KINDERHOOK–The Ichabod Crane school board appointed Craig Shull assistant principal for the Middle and Elementary schools at the board’s regular meeting September 4. There has been some shifting of administrators in the district recently and Mr. Shull’s position was added after the changes were announced last month.
“We played musical buildings with the administrators this year and luckily when we stopped there was a building for everyone,” said board President Anthony Welcome. Mr. Shull had been a teacher in the district and is currently working in the Scotia/Glennville Central District near Schenectady. He will start as an administrator at Ichabod Crane in October.
The board also appointed BCK, a company out of Binghamton that the district has worked with for 18 years, architects for the proposed 2012-13 capital improvements project. The board took a tour of all the school buildings before Tuesday night’s meeting and plans to propose the scope of the project later this fall.
Board member Jeffery Ouellette suggested the board request bids from other architects, saying, “This is in the $4- to $7-million range,” for the cost of the project. He said that finding a lower cost architect might give the district more options. “We are looking for every dollar,” he said to his fellow board members.
Interim Superintendent Lee Bordick said that if the board asks for bids for the architectural work they would be off the fall timeline, meaning the board would be even further behind with the major upgrade and maintenance projects members hope to approve this winter and get underway next fall.
“You are two years behind,” he said of the project, which would cover repairs to a leaking roof at the Middle School and some needed technology upgrades.
“You have about $7 million of building-critical needs,” Mr. Bordick said.
Though several board members said they agreed with Mr. Ouellette’s suggestion to call for competitive bids, all board members but Mr. Ouellette voted to hire BCK and move forward with the designs.
Also at the meeting the board:
*Accepted a $16,000 grant from through the office of state Senator Steve Saland (R-41st) to pay for security cameras in the bus garage as well as sensor lights. Mr. Bordick said that an outside auditor recommended the district have more security at the garage. There will be more security added, Mr. Bordick said, but this is a start. The board approved spending a sum not to exceed $30,000 on the cameras and lights
*Approved paying retired teachers $100 a day as substitutes. The board currently pays certified teachers who substitute $90 a day but did not have a separate pay scale for retired teachers, as neighboring districts do
*Heard Mr. Bordick say the board received a letter from the Town of Kinderhook and the Village of Valatie saying they plan to use the Martin H. Glynn School as a government and promise to close the deal on transfer of ownership of the building from the school district to the municipalities by the end of September. Mr. Bordick said that there is no plan to rent space to the Academy of Christian Leadership (ACL).
*Heard administrators say that the Academy of Christian Leadership, a private school, has closed (See story elsewhere in this edition)
The board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday September 18 at 7 p.m. in the Middle School. The next regular meeting is Tuesday October 2.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.
