SusanCampriello: My Works

Speech validates C-GCC
Register-Star
The Daily Mail
Sept. 22, 2009
(Packaged with coverage of President Barack Obama’s Monday, Sept. 21 address at Hudson Valley Community College.)

President Barack Obama’s visit to HVCC won rave reviews at a Columbia-Greene Community College Board of Trustees meeting later in the evening.

C-GCC President James R. Campion said Obama’s visit to a community college in New York State validated the important work going on at the school and others across the country.

“Although [the speech] was at Hudson Valley, all 1,200 of us were in the spotlight today,” Campion said.

Campion lauded the president’s commitment to simplifying tax credits for college tuition and streamlining student loans. He said hearing Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joseph Biden and a long-time community college professor, speak of how community colleges fit into the fabric of the nation’s economy by preparing the workforce of tomorrow made him proud.

Campion said technology firms such as GlobalFoundries will require the future accountants, human resources personnel and business managers currently attending his school.

He said the need for the nurses, automotive technicians and computer networking professionals enrolled in the school’s largest programs will increase as the population of the Tech Valley grows.

“The opportunities are going to be there not only for people going into the science and engineering fields but also in other aspects of the business,” he said.

Campion and C-GCC Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Phyllis Carito announced to the college’s Board of Trustees that the school had scored well in a recent student engagement survey run by the University of Texas at Austin.

The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) measured what students gained from their college experiences at 663 schools in 48 states, three Canadian provinces and in the Marshall Islands between 2007 and 2009. Approximately 400,800 students participated in the survey with 534 of those at C-GCC. About 1,800 students attended the school when the survey was conducted last spring.

According to survey data, C-GCC scored higher than the national benchmarks and benchmarks of other schools of similar size and program offerings.

The school scored 50.1 in active and collaborative learning, compared with a State University of New York consortium score of 48.7 and a 2009 CCSSE cohort score of 50.0. The school received a score of 50.3 for student effort compared with the SUNY consortium benchmark score of 49.8 and a CCSSE cohort benchmark score of 50.0. Students gave C-GCC a score of 51.7 for academic challenge, with the SUNY consortium receiving a benchmark score of 50.6 and a CCSSEE cohort benchmark score of 50.0. The school received a score of 52.5 for student-faculty interaction with the SUNY consortium receiving a benchmark score of 51.4 and the CCSSE cohort receiving a benchmark score of 50.0. Finally, C-GCC received a score of 54.3 for support for learners, with the SUNY consortium receiving a benchmark score of 49.9 and the CCSSEE cohort receiving a benchmark score of 50.0.

The school participated in the survey to collect data for a Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaccreditation self-study.

Reacreditation occurs every 10 years, Campion said, with the next commission visit and assessment in 2011.

Students fail class period
Change at C-A forces them to choose between athletics and clubs, which could hurt college admission, they say
The Daily Mail
Sept. 18, 2009

COXSACKIE — More than a dozen Coxsackie-Athens students spoke out at a meeting of the District Board of Education against a change in class period designation.

The new class period schedule implemented this year allots time at the end of the school day for struggling students to receive academic assistance from teachers. As a result, school clubs have to meet after school and at the same time as sports practices and games.

The students complained the change forces them to choose between playing a sport and joining a club, a choice, they said, could hurt their chances for admission at their choice colleges.

Senior Madison Economos, who, along with several other students came to the meeting straight from a volleyball game, said she understood the need for the “L” period but that it comes at the expense of other students’ needs.

“As administrators, you encourage us to to be involved in all these different things and it’s impossible to be involved if there’s one set time for four different things,” she said.

She and several other students argued that they have learned how to interact with each other and the community by holding club fundraisers or working on club service projects.

They explained that clubs have brought driving safety programs to the school, clubs have purchased school supplies for underprivileged schools in Mexico and through clubs, students can learn about other cultures, technology and business in ways that cannot be taught in a classroom setting.

All of these skills, they argued, will help club members gain admission to colleges.

