school board

Press release:

Have you ever thought about the role of a school board? Have you considered running for a seat on your school board? The Genesee Valley School Boards Association (GVSBA) will host two informational meetings for community members to learn more about the roles, responsibilities and election process.

These meetings will be held on March 7 at the Charles G. May Center, 27 Lackawanna Ave. in Mount Morris, and March 14 at the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, 80 Munson St. in Le Roy. Registration is required; please sign up with your school district board clerk by Feb. 16. Both sessions will run from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Pizza will be provided.

It is important for prospective members to understand that, while the board elections are held in May there are timelines regarding filing petitions that must be met. Details regarding this election process will be explained.

GVSBA Executive Director Tom Cox will present this program based on information provided by the New York State School Board Association. It is vital that prospective members understand the roles and responsibilities and expectations of the position of a board member. There are ample resources provided through various sources to help board members learn and grow.

Taking on the responsibility of a school board member is a tremendous way to serve the students and adults of your community. The time commitment is something that will also be outlined in these workshops.

For more information please contact Tom Cox, GVSBA executive director, at tcox@gvboces.org or Sandra Lee James at sljames@gvboces.org

After slimming the budget by a half million dollars last night, the Batavia City School Board has already cut the proposed property tax increase from 23 to 16 percent, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. City Schools Superintendent Margaret Puzio told Fischer that she hopes an offer of early retirement option to three labor unions could help stave off any outright layoffs of teachers or staff. Puzio also hopes and expects to further reduce the tax increase. Visit the WBTA Web site to hear her comments on that.

Batavia city schools are closed today for Superintendent's Conference Day. Also, LeRoy BOCES school is closed today due to a water main break.

Batavia's City School Board will meet tonight at 7 o'clock to discuss the proposed budget for next year, WBTA's Dan Fischer reports. In its current version, the budget calls for a 23 percent property tax increase.

Students will not have classes at Notre Dame High School today. A funeral mass will be held this morning at 10 o'clock at St. Anthony's Church for Nadine Netter, the school's cook who died unexpectedly last week.

Batavia's City Board of Education will meet tonight at 7:00pm at the administration building on Washington Avenue, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. You can download the meeting agenda via the city schools' Web site. Board members are expected to go into an executive session regarding an employment matter.

In other news, Fischer reports that Tops Markets will add as many as ten new stores throughout the region, including several that are planned for Buffalo and Rochester. The supermarket chain will also invest some $150 million in renovations to its existing stores.

Batavia Middle School will get a rock climbing wall. The city School Board approved the purchase of the $55,000 wall at its meeting last night, according to the Daily News. Reporter Joanne Beck writes: "The district can afford the purchase with surplus year-end funds from 2007-08, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said."

At the same meeting, following the purchase of the rock wall, the board then approved an increase in breakfast and lunch prices at city schools, reported Beck. Breakfast will now be $1.10 at the elementary school and $1.25 at the middle and high schools; lunch will be $1.55 and $1.85, respectively.

Work on the Walnut Street roundabout and street reconstruction will be postponed until next year. City Manager Jason Molino told the Daily News that "the decision was made by contractor CATCO." It was decided to hold off on the project "to minimize disruptions to the normal traffic flow," and meetings will be held in February to "help people understand how best to navigate and use the roundabout."

Mercy Flight and the Batavia Muckdogs will join together for a fundraiser that will grant two lucky raffle winners the chance to ride a helicopter from the airport to Dwyer Stadium and throw out the first pitch of that night's game. A $10 ticket will include admission to the Muckdogs game on August 4, as well as entry into the drawing. "Mercy Flight will get $6 out of every $10 ticket sold." Tickets can be purchased at Dwyer Stadium and at Mercy Flight's base at Genesee County Airport. Winners will be announced at the August 1 Muckdogs game.

Congratulations to Batavia's 11-year-old Little League Baseball all-stars whop took home the District 3 championship last night in the second straight defeat of Oakfield. In its past three games, Batavia has outscored its opponents 34-4. Talk about an offensive powerhouse!

As always, we encourage you to get out and pick up a copy of the Daily News at local newsstands. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Batavia's city School Board will hold its meeting at 7:00pm tonight in the administration building on Washington Avenue.
• Parent company of the Bank of Castile, Tompkins Financial, was recognized by a "national rating company" for "consistent performance."

Batavia's public schools are helping to drive local economic growth, according to observations by Ann Flynn, director of education technology programs for the National School Board Association.

Flynn was recently in Batavia and made these observations:

In driving around the community, I noticed that new commercial development was underway and after meeting the students, teachers, district staff, and board members, it was clear how the quality of the district's schools must surely contribute to that growth. Sixty-seven educators from 10 states joined me last week to gain a deeper understanding about how Batavia developed its vision and found the funding to create student-centered classrooms. A great example was seen during the visit to a middle school social studies class that had students working in three areas of the room: one group completing work sheets by listening to pre-assigned segments of campaign speeches on iPods; another group using an interactive white board with the instructor; and the remaining students working in pairs on a WebQuest with computers located in the rear of the room.

Throughout the visit, we saw excited, engaged students focused on their assigned tasks that encouraged them to think rather than simply recite facts. Although many factors impact an area's economic well being, the visit to Batavia, reminded me how critical it is for school board members to understand the role public schools play in a community's long-term economic health. It is evident that the city of Batavia is now reaping the benefits from years of thoughtful planning by school leaders.

One of the things that excited us about launching The Batavian in Batavia is the strong sense of economic vitality.  If the schools are helping to drive that, all the better for the community's long-term economic health. 

We certainly believe in education.  Education not only helps create entrepreneurs and a talented work force, but it also leads to a better engaged citizenry.  These are the things that make a community strong.