Follow Up on the News

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Quiet End Of Term

Board members opened by thanking volunteers for setting up an ice-skating rink at Big Indian Park, as well as for a Christmas tree placed there by the Big Indian Beautification Committee.

Two upcoming school board events were announced, a first of many ìCafÈ Chatsî where the public is invited to meet informally with school board members, will be held at Sweet Sueís at 1PM, January 11.Ý On January 21, the school board will be hosting a ìLocal Government Speakers Nightî at the newly refurbished HS auditorium. County Executive Mike Hein, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and all local town supervisors have been invited, amongst others.

Planning board member Keith Holmquist will be recommended by the town to serve as its representative on the County Planning Board. Holmquist, officially the townís alternate member, has effectively been serving the role for some time. Planners Beth Waterman & Barbara Redfield both offered to assume the ìalternateî designation.

Phoenicia Water Commissioner Rick Ricciardella had good news on water quality, saying that tests performed for coliform and e-coli came in negative and will not be required again until 2017. The system also tested negative for lead and copper and if next Juneís test also comes back negative, no further testing for those will be required for 4 or 5 years.

Such a purchase, however, would cost about $100,000 which would need to be funded either by municipal loan or from the townís remaining Good Neighbor Funds provided in 1998 by the City and of which about $400,000 remains. Board members had clearly reviewed the squadís proposal carefully, and all expressed appreciation for Muellerleileís work in assembling the information.Ý

“I personally think it’s a sound investment,” said DiSclafani, “”and I see the wisdom in Rich’s proposal.”

But a consensus of the board concluded that it would be better to defer such a purchase.

“We have to make do with what we have,” said Bernstein.

Also passed, narrowly, was a resolution designating all town parks as “Tobacco Free Zones” and calling for “appropriate signage.”

“It’s not a law… it would be an honors system,” said DiSclafani, who along with board members Malloy and Bartlett voted in favor, with Stanley and Bernstein ultimately voting no. There were no disagreements about potential behavior modeling for children who might witness people smoking in parks, but several people raised questions about the measure’s necessity and its lack of enforceability, as it isn’t actually a law, just a go-ahead to erect signage.

“A law you can’t enforce is a bad law,” said Bernstein. As the resolution did pass however, the question of what constitutes “appropriate language” for signage in town parks will likely resurface at some point soon.

“I don’t have any parting words except thank you for putting up with me for two years, “ said DiSclafani who come January will be joining the roster of town ambulance drivers, per a resolution he recused himself from but that passed unanimously.

A final meeting to close the town’s books for the year was set for December 28 at 6PM. Shandaken’s reorganizational meeting for 2010 will take place January 4 at 6PM.

It Takes A Community...

