May 23, 2013

11/17/11 - Here's the article that was published in the Daily Gazette about the event. MORE

11/15/11 - State and federal representatives heard from students and superintendents about the impact the devastating tropical storms two months ago will have on local school systems that were already facing challenges because of rising state mandates and the state's new property tax levy cap.

Middleburgh Superintendent Michele Weaver hosted the event. Among the guests were Kenneth G. Slentz, Commissioner for the Office of P-12 Education at the State Education Department (SED); Senator James Seward; Assemblyman Pete Lopez; BOCES District Superintendent Charles Dedrick; and Sean Shortell, district director from U.S. Congressman Paul Tonko's office. Area school superintendents Christine Crowley of Duanesburg, Paul Dorward of Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Lynn Macon of Cobleskill-Richmondville and Brian Sherman of Schoharie also attended.

"All of our instructional spaces (in the high school/middle school basement) were severely impacted," Weaver told the group, noting that restoration and recovery is a long, slow process. "Today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today."

She described the five feet of mud and water that filled the utility/mechanical room, cafeteria, gymnasium and classrooms after the storms hit. The Middle School/High School, which was damaged more than any other school building in the area, sustained at least $5 million in damage and loss. The cleanup alone cost $1 million or more. The assistance of student and community volunteers shaved at least $600,000 from the cleanup cost.

The program began in the Middle School/High School library with a 30-minute video presentation that featured photos of the damage and student and staff testimonials. A tour of those spaces followed and the day concluded with a meeting of the Schoharie County area school superintendents.

Difficult and emotional start of the school year

Students Chealsa Smigiel, Courtney Paser, Julia Prendergast and Vicki Robert created the presentation with technology teacher Scott Gray and answered questions at the end of the presentation. They also led the group on the tour.

"Small towns always find a way of figuring it out - and we'll be no different," physical education teacher Gregg Johns said on the video shown by the students. He described the devastation of seeing the physical education spaces and gymnasium under five feet of water and mud.

"Everything I do is hands-on and it is so hard to do that when all I have to teach with is a computer," Gray told the group, noting that replacing equipment in his department is very expensive. "There are so many who want to help us and there is still a lot of work to be done."

The students, who had come to help during the cleanup, said this was a tough way to begin a school year. They didn't have a gymnasium, athletic fields or Distance Learning and technology classrooms. A lot of their friends were affected by the storms (though Weaver said that just five high school/middle school students moved from the area after the storm). The cleanup and partial restoration delayed the start of school by eight days.

"This is our senior year and we were excited about that," said Julia Prendergast. "We don't have a senior lounge anymore. There wasn't a lot left downtown for us. We had planned to do a lot of fundraising for our senior trip, but we can't go out into the community and ask for money when people out there need it more than us."

She said the class was grateful that the Shaul family, whose farm was severely damaged by the storm, contributed money to help the class purchase caps and gowns for graduation.

English teacher Jon Derochie, who is also the athletic director, said he was devastated by the damage to 'my gym' caused by the storm. "I refused to go in there, it hurt too much," he said. "We're coming back but there are roadblocks; we'll get around those."

He noted that the new gymnasium floor was reopened on Wednesday for student use in physical education classes and sports teams.

BOCES Superintendent Dedrick noted that the $1 million in unexpected cleanup costs amounted to about 5 percent of the district's $20 million annual budget; the $5 million in losses is equal to 20 percent of the budget. "That's a lot of money to have to take out of any budget," he added.

Difficult road ahead

The Schoharie County superintendents discussed several issues during their meeting with the state and federal representatives: the storms' impact on education, diminished tax bases, the changes in education funding, state mandates, 'functional versus operational' recoveries and the demands for higher academic standards in the face of a declining ability to raise revenue because of the state's property tax levy cap.

They described already difficult fiscal times and futures for the rural schools in the county. The storms just made matters worse.

Weaver said that about 20 percent of property owners in Middleburgh have not yet paid their school taxes this year; Sherman said Schoharie's tax collections would likely be 20-25 percent short; Macon said she expected Cobleskill-Richmondville's tax receipts to be 10 percent short. Schoharie County, which is struggling with its own budget woes in light of the state property tax levy cap, is required to reimburse the school districts for those losses.

"What happens if Schoharie County goes bankrupt?" asked Macon. "They are the ones who are supposed to make the school districts whole for taxes; how would we make that up?"

With three years of reduced state aid, the schools have been squeezed to the maximum. "If that trend (reduced state aid) continues, and on top of this, we do not have the financial ability to sustain it much longer," she added.

The superintendents discussed possible future budget impacts, such as the elimination of sports teams, teacher and staff layoffs and other budgetary reductions in light of the state mandates.

Sharing services and mandate relief

The area school districts have already been working together in many ways, such as the shared business administrator between Middleburgh and Cobleskill-Richmondville; a shared transportation supervisor between Berne-Knox-Westerlo and Schoharie; shared bus runs and equipment; and attempts at sharing teachers.

Assemblyman Lopez said the governor had promised mandate relief as part of the property tax cap legislation last year but he wasn't sure how much progress had been on that so far.

SED's Slentz said the Board of Regents has attempted to streamline and cut back on some mandates within the department. "They won't have big impacts; there is no one big hit we can do to give you a big savings," he said. "Unfortunately, it (mandate relief) will have to be done in small ways."

The superintendents also noted that the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has several rules and hurdles in order to receive damage reimbursement. For example, replacing grass sod does not qualify for FEMA funding, so damaged athletic fields are essentially not covered for storm damage. Converting to a turf field would cost millions.

Middleburgh's Weaver noted that the first FEMA meeting about the damage at Middleburgh - among the most extensive in the area - was held just two weeks ago.

Here are some photos from the events today at the Middle School/High School.
Click on the photo to enlarge it: