schools

In an ambitious plan to improve facilities at the district's four schools and build a new stadium and field at Union and Richmond avenues, Superintendent Chris Dailey told the City Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday night that the $23 million to $27 million project won't increase property taxes at all.

When a board member said, "0.0," Daily emphasized, "$0.00."

Voters will still need to approve the capital improvement project March 2. There will be public forums prior to the vote, assuming trustees approve a resolution at their Jan. 10 meeting to move forward.

At Tuesday's meetings, trustees gave every indication they like the plan.

While every school in the district will get upgrades as part of the plan, the plan's signature expenditure might be the reconstruction of Van Detta Stadium and replacing the grass of the current field with artificial turf and surrounding it with a new, larger synthetic track surface.

The location of the field would also shift diagonally on the athletic facility's current parcel and move more to the east of the parcel. This would create additional parking to the west side.

There could even be more parking near the stadium if the district is able to move the playground at the former Robert Morris School, which is currently adjacent Richmond, and put parking in that spot. The playground would be closer to the back of the current school building and would still be available to neighborhood residents.

The new stadium would have home and visitor locker rooms with tunnels leading out to the field at the 50-yard line and a new press box over the stands, as well as all new lighting.  

"We were given Woodward Field, and we built Van Detta in 1947," Daily said. "We have not done significant renovation since. Most battleships that were built in '47 are retired or are currently museums. Ours holds 2,500 screaming fans on a Friday night.

“Pretty soon it’s going to get to the point where we’re going to have to do it one way or another," Dailey added. "We can do it now with a zero tax impact and it will be called Van Detta Stadium and Woodward Field, still. It will provide a community asset."

The new facility will be able to host a larger variety of events more frequently because officials will no longer need to worry about damage to the grass field. This means not only the district's soccer and lacrosse teams will be able to compete and practice on the field, but it will be available to youth football and soccer as well as adult leagues, such as the local rugby league.

It will be able to host large regional track meets and Section V and Section VI competitions, Dailey noted, and this will benefit local restaurants and hotels and help generate revenue for the district and the community.

The project can go forward without a tax increase because the district believes both that it has enough in reserves and that much of the project can be funded through state aid. Whether the price tag is $23 million or up to $27 million will depend on how much aid the district receives. If there isn't as much aid as hoped, the project can be scaled back or more reserves can be put into the pot.

There was no discussion Tuesday as to whether any kind of bond would be required to bridge any expenditure.

For the schools, improvements include:

• High school: Upgrades to the auditorium, new public restrooms and an upgrade to the fire alarm system; 
• Middle school: New attendance entrance, improvements to indoor air quality, upgrades and improvements to the gym and auditorium;
• John Kennedy: An addition with five more classrooms, reconfiguration of classrooms and upgrades to the gymnasium;
• Jackson School: Classroom upgrades, expanded restrooms and new public restrooms, new lights throughout the building and window replacements.

If approved by voters March 2, it would be at least six months before state funding could be approved, then design work could start. Construction would likely begin in the summer of 2018, with much of the construction finishing up by the fall of 2019 into early 2020.

Press release:

This past Sunday, St. Joseph students in grades 4, 5 and 6 participated in the Third Annual X-STREAM Games and Expo at St. Joseph Collegiate Institute in Buffalo. Their fifth-grade team participated in the Science Scrimmage Competition, which consisted of building bridges and catapults. Their sixth-grade teams participated in the Shark Tank Competition. Their inventions were The “Crutch Carrier 2000” and The “Crazy Cone.” Their fourth-grade team won the “Love is in the Baking” Kitchen Chemistry Cook-off Competition! Congratulations to all these students and their teachers for the time and hard work that was put into preparing for this day!

Press release:

Work on constructing next year's school budget has begun and volunteers are being sought for the Budget Ambassador Program, initiated in 1996 as a way to increase communication with the community about the District's financial plan.

Ambassadors are residents of the Batavia City School District (BCSD) who volunteer and commit to serve on a committee, which meets with Superintendent Christopher Dailey and Business Administrator Scott Rozanski for three (3) two-and-a-half (2.5) hour evening sessions on Feb. 1, 8 and 15, with an alternate “snow date” scheduled for March 1.

Ambassadors review the preliminary 2017-2018 budget as developed by the administration within the parameters established by the Board of Education, and recommend to the Board any modifications they would like to see. The recommendations, while highly valued, are advisory rather than binding as the Board develops the Proposed Budget to be brought to voters. Ambassadors also agree to explain their work to any interested community member.

Persons interested in serving must notify the District in writing by Jan. 5. The letter of interest should include name, address, email address and daytime phone number and be addressed to BCSD Superintendent Christopher Dailey and the BCSD Board of Education at the District Administration Offices, 260 State St., Batavia, NY 14020.

The letters will be reviewed, with official appointments scheduled to be made at the Board of Education meeting on Jan. 10.

Oakfield-Alabama's Lego Robotics recently won a competition with their idea to assist a police dog with its work.

Their idea was a camera and speaker combination that would allow a K-9 officer to send the dog to a remote location and then be able to see what the dog saw and give the dog verbal commands. The communications device would also be used to talk with any victims or suspects found by the K-9.

The students called it the "Communi-K9" device.

The team now advances to the championship competition Dec. 11 at the University of Rochester.

Deputy Chris Erion provided the class with information about his job and his K-9, Destro.

Information and photo from team teacher Kim Maier via Chris Erion.

Photo and information provided by John Sisson and GCC.

A turkey was fried at College Village today to help demonstrate how to safely cook with oil for residents at the apartment complex at Genesee Community College.

Chief of Safety, Bob Guesno and College Village Director John Sisson are seen lowering the turkey into the oil.

"As many of our fire calls at College Village are related to cooking with oil, we thought that we would take this opportunity to give the residents not only a safe example but also a chance to share some tips for cooking with oil in their apartments as well," Sisson said.

The residents will be served a turkey dinner with all the fixings, including stuffing and mashed potatoes.

“This will be our 12th year holding this annual feast in honor of Thanksgiving,” said Mary-Clare Stokes, assistant director of Residence Life and Learning at College Village. “It’s a great way for our students and resident assistants to come together in a bonding experience. And, as the semester winds down, it certainly is a ‘de-stressor’ as well.”

Each resident assistant of College Village works throughout the day to prepare the meal, and are being charged with cooking one turkey apiece to share with residents. That usually is approximately 10 turkeys and will feed at least 150 student residents. For some students, this will be their only Thanksgiving celebration, and for some international students, it may be the first time they’ve experienced the holiday or tasted the traditional foods of an American Thanksgiving.

“The tradition is a great experience for everyone,” Stokes said. “Not only is it the first Thanksgiving experience for some of our residents, but it may also be the first experience for some of our resident assistants and staff at cooking a Thanksgiving meal. We look forward to a great turnout and a fun evening!” 

Photos and information provided by St. Joe's:

Throughout the month of October, St. Joe’s National Junior Honor Society held a fundraiser to collect items for All Babies Cherished. Items and monetary donations totaled more than $300. Some items collected included diapers, wipes, pacifiers and baby clothes. Co-advisers Mr. Landfried and Mr. Bowman along with the NJHS students were invited by All Babies Cherished Director Sue Sherman to visit the office to see how their organization operates and where the donations go.

Twenty Native American schoolchildren were at Jackson School this morning to share about their culture through dance and a presentation by an adult leader.

Hailey Kirkpatrick, one of the winners of City Fire's annual fire safety poster contest, got a special ride in a fire truck to Batavia Middle School today with firefighters Greg Ireland and Matt Pillsbury.

Yesterday, Xavian Cramer got a ride to John Kennedy School and tomorrow Lillian Clarke gets a ride to Jackson School.

