OSWEGO – The Oswego City School District Board of Education met last night, Tuesday December 7, with only board member Pamela Dowd absent.
The meeting was live streamed on WBUC, and a few interested parties attended the meeting in person. District Superintendent Dr. Mathis Calvin III and the board began the evening’s proceedings by convening an executive session to discuss personnel issues.
The public portion of Tuesday evening’s meeting began with a report from the board’s student representative Zachary DeMott. DeMott stated that the staff and administration have been working really hard to get the hallway behavior under control, and he thanked them for that from a student perspective.
“We have been shifting back to a more comfortable atmosphere,” DeMott said.
DeMott also thanked the staff for positive changes made in the cafeteria seating arrangements with regard to easing the contact tracing process.
The board then voted to approve a revision of the 2021-2022 instructional calendar and discussed the board’s plans to visit all of the district’s buildings in a timely manner.
The next item on the agenda was the superintendent’s report, and Calvin congratulated students throughout the district for achieving academic honors. Calvin mentioned upcoming concerts and performances, and thanked the teachers for their contributions to these events.
The Lady Bucs swimming team was congratulated for finishing the season on a high note, finishing 15th in the state.
Calvin then noted that the budget process is still underway, having upcoming meetings with budget builders scheduled before December 30. Calvin announced that the P-tech program’s funding grant will expire at the end of this year, and he outlined several possible pathways to access funds to keep this program moving forward. 24 students in the District participate in this program.
Speaking to an issue that is always of great concern to the taxpaying community, Calvin stated that expected state funding would hopefully result in a 0% tax increase for next year.
Calvin shared that the district had been receiving calls regarding the current state of emergency pertaining to Oswego Hospital announced by the mayor’s office, and assured those concerned that this situation did not affect the school district’s operations.
The superintendent reiterated his statement from the November board meeting, that the district may “pause” some operations if the COVID-19 infection rate increases.
Continuing the conversation initiated at the November board meeting and previous to that, Calvin then presented the board with more information regarding the prospect of hiring three new administrators. He stated that these new positions were necessary to assist the district in reaching goals pertaining to increasing student performance. Calvin feels that a director of ELA, a director of math, and an assistant director for business are needed for the district to make improvements in these critical areas.
“Additional staffing is needed to reach our goals, we are at a time that we need both instructional and administrative support to really help us to move forward with some of those goals that are there,” Calvin said.
Calvin then displayed several charts that represented student performance graphically. The bar graphs indicated a dip in performance in several areas over a span of school years.
“COVID-19 has created additional learning loss and gaps,” Calvin said.
Calvin noted that the data was affected by a strong ‘opt out ‘ movement regarding state testing. He said that some current administrators are responsible for 40-50 tasks.
“The district is struggling to move forward, really due to lack of proper oversight and staffing,” Calvin said. “We need some help.”
Calvin reported that the business office is dealing with an over $90 million budget, and working through a $63 million capital improvement project.
The board voted and passed the resolution 5-1, with Dr. James McKenzie casting the lone vote against the measure. The board voted to pass items a-e on the consent agenda, as well as approving the personnel appointments. The board approved two budget transfers, for bus expenses and to replace a ‘desperately needed’ computer server.
In closing the meeting, Board President Heather DelConte thanked the board for engaging in polite discourse and for taking their roles “incredibly seriously.”
“We may see things differently from time to time, but I really appreciate every single person on this board and what you bring,” DelConte said.
The agenda for the meeting can be found here.
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