FULTON – The Fulton City School District Board of Education met last night and discussed reopening policies, enrollment and updates within the district.
During his report, Superintendent Brian Pulvino said new district staff toured the schools, and there will be school readiness visitations September 1 and September 2.
In regards to the year-end summary of the district’s finances, Director of Finance Kathy Nichols, said the district does not yet have a draft of the 2021 audit, but expects to get something from the audit firm in the next few weeks.
Nichols said the district underspent the budget, primarily due to the self-funded health care having a “better year,” and said the district was fiscally conservative this year.
Pulvino then discussed reopening.
“Our reopening update has not changed from August 11, however, this afternoon, the new governor did say a couple of things, and in those areas that she talked about, she is going to work with and direct the New York State Department of Health that there will be a universal mask mandate in all schools Pre-K through 12,” Pulvino said.
He said the state health department will be sending out clear guidance and the district will match what it has in place, make any necessary adjustments and convey that update to the board, staff and students.
“There’s a lot of things that we need to work through as we digest the information that comes out in the next couple of days and couple of weeks,” Pulvino said.
He said he is trying to make the best decision to make sure all of the district students are in school everyday, and to get the district’s literacy data back to where it was in January 2020.
Pulvino then gave an update on enrollment numbers in the district.
There are 126 seats in Pre-K, and there are 114 currently enrolled, with more anticipated. He said the district is considering opening another Pre-K class, and said transportation is available for those students this year.
The current enrollment numbers are as follows:
Pre-K: 114
K through 6: 1,616
Junior High: 518
G. Ray Bodley: 946
Total Pre-K through 12: 3,194
He then broke down the numbers for the east side and west side elementary schools, and for grades 7 through 12.
Additionally, homeschooled students were included – in 2020-2021 there were 158 students being homeschooled, and this school year there are 108, which lines up with the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school year numbers.
Pulvino also gave an overview on the district’s Capital Improvement, specifically the Energy Performance Contract update. The district is working to replace lighting, seal windows and doors, HVAC controls optimization, replace boilers, steam trap work, pool cover at Granby, cooling tower upgrade at the junior high, and lighting and carpeting in the GRB auditorium.
Lastly, Pulvino said in regards to hiring a safety patrol officer, the resolution could not be voted on that night because memorandum of understanding is still with the city of Fulton, and so he would like to add a special board meeting to vote on it to make sure the officer could start at the beginning of the school year.
The board then moved on to the agenda and approved all items, which can be found here. Finally, the board members provided comments and questions for the superintendent during their board forum.
During public forum at the beginning of the meeting, Fulton residents gave their input on face masks in school. That story can be found here. The full meeting can be viewed here.
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