Culver, Herald re-elected to top of school board

WEBUTUCK — At last week’s July 6 annual reorganization meeting, the Webutuck Central School District swore in a new Board of Education (BOE) member and a new superintendent. The board then voted on which members would hold the titles of president and vice president.

Joanne Boyd is the newest member of the Board of Education, although she has served as a trustee in the past. Boyd, William McGhee and Casey Swift were winners at district elections earlier this year; McGhee was re-elected and Swift replaced an empty trustee seat and was sworn in immediately following the election.

The board then voted to re-elect Dale Culver as its president and Joe Herald as its vice president. Culver received five out of seven votes; Boyd and Swift both nominated McGhee for president. Herald received four out of seven votes for vice president; Boyd, Swift and Joe Matteo voted for Boyd.

Also at the meeting, Steven Schoonmaker officially became Webutuck’s permanent superintendent. There have been three superintendents since Richard Johns left the district just before the 2009-10 school year started; all were designated as interims.

The reorganization meeting is an annual opportunity for the district to assess appointments, hire legal representation and readopt district policies, among other things. The remainder of the reorg meeting passed uneventfully, with the exception of two proposed monetary increases, one of which was voted down and the other tabled for future discussion.

The first was the establishment of short-term substitute rates. On the reorganization agenda, it was proposed that the rates increase by $5 for the first 30 days and by $10 a day for anything after that.

Several board members pointed out that Webutuck was already near the top, if not the very top, of Dutchess County school districts for paying substitute teachers.

“We’re already paying a substantial amount,� Trustee John Perotti pointed out.

Herald said that several years ago Webutuck was near the bottom of the list, and raised their rates so that the district would become more competitive in finding substitutes. But now that more people are looking for jobs, Perotti reasoned that the rates shouldn’t need to increase.

Culver said the issue could also be revisited at a later date, and that with the state’s budget still unresolved, including the amount of aid Webutuck will be receiving, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep expenses down wherever possible. The entire board was in agreement to not increase the rates.

The second issue came with the possibility of raising the school’s lunch rates. The rates would only increase slightly, but as Perotti said, “families have difficulties already and I think it would be wise to keep it the same as the past.�

The motion was tabled until financial information about last year’s cafeteria operations can be made available.

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