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Our Kids Are At Risk

Peg Haug, the Onteora district Coordinator of Health, presented the survey at Tuesday night’s December 15 school board meeting at Phoenicia Elementary. Haug explained that this was a county survey paid for through a grant and all the schools in the county participated. The schools were grouped into different zones.
Haug said, “Unfortunately the students self reported results reveal that with our demographics and zoning one, Onteora and Saugerties consistently had the highest percentage of positive answers when reporting about alcohol and drug use and engaging in high risk behaviors.”
Haug presented data including Saugerties, but also Onteora by itself.
“When we saw the results that showed we were linked with Saugerties, it gave a little pause because we are very different except for our high school building being seven-through-12,” said Haug. “They have one community, we don’t have much of a town community, and we have four towns that are put together…”
The survey also revealed that the two districts ranked highest for drugs being sold on campus and alcohol drunk while in school. Students also appear to receive mixed message on drugs and alcohol when it came to parental guidance.
Haug explained that the survey provided a safety net to assure that students answered the questions honestly. Therefore she believes that the statistics are solid with a small margin of error. “It pointed out to us that we have some very serious issues that need to be addressed.”
Social Worker Maegan Schenker introduced a drug and alcohol intervention program titled Prime For Life. She said it was an evidence-backed program that she was already trained in. It would address students they already have been targeted with high-risk behavior, but their goal would be to use it as a district-wide prevention program. The school board was skeptical, noting that statistics on the program were outdated (1980s), that it lacked family intervention and peer support. Haug explained that to implement the program would mean using the district’s guidance counselors and social workers.
Trustee Rob Kurnit explained that a district social worker and the county’s FACETS program that provided family intervention and counseling was eliminated from the 2009/10 budget. He asked about shortfalls in the staff.
“These programs that you are trying to adopt would be in addition to what you are already doing in your jobs,” Kurnit said. “And you are also talking about the fact that this is a serious problem and there are possibly many students that could benefit from this, so I am curious how this is going to function.”
Principal Lance Edelman said the staff is committed to the task.
“There is an immediate need to provide services for these children,” he said, adding that some students cannot get to services in Kingston. “We need to implement something through the school.”
Trustee Donna Flayhan suggested returning FACETS back into the budget.
“As the economic crisis continues,” she said, “we all know these types of risk behaviors and family problems get worse and it seems like it is nice that you are providing your staff with resources, then if we could provide more human resources…”
Interim Assistant Superintendent for business Don Gottlieb later gave an update on what the board can expect in the form of State aid.
“The one thing the State will not do is be late on a bond payment, so the Governor (Paterson) is faced with a situation where he’s indicating a cash flow shortfall…and by having not taken any action today that the State would have run out of cash by the 29th of December.”
In other words, Paterson cut school and some municipal aid.
Gottlieb explained that the district received a State check for ten percent, or $62,000, less of approximately $600,000. The state legislature is hoping that by the fourth quarter, between income tax from Wall Street bonuses and holiday sales tax revenue, the money will be returned to the school districts. But Gottlieb said he is not hopeful. The $62,000 will not affect this school year, but could have an impact on next year’s budget due to lack of interest revenue and shortfalls in the reserve.
He said by the next January 4 school board meeting he can present what next year’s roll over budget would look like.
The board is also going over department expenses. Trustee Anne McGillicuddy said that the BOCES budget was $3.7 million. Gottlieb explained that the district has a commitment to BOCES. According to a 1948 education law, “When a district became part of BOCES, when a law is constructed, you are in forever.” Although some programs can be trimmed Gotllieb said, “Administration (in BOCES) costs regardless of what you do.”
The vocational department also carries a three-year locked in commitment. McGillicuddy listed other expenses: $117,000 for coaches, over $200,000 in field trips, $74,000 in conferences, $190,000 private school tuition, $196,000 tuition for other public schools, $103,000 for special education private schools, $89,000 for health and wellness services. Some of the school tuitions are legally bound, but the district is required to pick up the tab for transporting private school kids. The district is also required to pay for some books to private schools.
McGillicuddy said, “We are paying a lot of money for kids who are not going here (Onteora).”
The district is also required to pay for field trips, a new State mandate.
McGillicuddy threw up her hands and said, “Ahhh the State!”
Finally, INDIE director Russell Richardson updated the school board on their new facilities in Woodstock. Because of budget shortfalls, INDIE is no longer a program that takes place during school hours. Instead, it works as an after-school program from 3-5pm where kids are bused from the Middle/High school site to its current location on Mill Hill Road in Woodstock. He said they are operating at maximum capacity. A total of 68 students are enrolled and had to break the program into two sections. A total of 23 students come from the Shandaken/Phoenicia area, 17 from Olive, 10 from West Hurley, 13 from Woodstock and 3 students from further west.
Richardson said he was “surprised that attendance is not dominated by Woodstock residents.”

