August 10, 2006 Trouble Shooting Michael Brennan’s first few weeks in the position of
president of the Saugerties school board have been
turbulent. Brennan, who was bumped up from vice-president to
president by his fellow trustees in July, is faced with
resolving issues that have been building over the course of
the year. The first involves Saugerties Post Star columnist George
Heidcamp, who began to investigate whether or not spending
practices of superintendent Richard Rhau violated his
contract. Last week, in “The Heidcamp Report,” he
wrote that he was awaiting a response from the school board
concerning the allegations. Heidcamp contends that school board members and school
officials have tried to silence his column, a claim backed
up by Saugerties Post Star editor Heather Plonchak. On June
29, the newspaper ran an editorial by Plonchak titled
“To Print Or Not To Print” which asserted two
members of the school board had approached her to request
that she discontinue the column. “By approaching the Post Star in an attempt to stop
‘The Heidcamp Report,’ the board is putting this
paper in an unfair position,” wrote Plonchak. “The
Post Star is simply a conduit for the community to use to
share information. One that does not and will not choose
sides. The request for the ‘Heidcamp Report’ to
stop should be taken up with Mr. Heidcamp himself.” What Plonchak’s editorial failed to mention was that
both school board members asked that their conversations be
off the record. Plonchak’s editorial didn’t name
either trustee, though Brennan admitted Tuesday night that
he was one of the two. Addressing the school board during the second of two
public recognition periods, Plonchak apologized for running
the off the record discussion, but remained unbowed about
the future of Heidcamp’s column. “In this editorial, I stated that two members of the
board of education had approached me, each presenting me
with correspondence from Mr. Heidcamp that they perceived to
be threatening or bullying,” said Plonchak on Tuesday
night. “Although I did not name these two board
members, both had asked that their conversations with me
stay off the record. I would like to apologize to these two
board members for not honoring that request. It is not a
mistake that I plan to repeat. Plonchak continued, “Yes, I have printed a
controversial column that some do not agree with. But
printing articles and columns submitted by members of the
community is part of my job.” She then noted the Post
Star has received letters both deriding and praising
Heidcamp’s column. Brennan said a letter sent to trustees by Heidcamp on
July 17 was the first written request to the school board
requesting answers to several questions about Rhau. In the
letter, Heidcamp asked for explanations for a number of
reimbursement requests by Rhau, including hotel, car rental
and other incidentals associated with conferences in
Orlando, Boston and San Diego. Brennan countered Heidcamp’s claim that the trips
violated the superintendent’s contract since he alleged
the trips were undertaken without knowledge of the school
board, and Brennan said that Saugerties, along with all
other school districts in the state, was being audited in
response to the more than $8 million that went missing in
the Roslyn (Long Island) school district, resulting in the
arrest of superintendent Frank Tassone and other school
officials. Heidcamp said he plans to not only continue writing his
column, but will also maintain his Web site, Saugerties
Watchdog, which boldly claims, “We’re watching out
for you!” Another piece of business that appeared to be nearing its
conclusion on Tuesday night had new life breathed into it.
The future of Cahill Elementary’s “Special
Friend,” Mary Gambino, had been tabled by the board at
July’s annual reorganizational meeting, and was once
again tabled by the board on Tuesday night. A “Special Friend” for the past 18 years,
Gambino was not able to continue in her position when the
district re-evaluated the classification of employees in the
wake of stricter guidelines in the federal No Child Left
Behind Act. According to assistant superintendent Cheryl Nuciforo,
because of Gambino’s work both inside and outside the
classroom, Gambino joined approximately 30 other district
employees who’s position changed from teacher’s
aide to teacher’s assistant. For most, this
re-classification will result in better compensation. But
Gambino is six college credits shy of meeting the
requirement to maintain her current position. “The way I see it, two things could have
happened,” suggested board vice president Michael
MacIsaac. “Mary Gambino could have taken six college
credits, or the district could have grandfathered her in.
Neither one of them happened.” MacIsaac read excerpts from more than 20 letters
addressed to the board on Tuesday, painting a picture of a
longtime employee dedicated to the children of Saugerties.
“It seems to me ironic that No Child Left Behind is
forcing her out,” he concluded. MacIsaac requested that the board amend the agenda, which
would have appointed Gambino as a part-time teacher’s
aide dealing one-on-one with special education students at
Cahill, to instead grandfather her in as a teacher’s
assistant in the Special Friends program. “There is no provision in No Child Left Behind to
grandfather that I’m aware of,” cautioned Rhau.
“The problem I have is procedural. This is just
procedurally wrong.” After MacIsaac’s motion to amend narrowly fell in a
4-3 vote (trustees Sam Fisco and Ed Kovac were absent),
Gambino’s appointment was tabled, pending a legal
opinion from the district’s attorney. “I have no job,” said an incredulous Gambino
after the meeting. “The administration does have the
right, if they want to change the titles. I’ve given 18
years to that program.” In other news, Rhau expanded on the recent news that the
district, with the assistance of construction manager U.W.
Marx, is reassessing their cost estimates in anticipation of
seeking bids for the district’s $24.9 million
facilities improvement plan after a smaller portion of the
project the district hoped to complete before the beginning
of the school year came back at nearly double the budgeted
cost. “We want to make sure that when we go out to bid,
that the cost estimates are accurate,” explained Rhau.
“We’re doing this the right way.” He stressed that even with spikes in construction costs,
the district could not exceed the dollar amount approved by
voters in the district in March, 2005. Bid documents should be prepared by no later than
November 15, said Rhau, with an eye on beginning preliminary
work in early March, 2007, and accelerating the process once
the school year is over. One element of the facilities improvement that will
likely be completed by the end of the week; the 20-year old
air conditioning system in the Hildebrand administrative
building became a fatality of last week’s heat wave. A
new unit is expected to be installed by the end of this week
at a cost of under $10,000, a figure approved in the
district’s improvement plan. The district is looking to return a handful of home
football games to Saugerties after delays in beginning the
facilities project punted work on the home field into next
year. A deal in place to call Kingston’s Dietz Stadium
home was deemed unnecessary, and the district is in talks to
attempt to move their arrangement to 2007, when work in
Saugerties will likely not be completed. The next meeting of the Saugerties School Board is
scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 12 in the Junior
High cafeteria. Crispin Kott