PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains Board of Education (BOE) met on Wednesday, Feb. 22, to further discuss gap-closing strategies for the budget as presented by Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer.The meeting began with a preface by Kaumeyer that all information was absolutely preliminary.“We are still in February and these numbers are in no way set in stone. These are our ideas for how to close the gap and to give the board an idea where we can cut back on the budget. Nothing tonight is decided. This is a workshop to begin looking into these numbers,” she said.The figures presented were calculated using the new New York State formula, but were still done under a smaller tax levy increase than the formula allows for.“The figures you will see were calculated under a 2 percent tax levy increase. The new New York State formula puts us at 2.6 percent, but we wanted to see what the numbers looked like at an even 2 percent,” she said.The numbers were also figured in a 1 percent state aid decrease based upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal.With each factor assessed, Kaumeyer, along with Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Michael Goldbeck, stated that a total of $688,879 in further reductions are currently necessary.Kaumeyer then presented how each facility would contribute to the reductions.Administrative servicesAlong with preliminary numbers, Kaumeyer also presented how each reduction would impact the district.The superintendent said she plans on reducing both the part-time clerk hours and the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) budget to save a total of $30,000.The impact in these areas are minimal but include a reduction in recruitment, public information and printing services.Equipment, materials and contractual services could be reduced by $6,500.Kaumeyer plans to reduce the travel and conferences budget for herself by $1,200.“This includes educational conferences that are attended each year,” she said.Overall, it is proposed that administrative service will be reduced by a total of $37,700.Elementary programKaumeyer proposed that the elementary program could be reduced by one teaching position, which would result in larger class sizes.It was also proposed that a .6 special subject reduction and a .5 aide position reduction could be made along with two part-time aides.These reductions are estimated to bring a savings of $161,473.“I have been assured that other faculty would be able to step in and compensate. These reductions should really have no impact,” she said.Kaumeyer also presented the elimination of the Ashokan trip as a gap-closing strategy.“This would present a cost savings of $20,000. Unfortunately the students do lose that activity,” she said.The elementary program could also see a reduction of $5,000 in equipment, bringing the total reductions to $186,473.High school programThe proposed reductions for the high school come mostly from classes.Kaumeyer proposed that .8 electives be cut, which will reduce the number of choices students have and will save $55,184.The high school may also see one of the two language options phased out.“By phasing out, we mean that students already enrolled in a language program would be able to follow that through, but no new students will be beginning that language,” she said.Kaumeyer was not willing to speculate which language would be cut as these proposals are still in the preliminary stages.The high school will also see a cut in the equipment budget resulting in a $8,000 savings.The total proposed cost savings from the high school is $142,968.Middle school programThe final portion of the academic programs to be presented was the middle school.The board previously approved the retirement of a full-time teacher at another meeting, and Kaumeyer presented a savings of $76,629 from that retirement.It was proposed that the middle school eliminate 1.4 academic sessions to save $96,572.This would result in larger class sizes as well as a reduction in non-mandated courses.“Every district has state-mandated courses that must be taught. We’re not talking about eliminating social studies. But each district also has courses unique to them, and these are the ones that would be reduced,” she said.As in the other facilities, the equipment budget would also be cut, saving $4,000.The total reductions from the middle school portion of the budget total $177,201.Special educationThe special education department is seeing proposed reductions in staffing.Kaumeyer proposed that one part-time aide and one full-time aide could be cut.The cuts would impact teachers who would be losing helpers in their classrooms.The cost savings for these positions and the department as a whole total $44,484.Transportation budgetsAt the previous budget workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Kaumeyer stated they were already anticipating cutting down the transportation budget.The high price of fuel was causing a significant increase in the budget.Kaumeyer proposed an overall reduction in the capital and transportation budgets totaling $25,000 from various categories, as well as a $50,000 transfer to capital which is a reduction by one half.The overall cost savings from the transportation budget would total $75,000.Interscholastic athleticsAthletics was the final area to be discussed during the budget workshop.A total of $25,000 is proposed to be cut.This money would come from the district funds used for non-league games and tournaments.“This includes special games and tournaments and the transportation and staffing required to attend them,” Kaumeyer said.In closingThe total cost savings proposed is $688,826, which is just shy of the needed $688,879. Again, Kaumeyer stressed that these numbers are preliminary.“I will be giving the board a rough draft of the budget that we are not at this time making public. These numbers and gap-closing strategies have not been agreed upon and are in no way final, which is why we are not making them public,” she said.The board will meet on Wednesday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Stissing Mountain High School Library to further discuss the budget.Kaumeyer also reminded those in attendance that both staff as well as the public are more than welcome to come and participate in budget discussions.“We encourage anyone with ideas or opinions to attend the meetings, see the work that is being done and to contribute. There are several meetings happening before our deadline and all are welcome to attend,” she said.