Press release:

Tiffani Brown receives Outstanding Student Award. She was nominated by BMS teacher Sarah Gahagan, who wrote, Tiffani is an eighth-grade student who shows dedication, perseverance, dependability, and a positive attitude in everything she does. She is one of 19 original founders of the BMS Girls on the Run team, hasn’t missed a single session, and always arrives on time and prepared. She partakes in every race, volunteer activity, and community-sponsored Girls on the Run event. Tiffanie has become so much more confident over the course of three years and many of her teachers think it’s because of this club. She is a great role model to her peers for her positive attitude and has developed her natural talent of working with others.

Maria DiMartino receives Outstanding Employee Award. She was nominated by Assistant Principal Maureen Notaro, who wrote, Maria DiMartino is a very special person. She is a classroom aide, often helping some of our most difficult students, and she goes above and beyond to make every child successful in school. She develops close relationships with the students and also supports them emotionally. The Board and Middle School are very fortunate to have such a dedicated employee.

Muriel Burns receives Outstanding Community Member Award. She was nominated by Assistant Principal Maureen Notaro, who wrote, Recently, one of our students from BMS was walking in the rain, late to school, and with no coat. A woman pulled over and offered him her umbrella. She asked him where he went to school and he said Batavia Middle School. She called the school, spoke to Julie Tybor, and asked us to get his sizes. Ms. Tybor called her back after the counselor provided his sizes. The next day Mrs. Burns returned to school with a brand new coat, three pairs of gloves, a back pack, and a blanket. The next day she returned with boots, hats, and nearly a dozen pairs of socks for him. The smile on the child’s face was priceless. This child does not have it easy, and she truly made his day.

Superintendent of Schools Christopher Dailey was invited to become a member of the National Center for Education Research and Technology (NCERT), an organization comprised of a maximum of 85 prominent school district superintendents as well as select corporate leaders from education-related industries. NCERT’s goal is to network creative and innovative thinkers who are leaders in education with the leaders of the industries they depend upon for products and services, technology, and research. The group focuses on contemporary issues of interest to school districts.

School Board Recognition: In honor of NYS School Board Recognition Week (celebrated this year from Oct. 24-28), several District organizations made donations to local charities in the Board’s honor. The JK Parent Teacher Group made a $50 donation to the Michael Napoleone Foundation, the Jackson Home School Association made a $50 donation to United Way – Community Action, the Batavia Clerical Association made a $50 donation to the United Way for the BCSD Backpack Program for BCSD students, and the Batavia Teachers’ Association made a $200 donation to the Salvation Army’s Backpack Program for the BCSD students. The New York State School Boards Association sponsors School Board Recognition Week to recognize school board members for their commitment to New York public school children and the crucial role they have within a school district.

Photos by Kathy Scott.

Press release:

Batavia Middle School is hosting a Family and Community Night from 5-6:30 on Thursday, Nov. 17.  This year’s theme is “Warm the Night” and FREE hats, mittens and scarves will be distributed. Enjoy a FREE light supper of soup and bread with Timbits and coffee, courtesy of Tim Hortons.

There will also be a FREE bicycle raffle and you’ll also receive a FREE basket raffle ticket at the door, one raffle ticket for EVERY family member!

Prepare to be dazzled by former Harlem Globetrotter, Corey “The Dribbler.” Plus, the Batavia Police Department will be on hand to license bikes in the gym and give you a coupon for a FREE bike helmet from Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle.

Gain insight into the opportunities to learn how to support your child this year and help your children succeed. See you there!

Event Date and Time: 5-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17.

It's full steam ahead for academics at John Kennedy School, according to Principal Paul Kesler, who delivered a progress report to the Batavia City Schools board at Tuesday night's meeting.

On standardized testing, John Kennedy students are outpacing their peers in other districts, Kesler said.

Kesler completed a comparison of third- and fourth-grade students among 16 similar-sized cities and JK's third-graders have the highest English Language Arts scores and second highest in math. For fourth-graders, they rank third and fourth in ELA and math.

"As you can see from the pattern," Kesler said standing in front of a bar chart, "there's really a straight line year after year in terms of small cities."

The third-grade class is the first to pass through the district since the realignment of schools before their kindergarten year.

Kesler also compared JK results with the 22 other districts in the region and JK students are in the 80th percentile in ELA and 90th in math.

