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October 2002 Vol. XVI, No. 9 REGIONAL
ROUNDTABLE NOVEMBER 6th AT BEACON CSD The Association has scheduled its third annual
Regional Roundtable meeting for November 6th to be held at the new
Beacon CSD high school. The topic will be Equity for Urban Children and No Child
Left Behind and the keynote speaker will be Dr. Jacquelyn Jackson, Interim
National Title I Director. Dr. Jackson will be joined on the speakers’ panel
by representatives from NYS SED, NYSCOSS, NYSSBA and the National Urban
Alliance. Judith Johnson, Superintendent from Peekskill CSD, was instrumental in
obtaining the Director for the Roundtable and our thanks go out to Dr. Johnson.
(To sign up for the Roundtable contact Nancy DePaulo at
518-462-5300,518-436-0210 (fax) or ndepaulo@degraff-foy.com) SMALL
CITY SCHOOL BREAKFAST OCTOBER 25th IN SYRACUSE The annual small city school breakfast held in
conjunction with NYSSBA’s convention is scheduled for October 25th
in Syracuse this year. The breakfast begins at 7:30 and will feature Prof.
William Duncombe of Syracuse University. Prof. Duncombe has a national
reputation in the area of education finance and will be talking about the issues
of education finance reform and the cost of education under the higher
standards. These are always timely
topics, but never more so than now. If you have not made reservations already,
they may be made through NYSSBA. ASSOCIATION
PARTICIPATES IN STATE EDUCATION AID REFORM EFFORT The Association, represented by several members
including Tom McGowan, superintendent of Glens Falls CSD, Dan Lowengard, Utica
CSD superintendent, Teresa Bennett, Plattsburgh CSD board member and new
Association board member, Charles Winters, Association Consultant and Bob
Biggerstaff, Association counsel, attended a meeting this month convened by
Campaign For Fiscal Equity and NYSSBA at the new NYSSBA headquarters. The
meeting was focused on the need to answer the question which will inevitably be
asked by the Courts and the State Legislature once the CFE litigation is
concluded: How much will the higher standards cost and how should we go about
aligning resources with need? Speakers included Tim Kremer, executive director of
NYSSBA, Michael Rebell, executive director of CFE and Jay Chambers, James
Guthrie, James Smith and Thomas Parish of the Association of Education Finance
and American Institute of Research. Also in attendance were Sandy Lockwood (Rome
CSD) in her capacity as current NYSSBA president, and representatives of NEA,
NYSUT, the Business Council, ASBO, the Big Five and NYS SED. CFE recently obtained a major planning grant from the
Atlantic Philanthropies and is using those funds to underwrite a study to be
developed by the American Institute of Research. The special focus of the study
will be 1) what is the actual cost of educating at risk students; 2) what is the
actual cost of special education; and 3) developing a process for public
engagement on these issues. A final proposal is due in late November and the
resulting study will take about one year to complete. It is contemplated that
the study will employ the “professional judgment” approach to assessing
educational costs instead of the empirical/statistical or research based
approaches. This means that the
study will set up a number of professional panels consisting of administrators
and teachers from the cities, suburbs, rural areas and special education which
will do the bulk of the work in assessing costs and allocating resources. Small
Cities will be asked to sit on those panels and the Association will be
providing support for this study as well. SMALL
CITY DISTRICT NEWS A warm welcome to Dr. Peggy Wozniak,
the new superintendent at Binghamton CSD. Dr.
Wozniak has replaced long time Association officer James Lee, who recently
retired. She is starting her 30th
year in education and most recently was superintendent in Mammoth Unified School
District, Mammoth Lakes, California which is located in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains near Yosemite National Park. She is no stranger to New York, however,
having gotten her B.A. at Alfred University, her M.S. at SUNY Buffalo, and
teaching experience in West Seneca. Dr. Vito DiCesare,
superintendent of Beacon CSD and this year’s president of the Association, was
recently recognized for his “leadership
in advancing technology based educational achievements within the district.”
NY Congressman Major Owens presented Dr. DiCesare an award at the Congressional
Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. last month.
Dr. DiCesare graciously shared the credit for the award with
“all the hard working individuals in Beacon.” Our congratulations to
the superintendent and the district. Tom Carroll,
former president of the conservative, anti-tax, CHANGE-NY, and a close ally of
Governor Pataki, has become founding president of Foundation for Education
Reform and Accountability. The Foundation is committed to lobbying for stronger
charter school laws, mayoral control of upstate urban school districts and
educational tax credits.
Mr. Carroll has been known as one of the chief supporters for charter
schools and is continuing his work on that issue. With the recent announcement
of support for Republican Governor George Pataki by Democratic Mayor of Albany
Gerald Jennings who is pushing for Mayoral control and with Mr. Carroll’s
commitment to the issue, it appears clear that school governance for small city
school districts will continue to be a topic of debate in the coming year. The Association has established an E-Mail
Lobbying Network via
the website whereby each district may send an e-mail message to their Senator
and Assemblyperson, or to Legislative Leaders and the Governor. When the
Association has an issue requiring the grassroots support of each small city
district, the text of a memo in support or opposition will be posted on the
Association website (scsd.neric.org). That text can be “pasted “ onto the
e-mail message, modified as you wish and sent directly to your representative.
The Network was set up at the suggestion of Thomas McGowan, former Association president and current
Association board member. After investigating the commercial companies offering
a similar service at some considerable expense, we decided to provide the
service “in-house.” To access
the Network just log onto the website, click on the Network and follow
directions. This service can also be used to send your own personal messages to
your Legislators as well. Any comments, criticisms or suggestions will be
greatly appreciated. DATES TO REMEMBER
October
25, 2002 November
22, 2002 November
22, 2002 January
19, 2003 March
24, 2003 August
10 and 11, 2003 |
Albany
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