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Garrison District Hires 'The Mighty Theater' to Institute Professional Theater Arts Program in School
Garrison settles lawsuit against Yonkers School District in St. Basil-related dispute
by Margaret Sternberg
The Garrison School District's 2007-8 theme of "Celebrate Learning through the Arts" was given serious support at the Garrison Board of Education's July 25, 2007 meeting as a contract for a comprehensive, professional theater arts program to be run by 'The Mighty Theater' at The Paramount Center for the Arts was approved. The program's cost is $9,418. The program will be conducted through BOCES, which will allow it to qualify as an "aidable" expense.
Teachers will be involved from the outset and will be worked with to develop a comprehensive curriculum that ties to what is being done in the classrooms lessons. Scheduling is able to be flexible based on class needs, testing schedules, field trips, etc. Superintendent Gloria Colucci touted the program as "brand new and [there is] an interest in being flexible and working with us to really learn what [this school] need[s]."
In other news, Superintendent Colucci announced that the district had settled its lawsuit against the Board of Education of the Yonkers City School District for $40,000.The School Board later approved settlement of the suit for that amount. The suit arose in connection with a child from Yonkers, who was a resident at St. Basil Academy and attended Garrison in the 2003/4 school year.
Garrison had sued for retrieval of $106,240 in tuition and other fees for the special needs child and had based its calculation on NRT (non-resident tuition.) According to Colucci, the negotiated amount was based upon a discussion of the "validity" of NRT.
Trustee Jim Cannon noted that the settlement was a function of the district's knowledge that litigation could have been "dragged out" by Yonkers, causing Garrison to spend additional funds on litigation, and that Yonkers "took responsibility…which they hadn't been willing to do for a long period of time…" Cannon called the settlement a "prudent way of putting this matter behind us."
Other tuition disputes remain in Putnam County Court, and settlement negotiations are in progress.
That evening the Board also approved the $3,516 purchase of a telephone/e-mail alert system that is expected to be installed by September. The system will include the district's high school students. Residents can register online to be part of the system, which offers the ability to send messages to the entire district or to targeted sub-groups such as children who participate in sports or other after-school activities, or families whose children ride a particular color bus that might be running late. The system chosen is the only system currently available that offers not only voice but text messages.
The approval of cafeteria and recess monitor assignments segued into a discussion of the ratio of monitors to students and recess safety. The district's insurance carrier said that a ratio of one adult to every 25-30 children was adequate, and a review of the recess periods revealed that all had that ratio or better.
Colucci also said that training of the monitors includes proper supervision procedures, which are reviewed with all monitors. Included in those procedures is staying involved with the children, not using the playground as a time to socialize, watching to see that the children don't hide, general observation of the children, knowledge of all the safety rules and several other requirements, including knowledge of what to do when a child exhibits inappropriate behavior.
Aides are disbursed throughout the play areas and, Colucci said, "Our record is relatively good." In a tangential discussion the idea of getting the children involved in picking the playground equipment the school would purchase received encouragement from all present.
In technology news, the computers for the school's new Smart Boards are being set up. Superintendent Colucci gave thanks to Garrison resident Jennifer Wilson, who is the Technology Director in the North Salem School District, for her help in acclimating Colucci and Principal Stephanie Inpellittiere to the Smart Boards software. Wilson also offered her assistance to the district to work with the Garrison staff, go into classrooms and do some demonstration lessons as well as offering discs of already created lesson plans. Training on the Smart Boards will begin in August. Use of the Smart Boards is expected to be on a limited scale as of the beginning of the new school year.
Colucci and School Board President Anita Prentice also expressed the district's thanks to Eric and Patricia Hine for their donation of $5,000 for the fabrication and installation of the lacrosse net, which will cost $6,500. Colucci expressed confidence that the remainder of the funds will be donated through fund raising.
Colucci announced that summer construction projects at the school are going well, recounting that the expansion of the business office is near completion and that the pavilion structure was scheduled to be put in during the week. She noted that the first coat of paving had been put down on Nelson Lane and that a second coating was expected to be put in shortly.
A bid of $44,400 by Polhemus Construction Co., Inc. was accepted to pave the extension of the upper parking area and the circular road. The four bids ranged from $44,400 to $73,590.
Superintendent Colucci announced that Governor Spitzer had signed legislation that will allow school districts to carry a 3 percent fund balance in the 2007-8 school year, and 4 percent in 2008-9, up from a current maximum of 2 percent. Colucci called the move "positive," adding that will allow Garrison to now have "close to what other municipalities are able to conserve as fund balances."
The next meeting of the Garrison Board of Education will be Wednesday, August 22, at 7 pm.
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