Long Lake Central School Newsletter |
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| Kenneth Slentz - Superintendent Karin Cook - Acting Principal |
Superintendent=s Office - 624-2147 January 2004 Acting Principal Office - 624-2087 |
Long Lake Central School Newsletter is published irregularly by Long Lake Central School, PO Box 217, Long Lake NY 12847-0217
From the Superintendent’s Desk…
A very Happy New Year to you all. As this is the typical time for resolutions, I would ask that we all continue the resolve to be progressive and supportive in the education of our children. With the changes in credit and grade requirements, state funding of schools in question, areas of the state curricula being reviewed, as well as the day to day trials and tribulations of public education, it is very easy to become discouraged if not disgruntled. However, take heart in the facts that 67% of the students in grades 4-12 are on the honor roll, that we continue to field full slates of athletic teams, and that we continue to educate and update our staff to provide a high quality education. Likewise, we continue to develop a budget that supports these positive activities while also maintaining a palatable tax rate.
With this as background, allow me to expand a bit on some of these topics and a few others.
New Faces:
At the December Board of Education meeting, the Board created a full time art position and directed me to advertise for this position. With the outstanding work that is currently being done by the art department, it is no wonder that we will pursue Michele Gannon to fill this position. Miss Gannon is currently a BOCES employee. More to come on this in February.
Buildings and Grounds:
The district is in the process of reviewing proposals from architects to take us through our next phase of projects. As many of you know, we continue to "renew from within" with our projects. This summer, for example, the locker rooms will be renovated with a ramp in the center of the downstairs hallway being installed to allow for handicap accessibility. Simultaneously, the electrical entrance and initial infrastructure will be replaced to insure safe operation of the building and the multitude of electronics within. Next summer, it is our intent to renovate the technology area (the shop) and the FCS area (home ec.). Unlike other districts, we will not borrow large sums of money to complete large projects. Instead, we will complete smaller projects, will be slow and steady in our plans to insure both structural and financial stability in the district, and will do our utmost to insure that the educational process is not disturbed.
Fitness and Adult Education:
As winter sets in, more faces are seen in the fitness area, in Debbie Keough’s yoga classes, in Bernice Burnham’s Pilates classes, in Gary Baker’s adult fitness classes and in David Snide’s computer classes. Don’t forget that Bakerball is just around the corner as is Sharon Waagner’s genealogy research class. While we are continuously investing in our youth, it is likewise important to invest in our entire community. Remember, this is your building and this is the basis for the expanded adult ed offerings. As a reminder, the hours of operation for the fitness center are 6:30 until 7:45 am daily and from 3:00 until 7:00 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please call the school regarding the classes that are being offered.
Budget Season:
As some of you know, the school budget season is in full swing as we continue to make monthly goals for budget development. As I suggested above, developing the annual superintendent’s budget is nothing shy of a balancing act. The balancing this year may be thrown off a bit by the recent decision of the NYS Court of Appeals in the CFE case in which the court found that the school funding formula in NYS, New York City in particular, was in violation of the state constitution. As such, the state, the Board of Regents, and a variety of other bodies are trying to create a more equitable funding formula. While this is generally the stuff that sleep aids are made of, this is of particular interest to schools like Long Lake in the "average need" category. Specifically, there is grave concern that what little funding we have will actually decrease in favor of an increase to needier schools. While this is fine in theory, the net result would be an increase in property taxes for Long Lakers. Have faith that we are lobbying our legislators and the governor to insure that this does not happen. I will update you as information becomes available, but again, know that we are doing everything possible to maintain the lowest tax rate in the larger Adirondack area.
School Visits:
Unless you are picking up or dropping off a student or materials, please do not park in the overly marked fire lane in front of the school. With the slippery conditions that pervade us now, we want to give rescue and fire equipment every opportunity to access the building in the case of an emergency.
When visiting the school, please be sure to sign in and out at the front office. Doing so insures that the school is safe and that we know the whereabouts of our children.
That is all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter and for your support of what we do. We need your help and cooperation in every aspect of your child’s education.
Stay warm and stay well,
Kenneth G. Slentz
Superintendent
BOARD MEETING MINUTES REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING DECEMBER 11, 2003
Full board minutes are available in the Main Office during regular school business hours.
Morning Program’s Student of the Month Award was given to Ranya Hamdan. Ranya is in the second grade and is a very hard worker. She shows responsibility by always doing her homework and returning it to school the next day. She is a willing helper in the classroom and very respectful of others. Congratulations Ranya!
"BRANCHING OUT IN LONG LAKE"
Family history is about exploring the past and discovering what your parents and grandparents lives were like. Town history is discovering more about the early settlers, occupations, interests, and all of those wonderful bits and pieces that make us who we are today. Nostalgia is when we reminisce about the way things used to be. Oldies are what our music becomes. "From the Stone Age" is what kids sometimes think about when we wax eloquently about 45’s, poodle skirts, the "twist", and push lawn mowers! Come share your memories and pick up a few tips on how to build on your family history or your developing interest in the Adirondacks.
Beginning on Tuesday, January 27, Sharon Waagner will be conducting a series of eight genealogy and early history workshops in the high school library and computer lab. In addition to learning some hands on methods for rediscovering your past, we will have guest presenters. Those guests will provide lots of background as well as some unique access opportunities to documents, artifacts and web sites for exploration. Those in attendance will be invited to share their own special documents and other items that are part of their family "story". Tips will be provided on how to collect and evaluate documents, photographs, and collectibles as well as how to begin documenting and journaling.
Workshops will be held on Jan. 27, Feb. 3, 10 and 24, and Mar. 2, 9 16, and 23, and sessions will be 90 minutes long.
