The Batavia City School District Board of Education addressed concerns about the new Latin graduation system and provided more information about how students can qualify for laude designations at its Tuesday meeting.
High School Principal Paul Kesler and Counselor Kelly Garner presented information on class ranking.
They recently received input from families about the district’s implementation of a Latin graduation system. Based on the responses, there is overwhelming support among parents for this college-style honor system.
The Latin system will begin with the Class of 2023. Instead of announcing a valedictorian or salutatorian, the top students in the graduating class will earn designations of: cum laude -- "with distinction"; magna cum laude -- "with great distinction"; and summa cum laude -- "with highest distinction."
These are determined by students’ cumulative grade-point averages and the number of Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment college classes students take.
On Tuesday, Garner answered families’ questions about whether students in Genesee Valley Educational Partnership programs were eligible for the higher-level designations.
She said although GVEP students spend a portion of their school days at alternate locations, their schedules also allow them to enroll in AP and college classes at the high school campus.
In addition, Garner said that since those students already receive college credits through their technical education studies, they can easily apply those credits toward the Latin-style honors.
Therefore, students with nontraditional schedules can enjoy the benefits of their hard work and dedication to academics.
Kesler said, “I know that our staff is really looking forward to possibly going with this so we can honor more students moving forward.”
Board members praised the new class ranking system because more students will gain recognition for their achievements without an overly competitive learning environment.
Later in the meeting, Marco Morascio provided updates on the 2020 Vision Capital Project, which is 47-percent complete with 40 issues recorded.
Change orders total $345,000, and more than $1 million remains in the contingency budget.
The presentation included progress reports for VanDetta Stadium, Robert Morris and Richmond Memorial Library. Renovations are occurring district-wide in classrooms, restrooms, lockers, auditoriums, storage areas and more.
Afterward, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski spoke about the district’s financial summary reports.
In comparison to April 2018, revenue has decreased by $805,000 due to a drop in state and federal aid and the property tax levy, as well as debt service and miscellaneous spending. Rozanski said expenditures are down $672,000 from last year due to savings on employee benefits and bond interest payments.
In his nutritional services update, Rozanski said the district is exceeding 15-percent growth from lunch sales and has profited $11,000 overall. Meals per labor hour are lower than anticipated at the high school and John Kennedy Elementary School, and a la carte sales are down $23,000. In order to offset those costs, the Administration Office is working to adjust food inventory.
“It’s a good thing because our students aren’t buying all of the a la carte items,” Rozanski said. “However, it is negatively affecting the financial operations by that amount. But, our students are getting a full meal and not needing to buy that extra food.”
The board’s agenda also highlighted a contract between the City of Batavia Youth Bureau and the school district.
According to an inter-municipal agreement, the district will occupy the youth bureau’s former location at 12 MacArthur Drive in Batavia starting Sept. 1 of this year until Aug. 31, 2024. The district intends to use the 2,000-square-foot facility as an office or storage space.
The document also provided more details about the district’s transportation service to Teen City at St. Anthony’s A City Church. During the 2019–20 academic year, the district will cover costs associated with busing students ages 9–16 from John Kennedy and the middle and high schools to Teen City. The district will offer one late bus to Teen City that runs daily from 3:15 to 3:30 p.m.
A goal of the new Teen City location is to prepare students to excel in their academics at the high school level. In the agreement, the youth bureau said the transportation provided by the district is “a great collaboration with the school district and demonstrates their investment to the success of Teen City.”
The next BCSD Board of Education meeting will occur at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 in the District Administration Conference Room.
