Success in Sullivan

By SARAH GOLDMAN

HANKINS, NY — A review of the district report card during the April 29 Sullivan West School Board meeting revealed “pockets of real success” throughout the district. “In 37 years, I’ve seen some interesting things happen. For one thing, we’ve moved from a career orientated school now into a very academic orientated system,” Charlotte Gregory, interim assistant Superintendent, said.

In this, the third largest district in the county and the second lowest for per-student spending, the combined district scores have met or exceeded all NYS averages.

“You’re getting good results and you’re spending a lower amount of money,” Gregory said. “…Kudos to the staff to make this happen.”

Due to a delay in the NYS budget, the school board budget meetings have been postponed. Budget presentations will be held on May 6, 7, and 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Delaware Valley, Narrowsburg and Jeffersonville-Youngsville schools respectively. There will also be public sessions at the Western Hotel in Callicoon on May 13, at Michelangelo’s Restaurant in Jeffersonville on May 14 and at the Tusten-Cochecton Library in Narrowsburg on May 19. The board also decided to move the public budget vote date to June 3 instead of the original May 20 date.

A new public speaking policy for school board meetings was discussed at the meeting. The policy in question raises issues of free speech by restricting comments regarding job performance of district employees. Board member Arthur Norden said that because the line between job performance and personal comment is so subjective, the policy as it stands could lead to censorship.

“This whole process started with a big night where we had people come up and talk about things that were probably not appropriate to us,” Norden said. “We said we ought to do something to curtail that,” Norden said.

The main issue is that a parent or other public member could raise allegations about a teacher, administrator or staff member during a school board meeting, without the individual present to defend themselves. The board worried that such allegations could become public knowledge, even if they are not true, and could damage the reputations of the teacher, district and/or school board. One measure to fight such a problem is to eliminate all comments related to job performance, good and bad, during the public speaking portion of the school board meetings.

The board plans to review this policy with the district’s attorney before the next school board meeting.

In other news:

• Turner Construction presented updates regarding the Delaware Valley, Jeffersonville-Youngsville and Narrowsburg campuses. The proposed completion dates for Delaware Valley and Jeffersonville-Youngsville are for some time in November or December. The group also presented information regarding a visitor side grandstand and press box for the high school football field. Further discussion will be held regarding this subject at a later meeting.
• The senior class council presented their proposed senior class trip to Cocoa Beach, FL. The trip will feature visits to the Kennedy Space Center, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Medieval Times and Cocoa Beach.
• The Delaware Valley Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) program has been disbanded due to a lack of a club advisor. The funding for this program will be absorbed into the high school budget in July and dispersed into next year’s student government account.
• Homeland Security has lowered the color code risk level from orange, high, to yellow, elevated, for New York State schools. The precautions for the yellow risk level are as follows: increased surveillance, restricted parking near buildings, emergency drill practices, review of building use permits and a safety audit.
• The BOCES budget was passed in the amount of $1,193,691 for the 2003-2004 school year. This is an increase of 128 percent from last year’s budget.
• The board unanimously approved a motion that would cast one vote each to Gary Carlson, Margaret Sabinsky and Karla Scheinman to a three-year term in the annual election of members of the Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES). John Driscoll and Sally Creegan were added to the substitute personnel list in the positions of teacher and food service, respectively. The board also accepted Stacie Snow’s resignation, effective June 30, 2003.