As we will have to limit attendance to 8, please contact the school office as soon as possible to register. We are willing discuss the exact timing before finalizing the schedule and are considering 6:30 to 8 p.m.; 7 to 8:30 p.m.; or 7:30 to 9 p.m. Please state your preference when calling. Cost will be $5 per session or $35 for all eight. If you need more information or have questions, please contact Sharon Waagner at school.
We continue to be amazed at the growth of interlibrary loan now that we are fully automated. We are also in a "feel good" mode as our collection becomes the choice for many of our peer schools as well as public libraries in the North Country. Our own students benefit greatly since requests made on a Monday are often here by the end of the week – in time for research projects or just to fill that desire for a specific outside reading book.
Our students are in the library for study halls, for research projects, and for K-6 library-related classes. In addition to learning more about how to find and use information, how books are made, the special talents of authors and illustrators, students are also learning to write poetry and to create their own stories. They work hard but laughter is a big part of our experience as we share our stories and poems.
CLASSES OF 2007 AND 2008
The 8th and 9th grades recently joined forces in that they will be sharing not only fund-raising opportunities but also the goal of a shared trip in 2007. Sharing also means that instead of 3 boys in 8th grade and 11 guys and gals in 9th, we now have 14 on our team. Our first shared endeavor was to sell food, popcorn, baked goods and assorted ornaments and candles at the Christmas Craft Fair. It was a unique team experience and everyone worked longer than their scheduled shift as we had a lot of fun while learning.
Our first major fund-raiser will be a magazine subscription drive that will take place in late January. Students will be setting up a schedule as well as individual customer lists and will be in contact with friends and neighbors. While new subscriptions are welcome, customers may also simply renew those magazines they already receive. Please save your mailing labels in order for the salesperson to copy down the information. There is also a nice selection of music cd’s as well as a wide variety of books. Our vendor is QSP which is a division of Readers Digest. They have been in this business since 1964 and are quite reliable. This might also be an excellent opportunity to order a gift subscription for someone having a special birthday.
The 9th grade will also be conducting a second Joe Corbi Pizza kit sale during the month of March with delivery set for late April. Next year the two groups will do this as a combined effort.
Our class advisor is Sharon Waagner. Please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions on any of our class activities.
DON’T FORGET THE ELEMENTARY HEALTH FAIR YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND !
WHERE? LONG LAKE CENTRAL SCHOOL GYMNASIUM
WHEN? JANUARY 15, 2004 AT 1:15 PM
Instructor – Bernice Burnham
A second session of Pilates will be offered at the Town Hall on the following dates:
January 21 @ 4:00 P.M.
January 26 and 28 @ 4:00 P.M.
February 2 and 4 @ 4:00 P.M.
February 9 and 11 @ 4:00 P.M.
February 23 and 25 @ 4:00 P.M.
March 1 and 3 @ 4:00 P.M.
To register for this class ,call the school office and leave your name with Vickie Snide.
There will be a cost of $10.00 for the full session. Please write checks out to Long Lake Central School.
The Long Lake Class of 2006 would like to thank everyone that helped to make our Christmas Craft Fair a big success. Special thanks to our many vendors and all of you who came to support them. Thanks also to all of you that purchased wreaths, trees and swags from us also.
Watch for us at the snowmobile races on the 31st of January and come enjoy refreshments with us. We will also be running a citrus fruit campaign in February and a Yankee candle fund raiser in April. As always, we appreciate all of your support.
Long Lake Central School
P.O. Box 217
Long Lake, NY 12847-0217
Administration
Kenneth Slentz, Superintendent 624-2147
Karin Cook, Acting Principal 624-2087
Main Office 624-2221
Board of Education
Patricia Gibbs, President
Brian Farr Vickie Plumley
Hallie Bond Michelle Hamdan
James Bateman, Clerk of the Board
12/03
Merry Christmas all!
The main objectives of all endeavors in Tech Ed are to develop skills in planning, time management, responsibility and problem solving. All our effort and challenge can be attributed to these endeavors. While we are at it, we tend to have fun.
The programs at the games and concert are a tribute to the efforts of the Graphics Communications class. They are also taking pictures, digital and black and white, and helping to prepare slideshows for award banquets. Other endeavors include an effort toward a student paper, but input has, to date, been limited, (Come on students!).
Chief achievers in the print shop simulations are Mandy Hart and Amber Kay Clark, but each student is getting involved, producing one program and shooting one game as a requirement.
At the same time we shoot and develop black and white photos, edit video and manipulate digital imagery and data. There are enough different things going at anytime that it really does simulate a busy workplace.
Gary Adams and Craig Wamback are developing their problem-solving skills, as well as welding and soon machining, in the continued fabrication of a junkyard electric car. All parts need to be scrap, so we are looking for shocks, steering components, dry cell batteries, a DC motor, (preferably 36 volt from a golf cart), and a controller. Guidelines are being considered from the national Electrathon competition though it is not intended that we compete. Rather that we show well with the lowest cost and best performance vehicle.
The seventh grade continues to study Technology with recent activities involving hydraulics and robotic basics. This is a dynamic group of mixed talent. Most of the students are finding ways to contribute to the group in one way or another, and personality traits from leadership to service are surfacing.
Woodworking continues to be a fun and demanding pursuit. Hector has designed and is doing a fine job building a basketball court table lamp. Nicole is finishing the checkers for her board and Nik is catching up with her. Caleb Austin has joined us and is carving a longbow. Nick Luxford and Tim Helms are pursuing a box with finger joints, and Brittany is off and running on a letter file, with secret compartments. No shortage of problems to solve 9th period. We are still talking about a group boat project next semester.
That’s the news folks. Thanks for reading and your continued support of the Technology Education program. Once again I wish you a Merry Christmas, and the Happiest of New Years.
Mr. Rick Beardsley