Watkins Glen school board 01/01/10

Feb 02, 2010 at 02:55 pm by Observer-Review


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Watkins Glen school board 01/01/10

Meeting:  The Watkins Glen school board met Monday, Feb. 1 for 20 minutes.
Attendance:  All board members were present.  There was one member of the public in the audience.
Action: The board approved a contract with Corning school district for health and welfare services.  Superintendent Tom Phillips explained a student living in this district goes to school in the Corning district.
• The board approved the adoption of board policies.
• The biennial shared decision making plan was also approved.  Phillips said it was reviewed by teams and approved, sending it on to the board to okay.
Discussion without action:  Phillips reported that most districts in the state submitted the paperwork needed to qualify for the federal Race to the Top funds.  He explained that whatever amount New York gets, Watkins will be entitled to a percent.  However, that amount is up in the air.  Phillips said something should be announced in the spring.
• Phillips also said the district held its first budget meeting.  He said the federal budget has been released, which contains significant dollars for education.  However, he added there were also significant strings attached.
• Board President Brian O’Donnell recognized Kaz Estelow, business education teacher, for achieving national teaching certification.  He said there are only about 65,000 teachers in the nation that have achieved this.  She joins three other staff members with the same certification.
• Phillips reported he is negotiating with Verizon and GoKnow! about the mobile learning devices in the middle school.  He said he told Verizon that there needed to be a serious price change due to there not being any texting or calling allowed on the phones.  He said the price was dropped severely, but is still working on it.
Upcoming meetings:  The next regular school board meeting will be Monday, March 1.  It is expected to start at 6:30 p.m., following an executive session. 
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