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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Valley Central set to launch Parent University initiative
By TED REMSNYDER
Valley Central High School will be brimming with
excitement on Saturday afternoon as the district launches
its new Parent University initiative with an inaugural
Community Day event. The festivities will run from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 23, and the event will feature a full
slate of activities for attendees of all ages
“We’ll have an entire program,” Valley Central Assistant
Superintendent Michael Bellarosa explained. “There’ll
be concessions, we hope to have some entertainment for
children, possibly a bounce house or two for the kids.
We’ll have a punt, pass and kick competition for football
every hour. We’ll also have a lacrosse event every hour
for kids, lots of recreational things. We’ll have music
Walking trail
expansion
underway
in Crawford
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“We always planned to enlarge it,”
said Carnes.
Carnes stated that the town is working
on getting the base down and he hopes to
have the new sections paved next year,
but admitted that the trail may initially
be gravel, depending on the outcome of
the town’s recent grant application for
$40,000. The funding would go toward
offsetting the paving costs.
Carnes said the state grant only
recently became available and they
thought it was perfect for their current
project.
They have submitted their
application and are “hoping to hear back
by the end of October.”
If awarded, the grant would be the
second awarded to the project. Most of
the paving for the first phase was covered
by a $125,000 grant, awarded for paving
and bathrooms.
The grant applications were prepared
by Dan McCann, the town’s Coordinator
of Safety and Security.
Once complete, the Ward Avenue
Walking Trail will feature more than
three miles of trail and a gazebo with
scenic views of the town.
Carnes expects Phase II of the project
to be finished and open to the public by
next spring.
throughout the day, some of them student performers,
some professional performers.”
The district learned about the Parent University
concept during a New York State School Boards
Association convention, and decided to add the program
to their portfolio after hearing success stories from
other school districts. Board of Education President
Sheila Schwartz and former Assistant Superintendent
Sheila Lease-Murphy brought the idea back from the
conference, and the district has been crafting its plan for
the initiative over the past year.
Valley Central is introducing the new program with a
fun day that should draw a healthy mix of district residents
curious about exploring the initiative. “The purpose of it
is to kick off our Parent University program,” Bellarosa
said. “We have a group of people that have been working
together to put together a program for parents that
would be some offerings that are kind of patterned after
a normal college course catalog. The program is a mix
of things that parents might be interested in doing, from
helping your child with financial aid applications or their
math homework, to woodworking even. It’s just different
types of things, some health-related. It’s a program to
increase parent involvement in the school district.” The
district will use the day as an opportunity to get feedback
about the direction they’d like to see the university go.
“We’re going to be getting input from people, contact
information, from people who are interested in Parent
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