Watkins Glen school board 1/3/12

    Meeting:  The Watkins Glen school board met Tuesday, Jan. 3.
    Attendance:  Kevin Field was the only board member absent.  There were no members of the public in the audience.
    Action:  The board approved a health and welfare contract with Corning City School District for Watkins students attending parochial schools in Corning, 2011-12.
    Discussion without action:  Superintendent Tom Phillips spoke about the new teacher evaluation process and testing for grades three to eight.  He explained that the New York State Education Department will require non-tested area teachers (health, art, music, etc.) to meet certain student learning objectives.  He said this meant a health teacher would need to incorporate reading comprehension into the curriculum to meet the new standards.  Phillips went on to say he is also concerned about the longer tests the state is proposing for third to eighth grade students in Math and English Language Arts.  He said the test format may result in bad grades that would reflect poorly on a teacher who has performed well overall.  According to new state teacher evaluations, student test results are a part of the professional review.
    • The school board will review the transition time line of moving students from the middle school to the main campus and busing at the next workshop meeting.
    • Board President Brian O’Donnell reported that retiree and former long-time elementary school cafeteria worker, Eleanor Gingrich, recently passed away.
    • O’Donnell congratulated the seven athletic teams (boys soccer, boys cross country, girls cross country, girls volleyball, girls soccer, girls swimming/diving, and football) that achieved New York State Public High School Athletic Association Scholar Athlete Team Awards.
    • Sharon Clark, board clerk, reminded the board that by contract it is time to begin the superintendent’s evaluation for 2011-12.
    Upcoming meetings:  The next meeting is a workshop scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17, beginning at 5:45 p.m.