FULTON – The Fulton City School District Board of Education met virtually last night and discussed opportunities for students and safety efforts to be implemented.
Chief of Operations and Innovation Dominick Lisi highlighted a new esports program in the district. The competitive organized gameplay high school team will face other teams both locally and nationally. Lisi said he hopes to start the program this summer for grades 9 through 12 and then expand it to middle school students in the fall.
“The real success is that it is an inclusive program that engages students who might not otherwise participate in school athletics or extracurricular activities,” Lisi said. “The benefit is in the teamwork, the collaboration, the critical thinking, but doing it with things that they already enjoy and are already doing.”
Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics Christopher Ells reported on the Fall 2 sports season (March 1 through April 19), which included football, cheerleading, volleyball, soccer, cross country and girls tennis.
Ells said the boys and girls soccer teams, boys and girls cross country teams, and girls tennis team were all recognized as scholar athlete teams by the state. Also, the volleyball team earned All League awards.
In regards to participation on these teams, Ells said other school districts struggled to get enough players, whereas Fulton’s numbers mostly lined up with numbers from previous years. A total of 258 students participated in school athletics for the Fall 2 season.
Director of Human Resources and Student Services Geri Geitner then presented to the board the district’s implementation of Erin’s Law, which requires public schools to teach child sexual abuse and exploitation prevention classes to students grades K through 8. New York is the 37th state to enact this law.
For K through 6 students, their classroom teacher is responsible for this education, with support from school counselors, social workers or other trained professionals. For students in grades 7 and 8, it is embedded in their health education classes, along with those same supports.
Geitner went through the different lesson objectives that go along with this education program and the timeline of how it was implemented in the district. Instruction begins this month.
Superintendent Brian Pulvino then gave an overview on learning opportunities for students at all grade levels this summer. The summer learning program will be a summer camp-style program Monday through Friday, with transportation and meals provided at no cost to families. The programs are meant to help with learning gaps resulting from the pandemic. There will be multiple sessions available for students during the summer.
Pulvino also gave an update on the School Safety and Security Committee, which was implemented last September. He said each committee member unanimously recommended the district partner with a School Patrol Officer affiliated with the Fulton City Police Department.
In regards to the budget update, Pulvino reminded community members they may vote on the budget and board member election on Tuesday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Fulton War Memorial. There will also be more information about the federal stimulus at the board’s first June meeting.
The full agenda and its documents for the meeting can be found here.
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