SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Saturday, October 22, Youth2– Youth Helping Youth will be hosting a Community Care PopUp -“Books for a Better World.” The Book Drive will take place at the 112 Spring Street in the parking lot. The drive will begin at 12 p.m. and continue until about 2 p.m., rain or shine.

The youth group are looking to collect teen and children’s books surrounding themes of diversity, positive racial relations, peace/conflict resolution, community building, women’s rights, LGBTQIA + rights, environmental action and banned or challenged books. Although, any children/teen books with positive messages are appreciated. For more information on the drive, or on Youth Helping Youth visit www.youthsquared.org or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YouthSquared. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Three dedicated Saratoga Springs High School musicians were selected as participants and/or alternates for the 2022 NYSSMA All-State Performing Ensemble in Rochester. These students were selected out of approximately 6,500 total All-State auditions across the state.

The Saratoga Springs High School musicians that were selected are: Andre Culpepper-Wehr (Jazz Vibraphone), Amelia Safran (Double Bass) and Evan Weatherwax (Tuba).

Students selected for a NYSSMA All-State ensemble successfully performed a rigorous level 6 All-State audition at their local NYSSMA festival in the Spring.  The students are invited to rehearse on Dec. 1-3 with a performance on Dec. 4, 2022, at the Eastman School of Music. This is one of the finest musical achievements and recognitions for a high school musician in New York State.

For more about Saratoga Springs School District visit www.saratogaschools.org.

SARATOGA — On Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Waldorf School of Saratoga in collaboration with the Pitney Meadows Community Farm will be hosting their third annual “Jump Into Fall” event. This event is a family gathering that celebrates the season and raises money for the farm and the Waldorf School.

The day is chock-full of events like sheep shearing, a drum circle, a scavenger hunt around the farm, a hay jump, music and stories and many more interactive activities for children. Healthy snacks from some local restaurants will also be available. Admission is free, just pay to park. To learn more about the event or how to become a sponsor, visit: jumpintofallsaratoga.com. 

The Pitney Meadows Community Farm’s mission is to celebrate and explore agricultural education, healthy food production and recreation. They offer a broad array of opportunities to engage with the land and the Saratoga community, including a community garden, a community supported agriculture program, education programs and an accessible trail system that is open to visitors dawn to dusk. In addition, the farm donates more than 20,000 pounds of produce annually to food pantries and other social service organizations in the region. 

For more information on Pitney Meadows, visit: www.pitneymeadowscommunityfarm.org. 

Greenfield CENTER — Greenfield Elementary School hosted “Be Who You Are Day” last week, inspired by The New York Times bestselling author Todd Parr’s book.

Parr’s  book titled “Be Who You Are” encourages children to be proud of their unique qualities.  Following this sentiment, Greenfield Elementary students completed projects, including drawing self portraits, to celebrate their individual traits.

For more visit facebook.com/greenfieldelementaryschool.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — As the Saratoga Springs City School District continues to battle transportation staff shortages, the Board of Education and Superintendent Michael Patton have recently upped the ante for prospective employees. This includes an incentive to any district employee who refers someone to a bus driving position – previously the referral based program was only open to those already working in transportation.

“When you think about what it takes logistically to plan routing close to 6,000 students a day, it’s an incredible effort that our transportation department does and when we’re down staff, obviously, that has an impact on the entire system,” said Superintendent Patton. The district has over 325 daily routes, which all need coverage on a daily basis.

To ensure the district can handle this demand, the Board of Education voted unanimously to double the monetary incentive it offers for referrals from $250 to $500 upon hiring. District workers who refer a driver will receive $100 on the date the referred person is hired and then an additional $400 after that driver has been on the job for six months. Currently, the district needs about 10 more drivers, according to Patton.

To further this effort, drivers who are willing to train new employees will receive an increase of $4 per hour, up from $2. And drivers who cover extracurricular activities (like sports games or transportation for school clubs) will also receive an additional $4 per hour. Entry level pay for both regular and substitute drivers is just over $21 per hour. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In school districts throughout the area, school resource officers have seemingly been busy, for better or worse. On September 18, an investigation was conducted in Ballston Spa by the Sheriff’s office in conjunction with the school resource officer. After receiving a tip, police identified a student that made a school shooting threat on the popular online platform Snapchat. While law enforcement determined that the person who sent the message did not have the means to carry out the threat, nor was that threat credible, it was still a nervy time for school officials. Just eight days later, the school resource officer employed in Watervliet High School caught whiff of a potential gang-related shooting that was to take place at the local football game, a convenient meeting point. Out of “an abundance of caution” the game was moved to a neutral location in Schuylerville, according to Watervliet Police Chief Joseph Centanni.

The debate as to whether school resource officers belong in Saratoga’s schools, specifically their  elementary schools, is seemingly unavoidable – the conversation has been had at every board of education meeting as of late. While this isn’t a new debate, it’s an important one and something that is on the forefront of district parent’s minds. At the last school board meeting, the Town of Wilton made a generous offer to ease the minds of parents that want a police presence at their children’s schools. 

