VOORHEESVILLE – With only two days to move the furniture out of the classrooms at the elementary school before the construction project is set to begin on June 25, the school board approved, at its June 11 meeting, a $9,828 contract with Schaap Moving Systems for the relocation of furniture and supplies.

The project requires two phases – the first phase involves relocating the furniture before construction, and the second phase is replacing it when the project has been completed. Phase Two is estimated to cost about $11,000.
"When you move a table out of a room and wait two months, does it weigh more"" retiring board member Richard Brackett rhetorically asked The Enterprise after the meeting.
The board only approved Phase One, and, thus far, said Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell, "We don’t know if we need any or all of Phase Two.
"Phase One is a lot more critical than Phase Two," Winchell told The Enterprise. "I just really needed Phase One," she said. "We could wind up re-bidding" Phase Two.

Phase One needs to be completed in two days, and would not be easily managed by district staff, Winchell explained. But, she went on, the decision whether or not to go ahead with Phase Two will be made based on when the project is completed, and how much time there is to replace the furniture.

The costs are eligible for state aid at 62 percent, Winchell said.
"The community has proved to be good at volunteering," said board member Kevin Kroencke, adding that with enough volunteers the work might get done in only one day.

School board President David Gibson said that he was concerned about liability with having members of the community move heavy furniture up and down stairs.

No audience members showed signs of interest in aiding with the furniture relocation.

The money for Phase One would come out of the soft-money fund for the capital project, which can be used to cover legal and incidental costs that occur within the project, Langevin told The Enterprise.

Phase Two, if needed, would be decided on at the August meeting, she added.

Five board members voted in favor of the contract, while Kroencke abstained, and Brackett opposed.

Other business

In other business at its June meeting, the school board:

– Presented an award to Brackett for five years of dedicated service;

– Approved the purchase of a point-of-sale service through BOCES at a cost of $18,462.20, which includes registers, software, licenses, set-up, training, and support.
It is an electronic cash-register system for buying lunches. It would allow parents to put money into their children’s accounts on-line, even with stipulations about what they can eat, specifying "no snacks," for example, if they wish, Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell said earlier.
"Three months ago, we didn’t need this, now the budget passes, and we need it again"" Brackett asked at last Monday’s meeting.

Gibson explained that the board had decided to buy it with money from this year’s budget, rather than making it a line item in next year’s budget.

Internal auditor Henry Binzer said that he was asked to take a careful look at the school-lunch program, and recommended that the district look into a point-of-sale system.
"The recommendation was made because it would smooth out the whole school lunch program," Binzer told the board.
"It will help speed the line up, which is a direct benefit to the kids," Winchell said. She also explained that parents’ credit-card information would be dealt with through a third party, and not directly through the school, she said.

The service is eligible for state aid at 52 percent, Winchell said. The $3,800 annual cost for support and software updates is also eligible for aid, she said.
"Lunches are short" We need to continue to do what we can to move them through," Gibson said.

The service was approved with opposition only from Brackett;

– Heard from middle-school students Jennifer Cillis; Allegra Fasulo; Hannah Brackett, the school board member’s daughter; Sarah Madden; Cassidy Smith; and Amanda Gatt on their experience at the Youth Leadership Summit.

The students said that, from their experience, they hope to make their school a better place. One idea, they said, is to have quarterly essay contests. The essays would be about people who have had an influence in the student’s life, and the winners would be given awards at a ceremony. The project would help students bond over personal experiences, the students said;

– Accepted the full-time probationary teaching appointments of: Kimberly Hyatt, who resigned from her position as a half-time music teacher to accept the full-time position; David Lawrence, social studies; Jamie McPherson, social studies; Theodore Simons, physics; Kimberly Simon, biology/chemistry; Stephanie Stoyle, calculus; Maribeth Bernarde, grade two; David Burch, grade five; Ashley Hillard, grade four; and Carrie Nowik, grade one.

