The Special Board of Education Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. at the Herkimer Jr/Sr High School Media Center by President Crandall and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.
This meeting was open to the public, but in accordance with current regulations, attendance will be virtual only. The public may view the meeting live via a web link on the district’s website, www.herkimercsd.org. A recording and transcript from the meeting will also be made available following the meeting.
President Crandall explained due to the current circumstances in our community regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, our Board of Education meetings are being conducted virtually. Because of this, members of the public who wished to submit a comment for the Board of Education meeting had the opportunity to email epopek@herkimercsd.org prior to the meeting. President Crandall also explained the Board of Education welcomes public comment and community input at meetings. However, we caution that we are not authorized to engage in conversations pertaining to individual students, faculty, staff or administrators. Topics of this nature may only be discussed during executive session and must be coordinated with the Superintendent of Schools prior to a BOE meeting.
Public Comment:
Mr. Mark Blask addressed the Board of Education via email and expressed his desire to move forward with a basketball season for the Herkimer Central School district. A discussion followed. No further public comments were made.
Approval of the Agenda:
Ms. Fischer moved, and Mr. Lewis seconded a motion to formally approve the consent agenda. All voted in favor; motion carried 6:0.
Business Reports:
Capital Outlay Project Award Resolution – Day Automation
Mr. Petucci moved and Ms. Fischer seconded the following Board resolution:
“BE IT RESOLVED, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools that the Herkimer Board of Education hereby acknowledges receipt of a quotation from Day Automation, Inc.; and,
THEREFORE, it is the Districts desire to award the work to Day Automation, Inc. for the 2020-2021 Capital Outlay Project.
A discussion followed. All voted in favor; motion carried 6:0
Capital Outlay Project Award Resolution – Mohawk RIC
Mr. Lewis moved and Ms. Fischer seconded the following Board resolution:
“BE IT RESOLVED, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools that the Herkimer Board of Education hereby acknowledges receipt of a quotation from Mohawk RIC (MORIC) ; and,
THEREFORE, it is the Districts desire to award the work to Mohawk RIC for the 2020-2021 Capital Outlay Project.
All voted in favor; motion carried 6:0
Superintendent Report:
Ms. Fischer moved and Ms. Gilbert seconded a motion to discuss the high risk sports safety plan and a return to play for basketball. A discussion followed. Motion carried 5:2
I will not repeat my full statement from last week about my and your administrative team’s recommendation about the initiation of high risk indoor sports but I stand by my statement and our administrative team’s position that it is not advisable at this time. Initiation of high risk indoor sports jeopardizes the stability of in-person instruction in our schools by mixing cohorts and reducing mitigation protocols as well as bringing outside of district cohorts into our facilities and mixing these cohorts with our student and staff populations in a low mitigation environment. My job is to inform you of these risks and to tell you that we should be prioritizing in-person instruction over taking such risks.
Another part of my concern about initiating a three season approach was the detrimental impact on the amount of time we will be allotting to spring sports, whose entire season was cancelled last year, by forcing three seasons into one season. However my efforts to sway other schools to my line of thinking have met with resistance and the political lobby for football and basketball hold sway. I cannot offer you a plan which increases the length of the spring season without leaving the county which we do not think is advisable either. The other schools in our county are committed to the three season plan and it takes commitment from others to implement interscholastic athletic plans. I am saddened that I could not get other schools to commit to a plan to move forward in the safest way possible which offered as equitable as possible grade level athletics opportunities but I do understand the overwhelming desire to return to as much normalcy as possible.
That said our school board, the governing body of the school, may be divided on the issue of initiating high risk sports as are most school boards in the county and state. We all want to have our kids competing in sports again and we all want to return to normal. The drive is so intense for this that all other component districts in the county have either agreed or indicate tentatively they plan to initiate high risk indoor sports under the three season county plan with varsity and JV basketball beginning March 1 if the metrics allow. At this time the county 14 day positivity rate is around 2%, has been under 3% for about 10 days and the county will likely give the go ahead on Friday February 26 for county schools to initiate high risk sports.
Mr. Crandall asked me to have a plan developed for implementation of basketball for board consideration. That plan was uploaded to the BOE agenda today. The plan was developed regionally with other component districts and Dr. Grace has given her approval to other schools and we will have her review the plan and sign off later in the week. We are prepared to carry out the plan if the board approves the plan. If the plan is not approved we will present plans for other high risk options in Fall II at the March 17 BOE meeting along with a plan for an outdoor drama production as well as our spring season coaching appointments.
If the Board approves the basketball plan we will amend staffing to include coaches for boys and girls varsity basketball and jv basketball. Let me close by saying the administrative team is fully supportive of interscholastic athletics and want to provide as many opportunities for our students as we can without risking in-person instruction and we will work to make whatever sports and activities the board approves as safe as possible for our school community.
Staffing Recommendations
Upon the recommendation from Superintendent Miller, on a motion made by Mr. Petucci, seconded by Ms. Gilbert, the BOE approved the following personnel actions; motion carried 7:0:
Resignation
Name: Treen, Cathleen
Position: 1:1 aide at St. Francis de Sales
Effective Date: February 12, 2021
CSE/CPSE Aide Appointment
Name: Doolittle, Tami
Position: 1:1 aide at St. Francis de Sales
Effective Date: March 1, 2021 – June 30, 2021
Salary: Per NYS minimum wage guidelines (pending fingerprint clearance)
Coaching Recommendations:
2020-2021 Winter Interscholastic Coaching Appointments*
Name: Blask, Mark
Position: Boys Varsity Basketball
Name: Murphy, Cody
Position: Boys JV Basketball
Name: Shepardson, Kelli
Position: Girls Varsity Basketball
Name: Scalise, Laura
Position: Girls JV Basketball
Salary Per HFA Contract, may be pro-rated as negotiated
* Conditioned upon a sufficient number of schools participating to merit a season with sufficient student participation to field a team
Meeting Evaluation
Mr. Petucci, this evening’s meeting evaluator, presented his review of the February 23, 2021, Board of Education meeting.
Ms. Gilbert moved, and Ms. Fischer seconded a motion to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the appointment of a particular person. The Board may take action in public session after the Executive Session ends and the Board returns to public session
All voted in favor; motion carried 7:0.
Executive Session
The Board moved into Executive Session at 6:50 p.m.
The Board exited Executive Session at 8:03 p.m.
Adjournment:
On a motion made by Mr. Mihevc, and seconded by Ms. Bray, the BOE adjourned the public meeting at 8:05 p.m. All voted in favor 6:0 (Mr. Petucci had to leave the meeting).