Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

BOE approves modifications to policies, and fast


PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains Central School District board of education approved modifications to 22 school policies in less than six minutes last Wednesday night.

Policies that were modified include: code of conduct on school property; school safety plans; qualifications of bus drivers; corporal punishment; and immunization of students.

School Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said that the changes came from a policy committee meeting where the committee went over the policies.

"Mostly it was just point of information kinds of stuff," Kaumeyer said. "Basically revisions recommended by our policy group that was changed and that was mandated by law. "

She said that one of the big changes was the nutrition policy, which was given a new name and focus. The policy changes were passed unanimously on the first reading.

In other business, the board tabled a proposal to authorize an increase in excess earthquake and flood coverage.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Goldbeck said that the school district’s insurance company, New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal, suggested the increase.

"The district’s current coverage is $5 million, and it was suggested that we should go up to $8 million," Goldbeck said. "The district is only paying a premium of $13,473 on this coverage, and this would increase it to $19,050."

Board member Maureen O’Callaghan Scholl questioned the increase.

"We had a flood a few weeks ago, but a flood like that only comes once every 100 years," Scholl said.

The proposal was tabled so Goldbeck could provide further information to the board.

Motions to approve funds for special education programs, transportation contracts, and an increase in excess catastrophe liability coverage were all approved.

Catherine Parsons was appointed the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and pupil personnel services. She replaces Steven Throne, and her annual salary will be $106,000.

The school officially approved a new calender for the 2007-08 school year, which Superintendent Kaumeyer said was radically different in April from the previous school calender.

Spring break will now be one week later, from Monday, April 14, to Friday, April 18.

"We hope [parents] will be aware that the break’s location will not be tied in with the [Easter] holiday this year," she said.

Board member Sara Doar congratulated the school district’s baseball and softball teams for a successful year.

The next Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday, June 20, at 7 p.m. at Stissing Mountain High School.

Lakeville Journal

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
film

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
our community

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.