The board also accepted the part-time temporary appointments of: Erin Christner, reading; Marie Coppola, music; Helene Runion, elementary music; Karen Jendrzejczak, long-term music substitute; and Andrew Karins, long-term physical education substitute.
Brackett asked if any of the new teachers from outside of the district would be enrolling their children in school at Voorheesville. "People who work here, who don’t live in this district and don’t pay taxes, treat their job as just that, a job," Brackett said, adding that they don’t take ownership of the district, and many people take advantage.
"Generally speaking, they’re dedicated people" Placing your child in this district is taking ownership," countered board Vice-President C. James Coffin;

– Heard from Michael Goyer, the superintendent of operations, maintenance, and transportation, that he has applied for federal assistance on behalf of the school district for flooding at the elementary school in April.
With the help of the Voorheesville Fire Department and the town, Goyer said, the school was able to control the water in the boiler room. "The water never got to the boilers," Goyer said.
"I think we’re going to come out on the positive end of this," he said;

– Approved the substitute teacher appointments for the 2006-07 school year as presented in the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services substitute registry;

– Adjusted the working hours for longtime district bus driver, Christine Allard, from six hours per day to seven-and-a-quarter hours per day;

– Approved tuition for foster-care placements to the Lake George Central School District from May 11 through May 14, 2007, at a cost of $222.64; and to the Troy City School District from Nov. 30, 2006 through Jan. 31, 2007, at a cost of $4,097.62.

When a student enters foster care, the district where they are placed from, is responsible for paying for the education, Winchell told The Enterprise;

– Approved requests for non-public school transportation for three additional students for the 2007-08 school year. The district will transport a total of 76 students to private schools;

– Approved a change in the substitute rate for food service workers from $7.50 to $9.88 per hour;

– Approved an out-of-town field-trip request for fifth-graders to visit Fort William Henry and the Lake George Steamboat Company in Lake George on June 19, at a cost of $13 per student and $26 per chaperone;

– Approved a contract between the district and Jennifer Kilinski to provide music therapy services for Voorheesville students with disabilities effective between July 1, 2007 and June 2008;

– Approved the school-to-work contract with Wildwood Programs for a special-education student for the summer and the 2007-08 school year at a cost of $40 per hour, $2,960 for summer services, and $7,920 for the school year;

– Approved the municipal cooperation agreement for energy purchasing services with the New York School and Municipal Energy Consortium (NYSMEC);

– Approved a renewal contract with SpecEd Solutions, LLC for processing special-education Medicaid claims for $170 per month, effective July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008;

– Appointed the auditing firm, Dorfman-Robbie, to conduct an independent audit of the school district for the 2006-07 school year at a cost of $12,300;

– Appointed Dente Engineering to conduct testing of material for the elementary-school reconstruction project and the high-school reconstruction project;

– Approved the telephone-system maintenance agreement with Allied Telcom for the middle school and high school in the amount of $2,690, effective June 19, 2007;

– Accepted donations to the technology department for five video cassette recorders, and one realistic stereo disco mixer, valued at $300, from Robert Shutter;

– Approved bid and standardization recommendations. Brackett questioned whether the bids were the best prices, indicating that he found them to be high.
"We’re bidding things we’re not even required to, to be sure we get the best prices we can," Winchell said;

– Heard from middle-school Associate Principal Theresa Kennedy that, during locker cleanup in the middle school, students recycled 800 pounds of paper, equivalent to seven trees;

– Issued $207,470 in bonds to cover the costs of bus purchases approved by voters in May;

– Approved the sale of a shed constructed by the technology department as part of a class project. Winchell will award the sale to the highest bidder; the minimum acceptable bid is $1,000;

– Announced that the board of education 2007-08 meeting schedule is posted on the district website;

– Announced that the re-organizational meeting and regular board meeting for July will be held on Monday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the high-school library; and

– Entered into executive session to discuss current litigation and the employment history of particular individuals. No motions or actions were made following the session.