Solving school buses for

Reservation will take time   

by Richard Westlund

     At the Oct. 5 meeting of the Gowanda Board of Education, District Superintendent Charles Rinaldi updated everyone on the hurdles involved in getting school busing for children on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, since Carrier Coach has been denied access. Three school districts plus the Seneca Nation and New York State are all involved. Apparently they all want the same thing.

     Albany insists that all three school districts must agree. The problem isn’t getting agreement of the parties, but even with agreement, there are many bureaucratic hoops that must be jumped through in Albany. There are many offices that must review and approve the whole affair. This will undoubtedly take some time.

     In the meantime, while the school district cannot finance the transportation of school children from the reservation, Rinaldi stated that the Seneca Nation is reimbursing the school its costs for the transportation until the situation can be finalized.

     Rinaldi congratulated high school Principal Kimberly Moritz and her staff, as he displayed a “High Performance Gap Closing Award” received by the high school from the state. The award recognizes the faster-than-average rate that the Gowanda High School has closed the gap between its performance levels as opposed to state-expected performance levels.

     Once again Rinaldi summarized the capital expenditure project to be voted on Nov. 7. He said a mailing covering all phases of the two projects will be in the hands of the residents by Oct. 20 or 21. There will then be a public meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at which any questions will be answered. The vote then will be on Nov. 7. The project is not expected to impact school taxes.

     District Clerk Tana Troke reminded everyone that school taxes paid by Oct. 11 would not be penalized, but after that date there will be a late penalty.

     In other matters, the board:

   •  Approved the following election workers for the Nov. 7 election: Chief Election Inspector Jody Shaw; Election inspectors: Carol Hoppa, Tracey Genske, Margaret Hojnacki, Ruth Rohrich, Carol Long and Peggy Ann Taylor; and Stephen Rosen as custodian of the voting machines.
   •  Appointed Jill Ryan to tenure area of instrumental music teacher, probation to begin Oct. 6, 2005 and run until Oct. 6, 2008.
   •  Appointed Lynette Lange, Tiffany Rogers, Ann Swartwood, Angela Bukoskey and Christina Elvin as substitute teachers, effective Oct. 6.
   •  Appointed Tiffany Rogers, Angela Bukoskey, Ann Swartwood and Christina Elvin as substitute teaching assistants, effective Oct. 6.
   •  Appointed Kimberly Tebo as substitute teaching assistant, substitute cleaner, substitute food service worker and substitute office worker, effective Oct. 6.
   •  Approved Annaliese Farley as a part-time bus monitor, effective Oct. 6.
   •  Approved Scott Strohmeyer as part-time study hall monitor, effective Oct. 6.

     The next regular meeting of the Gowanda Central School Board of Education will be on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria.