School board wrap: Oct. 13, 2015

Usage fees for the district’s new concession trailer were set by the school board during its meeting Tuesday night.

Lori Hulse cast the sole dissenting vote, objecting to the district allowing certain outside organizations to rent the trailer on a seasonal basis because that would likely overlap with a district-sponsored activity. Outside organizations should be offered a per-use option only, and with a higher fee, Hulse said.

Hulse was not alone in questioning the usage fee schedule put forward by the district, with members expressing concern that the fees were not high enough to cover costs related to transportation and use of the trailer.

“I don’t want this to be something where we’re losing money by lending this out,” Christopher Dorr said.

“We’re monitoring the costs all together to see if we need to raise these rates at all as we go forward. This is new to us using the concession trailer,” School Superintendent Nancy Carney explained, adding “We’re just looking to get fees from the organizations to help maintain the trailer at this point. And, we’re keeping records of exactly what the costs are and if we needed to address this.”

The fees are broken down by classes. Class one groups include district sponsored group, class, club, organization, PTO or booster and would be charged a $25 per use, or $125 per season. Class two groups include district approved not-for-profit organizations charging no admission fees and are charged $50 per use or $250 per season. Class three groups, which include not-for-profit groups charging admission fees, will not have access to the concession trailer.

Anne Cotten-DeGrasse questioned what trainings are being made available by the district for organizations who request use of the trailer. Carney then explained that the director of food services, as well as personnel from the facilities department, have provided training. She also noted that at events where the district has a staff member already scheduled to work, the staff member is also trained to assist with the trailer when needed.

Overcrowded classrooms at Aquebogue Elementary
For the third time this school year, parents from Aquebogue Elementary have approached the district regarding class sizes for the second-grade classes at the school. The parents stated that there are 79 students in the second grade which leaves classes of 26, 26 and 27.

Aquebogue resident Melissa Zaleski told the board that the Common Core curriculum has increased what’s expected of classroom teachers, so smaller class size has become more important than ever.

“There is so much research out that says smaller class size has a major impact on student learning. I myself am an elementary school teacher, and know firsthand that this is true. With the demands that are expected of them, an additional section would be beneficial. While I understand that that may be difficult at this time of year. I beg you to consider adding additional section for third grade where the demands are even harder. And, for this year give our teachers the extra support they need in the classroom.”

Out-of-state field trips
The board unanimously approved out-of-state field trips for the middle school to attend “Music in the Parks” and the French club traveling to Quebec. While there were no questions specific to these trips, Hulse said that she has asked over many months for the board to clarify the policy as to which trips are school-sponsored and not sponsored.

“I’m just not comfortable requiring parents and guardians to pay for certain activities that might be curriculum-based when other curriculum-based activities are funded by the district,” Hulse said. “I would really request that the board of ed. look at this so that we know which ones are being taken at the cost of the district and which are not.”

Budget code questions
Yolanda Thompson of Aquebogue again questioned the district regarding the use of budget codes in the agenda as opposed to listing the names of each account on the agenda. “This is standard practice for the agenda for school boards,” Koukounas explained.

“Doesn’t the public have a right to know how tax payer money is being moved around, being used? What is the purpose of the codes?” Thompson questioned, to which Koukounas responded “Well, the codes are public knowledge.” When Thompson asked if going forward codes could be replaced with names of accounts, Koukounas responded by stating “no, it’s standard practice.”

The issue has been one of frustration for Thompson who sees it as a transparency issue for the district.

Bond update presentation
BBS Architects and Triton Construction presented an update to the board on the status of the construction bond projects. We are now in the process of wrapping up the construction to wrap up the construction that was done here over three years and two plus summers of construction, Gary Schiede of BBS Architects stated. A PowerPoint presentation slide show of the addition and renovations made to the High School, Middle School and the beginnings of Pulaski and Roanoke was displayed for the Board and those in attendance.

“I believe that this summer was by far and away the most challenging summer of the Riverhead project,” Nick Andreadis of Triton Construction said.

Andreadis said the projects at Pulaski and Roanoke are “well on their way— they’re probably 30 percent complete.” The district’s construction will be 100 percent done in 10 months, he said.

Assistant superintendent Sam Schneider presented a fiscal update on the status of the project in which he stated that the district is on track and will stay within the original bond amount of $ 78,334,247.

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RIverhead school board presentation construction progress and budget