Ray O’Connor, a representative of the Town of Wilton offered, on behalf of the town, to fund a fulltime SRO at Dorothy Nolan Elementary, which is located within Wilton’s limits. The town offered to pay the salary ($75,000 annually) for the next five years for an officer to be located at Dorothy Nolan – but ultimately the decision to add the SRO is up to the board of education. This offer echoes Saratoga’s Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino’s statement last month that, “If tomorrow morning the board of education were to say, ‘We would like to have one or more additional school resource officers in any or all of the elementary schools,’ the Department of Public Safety would provide trained SRO’s regardless of the question of cost.”  

With the town of Wilton and Saratoga both offering to pay for the SRO’s, budgetary concerns don’t seem to be what’s halting the employment of these trained officers. After Ray O’Connor’s offer, the board voted 5-4 in favor of ultimately delaying the decision to add SRO’s – that is at least until NYSIR, an insurance company for the district that provides guidance about minimum requirements for school safety necessary to prevent legal liability, makes their recommendation later this month. Importantly, in a previous audit, NYSIR made a recommendation that Saratoga’s high school and middle school should employ an SRO, which was then obliged by the board. 

Those against the recommendation, though, claim that SRO’s make the students more anxious and aware of potential violence, rather than giving them the feeling of security that the officer is intended to provide. They cite things like the “weapons effect” a social phenomena where violence begets violence. Those in favor claim that SRO’s are trained personnel and provide a first line of defense, and that party politics nor ideology should get in the way of student safety, especially if the respective towns (Saratoga and Wilton) are offering to pay to fill the positions. However, if the last audit can be extrapolated here, NYSIR’s recommendation will ultimately trump the opinions of local parents and the school board will follow the insurance company’s advice. The next audit is later this month and will set the precedent moving forward.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Independent School (SIS) is hosting their 15th Annual Kite & Flight Festival on campus on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. This free event is open to the public.

This year’s festival will provide families the opportunity to embrace flight, in a fun and creative way, with many new activities. Planes, rockets, birds, butterflies, kites, bees, hot air balloons… It’s time to celebrate all things that fly!

The festival will feature a hot air balloon on display (weather dependent), radio controlled planes, a climbing rock wall, flight themed crafts, face painting, room to fly kites, DIY kites, kites & frisbees for sale, Kite & Flight swag for sale, self-guided nature trail walks, local food vendors such as Kaleidoscope Café, Jay’s Pizza, and more. The event is free to attend, and while many activities will be free, some will require a small fee.

The event will be outside, rain or shine, with an open air tent.

SIS is located at 459 Lake Ave., Saratoga Springs. For more information visit www.siskids.org/giving/kiteandflight.cfm

SARATOGA — As the world slowly recovers from the pangs of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employment issues still loom large. Perhaps none have been more glaring for parents this fall than the area’s ongoing bus driver shortage. In school districts throughout the region, many bus routes have been cancelled or delayed, oftentimes with little notice to parents. For those that work fulltime, this means taking time off work to drop off a child or working from home so the child can receive remote instruction from their teachers – for lower income parents that rely on public transit, it means their kids can’t attend school. In fact, the regular driver shortages at Ballston Spa City School District have forced teachers to devote two hours after school for remote “tutoring” sessions devoted to children that had their bus route fall through for the day and were forced to stay home. “While we normally have enough on any given day, it’s the unexpected absences from bus drivers that make for gaps we can’t fill,” said Ballston Spa City School District spokesman Stuart Williams. 

Although the driver shortage has been ongoing for the last two years, it only seems to be growing – even though COVID concerns in schools seem to be weening. About 88% of schools nationwide are dealing with these shortages, that is, according to a survey from HopSkipDrive, a school ride-service company. Reasons cited by districts across the nation for the shortage include: losing drivers to private industry (31.3%), COVID-19 concerns (32.8%), drivers retiring (37.3%), driver pay (40.3%) and issues recruiting new bus drivers (67.2%). Locally, this has forced the hand of many districts to increase driver pay and provide a more flexible work schedule.  In Ballston Spa, for example, a full-time driver has a starting pay of $22.88 an hour, along with insurance benefits and a paid training period. Importantly though, even if the district can gather interested employees, the training period for drivers can last up to 10 weeks, so an immediate solution seems out of reach, at least for now. 

In a recent statement, Saratoga’s Superintendent Michael Patton said, “Because we are very thin, all the folks that are working in the offices in transportation, whether it be routing specialists or dispatchers or mechanics, [but are cross-trained] they’re all driving a bus, so these are long days for these folks.” 

“What ends up ultimately happening is my men in the garage, here, end up filling in that void, and if they’re filling in the void out there, they’re not doing what they absolutely need to do here,” said Saratoga Bus Fleet Manager Chuck Tanzer. According to Tanzer, he has “never seen a shortage this severe.” 

To get the word out and attract potential hires, the Ballston Spa Central School District is hosting a “Come Drive a Bus Day,” on Saturday, October 1 from 10am to 2pm. The event will be held at the school’s transportation facility located at 1458 Saratoga Road, Ballston Spa. For more information on the event, call 518-884-7140.