Rye City School District Board of Education Meeting Notes – 12/22/2009
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A Summary of the 12/22/09 Rye City School District Board of Education Meeting. The next meeting will be January 12, 2010 at 8:00 pm in the Rye Middle School Multipurpose Room.
Happy Holidays
Best wishes for this holiday season. As a reminder, schools are closed between 12/24 and 1/3. Students return to school on 1/4. The Central Office hours during the break are 12/28-30, 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.
Superintendent's Report
At the beginning of every meeting, the superintendent of schools, Dr. Shine, provides a report to the Board and Community. At this meeting Dr. Shine shared information and achievements in the following areas of student life: Coach Mary Henwood's 300th career win, two girls' varsity team members who named to the All America Team, RHS art teacher Catherine Telfer achieved National Board Certification – the first Rye teacher to meet these national standards, Milton's 3rd grade japanese Festival and Midland's 4th grade Indian pow-Wow celebrations, Osborn's Ballroom Dance Team wins a Silver Medal in competition, the holiday concerts in our schools and the many community service activities undertaking by our students and faculty.
Gifts to the District
The Board expressed appreciation for and accepted gifts from the Neihaus Family of a $4,000 Renewable Scholarship, from the Reinhold Foundation for two SmartBoards to Osborn School, and from an anonymous source of a SmartBoard to Milton School.
College Admissions
RHS Assistant Principal for Guidance, Patricia Taylor, presented information on the high school guidance college application programs and shared college acceptances to date by our current senior class. [Link to Report]
Foreign Language Priorities Report
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Dr. Steven Cohen, presented recommendations for expanding middle school language options and FLES staffing needs for next year. [Link to Report]
Fiscal Constraints & Challenges Report
Business Official, Kathleen Ryan, reported on the impact of the recently announced withholding of state aid and STAR payments and the ramifications if this delay is made permanent. She also noted that a likely scenario is a significant reduction in state aid for the 2010-2011 school year. [Link to Report]
Board Policies
New or revised Board Policies and Regulations were presented to the full Board from the Board Policy Committee covering: Kindergarten Entrance, Student Discipline, Educational Neglect, School-Sponsored and Personal Expression by Students, Employee and Student Computer Network Use, Student Use of the Internet and Evaluation of Professional Staff. These proposed policies will be discussed again at the next Board meeting and voted on at the 1/26 meeting.
