A 6 Man Board (We Need a Mom!)

Laura Walls resigned from the school board this week to take a job with Eliot Auerbach in the Ulster County comptroller's office. Laura was also the board vice president so that position is also now vacant.

The current board now consists of six men: David Dukler (President), Rod Dressel, Steve Greenfield, Don Kerr, Patrick Rausch, and Edgar Rodriquez.

These six men can:
* Leave the seat vacant until the May elections
* Appoint someone to the open seat now
* Authorize a special election for the seat

As far as the VP seat, these six men can:
* Leave it open
* Vote for a new VP

Any actions will be taken in executive session, I believe even the Superintendent will not be present.

It is too close to May to hold a special election. Given the prevalence of 4-3 votes on this board (Laura being in the "4" group), my suspicion is the board will appoint someone. Is it even possible these six men could find someone that they all could, well at least four of them, agree on?

And what about the VP slot? I suspect they may just let that one go till May, maybe even July.

The Dressel and Kerr seats are up this year, and if they decide they want to stick around, they will need to run in May to keep their positions. Laura's term also would have been up, so that means we have three school board seats to fill in May. Will they appoint someone just to fill the slot till May, someone that may not even choose to run this Spring? Will that be a prerequisite to appease all parties?

Only three (I think) of these six men have school-age children attending New Paltz schools. Only one has elementary school age kids (again, I think). In my opinion, we need a New Paltz mom! (Or two, or three... but good golly I'll take at least one at this point.)

(This post is also at New Paltz Gadfly)

BoE meeting is postponed to January 14

Since school is closed today, the Board of Education meeting is postponed to January 14, 2009.

Can you believe it has been nearly a year since the board voted to keep the Middle School where it is now? What progress has been made on the renovation project? And now we have to be concerned that the funding for the project could be reallocated? Please come to next week's school board meeting - Wednesday, January 14th, 7pm at the high school - to speak during public comment to help ensure the money for the Middle School Project stays intact. Or, just show up and be in the room -- our power is in our numbers.

We Must Delay School Facilities Master Plan

Facilities Master Planning is important. It's so important that even if it were being done by volunteers, it has to be done right -- even more so when you're asking for tax dollars to do it, more still when those dollars are being sought in a time of budget crisis, and yet more when you're redirecting that money from an existing purpose of great importance to the community.

Below are excerpts from published copies of school Facilities Master Plans. In generally accepted practice, the Educational Master Plan must be done before a Facilities Master Plan can be undertaken. There are no exceptions. This is the standard methodology. In fact, one of the citations actually labels it "The Standard."

The New Paltz Central School District does not currently have an Educational Master Plan, and is a long way from having one. It is irresponsible and wasteful of increasingly precious resources to hire a facilities planning consultant at this time.

Citations:
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The facilities planning process will examine the college's’ and the District's Educational Master Plans, then determine future needs, examine options and recommend solutions.(http://153.18.96.19/downloads/aboutfhda/MasterPlan.pdf)

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Q. WHAT IS THE CONNECTION WITH THE EDUCATIONAL MASTER PLAN?

The Educational Master Plan identifies new programs, changing instructional and program delivery methods, anticipated changes in the different curriculum, and identifies the needs (space, equipment, staffing, etc.) to accomplish the stated goals. The Facilities Plan then addresses the space and equipment needs so those goals can be achieved. http://www.napavalley.edu/Projects/34/aug_2007_faq.pdf

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The Standard: Foremost, the MFP must provide the best support for educational improvement. It must accurately reflect reforms that are detailed in the Master Education Plan and lay the foundation for a high quality system of public schools in the District of Columbia.

The Master Facility Plan advances and supports HIGH QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION, not just school buildings. Circle appropriate rating: 01234

1. Does it accurately reflect the Master Education Plan?

(http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/publications/MFPEvaluationChecklistSep2008.pdf)

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This report has been developed as an additional aspect of the master planning process for Gavilan Community College District. For a detailed analysis of the educational programs and services offered by the District, refer to the recently completed Educational Master Plan. For continuity and ease of reading, background information and general information regarding the college, its mission, vision, values and philosophy have been extracted from the Educational Master Plan and included in the introductory section of this Facilities Master Plan.

As mentioned in the Chapter One, the basis for this Facilities Master Plan is the Educational Master Plan that was approved by the Governing Board in January, 2000. Outlined in the Educational Master Plan was framework or overview statement regarding facilities as well as goals and strategies that were to serve as the basis for facility master planning. (http://www.gavilan.edu/facilities/)

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Aligning Facilities Planning with Educational Needs The 2008 Master Facilities Plan builds on the substantial work that has already been completed and builds on the lessons learned by OPEFM to establish a strategic plan that will meet the vision of every parent in the District - that every child deserves to learn in an environment that supports the delivery of a high-quality education.

Guiding Principles Another significant mechanism by which the Master Facilities Plan is driven by academic priorities is through the application of Guiding Principles developed by the Chancellor's office.(http://opefm.dc.gov/pdf/DC_Master_Plan_2008.pdf)

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"The District’s educational master plan has projected the growth of the various programs and disciplines to the year 2022. This has entailed a careful analysis of eachentity’s relative rate of growth and in the case of instructional disciplines, the relative changing emphasis upon use of Lecture, Lab and other forms of teaching and learning. What is needed next is a means of having the educational master plan drive the facilities master plan -- in effect to link them."

"The plan is meant to be a comprehensive District-wide educational programs and services plan that will drive the 20-year facilities master plan...Process On November 20, 2001 the Educational and Facilities Master Plan Task Force was approved by the President’s Advisory Council. The task force was charged with developing a comprehensive District-wide educational programs and services plan tied to the 20-year facilities master plan...The first meeting of the task force took place on Thursday, February 7, 2002. At that meeting the members were introduced to the educational planning process, and a tentative timeline was established for the completion of the various tasks assigned to the task force. The need to create individual educational plans for departments and programs, facilities plans for the San Marcos Campus, facilities plans for existing Centers, as well as plans for possible new centers and campuses was discussed...The draft education plans were completed by September 2002. These draft plans were then sunshined to the general campus community. The sunshine process lasted three months during which each department/program had a chance to review their document and make changes or corrections as necessary. The education plans were 52 Palomar Community College District Master Plan 2022 finalized in December 2002, and the sunshining process continued until the final draft of the educational master plan was presented to the Governing Board at their March 11th meeting. Because the Educational Master Plan was to drive the Facilities Master Plan, once the Future District Structure had been determined and the draft Educational Master Plan was finalized, Spencer/Hoskins had all the information that they needed to begin finalizing the Facilities Master Plan." (http://www.palomar.edu/masterplan/)