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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Annual Circleville Parade draws a good crowd
Continued from page 2
known as C. Hudson Thompson Memorial
Park, where food and refreshments were
provided courtesy of the Circleville
Volunteer Fire Company.
Among the sites and scenes were a 1957
Chevy Belair, bounce houses for the kids
and a slew of sweet treats - candy thrown
from the various marchers. The candy
mix consisted of a mix of chocolate treats
like miniature Butterfingers, Hershey
Bars and Tootsie Rolls, to sugar candies
like Jolly Ranchers, lollipops and skittles.
Circleville Church was on hand with
a combination car and trailer which had
a sign promoting its free vacation bible
school which is from August 5-9. There
Classic car zips through the route.
were also a half dozen bagpipers on hand.
Patriotic dress and items were abound
including one parade goer dressed head to
toe in American flag red, white and blue
stripes, complete with top hat.
Councilman Neil Meyer was on hand
to help with and take in the annual
festivities.
“We are about promoting everything in
the town of Wallkill,” Meyer said. “The
Town of Wallkill Community group and
the Wallkill Youth Coalition are two such
organizations within Wallkill that we like
to highlight.”
According to Circleville assistant fire
chief Kevin Holland, a 20-year veteran of
the force, the parade has been an annual
tradition since at least the 1920s. And
as with many long-standing traditions,
community support and participation is
key to sustaining.
“ It’s really cool to see the whole town
come out,” Gregg Weiss, a longtime area
resident said. “You really get a big sense
of community with this.” In fact, I think
more people show up to this than show
up to vote.”
Skoufis announces $40,000 grant for Valley Central
Senator James Skoufis announced that he secured
$40,000 in vital funding for the Valley Central School
District to help expand resources to students.
“It’s critical that our students have access to quality
resources to help them best succeed and expand their
horizons,” said Skoufis. “I was proud to fight for this
funding which will be used to provide educational
resources to the students and I remain committed as ever
in ensuring they get the best programming and education
possible.”
John Xanthis, Superintendent of the Valley Central
School District said, “We are grateful to Senator Skoufis
for bringing this much-needed funding of $40,000 to
our school district. This will be applied to resources
that will be directly used by our students who will
immensely benefit from this. I look forward to continuing
to work with the Senator to provide our students with the
resources they deserve.”
Skoufis fought through the end of legislative session
to ensure that this funding was brought back to the
school district and has long championed access to quality
education in New York State.
Last year, he successfully secured an agreement to
achieve universal, full-day kindergarten in New York
State. Skoufis plans to make more funding announcements
in the weeks to come.
Valley Central vote set for Aug. 20
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to the board at its June 20 meeting by the CSArch
architectural firm, if the public approves the bond in
August, the project design, state approval and bidding
process would all potentially be completed by the end of
next year, with the construction beginning at a date to be
determined.
The work contained in the referendum is intended to
complement the State Department of Transportation’s
upcoming installation of traffic lights on Route 17K
outside the school parking lot complex. “It’s gratifying
and we’re really happy,” Valley Central Superintendent
John Xanthis said after the board passed the resolution.
“I just got a letter today from the state and they want to
meet for a pre-construction meeting. They actually gave
us the timeline that they’re going to start doing some
work in the fall of 2020 and the project would probably
start in the spring of 2021, if everything goes according
to plan for them.”
The proposed scope of work contained in the $22.7
million proposal includes the rehaul of the high school
parking lot site, air conditioning in the middle school
cafeteria, pool dehumidification at the high school/
middle school facility, a new concession stand near the
high school football field that also includes a greenhouse
and a production lab for students and renovations to the
Montgomery Elementary School parking lot.
The district set a pre-Labor Day vote on Aug. 20 with
the hope of attracting residents to the polls as summer
winds down. “All of our sports kids and high school kids
come back the last two weeks because practice starts
that Monday,” Xanthis said. “So we just thought that for
a large part of the community the summer is over and
they’re back to school. Teachers are back by then. People
certainly take vacations, but we thought that would give
us the best chance to get people that are home.”
The district plans to sell the referendum proposal
to the public at an information session at a date to be
determined this summer. “We’ll certainly have a night
where we’ll present it to the public so they can get a
better sense of what we’re asking them to spend their
dollars on,” Xanthis said.
During a reorganization meeting at the beginning
of the board’s July 1 meeting, the council chose Board
President Sarah Messing to head up the board for the
coming school year. In the spring, Messing was named
acting president when Trustee Melvin Wesenberg
stepped down from the top spot, and the board voted to
make Messing the full-fledged president last Monday,
edging out challenger Trustee Sonia Lewis. Trustee Joe
Bond was selected as the board’s vice president over
Trustee Sheila Schwartz. Lewis and Schwartz voted for
each other in their respective races, with the rest of the
board supporting the eventual victors. Monday’s session
marked the first meeting for new board members Arthur
Fitzgerald and Diana Revoir, who were elected to three-
year terms on the council in May.