SRO considered
Trustees debated on possibly hiring an SRO officer (student resource officer) for added safety measures to the district. Funding for an SRO is not in the budget and it’s unclear if trustees intend to have a resolution that would add a potential new hire. An SRO was included in the budget for 2013/14 at a $65 thousand salary and a three-year contract, but the board had it removed in order to offset staff reductions and loss of State aid. The district had an SRO funded through the County in the past. Trustee Tom Hickey said, “I received a lot of feedback from parents and have expressed concern.” He continued, “Or you know, we just heard about the bank robbery (across the street from Middle/High school), what if this person ran to into the school or toward the school, how do we deal with things like this?” Several trustees voiced a need to hear feedback from employees and parents.
Code of conduct
The board held a public hearing on the new Code of Conduct policy that is on display by going to the district website Onteora.k12.ny.us. The hearing was sparsely attended and no one commented on its content. According to Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Spiegel-McGill the old code was, “very much out of date,” believing that it was last rewritten around 2001.
McGill explained that a Code of Conduct is, “a general set of rules filled with behavioral and social expectations of students primarily in the district.” She said it was developed, revised and reviewed by administrative staff and must be reviewed yearly. Trustees brought up some concerns about what defines a weapon and allowable searches of students. Trustee Rob Kurnit said, “there’s an area here where when the police are coming they have to read the students their rights etc, etc, but when students are being questioned by school officials, they don’t have to be given Miranda warnings; and there is another area here about opening lockers without student knowledge.”
Fletcher said, “I see your points, Trustee Kurnit, are valid and one can hope this is a guideline.” The board must vote on it within 30 days of the hearing.
In other news…
- “We’ve gone mobile!” said McGill on the new mobile district app. The app will include school news, notification alerts, sports schedules, cafeteria menus, calendar information and school directories among other features. “We’re very excited, it’s free and there’s a feature where you can change the language (to Spanish),” McGill said. For more information go to parentlink.net. The app is available for immediate download on iPhone and Android through the app stores.
- The school board is mulling over adding more snow days to the 2014/15-school calendar. Instead of seven days, nine will be allotted; however extra days during certain Holidays may be cut short including the day before Thanksgiving. Trustees have asked for a yearly average to see if more days are needed or if this past winter was unusual.
- The Onteora Marching Band and Color Guard participated in the annual St. Patrick’s parade conducted by music teacher Steve Murphy. McGill said, “I’m happy we have students going down to New York City and participating.”
- Kindergarten enrollment is ongoing with information found by going to the district website or calling registrar Kimberly Fisher at 657-6383 extension 1023. McGill said, “At this time we know of 90 students in the district, but only 59 now registered, so just wanted to make folks aware of that.” Pre-Kindergarten has 23 spaces available with only 10 enrolled to date. Parents can enquire by calling the district at 657-3320.