“Colleges are looking at how you contribute to your school community and how, therefore, you can contribute to a college community,” Lily Dayter, a senior who participates in a number of school clubs, said.

Senior Erica Goldson, who takes classes at Hudson Valley Community Collete but participates in Coxsackie-Athens clubs, agreed.

Goldson hopes to attend a prestigious college. She said her college applications have been strengthened by the various club offices she has held during her high school career.

“I know that I wouldn’t even stand a change of getting into those schools without what I’ve done [in my clubs],” she said.

Students and parents also stated that the lack of transportation home from school after club meetings certain days of the week will hurt club participation, as well.

Many parents work and cannot come to Coxsackie to pick children up from school, they said.

Student Stephanie Puorro delivered to the Board a package of 100 letters signed by students who hoped for a solution to the scheduling problem.

Board President Joseph “Seph” Garland III explained that the new schedule would take time getting used to and the administration was still trying to make everything work.

He said the issue would be discussed further at next month’s Board meeting.

Many students indicated they would attend the Oct. 20 meeting with the hope that the Board had reached a decision favorable to their position.

“The school is here to serve the students, all the students, not just the kids who need extra help,” Lily Dayter said.

Parents cry foul over lack of athletes’ bus
Many Athens students denied participation in sports, they say
The Daily Mail
Sept. 16, 2009

COXSACKIE — Parents in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District expressed their ire Tuesday to the Board of Education, saying they feel marginalized from the district by the absence of a bus to Athens after sports practices.

Athens resident Lee Palmateer said the lack of a bus denies a lot of Athens students from participating in athletic teams.

Palmateer said not having a bus was unfair to children and the entire Athens community, which, he said, makes up roughly 30 percent of the district’s population.

“Recognizing that the schools are here in Coxsackie, we would at least like to have a place where our kids can be transported to in Athens,” he said, “so there is some semblance of equity.”

A student athlete bus to the Village of Athens would cost roughly $10,000, according to C-A Superintendent Dr. Earle Gregory. The line item for the bus was discussed at several budget workshop meetings last spring before it was dropped from the final budget.

But parents said they did not know the bus had been discontinued until the first day of sports practice this summer.

Palmateer and other parents said they now have to face the hardship of leaving work early to pick up their children or discouraging their children from joining a team.

Denise Hartman worried that some parents would not be able to pick their children up from school. But Jennifer Petramale said car traffic into the school complex at the end of practice was beginning to be a problem.

Another Athens resident, Leo Palmateer, asked the Board how they made the decision to discontinue the bus while still running bus service to students who live outside Greene County.

Board President Joseph “Seph” Garland III said the decision had not been made “in the dark” but after ridership to Athens declined last year to only five or six children. Garland said the busing needs are reviewed every year during the budget process.

Lee Palmateer, who said his three football-playing children would be joined on a bus by a handful of other students in his neighborhood, suggested the district canvass teams to get an accurate count of student athletes who live in Athens and would ride a bus home.

Stephanie Puorro, a student who lives in Hannacroix, a 20-minute drive from the school, said she and her neighbors could benefit from a sports bus to their community.

Student Brittney Williams asked why the district could justify making bus runs to bring home students who had been punished with after-school detentions but not a sports bus to Athens.

Although Williams was not answered immediately, District Chief Financial Officer Leslie Copleston stated later in the meeting that buses that transport students to and from academic programs — including detention — are partially funded by aid money. Buses for field trips or athletic games and practices, she said, are not.

CSD celebrates renovation, construction work with ribbon cutting
The Daily Mail
Sept. 14, 2009

The 2009-10 school year got underway last week in Catskill, but the year was officially kicked-off Sunday with the Catskill Central School District’s annual “Parents, Partners and Pancakes” event. This year, the breakfast and outdoor petting zoo ended with a ribbon cutting in the High School library and media center to officially mark completion of ongoing construction and renovation work at the Catskill middle and high schools.

