Shelter Island School colleagues honor Jacki Dunning: New cellphone policy implemented

School District Clerk Jacki Dunning, Shelter Island School’s Employee of the Month for September, was genuinely and happily surprised.

There to celebrate at the Board of Education meeting last week were her husband Kevin and son Matthew.

She wasn’t named because of her absence from the district for the past year in her long fight with metastatic melanoma. Instead it was because of the respect and admiration her colleagues have for her. There were more than a few tears among those in the room when Ms. Dunning was announced as the Employee of the Month.

Colleagues readily stepped up to cover her responsibilities while still carrying their own, keeping her seat warm until she could return. “It was her determination to be here for the staff and students,” said Todd Gulluscio, Director of Athletics, Physical Education, Health, Wellness and Personnel.

A parade of administrators and staff expressed their admiration for Ms. Dunning. She told the Reporter after the meeting that she never expected to be rewarded for just being who she is.

CELL PHONES

Turning to its regular business, the Board of Education presented five policies for a second reading and ultimate adoption.

Perhaps the policy that gains the most attention from students was codifying a ban on cellphone use during instructional classes. The Island was among the first in the region to ban use in one class at the request of social studies teacher Peter Miedema.

A couple of years ago, he banned them in his classroom and students complied, but some weren’t pleased by the ban. Ultimately, more teachers expressed interest in joining Mr. Miedema in implementing bans and now a formal policy exists banning all cellphone use for students in kindergarten through grade five.

Students in upper grades aren’t allowed to use their cellphones in classes unless they are given explicit directions to use them for instructional purposes. Otherwise, they must turn in their phones at the start of a class and retrieve them when the class ends. They may use them passing from class to class and in the cafeteria during their lunch periods. But no pictures and recordings can be made without the permission of all involved.

Failure to follow the policy will initially result in a warning to the student. A second offense will result in notification to parents. From there, infractions can result in confiscating of the phone to be returned to the student or parent at the end of the day.

Ongoing use when banned will result in a student being banned from bringing a cellphone to school and could result in added penalties, including detention, suspension or expulsion from school.

A second new policy pertains to providing private space and time for new mothers to be able to breast feed their infants.

Three other policies are provisions for adoption of annual budgets, leave of absence regulations and records management.

All policies are posted to the school website.

CAFETERIA PRICES

There are new cafeteria prices set for adults with breakfast meals dropping from $3.75 to $2.95 and lunches raised from $4.51 to $5.25.

New menus and personnel at the cafeteria are resulting in increased purchase of food, said Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D.

Mr. Gulluscio will report on the initial spike in meal sales in October. He said at the September meeting sales during the first week of school showed increases in sales.

ADMINISTRATORS’ REPORTS

Mr. Doelger reported on the smooth opening of school and first week activities that he said got the new school year off to a great start.

Mr. Gulluscio announced the district has for the ninth consecutive year been named by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association a School of Distinction.

In addition to a series presented in conjunction with Shelter Island Police and the School dealing with opioid addiction, Sgt. Rando and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Officer Sean Clark will be presenting lessons to 6th and 10th grade health class students on opioid addiction. Shelter Island was one of the first schools in the state to implement the DARE program.

Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Rylott said that she expects to be able to release state test scores in October that are currently embargoed.

She also noted she and guidance counselor Alyssa Prior were scheduled to attend a forum on new graduation requirements and she will be reporting on that next month.