Is it true that...?

8/17/10

Will HCS have Football (Varsity or Modified) during the 2010 - 2011 School Year?

For the past few years the HCS Athletic Department has been watching the number of students that signed up for football with some degree of concern. The number of students that were joining football instead of boy's soccer was slowly declining. Last spring the numbers were so low, Bill Dowsland and Coach LePage looked for additional players to play with our team. A number of students from the Madison and Brookfield School Districts showed interest. With the additional students we thought we had more than enough players to field a Varsity Football Team safely.

Last Thursday, the team assembled for the first time since spring. Only 12 Varsity players showed for the meeting, including the students from the Madison School District. Bill Dowsland and Joe LePage looked for options to the numbers issue and decided to call up players from our Modified Team. This would allow the Varsity Team to play. Yesterday was our first football practice of the season. Despite the herculean efforts of both Bill Dowsland and Joe LePage, the numbers were still too few to run a viable Varsity Football Team.

We are truly disappointed that we will not be running our football program this year. We understand how meaningful extra-curricular activities are for our students. We hope our students will opt to take part in another sport or extra-curricular activity so they remain involved in healthy activities. All other HCS teams will take the field this fall as long as the student numbers allow it to occur. We look forward to being part of their season.

(Please note: it is common practice for students to join teams from other small districts to give them an opportunity to play a sport that is not offered in their districts. HCS has been combining with several districts for many years. Some of our HCS students play with outside districts and we accept students on our teams when it's possible. Also, we are one of the few districts our size that run more than one sport, per season, for both boy's and girls. We will continue to do so as long as the student participation allows this to occur in this difficult fiscal climate.)

5/18/10

School Bus Purchase - Estimated Financial Impact - 2010-11

Recently, questions have been asked about HCS purchasing a new school bus.  Amid the financial difficulties that we are facing, does this purchase make sense financially?  Please refer to the brief analysis below illustrating the cost of maintaining the oldest bus in our fleet compared to purchasing a new bus.

School Bus Entering Year 9 (Bus #79)
Service & Maintenance
Cost per Mile = $1.17
Annual Miles = 18,000
Annual Cost to Operate Bus = $21,060

New Bus Purchase - Year 1
Purchase (Financed over 5 years) = $19,066
Service & Maintenance:
Cost per Mile = $0.15
Annual Miles = 18,000
Annual Cost to Operate Bus = $21,766

Estimated Net Cost to District = $706

Did You Know?

• HCS receives 70% NYS Transportation Aid on all qualified transportation expenses, which includes school bus purchases.
• Due to 2010 Federal Emission mandates, school buses purchased next year will cost an additional $6,900 per school bus.  Current quotes are exempt from this fee.
• Many school bus warranties expire after five years, leading to increased maintenance costs for older buses.
• The value of school buses depreciates rapidly after five years of being in service.  Trade-in values are significantly lower for older buses.

Updated 2/1/10

Will HCS cut the Arts in next year's budget?

Recently, there have been a number of questions regarding budget cuts in the Arts for the 2010-2011 school year. At this point, we are looking at many possible ways to make up the $544,000.00 shortfall that is projected in next year's budget. Many things are being considered in all areas within the budget. We are looking at ways to cut back in transportation, administration, sports, extra-curricular activities, capital expenses and staffing. We will make all decisions with the community's recommendations in mind and, always, in the best interest of children and learning.

At this point, we are not looking to cut any program in the Arts. We may cut back on the number of individual lessons or small group lessons given on a weekly basis and move to bi-weekly lessons. We may also ask parents to consider the number of performing groups that children are involved in on a regular basis. Presently, we have some children that are involved in three performing groups simultaneously and are pulled out of their primary instruction on a regular basis. This may hinder their academic performance and make it difficult for them to function at their maximum potential. This may not be a budgetary question, but more of an educational conversation.

Please feel free to e-mail me at dbowers@hamiltoncentral.org if you have any additional questions.

Updated 1/26/2010

Will HCS cut Art for the second semester of the 2009-2010 school year?

HCS received an e-mail from a concerned community member asking if we were cutting middle school art for the remainder of the school year. The e-mail went on to say that a rumor was circulating that a scheduling conflict created a problem for the district that required us to cut the amount of art we offered to our students. Please understand, this is not the case.

We would like to thank the community member for checking with us so we could clarify any misinformation. Although there was a conflict due to a change of semesters in early February, the principals worked together to rectify the issue. There was never a cause for concern.

