The following article, written by Crispin Kott, is reprinted from The Saugerties Times, 01-03-08 The Saugerties School District Had Its Share of Ups and Downs Last Year   By: Crispin Kott, Saugerties Times , January 03, 2008   Though it’s in the nature of education to rarely sit still, 2007 was a particularly active one for the Saugerties Central School District’s Board of Education. While the ongoing districtwide facilities improvement plan was the chief concern, it certainly wasn’t the only one. Last January, school officials publicly responded to a state audit of the district’s finances, claiming that the situation wasn’t as bad as it might have seemed. Though the district still had two months to officially respond to the audit, in January they said some claims of inadequate loss prevention controls and misuse of assets were either open to interpretation or were already in the corrective stage. “Much of auditing is opinion based,” said superintendent Richard Rhau at the time. “There was no indication of theft, malfeasance or violation of criminal laws. I’m very pleased.” “I didn’t take it as criticism,” said current board president Donald Tucker at the time. “I think it’s healthy. I think we fared pretty well, but we have some work to do.” Public school districts across New York State began being audited by then-comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office in 2004 in the wake of allegations of theft by school officials and external auditors in the Roslyn Union Free School District in Nassau County, where a state audit found roughly $11.2 million in funds had been misappropriated. Though the audit had its origins in alleged corruption, Rhau said it was welcomed in Saugerties, where he said it saved the district an estimated $25,000 since they planned to have their own audit done. In late January, Saugerties High School was faced with a short burst of an as-yet unsolved vandalism. On Thursday, January 25, school officials arrived at the high school campus to find that one of six dogwood trees planted in memory of students from the Class of 1987 had been pulled from the ground and thrown into the parking lot. Also found that morning was a makeshift sign created by torn athletic flags taken from soccer fields used by the school district at Cantine Field. The pieces of fabric were laid on the ground to spell “HAHA,” with an arrow pointing to the dogwood tree in the parking lot. Just two days later, the vandalism escalated when nine windows were smashed and a tenth cracked in a wing of the high school that faces Washington Avenue and runs alongside one of the fields used by the school’s soccer teams during the fall season. All ten windows were in classrooms used for earth science study and needed to be replaced. The same night the windows were broken, picnic tables at Cantine Field were overturned and 30 tired on 11 cars on Finger Street were punctured in their owners’ driveways. “I’m not making any assumptions,” said high school Principal Timothy Price at the time. “I don’t know if it’s students who are currently enrolled or students who have left. These are things that young people do, but I don’t have any information or knowledge or sense of who it might be.” In February, assistant superintendent Cheryl Nuciforo outlined an interconnected proposal that a month later brought full-day kindergarten to the district, created an elementary autism program and improved the physical education program districtwide. The move was music to the ears of then-board president Michael Brennan, who was a long time champion of full-day kindergarten. “I’m very happy finally that we’re going to have full-day kindergarten,” said Brennan at the time. “I’ve been sitting on the board for eight years waiting for it.”   Constructive criticism While the facilities improvement plan missed its April 1 start date, the first few months of 2007 saw the school board award contracts and settle on a work schedule that, for the most part, left school officials saying they were likely to finish the majority of the project prior to the beginning of the 2008-09 school year. In May, area voters approved the district’s $49.78 million operating budget for the 2007-08 school year by an unofficial margin of 1864-1403. While the win wasn’t a landslide, Rhau said all that mattered was that it passed. “In Saugerties, a win is a win, especially the first time around,” said Rhau at the time. “We don’t have to go to a second budget and all the work that entails, so I’m very pleased.” The 2007-08 budget increased spending by 12.36 percent, with a projected $26.10 million property tax levy, a 2.9 percent increase. Voters also approved changes on the school board itself at the May vote. MacIsaac didn’t seek re-election, though incumbent trustees Vince Buono Jr. and Edward Kovac were defeated. The three open seats were filled by Mark Thompson, James Steinhilber and current board vice president George Heidcamp. “I think it shows that people want changes,” said Steinhilber at the time. “They may be small, but something is still getting done. It’s a start.” Also in May, a 6th grade student at Mount Marion Elementary School was threatened by five classmates with physical harm. 13-year-old Ethan Travis learned of an alleged plan to slit his throat on the playground by three girls and two boys. The suspects created weapons by removing the blades from small, hand-held pencil sharpeners and attaching them to pipe cleaners. School officials eventually found the weapons in at least one of the students’ backpacks and suspended the suspects from school. In July, the three girls pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a weapon by a person under the age of 16, while the two boys pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal conspiracy. In September, the five students were sentenced to a year’s probation and were ordered by Ulster County Family Court Judge Marianne Mizel to write letters of apology to Travis. Though officially settled in March, the details of the contract for members of the Saugerties Teachers’ Association were announced in late May, when an arbitrator’s findings on the matter of retiree health benefits was revealed. The new contract, which runs retroactively from July 2004 through June 2010 includes an annual four percent salary increase over the next four years. The first three years of the contract included annual pay hikes of 3.5 percent. The STA originally sought an annual salary of $60,617 for teachers with 10 years experience and a maximum base salary of $86,754. The school district’s earlier 3.5 percent increase for 2006-07, with a maximum base salary of $82,936 was rejected by the union. Under the terms of the completed contract, in 2007-08 a teacher with 10 years in the district will receive a salary of $59,020 and the maximum base salary will be $84,517. Health benefits also changed under the terms of the new contract. Previously, teachers paid a flat rate of $240 for individual health plans and $480 for family plans. That annual contribution is now percentage based, and will likely come out to around $600 for individual plans and $1,300 for family plans. One of the primary sticking points in finalizing the contract was retiree health benefits. The STA sought 100 percent coverage, and the arbitrator ultimately settled on a 10 percent contribution for an individual plan and a 15 percent contribution for a family plan. June saw the Board of Education wrap up its business with the sitting board, with Heidcamp, Thompson and Steinhilber sworn in a month later. It was also the end of the school year for students, with graduation ceremonies butting up against the staging area for the facilities improvement project. After potentially inclement weather forced the 2006 graduation into the auditorium - with spillover covered by the gymnasium - Saugerties High’s Class of 2007's commencement ceremony took place on the grass in the traffic circle in the front of the main campus buildings. Despite a seemingly never-ending supply of beach balls being bounced from one senior to the next, the 111th graduating class of Sawyers were a generally well-behaved bunch. This wasn’t lost on high school principal Timothy Price, who said, “I’ve been in the cafeteria. I’ve been around. I know that they’re not always this quiet.” Of the 222 members of the Class of 2007, 47 were gold cord recipients and 51 wore the silver cord on their caps.   Crispin Kott