The reorganization of the Board of Education (BOE) took place at 6:30 on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. Mr. Pete Castellano, Ms. Mary Ann Spiker, and Mr. Theodore Pugliese were sworn in as BOE members.  Mr. John (Jack) Haines lost to Mr. Pugliese by 35 votes for the BOE seat. The HSA would like to express our appreciation to Mr. Haines for his 6 years of service.

Certification of the budget results and the public referendum question also occurred. The budget passed with 1366 yes votes and 1031 no votes. The referendum question to which the state will pay 58% of the total costs passed 1612 to 887. Total votes for the budget were 2397 while 2499 voted on the referendum.

Mr. Galvin was re-elected as President of the BOE and Ms. Dilley will remain as the Vice-Presidents.

The BOE went into closed session and the public BOE meeting was started a little after 8 that night. After the flag salute and the minutes were approved, President Galvin went out of order. He turned the meeting over to Dr. Heery who read his letter of retirement, effective 1/5/2009, to the public. It was an emotional time for Dr. Heery, the BOE and members of the public in attendance.

It was then on to the Superintendent’s Report. Dr. Heery expressed his gratitude to the public for passing the budget and the referendum. He was especially appreciative as this would be his last budget. He then announced that a science teacher at Fernwood Middle School, Mr. David Crawford, received the National 2008 US EPA Quality Award and will be honored in New York City on Friday, April 25.

In the Public Portion of the BOE meeting, the President of the EHT High School Lacrosse Booster Club presented the club’s share for Lacrosse of $15,000. One of the 1^st time players spoke about how much Lacrosse has meant to him and thanked the BOE for making Lacrosse possible. He was followed by Mr. Jack Haines who stated that he was proud to be a BOE member who played a part in bringing the sport to about 170 students between the Boys and Girls Lacrosse Teams.

It was announced by a spokesperson for the EHT Education Association that the retirement dinner will be held on 5/2 for any BOE members wishing to attend.

The student representatives, Rhett Williamson and Yaser Khalid, reported that there is to be a Coffee House Benefit for Nick Santoro at the High School on 5/2, South Pacific was being performed April 23 though the 26^th, Walk for Babies (March of Dimes) on 4/27, Mr. EHT on 5/9 and on 5/10 will be a concert to benefit Das Fur. They also announced at the 64^th Key Club National convention, that our EHT Key Club brought home the Diamond Award which is the highest given.

In Personnel:

·        Ms. Kathleen Lowry, Grade 5 at Miller, will be on maternity/child rearing leave beginning 9/2/08 and will return9/1/09.

·        Ms. Sarah Lenko, Davenport Library, extended her child rearing leave to the 08/09 school year and is to return Sept. 09.

·        Ms. Lauren Cooke, Title 1 at Davenport revised her medical leave from 4/16 to 6/30/08.

·        Ms. Diana Snow, Phy. Ed. at Slaybaugh and Davenport, also revised her medical leave from 4/21 to 9/2/08.

·        Ms. Luana Becker, Spanish at the High School, will retire, effective 7/1/08.

·        Ms. Nancy A. Egan, Alder Ave. Middle School 8^th grade Science teacher is to retire, effective7/1/08.

·        Dr. Philip Heery, Superintendent, is retiring, effective 1/5/09.

In the month of May, the BOE meetings will be held at 8 PM in the Alder Ave. Middle School BOE room on the 13^th and 27^th. At this time, I’m unaware of any scheduled work sessions open to the public.