Crispell Update
Acting Superintendant Dr. Bill Bassett announced that a letter had been received regarding the Crispell Annex buildings. William Scotsman, the giant firm that brokers modular buildings and was in dispute with David Rohrs, the contractor for the district, has agreed to replace the fiber board ductwork with metal ductwork and to rebuild the electrical system to meet the school board's specifications. Dr. Bassett concluded that it was a positive letter, although it did not mention either the Fire Alarm system or the PA system that had been specified.

Rohrs, Mark Line, and William Scotsman had a meeting to discuss all these concerns. Rorhrs will also be allowed to have a representative on-site in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, to oversee the project. The architect and engineer will then be allowed to inspect the modules before they are delivered to Pine Bush. Dr. Bassett said that he believed that David Rohrs was doing his very best to have the unit delivered by opening day of the new school year. The board expressed the hope that this would happen, since only months ago it had seemed as if the new modules would be delayed by up to a year because of this dispute.

Superintendant Search
Board member John Anthony reported that the board had met with three semi-finalists and narrowed the field down to two finalists for the position of Superintendant of Schools for the Pine Bush district. These two individuals were to meet with the "stakeholder groups" — parents, teachers and students. Then they will meet with the board again. On Monday, July 28, the stakeholder groups' representatives will meet with the board and provide their lists of strengths and weaknesses for each of the two candidates, not recommendations. The board will then study all the information and make its decision. Anthony was hopeful that this would occur by the next Board of Education meeting, on August 12. However, Anthony noted that selecting the candidate would open the way to the contract negotiations, which were "always the most difficult part of hiring a new superintendant." The board was said to be very excited and comfortable with whomever was selected of the two finalists.

Staffing Update
Mrs. Carbone noted that the high school administrators had made a quick start on the interviewing process, while the elementary school administrators had been working on it together. There were more than 300 applicants for the elementary positions alone. Interviewing together allowed them to find the best of the best and place them in the schools where their skills and strengths are most needed. Mrs. Carbone also observed that the district was attracting quality candidates for all positions that were on offer.

Special Education District Plan
Judy Muller, Director of Special Programs, was present. Roseanne Sullivan mentioned that there were 1200 students in Special Programs now and that the state has a guideline for the percentage of students in Special Programs. Mrs. Carbone responded that she happened to know that the state guideline was for 12%, and the district was currently at 14.59%. Mrs. Carbone explained that part of this was due to the fact that the district has attractive programs for students with disabilities, and this promotes transfers into the district. She also noted that the figure included students who attend the private and parochial schools in the district. Dr. Bassett mentioned that the figure was for "all ranges of handicaps" too. Roseanne Sullivan asked whether or not, if the state questioned this percentage, there would be the possibility of a fine being levied. Muller replied that this was unlikely. The district would have to review its policies and procedures to ensure that everything was being done correctly before students are referred for disability programs. Mrs. Carbone said that she and Judy Muller had been speaking together about improving the effort to get teachers to collect the necessary data and begin interventions.

Director Muller noted that New York State had provided a six-year time limit, during which the district was to investigate three targeted areas, with twenty indicators. There has been a tremendous push to collect the data. The instruction book was one-thousand pages long. The idea was to go to a Statewide IEP (Individualized Education Plan) by January 2009, but they had only informed the district of this in April, 2008.

Next Board Meetings
The next board meetings will be held Tuesday, August 12 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, August 26th at 7:30 pm, both at the District Office. The School Board Retreat will be on August 19th, beginning at 4pm. Depending on contract negotiations the retreat will be conducted with the new Superintendant and the Interim Superintendant present. Mrs. Carbone noted that August 19th would be the first day of new teacher orientation.

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