Busing an issue for Catholic school parents
Shelter Island School Academic Administrator Jennifer Rylott was among six faculty members who received tenure from the Board of Education at its meeting Monday night. Also on the agenda was a busing issue.
It was a celebratory Board of Education meeting Monday night as six faculty members were granted tenure. But interrupting the festivities was a complaint from parents whose Shelter Island children attend Our Lady of the Hamptons Regional Catholic School.
Last month, the parents got a turndown on their request to have the Shelter Island School District cover the costs of transporting the students to the Southampton school that is beyond the 15-mile limit set by the state for mandatory transportation as long as parents of students within that radius notify the school district of the need by a specific date.
By state law, any transportation of students to schools outside the district must be within a 15-mile radius or submitted to a public referendum for approval of the expenditure. The parents maintain it is only a fraction of a mile beyond the 15-mile radius the state sets as the limit without a public referendum.
The turndown came on the advice of district lawyers who said the application the parents had submitted was incomplete because it lacked the exact figure on the mileage and information about the cost. A referendum would require that voters have detailed information on the ballot for approval of the transportation.
Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik said he received a call on the Friday before the Monday deadline and tried to reach a bus company for information on costs, but no one was in the office. By Monday, when he said he first received the actual request from the parents, on the advice of counsel, he advised the Board of Education to reject the request because the petition lacked information needed to place it on the ballot.
Mr. Skuggevik during Monday night’s meeting this week had said he received the petition on Friday, but corrected that after the meeting when he had an opportunity to check his records.
Under this year’s law, a petition for a referendum would have to be completed 30 days prior to the vote to ensure placement on the ballot. Next year, under state law, that 30 days becomes 60, Mr. Skuggevik told the parents Monday.
TENURE
The six faculty members who received tenure were secondary school English teacher James Bocca; secondary school English teacher Lynne Colligan; elementary school teacher Michael Cox; special education teacher Debra Sears; secondary school mathematics teacher James Theinert; and Academic Administrator Jennifer Rylott. .
“We’re more lucky than you are to have you all here,” board member Mark Kanarvogel told the newly tenured staff members.
Board member Elizabeth Melichar said the six had earned tenure and her colleague Marilynn Pysher told them they are “an incredible group of educators.”
Frank Emmett, who is retiring at the end of the school year, told the six that gaining tenure meant embracing the teachers “as part of our family.”
In other business, the Board of Education:
• Named Olivia Garrison as the 2015 class valedictorian and Tommy Card as the salutatorian.
• Adopted changes to the sports and athletic policy providing terms under which seventh and eighth grade students may qualify to play on interscholastic teams typically organized for senior high school students.
All provisions of the policy are on the school website.
