Aaron Hopmayer, Principal of Pine Bush High School, gave a presentation of the Law and Leadership program. Also present were some of this summer's graduates from the program, under the Command of Rebecca Hoffman. Awards were handed out to officers of the program and the graduates then shook hands with the board members and Superintendant Steinberg.

Crispell School Annex Update Deborah Brush, Assistant Superintendant for Administration Services, informed the board that the date for delivery of the first pair of modules had slipped from Sept 11 to Sept 26. John Anthony was concerned by this news and asked if it was known what had happened in the last two weeks to push this date back. James Barrett expressed further concern that materials were still "back ordered" on the modules and that was not what he'd been led to believe.

Deborah Brush said she was frustrated by this development, that the dates were not really hard and fast. She also said that a team from the district's contractors was due to go down and inspect the units on September 23. It now appeared that occupancy of the annex modules would begin at the end of November or early December. She explained that this information concerning the new delay had only come to her and the Project Manager at 10:30 a.m. that morning.

Board members Barrett, Singh, and Sullivan expressed dismay and indignation that the delivery dates agreed upon in June were not being followed. Brush explained that the situation remained what it had been then, if the district went to legal action and terminated the contract, then it would be another seven or eight months before a new manufacturer could provide the units.

Sullivan asked if the district could legally reject the units. Brush said that the manufacturer and contractor, Mainline and Rohrs, were technically in default by this point and so the district could certainly reject them. However, that would mean starting all over again.

Board member Joseph Peluso wondered if the contractor, Rohrs, could be fined on a per-diem basis. He was informed that that option did not exist in the contract.

Sullivan expressed the sense of the board when she said, "We hired a construction manager to oversee this project and prevent this kind of thing from happening."

Superintendent Steinberg asked for daily updates from Rohrs on what was happening at the manufacturer's plant.

Patti Brown asked whether there would be problems caused by having the Crispell modules delivered in pairs since the first one's to arrive on the site would be sitting there for a month or more. She wondered whether they could be adequately protected from wind and rain.

John Anthony followed up on her question to ask what it would take to have all eight units delivered at one time.

Joseph Peluso answered that, in the world of modular construction, units were delivered when they were ready. It was also laid out that way in the contract.

Sher Singh insisted that efforts be made to secure the first units to arrive and reiterated the point that it was too late to back out of this now.

Bob Marx then asked what had happened in the two weeks since the last meeting that had produced this delay of delivery.

No one could actually say, other than that the manufacturer had delayed ordering the metal ductwork that the district had specified. It appeared that once again a gap had opened between the district's understanding of what was going to happen and what the manufacturer was actually going to do.

Pine Bush Elementary School Air Quality Testing
Following the discovery of an air quality problem in some of the rooms at Pine Bush Elementary, action had been taken over the summer. The rooms had been cleaned and recent tests had shown no contamination. School had opened on schedule.

Reach for the Goals
Superintendant Steinberg gave a presentation, including a film, concerning goals and how to reach them. The film, by Steven Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, used the chaotic efforts of very young soccer players to demonstrate how impossible it could be to reach goals, if communication and training haven't been clear and effective.

Steinberg laid out a Vision Statement and District Goals for 2008-2009. These included reviews of current research in supervision and evaluation models and an increase in technology to enhance student learning capabilities.

Steinberg spoke of establishing a Capital Reserve Fund to tackle maintenance and repair work as well as getting every stakeholder in the district to be able to communicate by email.

John Anthony commented that this was going to be a very challenging year for the Board and that they would have to work together to achieve their goals.

Building Level Emergency Response PlanSummaries
These have been revised and presented. Joseph Peluso asked if it was known for sure that the Police and Fire Brigades received and read them. Deborha Brush said that they were certainly sent to them by mail, but it wasn't known if they were actually read and studied, though she felt that that was likely. The summaries were accepted by the board.

Surplus Policy
The policy regarding the Disposition of Surplus Property, that is used books, old computers, etc., was reviewed. Vice President Sullivan had some questions regarding wording of the policy. She wanted to be assured that, whenever possible, the district would get whatever it could for surplus property, or that at the least it should cost the district nothing to dispose of it. To that end Mr. Steinberg proposed that a form be produced for use at the school level. Said form would include a column labeled, "How Disposed Of."

Joan Carbone thought the language of the policy would have to be worked on to include the terms "recycle and donate" wherever necessary. John Anthony moved that the policy be given its second reading at the next board meeting.

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