Issues currently in discussion for the week of March 4, 2001.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2001

Answers

Here's a Public-Be-Heard(PBH) essay I am considering saying at the next BOE meeting whenever that is after the big snow storm. You can bet that the BOE meeting tomorrow night will be vcancelled due to the anticipated snow. Watch the board for re-scheduling. Please suggest comments to the following statement. Thanks.

Dear Members of the Board,

I have been coming to the school board meetings observing and participating in the ongoing debates and discussions of issues for over 2 years now. As a filmmaker, I often carefully observe human behavior as it is something I have been trained to do and use in my work.

I have come to realize that many of the differences we may have in the Onteora community are not as far apart as we may sometimes believe. Yes, we may have different approaches and different philosophies as to what best meets the educational needs of our children. But what I find ever-so-striking is not the differences we may have but the many common goals that we all share and hold so dearly as a community.

Oddly enough, it seems as if we agree on nearly as many goals as we disagree. We all seem to care deeply for the needs of the children in our community. We all seem to agree we want to provide the safest environment in our schools for our children. We all seem to agree that we wish to discourage drug use by our children. And we all seem to agree that we want to be able to provide a positive educational experience for our children with a fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers. We want our children to suceed in a competitive world. I believe there are many more areas of agreement that we haven't even begun to recognize or appreciate.

And what, really, are our differences? One group may feel it is best to be more authoritative and demanding with our students. Another may feel the best approach is to provide a more nurturing environment. Why is it that we can't find more common ground in the best interest of our children? Why is it that we are constantly pulling ourselves down by seeking division rather than consensus? What is it that makes us hate each other so passionately that lives are being threatened, cars vandalized, and people harassed simply because of their beliefs? I don't believe this to be the true spirit of our democracy. My relatives fled Eastern Europe to avoid just such a hostile political environment.

I would like to see this board try to reach out to bridge the gap more eloquently than they have in the past. Share the visions and common goals we have to make our children's education more enriching. Get together as the civic group your were elected to be and thoroughly discuss and impartially evaluate proposals before you in the best interests of the whole community. I plead with the board to end the ugly, political, partisanship which has divided and dominated this board for the last year. It has done nothing but brings us all down and create a horrible environment in which to try and educate our children. Please do it for the children and the community. It is your duty.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2001

Petition stats from last years election [Yerry] are now posted on documents thread. Take a look Morty.These refer to individuals who signed the petition to return the Onteora Indian.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2001

I'm working those figures from the petitions that Maureen posted in "transcripts and documents" up into tables that I can put up on the web for us. For starters, the most important breakdown you may want to know from all that alphabet soup is this: the top 5 hamlets signing were (from largest figure down) Shokan, Olivebridge, Phoenicia, Boiceville, West Shokan.

I've got a separate sheet that Dennis(?) gave us at the time showing that second paragraph that totals 582, but it has no title saying what it was. Was this perhaps the "Dump Hal" petition? I don't want to put that up without a context.

Someone have the original wordings to go with the petitions, so I can add that?

I also have a question on the voter affiliation breakdowns. Can I assume these were cross-checked against voter registration lists?

Does "non-enrolled" mean not registered to vote, or just not registered in a party?

And most of all, the party affiliation section is junk statistics currently and needs tweaking. The party affiliation totals add up to 758 by my calculations instead of 717, and the percentages add up to 105.73%, so both figures need one of you to go through and adjust the various categories.

What is the procedure for obtaining copies of the petitions? Where does one get them, how much will it cost, how long does it take to obtain them? I may need my own set to go through for police officer signatures, since I am running into some trouble with the Olive police coming out of my mascot-related tire vandalism.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Sometimes dealing with this present board seems like a "tug of war". They launch an attack on special ed and we counter with special ed advocates and statistics supporting the program. How about we yank them in a direction that they are not expecting. Rose wants to talk about the "average" kid? Let's talk about them! Let's talk about the need to supply excellent education to ALL of our students. Let's find out just what this board has done to support this excellent education this year. (It is a very short list--somehow, I just don't think allowing sports qualifies us for excellent education....). What has this group done since last July to support passing regents exams? Do they even know the educational issues that need attention at the school. Example: Do they know how many seniors go home half way through the day and do nothing because we offer them nothing? If we make them stay in school, they sit in study halls. What has this board done to support teachers to enhance their own programs, create new ones? We know they haven't done anything but it might be useful to point these things out in public. It also might help take the spotlight off special ed. I don't think they will give up their quest to squeeze special ed, but bringing another issue to the front that involves alot more of the school population might have it's advantages. I really think we need to stress the need to move away from the behavorial (dogs & cameras) to the educational. And I'm not talking about Fred Perry going to teachers and asking them what they want... (It is 4AM so I'm going to assume that my point is not exactly clear but lets toss this around and see if you think it has any merit.) Where is the spell check on this thing?

