SusanCampriello: My Works

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.

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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.

Higher price for gas in New Baltimore, report said
The Daily Mail
Apr. 4, 2009

ALBANY — The New Baltimore Travel Plaza along the New York State Thruway was one of three rest areas to overcharge drivers for gasoline, according to an audit conducted last year by the state Office of the Comptroller.

The Sloatsburg and DeWitt travel plazas also were found to have violated contract requirements by charging between 2 and 26 cents more per gallon than other stations in the area, according to a press release issued by the Comptroller’s Office Friday.

“The amounts are small, but it can make a big difference to businesses and drivers who are frequent travelers on the Thruway,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

Drivers paid about $7,900 extra for gasoline at these stations, auditors found.

The Comptroller’s Office conducted its audit of eight stations in Angola, Clarence, Guilderland, Malden and Ulster, as well as the three along the Thruway between May and August 2008.

Jennifer Freeman, spokeswoman for the Comptroller’s Office, said that the New Baltimore station was found to have overcharged customers by 10 cents on three occasions, for an excess of $660.

Freeman said that problems with the New Baltimore station’s operational and cash receipts were apparent when they were compared with those from the other audited stations.

She said Sunoco and Lehigh, which sells Mobil gasoline, have contracts to provide their products to 27 service stations along the Thruway and are required to survey the prices of local gas stations on a weekly basis and adjust their prices upon approval from the Thruway Authority.

Lehigh, she said, conducted station surveys and adjusted their prices more frequently in May and June, when gasoline prices were high, and less frequently when prices started to fall in August.

Freeman said that by doing this, Lehigh was able to sell gasoline for high prices for as many days as possible. This caused travelers to pay an extra $2,900.

Auditors also found that drivers overpaid approximately $5,000 when stations either changed their prices a day earlier than they should have or implemented a new price on the correct day.

Since September, the Thruway Authority has posted gasoline prices for its rest areas on its Web site, as requested by the Comptroller’s Office, Freeman said.

According to Thruway Authority spokeswoman Kimberly Chupa, overall total fuel sales charged to customers during that period were 99.99 percent accurate during the audit period.

She said Sunoco is “taking corrective action” with one of its stations found to have overcharged for its gasoline.

“The Authority is working with Sunoco to recover the overcharges and implement stricter oversight and price check procedures to ensure that this does not happen again,” she said.

Schumer: Tax relief is coming
The Daily Mail
Feb. 17, 2009

CATSKILL — Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer visited Catskill Monday to discuss the ways in which $5.3 million in direct budget relief will help struggling Greene County residents and business owners. The money is part of the economic recovery package, which will be signed by President Barack Obama, Schumer told an audience of County Legislators and county residents at the Greene County Office Building.

Schumer said he has heard New York state will lose an estimated 200,000 jobs within the next two years but that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are prepared to help New Yorkers, and all Americans, keep money in their pockets.

Key components of the package, he said, will put money into taxpayers’ pockets by increasing Medicaid relief for the county, offering tax credits for those paying for college and helping major infrastructure projects get off the ground. And once New Yokers have more money to spend, they will feel more comfortable spending it.

“Right now, we need money in the economy, not sitting there, doing nothing,” he said.

Although the relief measures will be temporary, they will be stretched across two years in order to allay a downward economic spiral, he said.

According to Schumer’s office, Greene County will pay $9 million for Medicaid services this year. Wayne Speenburgh, chairman of the County Legislature, said that more than 20 percent of the county’s tax levy is used to cover Medicaid costs.

“It’s a huge burden,” Schumer said.

Schumer said he wrote a provision in the bill that ensures that Federal reimbursements for Medicaid spending would go directly to the state’s 62 counties.

“It will not go through the state. The state does not take a cut. The state can not delay it. It will be money directly for you,” he said.

Overall, $12.6 billion will return to the state over two years for Medicaid relief, he said, and county and municipal governments will begin to receive this money in April.

Schumer said the relief is designed to prevent the need for major tax increases and major layoffs.

Starting in March, he said, every family with an income less than $150,000 will receive a tax break of $800. The break will be reflected by the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks in a pay period.

He also championed a $2,500 tax credit in the package for families earning less than $160,000 and are paying a college tuition.

“It is expensive to go to college, but it would be a real shame if kids dropped out of college or did not go to college because their parents couldn’t afford it,” he said.

The package will also give money to schools, which, Schumer said, will help prevent layoffs. He said that there would be no state educational cuts and that the formula for funding last year will be the same as the formula used this year.

Schumer discussed how provisions in the package will help the county and municipalities develop and maintain the infrastructure. Projects he mentioned included the water and sewer system in the town of Cairo and the sidewalks in the town of Durham.

Half of the money would go to “shovel-ready” projects, which are projects that would be ready within 180 days. The rest of the money would be saved for projects that will be ready by the beginning of 2010.

Local governments will begin to receive money for “shovel-ready” projects in May or June of this year, Schumer said.

Speenburgh said after the conference he was glad that funding for infrastructure projects would be staggered, as this would allow municipalities more time to prepare project plans.

Schumer responded to a question posed by Jim Mulligan, of Greenville, about whether funding would be available for Internet and broadband service.

“It will create real jobs,” Mulligan said of the service expansion.

Schumer answered that the bill makes $7 billion available, by application, for such expansions, but that specific details still need to be settled.

Interim County Administrator Dan Frank asked Schumer whether the package will help first-time home buyers or stimulate automobile sales.

Schumer replied that first-time home buyers will receive a $7,500 tax credit.

A proposal in the bill allows automobile buyers to deduct the interest on a purchase, he said.

Schumer also said that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will soon propose that the Federal government temporarily provide some guarantees for automobile and home loans.

Schumer said that although the package had very little support from Republicans — only three Republicans in the Senate and no Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the bill — the two biggest amendments in the bill were proposed by Republicans.

He explained that House of Representatives is more partisan than the Senate, and whoever wins the special election for the 20th Congressional District seat on March 31 will have to work with both Republicans and Democrats.

Schumer endorsed Scott Murphy, the Democratic candidate for that seat, Monday morning in Clifton Park.

He said that Americans come together during difficult times.

“It’s time to get serious. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and do something, and that’s what I hope will happen,” he said.

Power restoration nears completion
The Daily Mail
Dec. 15, 2008

GREENE COUNTY — Central Hudson crews are continuing work to restore power to all customers affected by the ice storm that hit the region last week.

In Greene County, about 250 customers in New Baltimore, Coxsackie and Greenville were still without power this morning. The 22 repairs needed in those areas should be completed by this afternoon, according to Denise VanBuren, a Central Hudson spokesperson. Half of the present outages were caused by strong winds Monday blowing down branches from trees.

VanBuren reported Monday night that service had been restored to all Central Hudson customers in Columbia County.

Since Saturday the company has distributed 40,000 pounds of dry ice in 10-pound blocks to help people in Greene, Columbia and Dutchess counties keep food cold and fresh. Emergency shelters will not be open today and the company will not be distributing more dry ice.

VanBuren said that service restoration has been slow in some areas because crews have had to go into wooded areas or work with tree trimming crews to access downed wires.

“In many cases, entire sections of electric infrastructure are being rebuilt,” Charles A. Freni, the company’s senior vice president of customer services said in a press release.

Freni also expressed appreciation to crews provided by Consolidated Edison and Jersey Central Power & Light, who helped the restoration effort.

VanBuren and Freni commended the patience of Central Hudson customers and thanked municipal officials and crews who have helped clear roads and run shelters.

Customers who have not reported power outages should do so by calling Central Hudson’s automated PowerLine at 845-452-2700 or 1-800-527-2714.