The more than $33 million project was approved through two $16.7 million referendum votes, one in 2005 and a second in 2009 and includes work on the media center, special education classrooms and a new entranceway. New guidance offices and a cafeteria in the Middle School as well as technological upgrades in the schools were also included in the project.

The last phase of the project, which includes work on a fitness center and playing fields as well as installation of new lockers in the High School, will begin later this year, District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Farrell said.

Farrell noted that the “labor of love” cost roughly as much as the district’s annual operating budget.

She announced that the 2005 referendum brought only a 27-cent per $1,000 tax impact on district residents. The second brought no impact, she said.

“That is a huge, huge accomplishment and compliment for the community,” she said.

Farrell thanked the volunteers who flipped pancakes earlier in the day. She also thanked her schools’ students for living with construction without complaint and past Board of Education members who had worked to realize the project.

Sen. James L. Seward, R,C,I-Oneonta, recognized former Board President James Garafalo who, Seward said, led the charge to pass each referendum.

“This is a wonderful legacy to your leadership,” Seward told Garafalo while awarding him a special citation from the State Legislature.

Garafalo, who served on the board for 21 years and was the board president in both 2005 and part of 2009, was not reelected to the board this spring.

Seward commended the district for embarking on the project to upgrade the facility to match the quality of the school system.

He said taxpayers stepped up to the plate in each referendum and decided to invest in the district’s future.

Seward said the project fit with the state’s Expanding our Children’s Education (EXCEL) aid program designed to minimize the effect of capital projects on local taxpayers.

At the end of the ceremony, Seward and Garafalo held a pair of over-sized scissors to a red ribbon stretched across two bookshelves in the library while the ribbon was cut by Catskill High School seniors Joseph DiStefano and Nicole Lacy who stood arm-in-arm.

Lesson 1 for schools:
How to stop swine flu
District officials encourage students, teachers to use common-sense hygiene practices to curb spread of H1N1
The Daily Mail
Sept. 8, 2009
The Windham Journal
Sept. 10, 2009

CATSKILL — As schools reopen, area educators and administrators are readying their buildings for learning, playing and perhaps spreading germs like those that could spread the H1N1 flu virus.

School administrations in Greene County are encouraging students and teachers to use common sense hygienic practices and are stepping up cleaning regimens to keep their buildings and grounds clean.

Hand sanitizing products will be available to students in every district, and staff will meet with health care professionals to learn the best way to keep classroom areas clean and students healthy.

School administrators said they will also follow guidelines set forth by the State Education Department and State Department of Health and keep in touch with the County Department of Health.

*
Overall, administrators said they would increase cleanings and reassess practices if students

“We are going to hope for the best and prepare for all the contingencies that we can,” Anne Rode, principal of the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School.

Each district has its own procedures in place.

Cairo-Durham Central School District

Ron Agostinoni, assistant principal of Cairo-Durham High School, said nurses will remind students the proper way to wash their hands and prevent the spread of germs.

Hand sanitizer dispensers, like the ones in elementary classrooms, have been installed in classrooms in the Middle School and High School building. Sanitizers will be available to students before lunch period, he said.

He said students and staff will be encouraged to stay home if they exhibit flu-like symptoms.

As with procedure set last spring, bus drivers sanitize buses before, after and between runs, he said.

Catskill

District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Farrell said the daily cleaning routine will be enhanced with extra cleanings of commonly touched surfaces such as water fountains, keyboards and doorknobs. Cafeteria areas will also receive extra attention, she said.

Hand sanitizer dispensers will be installed in every classroom, school office and common area, she said.

Farrell said staff will use hand-washing solution that shows dirty spots missed to demonstrate how to properly wash hands.

Farrell said as per request of Greene County Public Health, parents would not be notified of every student who presented severe flu-like symptoms. That could change, Farrell said, if the number of students with those symptoms increases.

Coxsackie-Athens

Coxsackie-Athens Central School District Superintendent Dr. Earle Gregory said at a recent Board of Education meeting that school nurses would be vigilant and aware of any illnesses.

