GUILDERLAND — Anyone aware of fraud or abuse in the school district now has a number to call: 1-888-208-3103.
"At long last, the system is live," said school board President Richard Weisz at last week’s board meeting.

Would-be whistle blowers can speak anonymously about their complaints; the calls will not be recorded, said Weisz, who also chairs the board’s audit committee, which sponsored the project.

EthicsPoint operates the hotline and also can be reached on-line at www.ethicspoint.com, which is linked to the district’s website.

Reports of calls do not go to school administrators, Weisz stressed. Rather they go to the audit committee, which is made up of three school board members and two community members.
"There’s no recording of the person’s voice," said board member Colleen O’Connell, who also serves on the audit committee. "You can call Christmas Day at noon and get a human being."
"Hopefully, no one will need it," said Weisz of the hotline.

The state comptroller’s office has recently completed its field work at Guilderland and results are expected in a few months, Weisz said. After fraud was discovered in some Long Island school districts, the state comptroller’s office began auditing all of the public school districts in the state.

Other business

In other business at recent meetings, the board:

— Heard from Weisz that 24 people met the May 1 deadline in applying to be Guilderland’s next superintendent. The current superintendent, Gregory Aidala, announced he will retire in the fall.
The school board met on May 9 to review the applications with its BOCES consultants "to begin the process of winnowing down the field of candidates," said Weisz.

Interview teams will be formed so that staff and community members can participate in the process, he said;

— Heard from Peter Golden, who chairs the board’s business practices committee, that a title search, estimated to cost $500, is being done on the historic cobblestone schoolhouse in Guilderland Center.

The committee also discussed third-party administration of the district’s workers’ compensation program and it discussed installing air-conditioning in the two Farnsworth Middle School classrooms next to the library. The work will be bid out at an estimated cost of $30,000 to $40,000, Golden said;

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders that Don Albright, the town of Guilderland’s fire inspector, completed the state-required annual inspection of the district’s buildings.
"There were no areas of non-compliance," said Sanders;

— Voted, 7 to 1, to hire, after the budget passes, a career and technology supervisor for the newly-created post.

Board member Hy Dubowsky cast the sole dissenting vote; he said the hiring should be delayed so the new superintendent could have a say;

— Reviewed policies on conditional appointments and interscholastic athletics;

— Heard congratulations from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Nancy Andress for students who participated in the State History Day at Cooperstown on April 27.

Ninth-graders Katie Wells, Sohee Rho, and Casey Gerety won the National Archives Award for Best Use of Primary Sources and the Women’s History Award for best project on women’s history for their documentary on Rose Schneiderman, a labor reformer.

Zagreb Mukerjee’s winning historical paper from last year was chosen to be published in the New York State Historical Association’s academic journal. Mukerjee wrote on Ghandi’s early years in South Africa and the impact they had on his life’s work.

Eighth-graders Abby Levy, Kyra Malamood, and Megan Malamood, made a documentary on the Girls Professional All-American Baseball League that took third place in their category and also won the National Arachives Award for Best Use of Primary Sources.

Other Farnsworth Middle School students who competed in the state finals were: Lian Henderson, with a junior individual exhibit on the atom bomb; Bobby Ruggles, with a junior individual performance on Benedict Arnold; Rosamaria Cirelli, Jennifer Robbiano, Alessandra Cerio, and Francesca Cerio, with a junior group exhibit on Apollo 13;

— Heard that the Guilderland High School Math League Team, coached by Ed Meskutovecz, finished first in the region, with the highest score in a four-county area. The team tied for ninth in the state in a field of 180 high schools, the best overall finish for Guilderland.

The team was made up of ninth-graders Jean Kang, Lily Li, Sohee Rho, Ben Laraway, and Cassie Lin.

also, 10th-graders Yipu Wang, Elizabeth Simon, Yiyi Chu, Jessica Chu, Zagreb Mukerjee, Alex Metzger, and Erich Reimer.

Also, 11th-graders Nan Shan, Wangzhong Sheng, Yifan Chen, Hyeon Soh, Michael Katt, Meera Chappidi, Oxana Popova, Stephen Travers, and Devang Bhoiwala.

And, finally, 12th-graders Bobby Dygert, Jack Qian, Beth Schaffer, Miles Malerba, Laura Kim, Erin Craig, Audrey Belostotsky, Luke Ackerman, Peter Zhu, Laura Santacrose, Jie Lee, Stephen Lyons, and Shera Sonenberg;

— Heard that Dave Septer, a fourth-grader at Westmere Elementary School, was invited to share his project on landfills and recycling at Albany’s Tulip Festival;

— Heard congratulations for Beth Schaffer, recently named one of 141 outstanding high school seniors as 2007 Presidential Scholars. She was one of four from New York State and will be honored in June in Washington, D.C.;

— Learned that students who learn English as a second language will celebrate their accomplishments in an Extravaganza on May 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Farnsworth Middle School;

— Heard that Gloria Towle-Hilt, a Farnswoth social studies teacher leader, will be honored May 17 with the Capital Distict Council for the Social Studies Distinguished Service Award;

— Heard that Al Fiero, a middle-school science teacher, and three students attended a youth service fair at The College of Saint Rose where Farnsworth was awarded a $750 National and Global Youth Service mini-grant to fund activities during Earth Week that had taken place at the farm at Farnsworth. Over 200 students worked at the garden in front of the school;

— Learned that the Middle School Student Art Show will be May 14 to June 5 at the Farnsworth gallery;

— Heard that Deborah Drumm, Westmere Elementary School Principal, was honored by the Capital District Association for Women in Administration as the Administrator of the Year;

— Learned that James Dillon, Lynnwood Elementary principal, has been selected as one of three Principals of the Year by the Capital Area School Development Association; and

— Learned that Saiprasad Naidu and Rosamaria Cirelli, Farnsworth students, were invited to attend the Tech Valley Summer Camp.