On another math test, 35 percent of the students tested at level 4, which Kesler said was impressive.

"I'm really proud of that because now it's no longer just our top A students who performing at that high level," Kesler said. "It's really all of our students are moving along."

Kesler, who is in his 12th year at the school, praised the work of the school's staff and thanked the district board for helping him recruit and hire talented teachers.

The school also undertook an aggressive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts/design and math) curriculum this year and Kesler said it's going well so far.

There have been three STEAM sessions for the students and STEAM topics are being worked into other parts of the curriculum.

For example, students are going to read "Charlotte's Web" this year, so there will be corresponding instruction on insects and how spiders build their webs, which gets into engineering.

"It's exciting," he said. "When the kids get excited, I get excited."

As for the future, with the district now supplying each student with Chromebooks, there's no longer a need for a computer lab. The plan, Kesler said, is to turn the former computer lab into a STEAM lab and a maker space. It will be a paperless space, he said. For example, the desktops will be white boards, which students can use for their calculations. 

Le Roy High School opened its new maker space for students yesterday afternoon with some introductory information from Jennifer Bertrand, instructional technology coach, and some hands-on time with some of the materials already in the space, including Legos and Bloxel, a kit for making computer games.

Bertrand said she proposed the idea of maker spaces at the high school and elementary school in Le Roy because she saw other schools doing it and attended conferences where ideas for starting such spaces were presented.

"So I thought Le Roy really needs to get on board about having its own maker space," she said.

A committee was formed to help move the idea forward and the district received a $2,000 grant to help get the maker space up and running.

Students volunteer to participate in the extracurricular activity. They are given space, time, resources and instruction on creating a variety of projects that hit on science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), creativity, and problem-solving.

"If you have a student who is struggling academically or just doesn't like school, but, oh, man, they're so creative when it comes to engineering or when it comes to creating something, we want to tap into that and build on that because those skills are going to transfer everywhere in their life," Bertrand said.

The community can support the project through donations, especially of supplies, such as Legos and arts and crafts supplies, as well as expertise and tours. Bertrand said community members can contact the school if they're able to assist.

Press release:

Students from the Byron-Bergen Jr./Sr. High School got a close look inside several of Genesee County’s leading advanced manufacturing facilities recently. Teacher Jay Wolcott’s Manufacturing Systems class visited four companies to assess the local job market, learn about pay and benefits, see potential job opportunities, and hear about the skills employers are looking for. Host companies included Bergen’s Liberty Pumps, along with Le Roy businesses Aluminum Injection Mold (AIM), PCORE Electric Company, and Orcon Industries.

Company representatives explained the varied career opportunities available at manufacturing companies like these, including jobs in assembly, engineering, sales, marketing, and management. Students came away with the understanding that successful job applicants must have strong skills in basic math, problem-solving, and communication, along with, at minimum, a high school diploma or GED. Each company visited stressed their support for job-specific training and college course work.

Students toured the Liberty Pumps facility, experiencing the machining of pump housings, powder coat finishing, assembly, inspection, packaging, and finally, the global shipping process. At AIM, they followed the prototype manufacturing process from the initial customer design requirements to machining of the aluminum injection mold and molding of plastic parts.

PCORE manufactures bushings for the high voltage electric transformer units used by power companies. Students observed a demonstration using electricity to check for defects that took place in a completely dark lab that concluded with electrical humming and flying sparks. At Orcon, a custom industrial packaging company, students observed firsthand the need for problem-solving skills in all areas of the operation.

Using their experiences with the participating companies, students completed a technical report assessing the job opportunities at each company, concluding with their opinion on the best job fit for them.

The career exploration trip was arranged with the help of the Genesee County Business Education Alliance (BEA).

Press release:

Every Monday afternoon the students at St. Joseph Catholic School engage in different hands-on STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) activities that tie into their current studies.

Recently, Mrs. Case's kindergarten class took part in a fun science experiment. Each student chose an object from their classroom and placed it in a tub of water to see if their item would sink or if it would float. Mrs. Fischer's fourth-grade class has been learning the difference between vascular and non-vascular plants. Recently they did an experiment with celery that showed them how colored water can travel through the vascular tubes changing the color of the celery.