Students will be encouraged to encouraged to thoroughly sanitize their hands.

He said staff will follow protocols set forth by Greene County Public Health and the State Department of Health,including increased cleaning schedules, encouraging students and staff with flu-like symptoms to remain at home for 24 hours after the symptoms disappear, and encourage students not to cough or sneeze into their hands.

District schools would not be closed, he said, unless a large absentee rate was seen.

Greenville

Greenville Central School District Director of Curriculum and Communications Colleen Hall said teachers in her district had already completed a training course on showing students how to keep themselves healthy. Classrooms have been stocked with hand sanitizers, she said. Buildings and grounds crews will continue to keep the buildings clean.

Hall said parents would receive a letter that included information on when a child should be kept at home and information would be posted to the district’s Web site.

She said student health would be monitored so that the schools would know when students were kept home for flu-like symptoms or for other reasons so she schools have a sense of why a student might be absent. Additional building and bus cleanings could be added if needed, she said.

Hunter-Tannersville

Hunter-Tannersville Central School District Superintendent Patrick Darfler-Sweeney said his building is constantly being cleaned due to several varied construction projects at the school.

High School students will meet with nurses during gym period to review universal precautions. Elementary class teachers will underscore the same precautions, he said.

Darfler-Sweeney said parents would be sent guidelines on when to keep students out of school.

The district’s Web site will be updated with information as the year continues, he said.

Darfler-Sweeney said students will be provided with alcohol-free hand sanitizing products and parents will be encouraged to give their children alcohol-free products if they feel the need to give their children anything.

Windham-Ashland-Jewett

Anne Rode said teachers and staff will meet with staff from Greene County Public Health to discuss how to prevent germs from spreading in the school building and on buses. Bus drivers would have an additional training to revisit safety checks and additional cleanliness protocols.

The school has ordered bottles of hand sanitizers for distribution as well as dispensers for all classrooms, common areas and offices in the school building.

She said the school reminds students to wash their hands and be mindful that they will be around many other children every year.

Information regarding the district’s procedures and the virus will be posted on the district’s Web site, she said, adding that information will also be included in a parent newsletter.

School administrators said physical contact — hallway greetings or during athletic events and gym class — will not be prevented or banned.

As Hunter-Tannersville’s Superintendent Patrick Darfler-Sweeney said, common sense hygiene practices will prevail, echoing what other administrators said.

“If we do a really good job with that, we will take care of 99.9 percent of the other stuff,” he said.

Schools to get stimulus funds
Money will be used to support improvements to teaching methods, learning environment
The Daily Mail
Sept. 3, 2009

CATSKILL — New programs and program features could be coming to the Catskill Central School District through more than $260,000 from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 as well as from other grant sources, according to District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Farrell.

The district will receive a preliminary estimate of $263,324 available over a 27-month period through the stimulus measure, according to the New York State Education Department and the Office of Gov. David A. Paterson. The money can be used to support teaching and learning improvement efforts. Final allotments will be announced later in the year.

“Any penny we get goes a long way,” Farrell said of the coming money.

She said the money, and additional funds through the Dyson Foundation in conjunction with Greene County Mental Health, will help implement an extended-day elementary school program that could be used for tutoring sessions or homework assistance.

She said the district will begin a search for additional staff to provide more opportunities for secondary students to prepare for Regents examinations or attend tutoring sessions, to receive counseling and to possibly pass failed courses through Online instructional services.

Farrell said further funds would come to the District through the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

According to the department, approximately 700 New York schools, mostly in lower-income areas, will receive more than $900 million through the Recovery Act.

Greene County schools will receive $788,464 in the following amounts:

- $138,042 for the Cairo-Durham Central School District;

- $263,324 for the Catskill Central School District;

- $133,728 for the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District;

- $122,019 for the Greenville Central School District;

- $85,132 for the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District;

- $46,219 for the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District.

