by Richard Westlund

     The Gowanda School District had planned an election for Nov. 9 to elect a replacement on the board of education for Don Tew, who upon being elected to a three-year term in May, had to resign as he left the area. As there have been no petitions submitted by anyone interested in running for the office, there will be no election. The board of education will appoint someone to fill the vacancy until June 30, 2005. The referendum planned for the same election concerning the purchase of three new buses will not be affected.

     Music Department Chairperson Cindy Ripley addressed the board of education, giving them highlights on the trip planned to Atlanta, GA for a number of students to participate in a Junior Theater Festival. They will be presenting a portion of their show, “The Jungle Book” at the festival along with other schools from across the land. The festival will be held during Martin Luther King week in January. The presentation will be viewed and adjudicated by a panel that will then offer a constructive critique to the students.

     Ripley said that Gowanda, having been one of the original six pilot schools to participate in the program which now involves 10,000 schools, with its production of “Annie” a number of years ago, has been well treated and was offered a $2,500 scholarship from the program to assist in the coming trip to Atlanta. She is now working to gain further financial support for the students’ trip with appeals to corporations and other business sources.

     Trudy Jackson addressed the board regarding the Seneca Nation’s sending Evan Luke, Barbara Cook, Presley Redeye and Elyse Logan to a Tribal Youth Council at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. as a part of leadership training for the involved youths. There were representatives there from just about every Native American tribe plus indigenous peoples from other nearby countries. Evan Luke was with her and spoke to the board telling them of his experiences in Washington.

     In other matters, the board:

   •  Approved the contract with the Management Advisory Group Business Operations to provide Medicaid filing services.
   •  Established a probationary period for Kimberly Moritz, the new high school principal, to begin Oct. 18, 2004 and end Oct. 18, 2007.
   •  Appointed Peter Schrader as substitute teacher, effective Oct. 21.
   •  Amended the minutes of the Oct. 6 meeting to approve the appointment of Sharon Mansfield as school bus monitor, with a probationary period of 12 weeks, and the appointment of Charlene Lincoln as a school lunch monitor with a probationary period of 26 weeks. Both appointments effective Oct. 7.
   •  Accepted the resignation of Matthew Tonello as technical assistant for the 21st Century Learning Center, effective Sept. 28.
   •  Appointed Katherine Felt as teaching assistant with a three-year probationary period beginning Oct. 21.
   •  Appointed Pamela Dispenza as substitute teaching assistant, effective Oct. 18.

     The next regular meeting of the Gowanda Central School Board of Education will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria.