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Southern Ulster Times , Wednesday , March 15 , 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
Calendar .......................................... 17 Craig McKinney ................................ 9 Classifieds ...................................... 30 Crossword ...................................... 32 Highland ......................................... 23 Letters to the Editor ........................ 8 Marlboro ........................................ 22 Obituaries ...................................... 25 Opinion ............................................. 8 Police Blotter ................................... 4 School News .................................... 18 Service Directory ........................... 35 Sports ............................................ 38
TO OUR READERS
Deadlines for this week ’ s paper were moved up 24 hours in anticipation of a major snowstorm on Tuesday , Visit our website at www . SouthernUlsterTimes . com and our Facebook page for up-todate closings and other information .
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WEDNESDAY , MARCH 15 Lloyd Town Board , 7p . m ., Lloyd Town Hall , 12 Church St ., Highland Plattekill Town Board , 7 p . m ., Plattekill Town Hall , 1915 Rte . 44 / 55 , Modena
THURSDAY , MARCH 16
Marlboro School Board , 7:30 p . m ., Marlboro Town Hall , 21 Milton Tnpk , Milton
MONDAY , MARCH 20 Marlborough Planning Board , 7:30 p . m ., Marlborough Town Hall , 21 Milton Tnpk , Milton
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The Southern Ulster Times , ( USPS 022-586 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , NY 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , NY . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , NY . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Southern Ulster Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , NY 12550
Highland ’ s Arabic Studies students excel
By MARK REYNOLDS mreynolds @ tcnewspapers . com
Highland Middle School Principal Daniel Wetzel said for the past two years the district has been fortunate to receive a Teacher of Critical Languages grant to host an educator from Egypt through a U . S . State Department program .
“ Sadly we ’ re in the last quarter of that , the last half of the school year ,” he said . “ This wraps up having a teacher from Egypt visiting us and we wanted to come and show you what we ’ ve accomplished with that . I want to thank Amira Hamed for traveling from Egypt to teach our students .”
Ms . Hamed , who is from Alexandria , Egypt , returned the compliment , thanking the school board for inviting her to teach in the district . She let her students take the lead to show the school board what they have learned in her Arabic studies program .
Each student introduced themselves , prefacing their names with the Arabic word ‘ Marhaba ,’ which means hello . Writing in Arabic , from right to left , a student wrote the day of the week , the month and the year , while another translated what was written .
The students acted out common exchanges , all in Arabic ; an interaction
By MARK REYNOLDS mreynolds @ tcnewspapers . com
The Highland School Board unanimously voted to award the next phase of their capital project [ 1B . 1 ] to the following : General Construction to Key Construction Services for $ 1,168,000 ; plumbing to Pittsfield Pipers for $ 140,100 ; mechanical construction to Clean Air Quality Services for $ 384,600 and the electrical work to Hudson Valley Electric & Maintenance for $ 477,777 for a total of $ 2,170,477 .
A board member asked for a spread sheet to see what was included in the bids to better inform her vote . This was not available but Board President Alan Barone offered background information , especially on the alternates with the bids .
“ The recommendation of the construction management firm is not to
Photo provided
Arabic studies teacher Amira Hamed from Alexandria , Egypt .
at a grocery store to purchase beans , tomatoes , potatoes , leaks and parsley ; another pair of students described what the other was wearing ; one student wrote all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet on the board while two others recited them . Four students also “ sang ” the numbers one through ten .
award the alternates at this point in time until we get all the bids in to see where our overall budget is ,” he said . “ I would like to see the bids all come in before we award any of the projects because the way it was spread out was within our legal time frame of 45 days to award . We ’ re bidding all three packages prior to that . We already bid the elementary , today we bid the High School and on [ March ] 22 we bid the Middle School . So we ’ re well with that 45 days to award .”
Barone pointed out that from a legal perspective the alternate bids can be awarded “ after we award the General Construction [ but ] I think we have some priorities that we want to look at to make a decision .” He said at the elementary School there were two alternates , one for the generators and one for the roof . At the High School there are additional alternates to consider involving the
The students showed the school board two games , one with a student reciting a number while others competed to pick out the correct one first on a board using a flyswatter . This was followed by a day of the week challenge .
Superintendent Deborah Haab asked the students what they enjoyed most about the class . They said working closely together and exploring a completely different alphabet .
School Board President Alan Barone remarked on the level of student interest in the program .
“ I ’ m amazed at how engaged you are and the appreciation you have for other cultures . Its really shown in your presentation this evening and we appreciate that . We appreciate your work to make this all happen ,” he said .
Board member Sue Gilmore added , “ It shows you ’ re having fun learning and that ’ s magic .”
When asked if they would be able to speak with other people in an Arabic speaking county , they all responded affirmatively .
Principal Wetzel said he was impressed to watch the progress of this group .
“ Its very rewarding to see and to know our government provides this opportunity for us is pretty fantastic ,” he said .
Bids of $ 2.1 million accepted in Highland
generators the quarter lockers , the computer lab , the High School locker rooms , the bus garage lift , the roof and the LED stage lighting .
Barone said the alternates were not included in last week ’ s vote but they could be incorporated at a later date .
Superintendent Deborah Haab pointed out that the project was approved in October 2014 and since then the district has been receiving higher than anticipated bids from contractors , forcing the school board to scale back the project from $ 25 million to $ 17.5 million and placing some items in alternate categories that could be added at the board ’ s discretion . Additions , however , would push the overall price higher .
Barone said , “ we are going to have to really look at it and decide what our priorities are with the alternates and the base bids .”