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001

Jim, I think your letter is a good appeal for unity and reason. Please include alcohol, not just drug prevention. I think we're moving in the right direction, in that unity is based on finding common ground. Now we need to find out where that ground lies. The more specific we can be about proposing goals and means towards achieve our vision of exellence in education, the more we can hope to unite people. I like Betsey's ideas about addressing the importance of a good education for all students. Our goals should include the real needs of our largely working class community. For example, keeping the schools open early as well as late in the day, and possibly in the summer. Having useful and interesting activities for kids after school, including the High School, as Betsey suggests. I think we could use an alternative program within the high school that offers creative courses as well as social events/activities for kids who are alienated - not all our kids are into sports! I'm still supporting the "No Bullying" program for the elementary schools. Another child shot and killed students in a High School recently and I wonder why. Some students said he did suffer a fair amount of teasing and I think this might be significant. Gotta run. Irene

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

Next SOS meeeting will be held on this Saturday, March 10, 2001. We will be discussing questions to finalize for the candidates. Please read the questions on the thread to familiarize yourself with the direction they are taking. Thanks.

Next BOE meeting will be held on Monday, March 12, 2001. It will be at the West Hurley School and will be a regular meeting starting at 7pm.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

I am planning to ask Janet Nelson to join the SOS bbs as she had attended the meeting last week.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

I have been attending school board meetings, observing, and participating in the ongoing discussions of issues for over 2 years now. As a filmmaker I carefully observe human behavior. It is something I have been trained to do. I have come to realize that though differences abound in the Onteora community, we are not as far apart as we may sometimes believe. Yes, we have different approaches and different philosophies as to how best meet the educational needs of our children, but there are goals we hold in common.

Oddly enough, it seems to me, that we agree on nearly as many goals as we disagree. We care deeply for the needs of the children in our community. We agree on providing a safe environment for our children. We agree that it's important to discourage alcohol and drug use by our children. Providing our children with a positive educational experience in a fiscally responsible manner is another goal were hold in common. I believe there are many more areas of agreement that we haven't even begun to recognize or appreciate.

Why is it that we are constantly at odds and mired in division, rather than buoyed by the multiple possibilities of our abilities to contribute effective ideas in a climate of consensus?

I would like to see this board, and all the stakeholders in this currently adversarial community, reach out to bridge the gap. Let's build the bridge and invite our children to walk upon it. The strength of our bridge will depend on how much we value the trust they put in us to guide them across it. Let the keystone be the risk we are willing to take for them. A bridge built of our shared visions and common goals will serve our children well for many years and can be a model for new and better ones to come. By building the bridge we can make our children's education more enriching and show them that, by turning our backs on our own isolation and fears, we truly have the nurturing of their minds in our hearts.

Members of the board, take a risk. Guide this community. Get together as the civic group your were elected to be, and thoroughly and respectfully discuss and evaluate proposals before you. Keep our children, who can yet be the best in our community, in the forefront of your thoughts. I plead with the board to end the political partisanship, which has dominated this board for the last year. Please do it for our children.

The above is Sharon's edit of Jim's text. Any feedback?

