Education

Shelter Island Board of ED bids farewell to Gessner, Pysher

Dr. Stephen Gessner
Dr. Stephen Gessner

Monday was a night to say goodbye to retiring Board of Education members Stephen Gessner and Marilynn Pysher, both of whom chose not to seek reelection.Dr. Gessner has served on the Board for six years, four as its president while Ms. Pysher was elected in 2012.

In announcing his decision, he said he thought it was time for some new blood on the board and that his work as an educational consultant would require more travel prohibiting the time needed for another full term.

Marilynn Pysher
Marilynn PysherMs. Pysher said she wanted more time in retirement to tackle new challenges.

Board member Elizabeth Melichar recalled first meeting Dr. Gessner when he served on a shared decision-making team and said she had been  impressed with his knowledge and dedication.

She told Ms. Pysher it had been a pleasure working with her, both professionally and personally.

Mark Kanarvogel thanked Dr. Gessner for “teaching me to be a better board member.”

Board Vice President Thomas Graffagnino thanked Ms. Pysher for her work and effort in putting the Communities That Care program on the board’s radar.

“It’s going to be tough losing you,” he said to Dr. Gessner.

Similar sentiments came from board member Linda Eklund.

“This is a terrific board,” Dr. Gessner said. He thanked Mr. Graffagnino “who has been a real partner” as board vice president.

Ms. Pysher said that while she was stepping aside, she would expect to be coming to meetings from time to time and continuing to work on programs to benefit students.

New Board members Susan Binder and Kathleen Lynch, who were elected to three-year terms in May, will be sworn in at the July 1 reorganization meeting.

There was lots of good news from guidance teacher Martha Tuthill about the graduating class of 12. Ten are going on to four-year colleges; one is joining the Marine Corps; and the other has a job lined up in marine mechanics.

Of the students who applied to colleges, there were 50 acceptances and only 9 negative responses, but most students applied to between six to eight schools. Three are wait-listed at schools.

The classes overall grade point average is 86.82, Ms. Tuthill said.

She promised to return to the Board with comparative numbers for the past two years.

Ms. Tuthill also talked about the early progress a committee has made in creating an Academic Hall of Fame that will use $300 contributed by the Shelter Island Faculty Association. the funds will be for name plaques of valedictorians and salutatorians of past classes and larger plaques for the 2015 class valedictorian and salutatorian.

Ms. Pysher voted against the  eighth grade class Disney Youth Education Trip. The trip in November will take place as the rest of the board approved it, but Ms. Pysher said it sends a bad message to a community where many people have limited resources and requires students to spend a lot of time fundraising.

“I just don’t think it’s our responsibility to teach them how to travel,” she said.

Ms. Melichar argued that students learn a great deal about planning, handling money, developing social skills and other valuable lessons.

In other business, the Board:

• Approved appointments for the summer school program.

• Adopted a revised policy affecting petitions to put propositions on a ballot for a public referendum. It increases from 30 to 60 the number of days prior to an election to submit information necessary to getting it on the ballot.

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