BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa elementary schools recently received a book donation from Patty Kilgore, The Prevention Council’s Director of School-Based Services. The donated books address the topic of addiction.

As a partner with Saratoga County, the Prevention Council received resources from the Opioid Settlement Funds. The council was asked to find the best use for these funds, and decided to address the lack of resources for children in elementary schools who may have a parent, guardian, sibling, or other loved one struggling with a substance use disorder or in early recovery.

The Prevention Council put together a donation of several children’s books that address the issue of addiction, as well as resources for counselors and adults. The books will be distributed to all elementary schools in Saratoga County.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Central Catholic School is encouraging its community to support 2017 graduate Mari Shaw, who, as of press time, was on life support at a hospital in Orlando, Florida. According to her alma mater, Shaw needs a liver transplant and doesn’t have health insurance. A GoFundMe was created last week by Karen McIntosh to raise funds for Shaw. “Please if there is anything you can do to help,” McIntosh wrote on GoFundMe, “even if it is not monetary, please just send prayers.” 

According to McIntosh, they are waiting for a bed to open up at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, where a transplant can take place. Once a bed is available, Shaw will be airlifted to the hospital. To learn more or donate to the fundraiser, visit www.gofundme.com/f/a-miracle-for-mari.

HUDSON FALLS —Members of the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex Board of Cooperative Educational Services (WSWHE BOCES) met with lawmakers last month to discuss legislative priorities for 2024. Some of the organization’s top issues include increasing state support for career and technical education, addressing staff shortages, increasing the spending limit for capital outlays, including school aid provisions in the 2024-2025 state budget, and aiding the transition to zero emissions buses.

Increasing State Support for Career and Technical Education

The existing BOCES aid formula for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs operated by BOCES allows districts to receive aid on the first $30,000 of a BOCES instructor’s salary. According to BOCES, the average salary of a CTE teacher is now $65,000. BOCES believes that the aidable portion should be increased to ensure that districts can adequately support these programs. BOCES is thus requesting that the BOCES aid reimbursement for BOCES CTE teacher’s salary be increased to $60,000.

Addressing Staff Shortages

According to BOCES, school districts are facing extreme workforce challenges. Teachers, bus drivers, and other staff shortages are making it increasingly difficult to fully staff buildings. Compounding the issues caused by the lack of candidates in the pipeline, current professionals are increasingly choosing to leave their roles earlier in their careers. To address the growing problems of recruitment and retention, BOCES believes the state should consider policy changes and programs that would attract people to needed roles and incentivize employees to stay. BOCES is requesting that policymakers increase flexibilities in teacher certification, retiree employment, and Tier 6 reform.

Increasing the Spending Limit for Capital Outlays

Current law allows school districts to make one “capital outlay” annually. Under this provision, each district may conduct one project that has a cost of $100,000 or less and is paid for in cash each year. Districts then receive their total building aid on the full project in the next year. Because these projects do not require voter approval or borrowing, BOCES believes they can be completed more efficiently and save both the state and the district money due to the lack of interest. The current project threshold of $100,000 was established in 2002 and has not increased since. In the two decades that have passed, the relative buying power of $100,000 has decreased significantly. BOCES requests that the spending limit for capital outlays be raised to $250,000 annually beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.

Including School Aid Provisions in the 2024-2025 State Budget

According to BOCES, districts around the state, including those in the WSWHE BOCES region, are appreciative of the State’s efforts to fully fund the Foundation Aid formula and expense-based aids. To ensure that all students are supported, BOCES is asking that the following provisions be included in the 2024-2025 state budget: a due minimum increase for all districts, regardless of Foundation Aid phase-in level; a “save-harmless” provision to ensure a stable funding baseline for all districts; and support for an initial evaluation of the current cost to educate a successful student.

Aiding the Transition to Zero Emissions Buses

According to BOCES, school districts around the state recognize the importance of taking steps to reduce emissions and protect the environment for future students. Current state law requires that all new school buses acquired be zero emissions by 2027, and all buses in operation must be zero emissions by 2035. The first state guidance on the transition was not released until almost 18 months after the law was enacted, and districts are already running into barriers. The supply of buses for the districts that have the funding and infrastructure in place to begin operations are not adequate or timely. Existing systems and supports have not been updated to reflect this change. Districts need to be able to avail themselves of the full range of state resources and supports through existing aid streams and programs. BOCES requests that the State evaluate all existing programs around transportation, capital and planning, and make updates to all planning and funding streams to include costs related to planning and executing this transition.

