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Former Interim Principal, Todd Crandall, took off his principal’s hat and put on his Executive Director of the Chautauqua County School Boards Association hat to address the Westfield Academy and Central School Board of Education at their meeting this month.
Crandall, who became well acquainted with WACS school board members during his time as Interim Middle and Secondary School Principal, told board members that he will be making presentations to all boards in Chautauqua County. “We want boards across the county to know that they are not working in isolation,” he said.
All 19 schools in Chautauqua County, including Erie 2 – Chautauqua – Cattaraugus County BOCES, are currently members of the Chautauqua County School Boards Association, Crandall said. “Your own Wendy Dyment is 1st Vice President of our Executive Committee,” he said.
Crandell noted the executive board meets in the summer to make plans for the coming school year. “The executive board meets in July and we come up with programs for the entire year,” he said. “In September, we will have a program on AI.”
The CCSBA supports the boards in every way possible and provides information on many relevant topics, Crandall said. “In October, the Assistant Commissioner of NYSED will come to our meeting and talk about the “Portrait of a Graduate,” he said.
Crandall described additional events that are planned for the coming year, noting that the dinners are BOCES aidable. “So, if a dinner costs $40, aid is available through BOCES,” he said.
In addition to offering programs for board members, the CCSBA voices the opinions of its members on legislation or other matters, Crandall said. “We practice direct advocacy,” he said. “I write letters to politicians on behalf of the school boards.”
Crandall gave examples of the politicians to whom he has written letters, such as state Assemblyman Andrew Molitor; U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Gov. Kathy Hochul. He noted that this advocacy is often very successful, as in the case of delaying the mandate for all electric fleets of buses.
Crandall said that one of the areas that is of great concern is SNAP benefits, noting that the CCSBA is non-partisan. “We work hard to educate and not promote an agenda, but taking away SNAP benefits hurts children,” he said. “Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or neither, you can see that low-income families need help from the supplemental nutrition assistance program.”
Another example of direct advocacy that was successful was making sure schools in Chautauqua County did not lose state aid. “No district got less aid this year than they did last year,” he said. “We pushed back when Governor Hochul wanted to significantly cut foundation aid and remove the ‘hold harmless’ provision that guaranteed districts would not receive less Foundation Aid than the previous year.”
In other business, the new Middle and Secondary School Principal Andrea Marsh reported that the district is using a program called Parent Square to facilitate communications with families. “We get immediate feedback on message delivery and how it was opened or if the message failed to send,” she said. “The majority of our families are still using the e-mail notification option. We are working to increase the number of app users.”
In her report to the board, Elementary Principal Molly Anderson said that, in pre-K through grade 5, there are 18 new families with 31 new students enrolled for the coming year. She also reported that the PBIS committee has met multiple times “to refresh our plan and make exciting adjustments for the upcoming school year.”
In matters of personnel, board members approved Kylie Sikorski, RN to complete 50 volunteer hours within the school nurse’s office from Aug. 31 through Dec. 15.
The board also approved the creation of an HIV/AIDS advisory committee. The eight members of the committee includes representatives from the board of education, faculty members, school counselors, a nurse, a community member/parent and a local pastor.