But, as Cairo-Durham Central School’s Business Manager Lissa Jilek pointed out Wednesday, the funding is not guaranteed. Schools must still apply for the funds, she said.

Allocations were determined based on a “No Child Left Behind” program count of qualifying children including those in families living below the poverty line, living in foster care or in institutions for the neglected and who are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

According to program data gathered, 6.86 percent of qualifying children in New York reside in Greene County with the following break-down:

- 1.15 percent in the Cairo-Durham Central School District;

- 2.40 percent in the Catskill Central School District;

- 1.14 percent in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District;

- 0.96 percent in the Greenville Central School District;

- 0.80 percent in the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District;

- 0.41 percent in the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-NY, said in a statement that education is one of the most important investments that can be made for the future of New York.

“These federal dollars will help give New York students the education they need to succeed in the 21st century by providing more early education, extended learning opportunities, better training for teachers and a stronger role for parents,” she said.

Option for school programs
NYSSBA rep talks creation of a C-A education foundation
The Daily Mail
May 15, 2009

ATHENS — State School Boards Association Deputy Executive Director Rita Lashway visited a meeting of the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District Board of Education to promote the creation of an education foundation.

Such a foundation, she said, could raise money for the purchase of learning materials and equipment as well as to provide additional training for teachers and administrators.

“Regardless of whether you raise $100 or $100,000, everything helps,” she said.

Lashway used an ongoing program that brings elementary school students to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse as an example of something that could be funded by the foundation.

She said an education foundation could offer residents a new opportunity to help facilitate the creation of, and provide the necessary financial support for, school programs.

The foundation would not be under the control of the school board. A member of the school board could act as a liaison but wound not vote on foundation issues.

She said that such a foundation requires dynamic and creative people who are not afraid to ask for money.

“Leadership is what makes an effective foundation,” Lashway said.

She said school board members should select people for the foundation board who can stay motivated and stay accountable to donors and their wishes.

“Donors are a very important of this equation,” she said.

The first members of the foundation board would be responsible for drafting the foundation’s laws, by-laws and vision, which will be adhered to by future foundation board members, she said.

Lashway responded to a question posed by school board member Joseph Cardinale that no donation to the foundation will be tax deductible until the foundation is awarded status of a non-profit organization.

She told school board member Russ Nadler that an educational foundation could be organized within an existing community organization. The umbrella organization could take a percent of whatever money is raised by the educational foundation, she said, and it could exercise some control of how the foundation’s money would be spent.

Lashway told the board that creating a foundation would be time consuming and not without its difficulties; however, many other school districts in the state have successfully created education foundations.

“They all have stories and nine out of 10 stories are good ones,” she said.

Enrollment dips in Greene schools
State report card lists WAJ Elementary as In Need of Improvement
The Daily Mail
April 30, 2009

CATSKILL — Enrollment in Greene County schools fell between the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, according to the 2007-08 New York State Education Department district report cards released last week.

One school in the county was listed as In Need of Improvement during that school year.

The report cards, which provide data on all districts and individual schools in the state, are intended to increase the accountability of schools, districts and the state.

The Windham-Ashland-Jewett elementary school program was the only program in the county reported to be In Need of Improvement (year one) during the 2007-08 school year.

Elementary school students with disabilities in the district did not make annual yearly progress for English language arts exam scores during the previous two school years, during which time the school received Title I funds.

WAJ School District Superintendent John Wiktorko said that although the improvement needs refers to a subset of his student population, he and his faculty are interested in the performance of all students.

“We are experiencing extremely positive student academic growth, particularly in the identified areas as a result of a series of initiatives launched in the school district many years ago that are now coming to fruition,” he said.

School faculty and parents have embarked on a program to increase literacy rates.

Staff has also received ongoing significant professional development to help create viable curriculum to boost student performance, he said.

“Students have really responded,” he said, adding that future examination scores and state report cards will show that the initiatives have paid off.