In a statement, Hartford Central School District Superintendent Andrew Cook said he believed these legislative priorities “will benefit students across New York State, and we are looking forward to working side-by-side with our representatives to ensure that every student in our region has the best educational experience possible.”

WSWHE BOCES is a public organization that was created by the New York State Legislature in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Empire State University saw a 25.3% increase in new student enrollment for its 2024 Spring 1 Term, the institution announced last week. Empire also reported a 12% increase in credits, and an additional 500 applicants for the spring term compared to last year.

“SUNY Empire has always been at the forefront of providing innovative education that meets students where they are,” Andrea Hennessy, vice president for enrollment management and marketing, said in a statement. “The increases we’re seeing are a testament to the university’s commitment to online learning, and the desire among all demographics for affordable, flexible, high-quality education options.”

BALLSTON SPA — Students from Malta Ave Elementary celebrated kindness by filling up “jars” with messages written on post-it notes. As part of the school’s Great Kindness Challenge, a note is added to a “jar” every time a student or staff member does something kind. The notes included messages such as “made a new friend on the bus” and “helped someone get class materials.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS —School districts across New York have been dealing with significant teacher shortages, and Saratoga Springs is no exception. 

At the Saratoga Springs City School District Board of Education meeting on January 25, Director of Personnel Development Hillary Brewer delivered the 2024-2025 Staffing and Pre-budget Outlook presentation. In it, she discussed the district’s struggles to recruit educators. “Recruiting candidates is extremely difficult,” Brewer said. “We do know that we are in a crisis.”

Brewer said that one applicant for a vacant technology position at Saratoga Springs High School had twelve other job offers. “This is what we’re up against,” Brewer said. “We’re all fighting for the same very small pool of candidates.”

Brewer said that her Human Resources Coordinator Michael Ngadi traveled across New York for two months recruiting applicants. “This is the most we’ve ever recruited,” Brewer said. 

According to Ngadi, all 700 districts in the state are competing for the same teachers. Those districts are also up against schools from Florida and California, which use, among other things, their states’ warm climates to attract applicants. “There are so many barriers that are impacting how we recruit and impacting the entire teaching profession, but we’ve just got to work through it,” Ngadi said.

The inability to fill certain positions has resulted in both less educational opportunities for students and more work piled onto teachers’ plates. A two-section technology course was collapsed into one because an additional teacher wasn’t hired. Brewer also said that multiple teachers in the science department are teaching six classes at once. 

Brewer said that one possible long-term solution to the teaching shortage is to encourage current students to become educators. “Everybody that is part of education needs to really be focusing on growing a pipeline of educators,” Brewer said. 

Teacher shortages have been widespread across the state. According to a November 2021 report from the U.S. Department of Education, New York “has faced geographically widespread and persistent teacher shortages.” 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Skidmore College dining team has won its eighth gold medal at the American Culinary Federation Conference and Competition. Nine teams, including Princeton University, Cornell University, and the Rochester Institute of Technology, participated in the event. Chefs were required to prepare three-course menus and buffet platters using ingredients from a “market basket.” A panel of chefs judged the results.   

The competition will be the last for executive chef Jim Rose, who is retiring this year after nearly two decades at Skidmore. “Chef Rose is one of the driving forces behind organizing this event and in helping us train for it, so we’re really glad to have this win in his honor,” said Director of Dining Services Mark Miller in a statement. “I’m proud of our Skidmore team and this achievement. But it’s not just about winning — I’m proud of the work that we do and meals we serve every day to our students,” Miller said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs is hosting a free presentation called “Windows Into Waldorf” on Tuesday, January 23 at 9:15 a.m. at the Lower School on 62 York Ave. The event will explain “the many ways Waldorf is a unique educational journey for all of our students.” According to its website, Waldorf schools “provide a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education that integrates the arts in all academic disciplines. This approach enriches learning. Waldorf education creates a deeply meaningful learning process upon which experience, not just acquisition, underscores knowledge, thereby encouraging students to be active thinkers.”

To learn more, visit www.waldorfsaratoga.org.