With some $6,000 less money raised due to pandemic challenges, the 2022 senior class had to take their dream trips down a notch.
After slightly more lavish possibilities of visiting Boston or Cleveland, the class has put forth two options that better meet budget constraints, Batavia High School special education teacher Lorraine Gammack says.
“We don’t have a lot of money because of COVID,” Gammack said during this week’s school board meeting. “In a class budget, a senior class typically has $10,000 at this point. We’re just $50 shy of $4,000; that’s a big deficit.”
Class President Mackenzie Lavrey reviewed the two choices made by class vote after floating the suggested ideas for a trip to Boston ($700 a person) or Cleveland (just over $600 each). Both of those trips were deemed too expensive, Gammack said. She in turn thought that a three-day visit to Allegany State Park was a great one, given that she has taken students there before.
Due to the vast expanse of property, Gammack wanted to have a bus that could take some kids to destination spots, such as Quaker Lake, once they were at the park, but that wasn’t feasible with the current budget, she said.
Despite the shortage of funds — or perhaps because of them — a Connect Kids to Parks grant program could potentially pay for nearly everything, she said. The grant would cover everything from a Dumpster service to laser tag activity. The trip is tentatively slated for June 15, 16, and 17 at a park facility with two dormitory complexes, a classroom, picnic pavilion, and activities of swimming, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and laser tag.
The trip cost is “super affordable,” she said, at “$100 per student.” The grant is in progress, she said. There would be one chaperone for every eight students and meals will be on a creative budget, such as the beach party dinner one evening with district personnel doing some of the cooking.
One caveat so far is that the facilities have a limit of 34 boys and 33 girls for the class of 164 students, with 38 girls and 10 boys being signed up so far, she said.
Dormitories are large and could accommodate both boys and girls in one building if necessary.
“The dorms have an east and a west end,” she said. “We could make it work.”
The board gave preliminary approval for the trip, and a second one-day excursion to Conesus Lake, tentatively set for June 6.
Other approvals included:
- A 2020 capital project to expand outdoor amenities at Jackson Primary School by knocking down 245 Liberty St., a former bakery donated to the district in 2017. The plan is to create additional parking and green spaces, and a pedestrian walkway adjacent to Jackson Primary School.
- A resolution that supports the state Senate bill S7600 regarding cyberbullying. This amended bill establishes that “any person who knowingly engages in a repeated course of cyberbullying of a minor is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by a period of imprisonment not to exceed one year, or both.” (See related article, "City schools trustees back proposed cyberbullying law.")
- The purchase of portable two-way radios as part of public safety communications in school buildings. The price to buy the radios from Saia Communications Inc. is $41,277.22.
- A proposed baseball trip to Florida. (See related article, "Spring baseball trip a go for Batavia City Schools’ athletes.")
- A revised emergency roof repair plan from Campus Construction Management and the proposed bid from Spring Sheet Metal and Roofing, LLC for Batavia High School.
Top photo: From Allegany State Park website
