By Lisa Rice
Warwick Valley School Board President Sharon Davis opened the regular meeting on Thurs., Feb. 4 with a moment of silence, preceded by the following statement read on behalf of the Board of Education:
“I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to Warwick Valley High School graduate, Class of 2008, Daniel Prial, US Army Chief Warrant Officer 2. Daniel was one of three soldiers who died in a U.S. Army National Guard UH60 medical helicopter crash near Rochester on January 20th, 2021. Upon graduation from High School, Danny attended the United States Military Academy at West Point from 2008 to 2012. He entered the 82nd Airborne Division as a helicopter pilot and was deployed to Afghanistan during 2014 and 2015. In 2020, he joined the New York National Guard. Danny loved being raised in Warwick and this town was incredibly special to him. He was excited to move to Rochester because it was only a few hours drive from Warwick rather than a day of travel. Being part of the Warwick cross-country and track team in High School was a formative experience and he often wore his purple Warwick singlet from high school underneath his Army uniform. He preferred the cross-country season to track because it was more team-oriented, a value that he brought with him to the Army. The Warwick school community will deeply miss Danny and wishes his family peace and comfort during this difficult time.”
School board members, attending via Zoom, all stood for a moment of silence.
Will COVID-19 Permanently Cancel Regents Exams?
Superintendent Dr. David Leach commented that before the pandemic, the NYS Board of Education was reviewing graduation requirements to determine whether they are still appropriate in the changing world. With the State Board in a state of flux, this appears to be a good time to discuss potential changes. Based on recent conversations with other Tri-State Consortium districts in Westchester, a part of Rockland and Connecticut, superintendents, teachers, and staff, Dr. Leach said that there is the continual question on whether requiring students to pass the state’s Regents exams makes a lot of sense, for three reasons, the first being that the exams themselves are not held in high regard. Additionally, the exams do not carry much weight with colleges as they are not required in all states. And, finally, the information tested is disconnected from a lot of the school’s goals.
After Regents exam requirements were removed last year due to the pandemic, the Board of Education has asked the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver again for this year. The Tristate Consortium on behalf of some districts is interested in applying for a permanent waiver.
High Risk Sports Return to Warwick
The Superintendent welcomed Athletic Director, Greg Sirico, who has been working with his team to get high risk sports back.
Sirico reported that in late January, Governor Cuomo and the New York State Department of Health authorized the return of those sports deemed high risk in the State of New York. He identified high risk sports as basketball, wrestling, competition cheerleading, football, lacrosse, volleyball and hockey. The decision to allow high risk sports was deferred to the local county boards of health across the state.
According to Sirico, the State of New York has taken the remaining part of the school year and broken it into three segments: the winter segment will run January 19 until February 28; the Fall-2 segment from March 1 to April 18; and a spring segment from April 19 until early June. There will be no state championships and section titles are unlikely.
“It’s about getting people out there,” Sirico stated.
Sirico also detailed safety protocols, including daily temperature scans before practice. Sports are pod based. For example, instead of a full team practicing together, they will be broken into groups. There will be no spectators; locker rooms will be for changing only, one student at a time. If players feel at all sick or if family members are sick, they should skip practice. All practices, indoor and outdoor, will require players to wear masks and keep distance whenever possible.
Parents and players will have to sign two waivers: one is athlete code of conduct to agree with above terms, the other is an agreement not to engage in social gatherings outside of sports.
For sports that cannot be adequately played on winter terrain, in the Fall-2 season, the Hudson Sports Complex has been booked from 3 until 5:30 p.m. every night to provide surface needed to play sports. If needed, the football coach in Vernon, NJ offered the use of their turf field to Warwick, since they already played their football season and won’t start a new sports season until mid-April.
Board member Dave Eaton mentioned that he attended a meeting of the Orange County School Board Association the previous night where parents and school board members voiced worry and fear.
“I really question if you can really pull this off in a safe way,” said Eaton. “I got the impression from some of the other school systems, that a lot of parents are really concerned about this.”
“I look at it from this,” Sirico responded. “For some kids, it’s the other half of education and that makes their day. The fact that other states have been able to do this successfully and there is zero data on the transmission of the disease in high risk sports.” He also mentioned that kids are still going to play and that some are participating in underground wrestling and they’re not doing it right.
Board member Denise Ginley countered that there are also many parents and students that want to come back.
Dr. Leach stated that perhaps the ramifications of not quarantining bringing down the program for everyone will encourage compliance. A precautionary quarantine for an entire team can mean missed games.
“COVID virus doesn’t care,” Eaton said, “one asymptomatic kid and the whole thing goes bust.”
Sirico pointed out that if kids in the state of New York don’t have the opportunity to participate this year, they are behind other states in terms of college, stating “No kid in our state right now has senior film to share with colleges.”
Board member Bob Howe brought up that there are households that believe this pandemic is no big deal; and kids come out of those households believing that.
The board approved a resolution to restart high risk sports in the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Intramural programs. Eaton abstained from the vote.
Budget Process, State Aid & Demographics
Dr. Leach reported that the district will publish two presentations: budget development process and state aid; and a demographic study.
“As we get clearer pictures about state aid we’ll move ahead and have projected revenues, we’ll start looking at some expenditures like payroll and benefits,” Dr. Leach said. He expects by mid-April they will have a solid indication of what that revenue will be. He anticipates being able to adopt a budget in April with a public hearing in May and doesn’t expect it to go to June like last year.
A presentation on the completed demographic study will be published. According to the report, enrollment appears stable, with 3,700 students now and 3600-3700 in 2030. The report will include birth rates, population, housing sales statistics, non-public school enrollment and grade configurations.
Regarding state aid, based on the governor’s initial projections, much is still pending federal aid stimulus, but based on the 15% cuts the district made, they may be able to go ahead with no levy increase. In Warwick, due to the wealth ratio, the state does not provide as much a portion of the budget as it does to comparably sized districts.
InterAct Students & Rotary Distribute 7,000 Masks
Student Liaison Kelly Sullivan reported that several members of the High School InterAct Club worked with the Warwick Rotary to collect over 7,000 masks and distribute to members of the community, first responders, senior citizens, and veterans.
Members of Mu Alpha Theta and the National Honor Society continue to tutor underclassmen in a variety of subjects. Mu Alpha Theta members also competed in the Rocket City Math League Competition.
Seniors had the opportunity to pick up senior apparel with a design created by senior Leanne Tanner. Sullivan also commented that the return of sports has been a nice stress reliever.
Next Meeting
While the district is holding their meetings via Zoom, they are available for viewing in their entirety on the district’s YouTube channel. The next meeting will be held on Thurs., Mar. 4 at 7 p.m.
Daniel Prial
