Superintendent approval of contracts limited
In a 4-3 vote, the board reduced the dollar amount of contracts the superintendent can sign without prior board approval, from $25,000 to $10,000.
The move was pushed by board member Lori Hulse, who argued that the board has a fiduciary duty to carry out.
“We were voted in by the community to make its decisions in a public forum,” Hulse said. She added that she was not worried about the ability of the superintendent to make decisions but, as an elected representatives “it is our responsibility to vote on things publicly and decide whether or not the contracts are following the philosophy, the strategy the board is trying to put forth,” Hulse said. “From the end of June until January the total amount that the superintendent has signed without board approval is approximately $190,000. So I don’t think that’s a small figure in terms of our budget, and I think that the board needs to retain control over that and needs to be part of the decision making in that matter” Ms. Hulse continued.
Board vice president Susan Koukounas expressed her reservations. “I truly feel that we’re deliberating a non-issue, Koukounas said, adding that it was discussed and decided at the board’s organizational meeting in July. With all the audits performed and checks and balances currently in place, Koukounas said, there are plenty of safeguards.
Hulse said in reviewing contracts signed since her current tenure began, she found two contracts with errors — one approving a contractor’s hourly salary of nearly $5,000 per hour. Hulse said she believed that these errors would have been caught had they been reviewed by the Board of Education.
“I don’t understand why we don’t want to continue to do what we were elected to do as a Board of Ed and we just review these contracts, allow for public discussion, allow for public input and then pass them if we feel that they are justified,” Hulse said.
“My thoughts are just to follow the attorney’s advice and monitor until our organizational meeting and discuss it at that point. It seems to me we shouldn’t go back and revote on something that we voted for,” board member Christopher Dorr added. Hulse countered that she was asking to amend the resolution, not “for a do-over.”
“We’re here to represent the taxpayers, people,” board member Tom Carson added.
The motion to reduce the superintendent’s contract authority was approved with Hulse, board president Greg Meyer and members Kim Ligon and Tom Carson in favor. Koukounas, Dorr and Amelia Lantz voted against it.
Safety update
So far, so good, New school safety director James Gresham described his transition this week.
“I see progress. I see people trying to do what I am trying to do. We’re going to be moving in the same direction and at the same speed,” Gresham said.
Safety trainings have been taking place in district schools. “You can never train enough,” Gresham said, adding that lockdown trainings have taken place in every school and law enforcement has been brought into each school as well, he said.
Law enforcement came into Riley Avenue school “to do their active schooter mass casualty drill for the emergency responders to work out the kinks on how this goes on,” Gresham said.
Safety plans have been reviewed and put into place throughout the district, Gresham said. The district has “obtained six new evacuation sites, has had numerous walk-throughs and made sure the space was adequate for our needs,” he explained.
We’re not finished yet, as drill procedures must be refined to ensure true accountability, Gresham explained, adding that he wants every person in each building accounted for from students to staff to visitors and vendors.
“I want to know if the aide in the kitchen is in there. Is Ms. Jones who came in to pick up their kid, did she exit the building? It’s going to take some tweaking,” he said.
At athletic events a Spectator Code of Conduct has been displayed in each venue, large and easy to read. We “want to be able to point it out to spectators when needed,” Gresham said.
Project Safeguard is in place in the middle and high Schools, providing enhanced video surveillance that’s three-dimensional. It is a “fabulous piece of software,” Gresham explained.
Gresham invited board members to come into the school and receive a 20- to 30-minute tour and see it in action. A scaled-down version of homeland security. He described Project Safeguard as “very robust.”
Gresham expressed his interest to the board in purchasing a program to scan driver’s licenses to make sure that the district is in compliance with Megan’s Law. The program would extract the picture from a driver’s license and print a temporary pass. This pass would give the location where the visitor is going and would be time sensitive, which would fade after time and a visible “STOP” would appear requiring the person to reregister with security. This program would be tied in and the director would be able to “see at every location” and “can actual tweak the database for our own purposes,” Gresham explained.
With cases where there are orders of protection, those would automatically come up and “tell us what our protocol would be,” he said. The cost of the program would be less than $20,000. “Less than being sued,” Mr. Gresham noted.
School bus safety protocols are in place with video cameras in school buses, GPS tracking – part of Project Safeguard — and rapid response procedures have been implemented. Down the road there are future trainings for fight protocols, search and seizure, special events, radio communication and sensitivity training,Gresham said, adding that all staff should undergo DASA (Dignity for All Students Act) training.
Following the presentation Lori Hulse asked if he has had an opportunity to review the new plans for construction. Gresham said he has not reviewed them in total, but he has reviewed the high school’s front end, camera placement, exterior lighting and, along with facilities chief Mark Finnerty, has had conversations with contractors. He went on to explain that the plans were laid out before he was hired, that he “really wanted to get an understanding of how it is laid out. I like what I see so far.”
First district budget presentation
The superintendent presented the first of a series of budget presentations which will take place at Board of Education meetings.
“This year is different than years in the past, this year we do not have the state aid runs. We have not been able to calculate our tax caps,” Carney said. The district has had to work up budgets with different scenarios, she said.
In other district news
Due to the snow day, the district has lost a day from the spring break in April. The students are now scheduled to attend classes on Monday, April 6.
The Riverhead Middle School Parent Portal is now online and the district is working to bring it down to the elementary schools.
Board of Education members recognized
The members of the Board of Education were recognized for their achievements. Both Lori Hulse and Tom Carson were recognized with a certificate for the NYSSBA (New York State School Board Association) Board of Achievement award for achieving 75 points, participating in workshops and conferences to expand knowledge on district governance.
Susand Koukounas, Kim Ligon and Chris Dorr were recognized with the NYSSBA Board of Excellence Award for achieving 150 points.
And, Greg Meyer was recognized for achieving the NYSSBA Board Mastery Award for achieving 250 points.
It was noted that Amy Lantz has already completed these trainings.
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