Blue Ridge assessing student needs

BY STACI WILSON

Although manyBlue Ridgestudents were impacted by the recent flooding attendance for the first day of school was high, the district’s two principals told the board at the Sept. 13 meeting.

High School Principal Matthew Nebzydoski said the high attendance rate “speaks to the resiliency of the students. It’s a credit to the children and their families that less than a week into it (the disaster) the students have returned to school ready to learn.”

Students were slated to return to school on Thursday, Sept. 8 and lost three days of class before the term even started.

The board, however, did not move to revise the school calendar at the meeting.

Superintendent Bob McTiernan offered a “well deserved thank you” to those who helped the school open successfully on Sept. 13.

McTiernan said bus contractors and the transportation department worked to check the accessibility of the roads.

Some roads remained closed in the district and buses were temporarily rerouted to pick up students.

SomeBlue Ridgestudents were also being housed in the disaster shelter at the Montrose Bible Conference during the first week of classes.

Board president Alan Hall said the district provided transportation to and from school for those students.

The school had also been open for use as an emergency shelter until Saturday, Sept. 10.

The board thanked the maintenance department for getting the facility back in shape for opening day.

Thanks were also offered to the district cafeteria director Linda Cole-Koloski and her staff who prepared and served meals while the shelter was in operation at the school; and to the county sheriff’s department for handling a few issues that came up while the shelter was in operation.

Hall did not elaborate on what those issues were.

With many district families affected by the flood, teachers are in the process of assessing the clothing needs of students.

District employees help funnel clothing donations to the First Baptist Church in Hallstead and the New Milford United Methodist Church to be distributed to those in need.

Although the bulk of the meeting’s discussion dealt with disaster, the board also quickly dealt with the few agenda items before breaking to enjoy homemade soup prepared by Koloski for the meeting.

Tenure was granted to Michelle Allen, April Berger, Danelle Decker, Sarah Dibble, Jonothan Sayre and Brian Woodruff.

The board also accepted a retirement notice from Laurie Bovencamp, which was effective June 10, 2011.

Leave requests were granted to Adele Kryger and Joan Haskins.