Dundee may cut funds for athletic teams

DUNDEE—The Dundee Central School district board of education met Thursday, March 10. Athletic Director Charles Mochamer spoke to the board about possibilities for cutting money out of the athletic budget. Mochamer said instead of having the usual three teams of Varsity, Junior Varsity and Modified, the school may eliminate one of the teams. Section Five has been studying the possibility of changes. This must be done as a league due to scheduling.
Mochamer said demographics have changed. He said there are less and less kids and it makes it harder to offer more than two levels. Board Vice-President Jim Koehler asked with fewer students if it wouldn’t be better to have modified and varsity teams. Superintendent of Schools Kathy Ring said decisions may be made in early April.
In other business: District Business Manager Melissa Lawson spoke about bus purchase and reserve funds. Lawson asked if it was prudent to include a new school bus in the upcoming budget. She said the district used to purchase two buses a year. This was reduced to one and she proposed not purchasing a bus in the upcoming budget. She said it will impact the district down the road in five or six years. The district receives 90 percent aid on buses. Lawson said the purchase could be taken out of the budget with the intent to establish a capital reserve for bus replacement. Board President Joseph Capurso said he would like to understand more about the five to six year window.
• Heard concerns from two parents about the movie The Patriot, which was shown to fourth grade students. Parent Tracey Knapp said she is concerned because teacher policy was not being followed at the elementary level. Ring said, “It is obvious we need to clarify more for the staff.”
• School Caseworker Stephanie Trombley made a presentation on Project Awareness, She told board members the action plan includes student driven programs to educate the community. The first program will be March 23 and will be tailored to the local community. In April there will be a program on cyberbullying.
• The board accepted a donation of of $2,500 for vinyl lettering and picturing for the district trailer by the family of Robert Pierce. The donation is for the music department.
• The board accepted a change order in the amount $61,551 for shoring of quoin lintel ends to provide proper load bearing of lintel. District Business Manager Melissa Lawson said the decision was made after extensive review by the construction manager.
• The board heard an update on the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy (YEA!) from student participants in the program.
The board of education will meet Thursday, March 24 for final consideration and adoption of the 2011-12 budget. There will be a meeting of the board of education Thursday, April 14. Both meetings will be at 7 p.m. in the public meeting room.