After budget passes
VCSD will hire its first curriculum coordinator 

VOORHEESVILLE — After months of discussion, the school board on Monday unanimously approved creating a new post — curriculum coordinator.

Superintendent Linda Langevin described the duties this way: “To coordinate and oversee all the curriculum changes in concert with the principals.” The coordinator will work in classrooms with teachers and will report back to the board, she said.

“There is an evident and pressing need for faculty and administration to be informed, aware and fluent in the use of testing and other student information to make the best educational decisions for children,” says the proposal for the new position.

Next year, the new coordinator will work with the district’s two data coordinators “to develop fully aligned, mapped and functional curricula in the core subject areas K-8 that supports 21^st Century student skills,” it says.

The full-time post is included in the proposal for next year’s spending plan. The district will have to pay an additional teacher, estimated at $60,000, to teach the classes formerly taught by the coordinator; $15,000 will come from reallocation of resources. So the district will pay an estimated $45,000.

Langevin said on Tuesday that the search for a suitable candidate, whom she will train, won’t begin until the budget is passed.

When Langevin first made the proposal, it was for two part-time posts — one in the elementary school and one at the secondary level.

The proposal the board considered on Monday was for a coordinator for kindergarten through eighth grade.

Board member Timothy Blow was concerned that would lead to another post being created later for the high school.

“In high school, curriculum is already dictated by the Regents,” Principal Mark Diefendorf said of the statewide exams. He also said that department chairs help with curriculum development and coordination.

Board President David Gibson said the rationale for limiting the post to the elementary and middle schools was: “If you spread it overly thin, are they going to accomplish much?”

Langevin said teachers at all levels had input and they felt serving all the grades would be too much for one person to handle.

The board has spent the year or two before this one concentrating on “stewardship and fiduciary responsibility,” Gibson said. “The primary focus this past year has been on what we teach the kids.”

“We’ve finally had an opportunity to focus on program,” said Vice President C. James Coffin. With the state-required testing and the data it generates, he said, “You’ve got to understand what you’ve done...It’s a lot of work...You’ve got to have a leader...We’re finally there...We’ve got the resources to do it...We’ve got to move ahead.”

Blow wanted to know what kind of “tangible measures” there would be, so it wasn’t just someone “shuffling papers.”

Board member Kevin Kroenke agreed with Blow that the post should be for a curriculum coordinator who “for the time being” would focus on kindergarten through eighth grade.

Langevin agreed to go along with the change in title “as long as the board realizes it’s just K-8.”

“I don’t care what you call it,” Kathy Fiero, president of the teachers’ union, told the board. “We thought of it almost like a pilot...We wanted the person to start small and be successful.”

“I don’t care what we call it,” Coffin said, echoing Fiero’s sentiment.

And so the board agreed, 6 to 0, to call the new post curriculum coordinator.

In other business, the board:

— Heard a presentation on anti-smoking public-service announcements made by sixth-graders and high-school students working together.

Amanda Hooker, the Tobacco Free Healthy Schools representative from BOCES, called the project “truly amazing” and said it “shows the ability for students to learn from one another.” She also called Voorheesville “the standard all-star school, for me, by passing the first tobacco-free policy in the county”;

— Heard from Andrew Huth that, from September 2005 to January 2008, the school district has saved $201,590 in gas and electric costs by participating in the Energy Education, Inc. program, a savings of 16 percent.

The program emphasizes use of data and teamwork “to be able to save forever,” said Huth. Ten-year projected savings are just over $1 million, he said.

Blow questioned the company’s share of 60 percent of the savings. Huth responded that that includes his salary and conferences and said that, after four years, there is no charge for Energy Education’s consultations;

— Appointed Robin Burch as district treasurer, effective July 1, at an annual salary of $43,000.

Assistant Superintendent for business Sarita Winchell praised Burch’s six years of work for the district and Gibson commended Burch for continuing her education;

— Appointed Ashley Tremblay as a modified track coach for $1,414 and Andrew Karins as the freshman boys’ basketball coach for $1,936;

— Appointed Vaclav Sotola as a learn-to-swim instructor;

— Appointed Liza Zautner and Jennifer Markham as substitute bus drivers at $12.52 per hour;

— Approved a Model United Nations field trip to Cornell University in Ithaca from April 3 to 6, at a cost of $225 per student;

— Approved the 2008-09 school calendar, which is posted on the district website and also available at the district office;

— Heard praise for teaching assistant Laura Bye. Elementary School Principal Kenneth Lein said she had created labs for first graders on topics ranging from dinosaurs to penguins and, working with her brother, Dr. James Martin, she had created exciting work for fifth-graders;

— Heard from Michael Goyer, supervisor of operations, maintenance and transportation, that recent heavy rains and flooding of the Vly Creek had not affected the elementary school. The cistern project is working well, he said, keeping the once-perennially-wet gym dry;

— Heard an invitation from Gibson to the community to attend the April 7 school-board meeting when the school report card will be presented;

— Scheduled a special meeting or April 21 to elect BOCES board members and to vote on the BOCES administrative budget.

“It has typically been short but it has not always been a rubber stamp,” said Gibson of the meeting; and

— Met in closed session to discuss two topics — “the employment history of a particular individual” and “the preparation, grading, or administration of student examinations.”