Ten employees tenured at Springville-Griffith Institute Board meeting

Springville-Griffith Institute’s latest crop of tenured staff members were recognized after the acceptance of their tenure at the June 12 board of education meeting. Those receiving tenure were Ashley Bauerlein, David Broom, Rebecca Doll, Erica Case, Joseph Gervase, Angela Ginnitti, Cynthia Gow, Kimberly Jasinski, Suzanne Mercurio and Michelle Solly.

Superintendent of Schools Paul Connelly congratulated of all the tenured employees. “I had the great honor of personally viewing some of your work in the classroom and it was very impressive. Congratulations to all of you,” he said.

Joseph Karb, middle school social studies teacher, was presented a proclamation by Legislator John Mills, on behalf of the entire Erie County Legislature.

“Thank you for allowing me to present this proclamation to an outstanding social studies teacher,” Mills said. “Joe Karb was the recipient of the Outstanding Middle School Social Studies Award for 2012 from the New York State Council for Social Studies. The Erie County Legislature congratulates you on your receipt of this award.” Those assembled gave Karb a standing ovation upon his acceptance of the certificate.

“It’s a great honor,” said Karb. “I feel very lucky to teach in Springville and to live in Springville.”

Members of the committee for the Comprehensive District Educational Plan presented their work, the entire text of which is available on at www.springvillegi.org under the “board documents” tab. A more in-depth discussion of that presentation can be found in “Springville-Griffith Institute CDEP presented to board of education” on page 13.

Following that presentation, Douglas Studd addressed the board, regarding the use of district equipment for his son Troy’s football game.

“My son was nominated for an all-Western New York game and was also nominated for an all-New York state game that he will hopefully be selected for. It’s quite an honor. We asked for equipment, as directed by the sponsoring organization, and [the athletic director] said they couldn’t give it to me. He said it was an insurance problem. I said I’d be happy to sign a waiver and it was still a no. I’ve got to think it’s either personal against my son, the football program or the coach,” said Studd.

“As a taxpayer, the equipment belongs to me, or part of it does. The school should support any one of these young men. I don’t know who [this decision] was serving, but it certainly wasn’t these kids.”

Board Member Joan Kelly said that she joined Studd in his concern. “If it’s true that other schools supply equipment for a young man to participate in something, when I hear that we do not, my question is, ‘Why?’ What he did was to represent the school district.”

Connelly explained that, since Troy Studd had already graduated from S-GI at the time of the game and because the game was not a New York state-sanctioned event, the insurance carrier “couldn’t recommend highly enough that we stay out of it.”

The superintendent also said that he had “looked into it quite a bit” and would continue to do so. “I’ve got those same questions you do,” he said.

District parent Julie Francisco also addressed the board, asking that the board keep the learners in mind as the CDEP process continues. She said that her daughter had tried to register for classes for next year, but had encountered some uncertainty.

“Those [students] are the end product,” she said. “Let’s keep those learning opportunities, as much as we can.”

In other board news:

- The results of testing for the year that will end June 30, submitted by Lumsden & McCormick LLP, were accepted.

- Wednesday, June 20 and Thursday, June 21 were added as early dismissal days for elementary and middle school students.

- The Future Farmers of America will be allowed to conduct the sale of rubber bracelets, with proceeds’ to be donated to the Willibey family, to help defray medical costs.

- The board accepted a memorandum of understanding between the district and the Springville Educational Employees Association, regarding the modification of a position at the transportation facility.

- An intermunicipal agreement between S-GI and the Eden Central School District, for the sharing of transportation services, was enacted.

- The board approved the paid administrative leave of absence of the transportation supervisor, commencing retroactive to June 1 through such time as an investigation is concluded to the satisfaction of the board or ending June 30, whichever comes first.

The next board of education meeting will take place on June 26 at 7 p.m. at the high school library and media center.