The report lists general elementary and high school performance and the overall district as In Good Standing.

Enrollment in the district decreased from 453 students during the 2006-07 school year to 441 during the 2007-08 school year. The district attendance rate was 94 percent during the 2006-07 school year, when the district spent $20,835 per pupil, the report shows.

Enrollment in the Cairo-Durham Central School District decreased from 1,734 to 1,666 from the 2006-07 school year to the 2007-08 school year. The attendance rate throughout the 2006-07 school year was 93 percent. The district spent $13,403 per student during the 2006-07 school year.

The Catskill Central School District saw a decrease from 1,806 students during the 2006-07 school year to 1,781 students during the 2007-08 school year. The attendance rate was 96 throughout the 2006-07 year. According to the report, the district spent $16,770 on each child that year.

Enrollment in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District fell from 1,593 during the 2006-07 school year to 1,555 the following school year. The report showed an attendance rate of 93 percent throughout the 2006-07 school year, during which the district spent a total of $13,952 per student.

The report showed that enrollment in Greenville Central School District dropped from 1,422 during the 2006-07 school year to 1,363 during the next school year. The attendance rate throughout the 2006-07 school year was 96 percent. That year, the district spent $15,585 the report shows.

The Hunter-Tannersville Central School District saw an enrollment decrease from 517 during the 2006-07 school year to 466 during the 2007-08 school year. The attendance rate was 94 percent throughout the 2006-07 year, during which the district spent $19,751 per pupil.

The report issued next year will show examination scores from the current school year and enrollment and expenditure data from the 2007-08 school year.

School chiefs offer wish lists
Spending plans for buildings reflect decreases
The Daily Mail
Mar. 26, 2009

CAIRO — The Cairo-Durham School Board heard good news from three building principals and one program director.

Their budgets indicated that the Cairo Elementary School, Cairo-Durham Middle School, Cairo-Durham High School and the Pupil Services and Special Education program will operate on less money in the 2009-2010 school year than this year.

Cairo Elementary School principal Scott Richards said that he had reduced his budget for equipment, textbooks and materials by a total of about $10,000.

Richards explained how he was able to decrease his budget by $5,000 from last year. His proposed budget totals $25,068.

He said the proposed budget shows that his school needs no funds for equipment.

“We have used money from this year to take care of any needs next year,” he said.

The budget line for contracts increased by $37 more than last year’s costs, mainly due do the need for new computer software, he said.

The school saw a decrease in enrollment and Richards moved one teaching assistant to the middle school, he said, which cut the cost of having assistants in half.

The budget for salaries increased by 1.84 percent, or by roughly $59,000.

Middle School principal Kerry Overbaugh said that her preliminary budget had decreased from last year’s by more than $18,000, or 19 percent. Although music, art, foreign language and physical education instructional supplies decreased, she said, the cost of necessary materials for technology classes more than doubled.

She said the school was able to save nearly $19,000 by ordering $10 mathematics and language workbooks rather than buying $80 textbooks. She said that not only do workbooks cost less than textbooks, but students can write in and highlight passages in workbooks.

Overbaugh said her school will begin using teachers and administrators to help analyze data and staff development rather than use outside consultants.

She said her school began bringing the district’s 7th- and 8th-grade students with special needs who had been taught elsewhere back into the school. She said teaching the children on campus saved the school $70,000.

Overbaugh said her preliminary budget showed a 4.81 percent increase in staff salaries.

Overbaugh said that because her student enrollment has declined and the high school’s has grown, some of her aides have started working in the high school. She said that the schools could share appropriate staff if needed to further save the district money.

High school principal Anthony Taibi presented a proposed budget of $143,958 this year, or roughly $25,000 lower than last year’s budget.

Taibi said that although his staff salary budget had increased by about $160,000, or showed a 4.9 percent increase over last year, he was able to cut the textbook, equipment and material budget lines.

The budget allows for almost $47,000 for materials, he said, because science laboratory and art courses require a lot of supplies.

