Hallman revisits call for a smaller BOE

Should Shelter Island reduce its seven-member Board of Education to five?

It’s not a new topic for this board, having debated it in the past, especially when Thomas Graffagnino announced he wouldn’t run for another term. He ultimately reclaimed his seat through a write-in vote.

The subject surfaced again at the September 19 BOE meeting, as resident John Hallman questioned why such a small district needs a seven-member board, noting there are larger districts in the area that manage with five members.

Board President Stephen Gessner said he was inclined to favor a smaller board and Mr. Graffagnino said that entered his thinking last year. But Linda Eklund rejected the idea. There are too many committee meetings, most state-mandated, to be able to handle all the assignments and too many meetings would result in an inability to get a quorum, she said.

“I find it somewhat frightening to go down to five people,” she said. “I personally am concerned.”

The subject may not be dead, but it certainly appears to be off the table, at least for the foreseeable future.

In other actions, the Board of Education:

• Approved a Block Island Field Trip for students on either September 27 or October 4.

• Approved a field trip to see the Nutcracker in New York City on December 18; and La Boheme in January.

• Approved the National Honor Society’s cardboard camp out on October 26 to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. National Honor Society president Brianna Kimmelmann made the presentation to the Board.

• Agreed to look into policies other districts use with regard to reimbursements to staff members for use of their own cellphones for school business. Some carriers give a discount, at least to administrators, according to Board member Elizabeth Melichar. There’s also a question of which carriers charge flat rates for use that wouldn’t result in extra charges for work-related calls.

• Accepted contributions from Dr. Frank Kestler and Chrystyne Kestler of $600 and $250 from Kenneth Lewis Jr. to be used toward the purchase of glass for the Athletic Hall of Fame showcase; and $100 from Mr. and Mrs. Philip Snyder $100 to be used to purchase textbooks.

• Accepted a check for an undisclosed amount to offset costs of the eighth grade trip from Olympic marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson by way of thanking the students for organizing the pasta dinner the night before the 10k event in June. Dr. Hynes read a letter from the Olympian complimenting the students on how well they organized the event.

• Approved a medical leave of absence for secondary teacher Virginia Gibbs from September 9 to approximately November 1 or through to December 6, under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

• Approved a medical leave of absence for Lori Hamblet, a teacher’s aide, from September 3 to about October 11 or through to December 2, under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

• Approved a contract with Ian Kanarvogel as an adaptive physical education and health teacher and teacher aid at a combined cost of $28,913.03, retroactive to September 1.

• Approved a contract with Jose Montalvo as a night custodian at a salary of $41,687, retroactive to July 1.

• Approved mentor Lynn Green working with Kerri Knipfing at a rate of $1,500 for the school year; and Ann Marie Galasso mentoring James Theinert; Janine Mahoney mentoring Deborah Sears; Devon Treharne mentoring James Boca; and Cheryl Woods mentoring Michael Cox, all at the rate of $750 for the school year.

• Approved non-contractual salaries for Lisa Goody at $12.31 per hour and Jerome Mundy at $11.65 per hour.

• Approved substitute cafeteria workers Stephanie Tybaert and Billie Howland for the school year at $10 an hour.

• Approved Mary Kanarvogel and Mark Palios as detention monitors at a rate of $60 per period.

• Approved athletic chaperones Keith Brace, Brian Becker and Mary Kanarvogel at a rate of $90.82 per night for one game or $139.39 for two games and an extra $10 for a clock keeper chaperone.

• Approved Deborah Brewer as a hall monitor between the hours of 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. at an hourly rate of $13, retroactive to September 4.

• Approved retroactively for the summer from July 29 through August 31, Lisa Goody for extra duty assignments at the rate of $15 per hour.

• Accepted volunteer coaching services from Haley Willumsen for varsity and junior varsity girls’ volleyball, effective September 17. The appointment is pending clearance by the New York State Department of Education fingerprint initiative.

• Approved an agreement with Control Technologies of Plainview in the amount of $13,388 for maintenance and repair services of school district computer systems and equipment.

• Approved an agreement wit Cunningham Duct Cleaning Company of Bayshore in the amount of $910 for kitchen exhaust duct cleaning and for$1,350 for annual boiler cleaning.

• Appointed Elizabeth Eklund as a permanent substitute teacher at a rate of $175 per day from September 4 through about November 2. Additional substitute teachers who are certified or have at least a four-year degree and would earn $110 per day for assignments as needed are Jack Monaghan, Bruce Jennings, Jenifer Corwin, Heather Cusak and Ms. Eklund. School districts traditionally pay more for longer term substitutes that have to put more work in ongoing classes than they pay to substitutes who are called in for short-term assignments.

• Appointed to co-curricular positions for the school year Richard Osmer as athletic director for $5,408.87; Keith Brace, jazz band and school play instrumental director and sound equipment technician and trainer, at a combined salary of $4,999.19; Peter Needham as sailing club advisor at a salary of $4,642.20; John Kaasik as school play director for $4,642.20; Roberta Garris as literacy coordinator for $4,642.20; and Jason Tobias Green as advisor to the intramural running club at $1,152.81.