Members of the anniversary alumni committee for the St. Joe's Drum and Bugle Corps presented a $1,000 check to St. Joe's today, proceeds from the group's fundraisers for the school.

The Drum and Bugle Corps was founded in 1932 by Father Kelly and today alumni are members of the Mighty St. Joe's Drum and Bugle Corps of Le Roy and the St. Joe's Brass Ensemble of Batavia.

"We wear the name with pride," said Bob Wielgosz, director of Mighty St. Joe's "St. Joe's means a lot to us."

Pictured are Wielgosz, Tom Cecere, Karen Green, principal of St. Joe's, Pat Bishop, and Frank Panepento.

Students from all of the high schools in Genesee County were provided a 20x32-inch canvas by Batavia's Original with an invitation to paint their school's mascot. The winning team -- the art class from Oakfield-Alabama -- received a pizza party.

The artwork will be displayed inside of the restaurant. 

Pictured above are: Haily Davis, Olivia Carroll, Hope Kollarik, Mrs. Leah Peca, Emily Staniszewski, Makayla Hichey and Lakin Woodward.

Photos and information provided by General Manager Kathy Ferrara.

Paulie Guglieamo, owner of Guglieamo's Pasta Sauce and a radio personality in Rochester, was the celebrity chef at the Culinary Arts Program at BOCES yesterday.

Guglieamo shared with students how he started his business and talked about some of the challenges and pleasures of starting and owning your own business. He then took the students into the kitchen and showed him how he makes his pasta sauces, which are based on recipes developed by his grandmother during the Great Depression and use garden-fresh ingredients.

He encouraged students to follow their passions as they set themselves on a path toward their eventual careers.

"If you have passion and you truly love it, you can do it," Guglieamo said.

Guglieamo's sauce is now sold in Wegmans, Tops and other retail outlets throughout the northeast. He said he's succeeded because of the passion he has for his product.

"When you actually have something that is an extension of you -- that's my brand, that's me, that's my actual phone number, I put my cell phone number on every jar we sell -- you can't possibly fail," Guglieamo said. "I cannot not sell this jar of sauce. I can't walk into a store and not sell it."

When Guglieamo was first starting his radio career, he was in sales.

"I was very, very, very bad (at sales)," he said.

If a customer offered an objection, he didn't have an answer, but now, selling his own product, he has all the answers.

"I have the answers to everything because this is my life, this is my baby right here," he said.

Le Roy's junior high students participated in the school district's second annual Class Up the Community day on Tuesday.

"I cannot thank our students and staff enough for the hard work and positive attitude they showed all day in our community," said Principal Tim McArdle. "The day represents an amazing learning opportunity about service and helping others, which is the backbone of our country. Now more than every we have to take any opportunity possible to pass on these values to our students!"

Students and staff worked at the following locations: Le Roy Historical Society, Machpelah Cemetery, St. Francis Cemetery, Le Roy Ambulance Base, Methodist Church, Police Station and nine private residences. After the work was done, students enjoyed their lunch outdoors at school and had time for outdoor games and to play on the Le Roy Town Rec huge inflatable. 

To end the event, students watched a video of the pictures that were taken throughout the day! 

McArdle thanked Lynda Lowe, who was the event director, and the junior high staff, bus drivers, cafeteria staff and buildings and grounds staff, "for all of their hard work and efforts to make this day a reality."

Community members donated rakes or loaned rakes for the projects.

"This is a wonderful learning experience for our students, a huge thank you to the community as well as our students and staff for making today a big success," Lowe said.

There were 197 students in the seventh and eighth grades participating, along with 24 staff members as well as bus drivers and building and grounds crew members.

Photos and information courtesy Tim McArdle.

Turning math into playtime was the theme of Family Fun Night at Jackson School last night. 

The elementary schoolchildren and their parents were given a booklet with math problems to solve, and then they went through various game boards to help them solve those problems.

Prizes were award to students who successfully filled in their booklet with the correct answers.