BOE tables drug and alcohol policy, talks teachers' contracts


WEBUTUCK —The Webutuck Board of Education met this past Monday night to discuss a number of policies and tabled a revised alcohol, drug and tobacco policy.

Board members debated for some time whether the new policy was either too weak or too strong, and whether the school district should be required to pay for any drug or alcohol counseling for students.

The board passed 13 revised policies, including policies on dangerous weapons in schools, internal board policy on self-evaluation, legal duties of officers and family medical leave act.

Board member John Perroti said that the board should table passing any policies until the new school board takes over in a month.

School board president Bernadette Coniglio said that she saw no problem with the board passing new policies.

"These are all third readings, and it’s not like we haven’t worked on it before," she said.

The board debated whether to hire Jay Girvin from the law firm of Girvin and Ferlazzo as the district’s negotiator for the Webutuck Teacher’s Association contract.

District Superintendent Richard Johns, who previously acted as negotiator for the district, said that the negotiations were at an impasse, and that it was necessary for Girvin to be hired so contract negotiations could continue.

Perotti disagreed, and said a lawyer getting involved in the negotiations would be counterproductive.

"I would like to sit down with teachers and discuss the issues and keep lawyers out of it," Perotti said. "An impasse is never a good thing, and a collaborative style would be best."

Johns proposed that the board talk about the situation in an executive session due to collective bargaining and contract issues, which was approved unanimously by the board.

After the executive session was over, by 11:46 p.m., the matter was tabled.

In other news, the board accepted the resignations of first-grade teacher Gail Gamble and health teacher John Merwin, both effective at the end of this month.

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Webutuck High School library.

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