For three years
District office workers get 3.95-percent raises

GUILDERLAND — Completing the last of its contracts with the district’s 12 bargaining groups, the school board last week approved a three-year agreement with Guilderland’s smallest unit — the six members of the District Office Confidential Employees Unit.

The central office secretaries and clerks will receive an average raise of 3.95 percent for each of the three years of the contract, which begins in 2007-08 and runs through 2009-10.

Salaries in the first year of the contract range from $35,615 to $51,626 and in the third year range from $39,079 to $55,410, according to Superintendent Gregory Aidala.
"We are now on schedule as we start the new year; everyone has a contract in place for 2007-08," said Aidala.
The contract includes an "evaluation instrument" for the first time, said Aidala and it also features clearer, more understandable language.

The seven members of the school board present at last Tuesday’s meeting all approved the contract and, Aidala said, all six members of the unaffiliated unit ratified it as well.
He praised the group as "very dedicated and hard working" and said, "The district office is a busy place"We wouldn’t be able to make the progress we do without their excellent work."

Other business
In other business, the board:

— Appointed Dr. Catherine Perry to the newly-created post of career and technology supervisor. She will be paid $81,500 for the 12-month job, starting on Aug. 1;

— Abolished the 11-month position of administrative dean at the high school and, in its place, created the 12-month post of assistant principal. Lisa Patierne, who was the dean, was appointed to the new post. She will be paid $83,652 next year;

— Heard a complaint from board member Cathy Barber about a website launched in May by board member Peter Golden, in which he writes about the school board. (An article on the issue appeared in The Enterprise on June 28, "Silence is not Golden: Website riles school board," which can be read at ww.altamontenterprise.com, under "Archives.")
Barber said public comment is "vital to our meetings" and it is the practice of board members not to argue with citizens who address them. She said she was "shocked to see" a picture of Donald Csaposs on Golden’s website with a link to his place of work, Guilderland Town Hall. Csaposs had addressed the board, criticizing Golden and his website, and urging the board members to work together.
"This can have a chilling effect on people’s willingness to comment," said Barber. "I think this is wrong. This is not acceptable";

— Chose Oak Air, the lowest bidder to meet specifications among four companies, for $18,548.17, to supply filters for unit ventilators that provide heat and outside air to classrooms and offices;

— Chose Ricoh Corporation, the lowest of two bidders, at $20,764.80, for 840 cases of white paper;

— Approved the 2007-08 Academic Intervention Services Plan, required by the state, which outlines the means for helping struggling students. The plan has not changed significantly from last year, Aidala said;

— Appointed Eric Lawson as an impartial hearing officer in a special-education case;

— Heard the annual cellular telephone report from Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders. He said that the district has 42 users with monthly fees of $771.75. The bulk of the phones are used by maintenance workers, followed by computer technicians; several are used by administrators and for emergency communications, said Sanders;

— Heard from Aidala that a workshop in May produced some changes in the district’s priorities. A new category — global awareness — has been added, and a second area highlights the district’s commitment to technology education.

Other priorities include healthy choices, thinking and problem-solving, and professional growth.

Posters illustrating the priorities will be designed over the summer to be posted throughout the district;

— Heard an update on the search for a new superintendent. Aidala is retiring in the fall.

Weisz said two candidates have accepted superintendent jobs elsewhere and three remain;

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Nancy Andress that Guilderland High School science teachers Stacey Haas and Kristofer Gigante received Tech Valley Externships, to work with area businesses. Haas is helping with research on a new biological sensor and Gigante is being trained in state-of-the-art instrumentation;

— Heard congratulations for senior Beth Schaffer and junior Nan Shan for their accomplishments in the American Regions Math League.
Schaffer was on the Upstate New York "A" Team, which finished 12th in its division out of 118, competing with other American teams as well as teams from Taiwan, the Philippines, Canada, Turkey, and Colombia. She was High Scorer of the team awards.
Shan won High Scorer on the Upstate New York "B" team, based on the individual test;

— Learned that, for the third year in a row, the boys’ track team, coached by Pete Wachtel, placed first in the Spring Season Suburban Council Sportsmanship Awards.

Guilderland’s softball team, coached by Jen Ficara and Jess Allen, also placed first this year.

And, for the fourth year in a row, Guilderland’s athletic program was named the overall winner for the 2006-07 school year. Guilderland garnered 39 points, followed by Bethlehem and Niskayuna, each with 31 points.

The award is voted on by players, coaches, and parents from other schools in the Suburban Council; and

— Learned that Amy Zurlo, the district’s communications specialist, received an Award of Merit for the 2006-07 budget newsletter from the New York State Public Relations Association.

Out of 877 publication entries, 125 received Awards of Excellence, 295 received Awards of Merit, and 260 received Awards of Honorable Mention.