looking at alternatives to their current programs, and research of the International Baccalaureate was put on the Education Committee's agenda.
The board reviewed the Budget, Revenue and Warrant (paid checks) reports. Described as "snapshots as of February 12," the reports are currently being cursorily reviewed and will be examined in greater detail as the school's financials move nearer to the final numbers and as the Board moves closer to the creation and approval of the 2007-8 school budget.
Trustee Carol McCullough reported that the Budget Advisory Committee had met and is proceeding in their analysis of the 2007- 8 budget figures. Transportation, debt service, benefits and some instructional numbers were reviewed at the last meeting. The entire budget will be reviewed on a line-by-line basis at the next committee meeting, and the proposed 2007-8 budget will be presented at the March 21 Board of Education meeting.
The Board approved a $35,000 budget transfer to cover additional, unanticipated employees who opted for health insurance. In addition, the Board authorized the purchase of new tax software, with a $2,000 one-time set up charge and $1,500 in annual maintenance. The new software is able to integrate information across various programs thereby eliminating duplicative entries.
Come the next school election, voters will get to vote on two seats on the school board; the terms of Eric Jacoby and Anita Prentice end this year. During the meeting Mrs. Prentice announced that she will run again; Mr. Jacoby has not yet announced his decision. Anyone interested in running can get a petition from the superintendent's office. The petition must be submitted by April 16.
The next meeting of the Garrison Board of Education will be Wednesday, March 7, at 7pm.
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