ECS Washington
trip is on again

By DAVID HULSE

GLEN SPEY — Saying the parents overwhelmingly supported the idea, Eldred Central School (ECS) district officials voted on December 13 to re-schedule the eighth grade’s trip to the nation’s capital.

Immediately following the terrorism incidents of September 11, District Superintendent Candace Mazur had proposed that another location, such as Boston, be substituted for the traditional spring trip. Mazur then said there had been expressions of safety concerns from parents, in addition to the possibility that security issues might leave some major attractions closed.

But Mazur reported on last Thursday that since early fall the district sent a survey to the 47 eighth-grade families and the results changed her mind. Among 33 responses to the survey “almost all overwhelmingly had no problem” with the trip to Washington, D.C.

Mazur said the district would plan on Washington, but continue to leave options open if future events indicated a need to reconsider the plan.

In other business, last week the Board of Education ratified a new three-year contract with ECS faculty. The contract, which is retroactive to July 1 of this year, through June 2004, provides for salary increases of 2.44 percent in the first year, 2.62 percent in the second year and 2.85 percent in the final year. Mazur said there were no other real changes in the contract aside from the salary adjustments.

Additionally, Mazur reported that the district is expecting a January architect’s report on specific costs and timing of needed structural repairs at MacKenzie Elementary School.

The superintendent also noted that work of seven ECS students had been published in TRR’s recent Teen Amphibian and said their accomplishments were a credit to their teacher’s efforts.

The board also named former ECS sports standout, Pat Brady, as coach of the boys modified basketball team.