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Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton\u2019s Main Street in 1985.
Provided
For Hermans, the award has prompted some reflection about why he has spent so much of his life involved in community projects.
“I was thinking about it this morning: Why do I do what I do?” he said. “And I think no matter what I’ve done, whether it’s been school board or rail trail, I’m trying to be useful to the communities I’m associated with.”
Hermans is perhaps best known as the longtime co-founder and steward of Oblong Books in Millerton, a business that began almost by accident. He and his former partner, Holly Nelson, were living in Millerton and looking for something to do during the winter. They had been painting houses, including the Grange Hall in Millerton, a job Hermans got through his aunt, who belonged to the Grange.
At the time, Hermans was also working in insurance for his father, doing collections.
“It was fine except I was doing collections, and it really kind of left me cold,” he said.
He and Nelson began thinking about what they might do together. Nelson was an avid reader, while Hermans had studied journalism and had worked in a record store. They noticed a chain of book and record stores operating elsewhere in the Hudson Valley and decided to follow that model.
And so Oblong was born.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
“We really learned it by the seat of our pants,” Hermans said.
The business would eventually become a beloved and integral part of Millerton’s commercial life. But although Hermans may have learned the book business as he went, his affinity for retail — and for the connections that happen across a counter — had begun much earlier.
As a child, his second-grade teacher operated a little cardboard pencil shop in the classroom, and Hermans still remembers the satisfaction of selling a pencil for a nickel.
“I really liked selling somebody a pencil for a nickel,” he recalled. “I can remember that experience, and it was so pleasant.”
Later, while living in Arizona, he helped establish a food co-op and worked at the counter.
“I kind of knew that I liked doing that kind of thing,” he said. “It’s a nice way to be pleasant with people, but without making too much commitment to them.”
His relationship with Millerton also predates Oblong. His grandparents lived in the village, and he first came to Millerton as a baby. Over the years, he has watched the town change through several generations.
He remembers a Millerton with a much broader array of businesses, when stores such as Delson’s, the Main Street department store that stood for nearly 40 years in what is now Millerton’s Antiques Center, seemed to carry almost everything a resident might need.
“You could find everything from a set of dishes to a shotgun,” he recalled.
The rise of shopping malls changed that kind of downtown retail, he said, but Millerton has remained a lively commercial village.
“For us, it’s been a great place to have business,” Hermans said. “It’s a busy village.”
For Hermans, running a store was never simply about selling books and records. It was a way of being part of a place.
Music has remained another constant. Hermans continues to sell music at Oblong and hosts the radio program “New Harmony” on WKZE. The business of selling music has changed dramatically over the years, particularly with the rise of streaming, but Hermans has adapted.
He was initially reluctant to bring vinyl records back into the store because of their expense. But about four or five years ago, he began stocking LPs again, and they have become the main form of music the store sells.
He finds that many of the customers buying them are reconnecting with music they loved years ago.
“I do best with classic albums that people may have had when they were young,” he said. “And now that they’re retired, they want to hear it again.”
Hermans still reviews between 700 and 1,200 new music releases each week through the store’s distributor, Alliance Entertainment, carefully deciding what belongs on Oblong’s shelves.