Updated 11/18/2009

Was there a hazing incident at HCS?

Did HCS Calculate Vantine's PILOT agreement incorrectly?

In 2002, HCS entered into a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) agreement with Vantine, when they moved into their new building. At that time, a clerical error was made and the equalization ratio was not applied to their taxes correctly. This year, the mistake was caught when the PILOT bill was generated.

Last night, at our monthly Board of Education meeting, the BOE was informed of the situation in general session. The decision was made to contact Vantine and share our findings. Unfortunately, the story was published in a community news source before the Hamilton Central School District had the opportunity to contact Vantine. Although we talked with Mr. Vantine at 8:00, the following morning, they were already aware and were not informed of the situation in the appropriate way. We apologize to Vantine. They have  been and continue to be a good neighbor and a strong supporter of the school district. They were very gracious about the situation and were open to discussing the PILOT shortfall with us.

The Hamilton Central School District did not want the information to be shared with Vantine or the greater Hamilton Community in this way. It is customary and expected that these types of situations are discussed with our Board of Education before they are made public. Despite the way the information was shared, we are confident that a reasonable solution can be arranged. Working together as a united community can only make us stronger.

Will the Hamilton Central School District be subjected to a mid-year cut of state aid?

On October 15th, Governor Patterson outlined a plan to reduce New York State's budget deficit. Included in this plan is a 3% cut in education funding across the state. Individual districts could lose different percentages of their state funds depending on the calculation of their wealth ratio and need .  Districts could lose somewhere between 0% to 9% of their state aid, depending on this calculation of wealth. Hamilton will lose close to 6% of our state funding, or $237,000, if the Senate and the Assembly vote for the proposed mid-year cuts. Please let your state representatives know your thoughts. If this is voted in, we will be forced to make cuts in program and staffing that will have an impact on our educational program.  

Hamilton Hired Four New Support Services Personnel for the 2009-2010 School Year?

In a recent article published by the Oneida Dispatch, there was a description of the changes that have occurred within our Support Services Department. Our Guidance counselors and our School Psychologist, who have been with us for many years, took on new responsibilities in their roles and may have moved into new locations within HCS. Only one of our support services staff is new to the district, our social worker. The realignment of our present faculty allowed HCS to service our students in the most productive way possible.

We continue to make informed decisions regarding staffing and understand the fiscal needs of our community. Stimulus funding helped to offset any additional costs within this realignment.

 Hamilton Central did not require students to watch the President's speech?

Recently, a few taxpayers questioned why we offered parents the opportunity to speak to our principals, if they had concerns regarding the “Presidential Speech to School Children” that was presented to our students on September 8^th. 

As the representatives for all our students and families, we allowed parents to call and ask questions about the expected dialogue and hoped to create a comfort level with this unique opportunity. To diminish any apprehension, we had copies of the President’s speech available for review. I was lucky enough to have had conversations with a number of parents who showed a real interest in the content of the speech, and were pleased with the message shared by our president. Almost all parents were very comfortable with HCS providing this opportunity to their children. One or two were not.

If there was ongoing concern we abided by the parents’ requests. We would never willfully put a child in a position where they would be forced to attend something that was clearly against the wishes of their parents. We did not want to impose our opinions one way or another. We feel that political opinions are an individual's right. We did, however, support our President's decision to address America's students.

There are local districts that opted not to be part of this historic event. We chose to be part of this exceptional experience, and our students had the opportunity to consider the advice of President Obama and, hopefully, take it to heart. 

We were proud to be a part of this and hope that we met the needs of all of our students. Overall, the message was very positive from Hamilton's perspective and from our President's communication. In this case, as in others, we hope to support and advocate for everyone. Given the same set of circumstances, we would make the same decision.

Hamilton will not receive federal stimulus funding?

A recent article published by the Post Standard on Federal Stimulus money failed to list the Hamilton School District.  Our district does indeed receive stimulus funds that will be used to hire teachers in our special education program.  Hamilton has taken advantage of all state and federal funds available.  Additionally, the district has applied for grant funding to offset the financial impact on taxpayers.

Hamilton Central replaced the brand new stamped concrete in the entrance way?

In the spring of 2009, our architects met with our pavement contractors regarding the quality of the stamped concrete job that was done in the summer of 2008.  A number of imperfections and problems were highlighted.  It was agreed that the contractors would replace the stamped concrete at no charge to the district!  The action taken will help to protect the capital project investments made by our taxpayers.

Teacher Websites © 2010 SchoolWorld