Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , August 31 , 2016 3
Valley Central schools to open Friday
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and teachers in mind , as multiple constituencies were consulted about the timing for the kickoff to the school year . “ We certainly had a discussion on the administration level and we had a good dialogue with the administrators ’ union and the teachers ’ union ,” Xanthis said . “ We all felt that we could bring the teachers in for two days ( Thursday and Friday ), and we ’ ve done a lot of curriculum work this summer , so we thought it would be better to bring the teachers on the first day of September and bring the kids in on the second .”
Xanthis notes that the district is actually just swapping out a day that they ’ ll lose when all Valley Central schools will be closed for Election Day on Nov . 8 , and the district will be able to hold another day of staff development that day . “ We also have a philosophy in Valley Central that anytime we can get kids in school in front of a teacher , that ’ s what we try to do .”
On Monday evening , the Valley Central Board of Education held its final meeting before the fall semester commences , and the committee hosted a review of its recent technology and security audit . Two years ago , voters statewide approved the Smart Schools Bond Act , a $ 2 billion fund to improve school technology and infrastructure . Each district must come up with a strategy for its proposed allocation ($ 3.4 million for Valley Central ) that the state must approve .
Working alongside district Director of Technology Chris Mohr , the Annese technology company from Brewster and Control Network Communications ( CNC ) of Albany conducted thorough investigations of the district ’ s current technological and security strengths and weaknesses , in hopes of identifying areas that need upgrading . “ We had actually brought it in specifically because we ’ re looking to do our technology plan to send up to SED ( State Education Department ),” Board President Sheila Schwartz said of the audit . “ We ’ ve never had one done , to my knowledge , in the district , and we ’ re looking for areas where we can best use those funds in the district . So we thought it was best to bring people in and do an audit .”
The representatives from the technology companies reported that the school system is relying on some technology that ’ s outdated , as the core switches on the district ’ s network are no longer supported . The power and generator protection is also at the end of its life span . CNC recommended a host of security improvements the district could adopt , including keyless entry to all schools and the addition of a comprehensive visitor management system that would have access to criminal databases . The program could identify potentially dangerous guests before they gained entrance to a school building . The security experts also suggested installing a Code Blue emergency phone on a pole outside the high school and middle school athletic fields .
None of the recommendations from the companies are binding , as the district is still looking for the best avenue to utilize the state technology funding . “ At this point we ’ re doing the study , then we ’ ll come back and see what the study found ,” Xanthis said . “ Then we ’ ll need to formulate a plan for how we ’ re going to spend the money . The first part was to get the infrastructure built and see what that ’ s going to take , and then the securities portion of the money as well .”
Last week , the district held its annual teacher induction at Homewood Suites in New Windsor to get its new crop of instructors up to speed before the start of the school year . “ First-year teachers from last year come back and do a mentoring program ,” Schwartz . “ Then they send the teachers to their respective buildings to meet the staff in each of the buildings .” The induction includes a raft of programs to help familiarize the teacher with their new profession . “ It ’ s just to send a message that people are here to help ,” Xanthis said . “ I think a lot of us who started teaching a time ago , you were just handed the keys to the classroom and you ’ re told ‘ good luck , have a good year .’ We want the teachers to use the resources of the administrators , the nurse , the psychologist , the social workers , guidance counselors and other teachers and colleagues . They all have mentors that are here to help . We want them to succeed , and we have a really good mentoring program .”
The construction work that took place this summer at Walden and Berea elementaries went smoothly and both schools are ready to open later this week .
“ The floors are shined , the classrooms have been cleaned ,” Xanthis said of Berea . “ We ’ re still working at Walden , but we ’ ll certainly be ready to open .”
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