That same commitment to place has led Hermans into a wide range of community projects. His work with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail is among the efforts he mentions when reflecting on his years of civic involvement. He has also served on the school board and has been involved with the Millerton Business Alliance and the Irondale Schoolhouse. He is now involved with The New Pine Plains Herald, which he sees as complementary to the work of The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal.
“I really think that the important thing about this award is that people understand what a newspaper does to connect them to their community,” he said. “And if that means anything to their lives, they gotta support it.”
Hermans knew Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook and remembers them as people who were deeply conscious of their responsibilities to the community.
“They were really nice folks,” he said. “They were very conscious of what their role in the community was.”
There is, in fact, still plenty on his plate. Hermans admits he needs to scale back because he has taken on more than his current abilities can comfortably accommodate.
“To be given this award is very special,” he added. “But I don’t feel like I’m done.”
This article has been changed to reflect that Hermans and Nelson were partners. A prior version states that they were married.
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Adamah Farm crew members planning out the day’s tasks on a late September day.
Janna Siller
Over my 15 years of growing vegetables in Falls Village, I’ve exerted my will over all kinds of conditions, from drought to humidity to crows with a taste for cantaloupe. That’s what farming is all about. You zip around the field, hopping on and off tractors, moving hoses and chasing weeds, all in an effort to arrange conditions in favor of your crops. It is the crops’ job to gulp up sunlight and move water through their stems, to transform solar energy into your next pesto or ratatouille or butternut squash soup. It is the job of the farmer to irrigate just enough but not too much, to slice dandelion leaves without damaging delicate cabbage roots, to pander and pamper and stay in tune with what plants need to thrive.
The easy part of farming is trusting plants’ resilience. I have seen bright green shoots barrel ahead out of a plant torn to shreds by hail. I’ve watched wilty, heat-stressed seedlings turn rigid overnight and greet the next morning with vigor. The hard part is letting go of what you can’t control. As our crops lapped up Friday’s gentle sunshine and I considered the weekend forecast, I imagined roots holding tight to wet earth and branches supporting each other in sideways, pelting rain. I made sure all of our storage crops were already harvested and tucked away. I battened down the sides of our greenhouses and wished the remaining field crops good luck.
The nor’easter didn’t materialize too dramatically in our corner of New England. A few broken branches and debris blown about, nothing like the July Fourth storm that sent half a tree crashing onto the deer fence and left crates of fresh veggies in coolers without power.
Fall storage crop harvests amid soil building cover crops at Adamah Farm in Falls Village. Janna Siller
Farming is an exercise in acceptance. To do it well and return year after year, you have to balance hubris and humility. The prize can often be a certain equanimity, a training in the art of moving into the next day even when the last one scrambled all your plans.
Epic change is not always about the unexpected. It also comes like clockwork on the seasonal calendar. As I type, the last of summer’s watermelons wait naively on the vine for a few hot days to finish ripening. Broccoli are holding their leaves wide as they did in June and July, only to find that the hours of sunlight decrease with each earlier sunset. Plants can’t pick up and go south or call the manager to order a bonus round of sunshine. Their growth slows and they get a resigned look to the hue of their leaves, so different from the frenzied growth of summer.
The release of fall is not tragic or gloomy. It is not an ending because so many fall tasks are about setting up for the new beginnings in spring.
We turn the vines that yielded thousands of pounds of fruit into the soil, where healthy microbes feast on their rotting stems. Then we plant cover crops — a mix of cereal grains like rye and oats and legumes like peas, vetch and clover. Cover crops hold the soil and its nutrients in place over winter, feeding the soil food web and adding organic matter that next season’s crops will need to grow.
We sort sprinklers and repair hoses. We inventory tarps. We take notes about which plants did well where and how we might try a new approach for this or that. We stack crates of cured garlic and onions and winter squash in a cool, dark room.
We save seeds from tomatoes and beans and lettuce, carefully labeling each variety for next season’s long, sunny days.
Janna Siller is the farm director at Adamah, a community farm in Falls Village offering CSA shares, educational programs and a food access program.
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