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2001

They won't understand it, they won't do it. [sigh]

Judge orders Millman to let D'Orazio have counsel in D'Errico matter.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

Hi all: I'm in agreement that the educational issues need to be emphasised. The reason special ed is targeted is because special ed is always targeted. It's any easy way out so the real issues aren't addressed. So therefore, advocates have to respond each time. It gets tiresome. The botttom line is, if the modulars go and there's no replacement the impact will be on all the kids. Larger classroom sizes of students, split classrooms to accomodate 2 classes, kids shipped around to different buildings, school lines changed so older kids go to one building and younger ones to yet another etc. Many have gone up to public-be-heard and said straight out "what is happening in June?" How will this situation effect "the average kid" not to mention students in other programs. This is a common ground issue that is urgent and must be a concern for many. Of course (this is a little joke) I'm wondering if I'll be assigned as an aide at Phoenicia to a closet with 20 kids! Help!

See you Saturday.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

Melissa - We missed you last week and look forward to your input at the next meeting. Your letter made the rounds in all the important papers. Great Job!

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

Test

Please ignore.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

Here's the transporatation scoop from Mike Grehl, the head of the Onteora transportation dept.

The total transportation budget for 2001-02 will be at a 5.54% increase from the last year's 2000-01 budget. Please note that last year's budget had been amended to include the extra privatization contracts that the district had bid out in August. So the 2000-01 numbers include last years privatization costs. I am in the process of getting the numbers from the 1999-2000 to compare the actual increase in costs due to privatization. Nonetheless here's some figures to digest.

Contract Services-Late Runs

2000-01 - $17,085

2000-02 - $110,000

An projected increase in late run costs under contract services (privatization) of 543.84%

Total Contract Services Transportation Costs

2000-01 - $1,790,331

2001-02 - $2,072,809

An projected increase of 15.78% for Contract Service transportation which includes routes, late runs, summer runs, 2 new routes and fuel.

The in-house bus service total district transportation will have a 21.19% decrease in expenses.

Mr. Grehl will explain the meaning of these numbers at his presentation which, I believe, will be at Mondays BOE meeting..

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2001

I have been attending school board meetings for over 2 years now. As a filmmaker I carefully observe human behavior. It is something I have been trained to do. I have come to realize that though differences abound in the Onteora community, we are not as far apart as we may sometimes believe. Yes, we have different approaches and different philosophies as to how best meet the educational needs of our children, but there are goals we hold in common.

Oddly enough, it seems to me, that we agree on nearly as many goals as we disagree. We care deeply for the needs of the children in our community. We agree on providing a safe environment for our children. We agree that it's important to discourage alcohol and drug use by our children. Providing our children with a positive educational experience in a fiscally responsible manner is another goal were hold in common. I believe there are many more areas of agreement that we haven't even begun to recognize or appreciate.

Why is it that we are constantly at odds and mired in division, rather than buoyed by the multiple possibilities that could be generated in a climate of consensus?

I would like to see this board, and all the stakeholders in this currently adversarial community, reach out to bridge the gap. The strength of our bridge will depend on how much we value the trust they put in us to guide them across it. Let the keystone be the risk we are willing to take for them. A bridge built of our shared visions and common goals will serve our children well for many years and can be a model for new and better ones to come. By building the bridge we can make our children's education more enriching and show them that, by overcoming our isolation and fears, we truly have the nurturing of their minds in our hearts. Let's build the bridge and invite our children to walk upon it.

Members of the board, take a risk. Guide this community. Get together as the civic group you were elected to be, and thoroughly and respectfully discuss and evaluate proposals before you. Keep our children, who can yet be the best in our community, in the forefront of your thoughts. I plead with the board to end the political partisanship, which has dominated this board for the last year. Please do it for our children.

Just a bit of further editing. It could still be a little tighter, but I thibk it's pretty good. Even if it falls on deaf ears, we are implanting the seeds of a new approach in people's minds, and allying ourselves with the voices of reason and reconciliation. Irene

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

morning.unfortunately,we have a job crunch and i need to go to work today. work has been the dominant reality which, i am afraid, keeps me from the other things i want to do. apologies for not being present here or there. no doubt you will have some constuctive conversation with out my wild commentary. wonderful to see everyone is thinking and talking.good luck today. sorry not to be there for my secretary chores jim, honestly saturdays present some problems with work for me which will be insurmountable as soon as spring really arrives. i can stay tuned in here.much love .

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001

Testing

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001