He said that the school’s new messenger phone network has saved the school a lot of money otherwise used on postage.

“We are always looking at ways in which we can get information out without mailing,” he said.

Finally, Pupil Services and Special Education Director Linda Wistar, presented her projected costs for the 2009-2010 school year. She, too, presented a smaller budget than this year’s.

She said that her department oversees the district’s programs for all special needs students from kindergarten through their senior year of high school.

Wistar said her department is responsible for helping nursery school aged children find special education programs with the County and English-as-Second-Language classes. She also works with the district’s schools to help students stay in mainstream classes when possible.

She said she has seen the special needs population decreasing in the district due to special reading programs and other intervention measures that help students get through their regular class work.

Wistar said sending students out of the district to receive special services not available in the Cairo-Durham schools can be very expensive and she tries to do this only when necessary.

The district received enough money in a special education grant last year to pay one teacher who would otherwise be paid from the general fund, she said.

She said the program has saved $26,000 by cutting an aide position. The program will also receive some funding from the Federal Recovery Act through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grant. The grant, she said, will pay for four of the program’s 18 full-time teachers, four of its 10 teaching assistants and a clinical social worker at the high school.

Wistar said that travel expenses will also be paid for by the grant.

“This is a temporary measure, but it is a good year to do it,” she said.

She said her budgets for supplies, equipment and

Wistar said she will also spend $1,000 on textbooks next year, or $2,500 less than what is budgeted for this year. She said her students can use textbooks the district already owns, but may need special supplemental materials, which could be, for example, geared towards middle school students but written at a second-grade reading level.

She said she expects to receive more money through the IDEA grant but does not know how the money will be used.

“We know how much it is but we don’t know when we will get it, so that may change for us for the better,” she said.

Reading program

The board also heard from Cairo Elementary School teachers Amy Benjamin and Megan West about the At Home Reading Challenge Program, which is designed to help children learn to read with their parents’ help.

The 46 participating 3rd through 5th grade students receive a book that matches their comprehension level every Monday. Benjamin explained that parents do not always know what books match their children’s reading level, and that the program takes away some of that guess work.

Students must read their books three times, West explained. First, she said, children have to read aloud to a parent who can help make sure words are being pronounced correctly.

The children then read silently and have to explain the story to a parent. Finally, the children have to read the story again and listen to the rise and fall of their voices.

“They need to get the idea that they’re telling the story,” West said.

Parents need to sign off on the completed packages, Benjamin said.

The two explained that students who complete their target of 13 or 20 book packages will receive prizes at the end of the year.

They said their students have started a friendly competition with each other to see who could complete the most book packages.

“It’s effective and efficient at the same time,” she said.

Cairo-Durham band taking New York 20th time
The Daily Mail
Mar. 13, 2009

CAIRO — Eighty students from Cairo-Durham Middle and High schools will march in step Tuesday morning in their 20th consecutive St. Patrick’s Day Parade up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Band director David Spring said in a press release that being involved with the parade is an honor.

“It’s great for our students and our community to be recognized on a national stage,” he said.

The marching Mustangs will play a mix of Irish and rock tunes, including “Irish Spectacular,” “The Final Countdown” and “Enter Sandman.”

They will wear new navy and white uniforms and will follow a banner bearing the district’s name.

The band made its first appearance in the famed parade in 1991.

Cairo-Durham School Superintendent Sally Sharkey said that the band has always performed well at other, more local parades on other holidays and scores well at State music competitions.

Sharkey said that Jim Lombard, who lives in Greenville and in New York City, applied to the parade committee on behalf of the band

“The kudos go to Jim,” she said.

She thanked Jim, his wife Rosemary, who are involved with the United Irish Counties Association, which helps run the parade, and Bernie and Theresa Patterson for their constant support of the school.

She said that rural schools are not well represented at the parade.

The band usually starts driling for the parade about two weeks before the step-off, she said.

The students will also play in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Greenville, on Saturday, March 21.