Warwick Valley School Board winds down 2011
Board approves five new courses, names new student liaison Warwick The Warwick Valley School Board breezed through its monthly agenda on Dec. 15, taking care of some housekeeping items as well as introducing the new student liaison. Here’s a summary of what happened: Superintendent’s community forum re-scheduled The Superintendent’s Community Forum, sponsored by the PTAs and originally scheduled for Dec. 15, was re-scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Middle School. Peter Van Buskirk, founder of The Admission Game (TAG), will be the keynote speaker. The forum will be an opportunity for community members to discuss what they value in education, the importance of foreign language, math, science and the arts, what the future of education in the district should look like and how best to prepare students for life after school. School liaison Jessica Colby, a senior at Warwick Valley High Schoool, has been named school liaison to the Board of Education for 2011-2012. New courses approved Among the new courses endorsed by the board are: Social Studies: U.S. Government and Politics Music: Wind Ensemble Honors and Chamber String Honors And English and Math prep for the SAT. Engineering teacher talks up Project Lead the Way during public comment John Warren, a BOCES engineering instructor, spoke to the board about Project Lead the Way, an organization that provides science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula to schools. Warren appeared, he said, as a private citizen, in the interest of getting the Project Lead the Way offered as part of the curriculum (currently, it is offered only at BOCES). According to Project Lead The Way’s literature distributed to the board, PLTW’s mission is “to ensure that America succeeds in the increasingly high-tech and high-skill global economy by partnering with middle schools and high schools to prepare students to become the most innovative and productive in the world.” The organization offers programs in engineering and biomedical sciences. Among the courses included are Introduction to Engineering Design; Aerospace Engineering; Biotechnical Engineering; Computer Integrated Manufacturing; Principles of Biomedical Sciences; and Human Body Systems. Consent agenda items The board approved the consent agenda concerning Treasurer’s Reports for November, as well as approving capital project change orders. The latter included an IT project for a charge of $320. Personnel The school board approved a spate of changes in its personnel agenda, including the conditional appointment of a computer technician at a salary of $47,000, pro-rated, and the appointment of a school monitor at the rate of $14.78 an hour. The district has also agreed to keep Larry Berger as technology consultant for Warwick schools; he will continue his term through June 30, 2012. Policy and regulations Board members aired a second reading of a number of school policy changes that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012. Up next: The next meeting of the school board is scheduled for Jan. 9, at 7 p.m., at the high school media room.