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According to Catskill Center for Conservation and Development Interim Director Daniel Palm, in to fill for Executive Director Lisa Rainwater, who resigned the position after a little over a year in the job, the venerable organization’s membership, and overall fundraising, started to dip after it signed the deal its then-director, Tom Alworth, helped broker as head of a coalition of national, state and regional environmental organizations. And that was before the CCCD, which turned 40 this past year, had to face the hits being experienced by all not-for-profits due to the recent recession.
All of this came out this week in a series of interviews started when word leaked out that the Catskill Center was shifting down from seven to four full-time employees as of the New Year. Furthermore, those being asked to step away from the organization or have their hours modified, to be replaced by new positions they’ve been told they will likely not be qualified for, include Director of Programming Aaron Bennett, an 11 year employee, native of the area, and columnist for this publication, Regional Planner Peter Manning, also a local resident with deep roots in local planning circles, and Membership and Outreach Director Dave Turan.
“I guess the best statement I can give right now is that we’ve been looking at 2010 and our budget development and we’re looking at how the Center should be focusing its resources,” Palm said, adding that he’d been in his job for only three weeks. “The Center seems to have moved away from what it’s been historically in the last few years. We are trying to make sure we can face declining revenues.”
Palm added that a deadline for applications for the Center’s Executive Director position was closed on December 11, and that a board committee will now interview key candidates through mid-February, with hopes of hiring someone ready to start in March of 2010.
When asked if the current shifts in the Center’s employment picture were a means of “cleaning the slate” for whoever was coming in to take over the helm after him, Palm said only that, “It’s partly that, but also partly the truth of securing funding these days. There has to be a clear understanding between our board and staff for funders to see. This is what we are doing…”
He described the organization’s policy of recent years as “muddied” and “broadened,” and said the Catskill Center’s board was currently hoping to refocus the organization “from a strategic point of view.”
Palm added that the current actions stem from discussion started before Rainwater’s departure.
“She initiated the discussion this is part of,” he said. “Much of this first came up at a board and staff retreat in September,” after which the board decided it “had to address where they were going.”
Rainwater put in her resignation on September 25; her last official day as Executive Director was on November 16. She began her tenure at the Catskill Center in July 2008.
Dr. Palm came to the Catskill Center, nearly a decade after his official retirement, from serving as Interim Director for the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC). He also served as Staff Economist for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and Regional Director of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and as Executive Director of the New York Forest Owners Association before this latest action meant, he said, to help out an organization he had long admired.
Palm said this week that he had never had to “do this,” speaking of the staff changes he’s having to implement for his board, based on decisions, and a budget, prepared by the predecessor who’s tenure he is filling out… for now.
According to various sources, not much of what’s being planned for the organization has been made clear since announcements were made last week, other than that there would be a shift towards more policy analysis, which had been the forte of the Catskill Center’s Interim Director before Rainwater’s arrival, Deborah DeWan… now at the Ashokan Foundation.
Throughout it’s history, the Catskill Center has weathered similar sudden shifts in its direction, including the departure of early director Tom Miner and his wife, Whitty Sanford, who started the CCCD’s Erpf Gallery cultural programming. In the mid-1990s, the departure of director Tom Hatley, an academic, occurred just as the Center faced a regional reaction to its sponsorship of what should have been a heralded application for the Catskills as a United Nations Biosphere region, eventually withdrawn. Several major shifts in direction, and in those who represented the Catskill Center’s many programs throughout the region, followed as Hatley’s follow-up, Janet Crawshaw, was quickly replaced with an Albany hire… and then Alworth, who has since moved on to a job in Albany.
The Erpf Gallery recently announced that, at the board’s request, it will shift from its regular schedule of art exhibits and events to two shows a year for the foreseeable future.
“Principally, the Catskill Center is going to stay focused on three basic components,” Palm noted of the organization’s renewed sense of direction.
He brought up the Center’s longstanding focus on regional issues, which he noted the board wants to draw back into being focused on primarily from “a policy point of view.”
He said a regional education component was still of high importance, but with a renewed insistence on “scientific information, “ and “scientific-based issues.”
Finally, Palm noted how the CCD wanted to retain its cultural focus… on a regional basis.
He said much more would become clear when a new director would be hired in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Catskill Center website has started listing qualifications for a wanted bookkeeper for the organization.
Calls to Board President Claude Shostal, in Manhattan, were unreturned as of press time.

Choral!

“It’s been a time of community-building,” commented Reverend Lucy Jones, who is part of the church’s 25-member choir led by Lee Stowe. “With any kind of musical experience like this, you feel overwhelmed at the beginning, then as you practice, you think maybe you have it, and it will come together. Everyone enjoys doing it, and there’s laughter and encouraging each other, giving it all we can.”
A cantata consists of both music and narration, Rev. Jones explained. This piece is made up of nine movements with titles such as “A Christmas Flourish”, “Carol of Longing”, and “The Beautiful Impossible”. The music includes traditional carols as well as seasonal anthems by the composer. “Some of the music is very big and grand,” said Rev. Jones, “and some is quiet and soft. It goes from lullabies to jubilant glorias.”
The interspersed scripture and poems are read by two narrators. “There will be a candlelighting as part of the performance,” noted Rev. Jones. “We’ll be bringing the candles forward to add to the drama.”
The choir, which has been rehearsing the cantata since October, sings in four-part harmony, with a number of solos. The youngest soloist is fourth-grader Billy Davis, whose little sister Lorelei has been sitting in on rehearsals. Other young people performing solos include Andrew Russell and Alissa Stowe. Among the adult soloists is Carol Moranti, who has a beautiful voice, said Rev. Jones. Choir members Jim and Sue Ulrich also perform with Ars Choralis in Kingston.
Usually the annual Christmas concert is performed during the worship service, but Rev. Jones explained, “This year we decided to have it in the afternoon, so people who like Christmas music can come, in addition to attending their own services at other churches.” All are welcome to attend. The church is located just east of the Olive Firehouse No. 2 on Route 28 in Shokan.
Meanwhile, the community chorus organized by locally based opera singer Maria Todaro sang carols as part of the annual Shandaken Theatrical Society Christmas show on December 13. Following the rousing success of the choral performance at this summer’s Opera in the Park fundraiser, Todaro has made the community chorus an ongoing project. The group of 30 to 40 local residents, both experienced performers and novice singers, rehearses weekly at the STS Playhouse in Phoenicia and expects to give shows several times a year.

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