The ‘snow day that wasn’t’ in Granville

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It snowed quite heavily and quite quickly on Monday morning, Jan. 23, and schools around many parts of Washington and Warren counties either delayed two hours or closed.

That is except the Granville School District.

It ran on schedule and encountered numerous problems. The right rear wheels of one bus slid into a ditch and several others reportedly became stuck. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Numerous faculty and staff called out and a significant portion of the student population was kept home that day by their parents. Of course, social media lit up like a Christmas tree.

So why did this happen?

At the Monday, Feb.6, meeting of the Granville Board of Education, superintendent Tom McGurl said it was his decision, and alluding to the colloquialism that “hindsight is 20-20,” admitted if he had to do it all over again, he would have made a different decision.

He explained that when he checked with the area Departments of Public Works, around 5 a.m., the roads were not bad. He also stated he must make the decision whether to close or delay by 5:30 a.m. when the first buses are ready to roll. He then indicated that once buses are on the street, they cannot turn around and drop students back home, as there is no guarantee parents may still be there to let them back in.

As to the social media Christmas tree, one might have expected a large public turnout at the school board meeting to complain, but in reality there were only two people who spoke about that morning, and in both cases they were simply looking for more information as to how and why the decision to stay open was made.

Code of Conduct

The issue that required the most time to discuss at the January board meeting was the new Code of Conduct and in particular some changes made to the existing code. The underlying theme of the discussion that evening was keeping students in school whenever possible, including the use of referrals, counseling and Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) petitions.

Safety concerns included cell phones and backpacks. The code bans the use of cell phones during class time and restricts backpacks to lockers except in certain situations.

The board voted unanimously to accept the amended code.

Employee costs

There are some costs employees incur in the line of employment that board feels they should not have to bear. One of those is finger-printing, which is generally $118.75 per. Board member John Troy indicated Granville is one of the only districts within the BOCES sphere of influence that does not cover these costs, something he says also puts the district at a competitive disadvantage in the recruiting process. The board agreed and voted to assume these costs from now on.

Coaches are also getting some economic relief with the board agreeing to pay all initial coaching costs upfront, with non-staff coaches required to sign a three-year commitment letter.

Other news and notes

Board members agreed to raise the Vermont student tuition rates from $10,000 to $10,700 annually, an increase the State of Vermont has agreed to pay. A request by the Truthville Academy to rent a bus for one day in March was tabled for further discussion. A senior high band trip to Philadelphia for mid-May was approved.

The board accepted the resignations of three members of the educational staff for the purpose of retirement. They are Heather Loomis, James Gilman and Ann O’Brien. School nurse Lindsay Short is also retiring.

The bid from Ganon Contracting for masonry work at the Junior/Senior High school was accepted and the contract for interim high school Principal Beecher Baker was approved for the years 2023 through 2025. Cara Talmadge was hired as the Director of Pupil Personnel Services, and the board accept a $1,000 donation from the Masons’ Lodge for the Trap Club.