There likely won’t be much fanfare with the departure of Business Administrator Scott Rozanski from the city school district, despite his routine presence for two decades.

No surprise, Rozanski was the one to present the yearly budget and the potential financial trappings of bus purchases, school equipment and additional personnel.

With a name like Aidan A. Anderson, there was little doubt that the Batavia High School senior would not be first up to receive his diploma during Friday evening’s commencement ceremony at Van Detta Stadium. 

And his mom, school board member Korinne Anderson was going to be right there ready and waiting, maybe with some tissues in hand, for the big moment.

School Resource Officer Miah Stevens receives a lot of questions about what she does every day at Batavia City Schools, and the answer is simple, she says.

“We're just placed in the school. We do everything we would do on the road and more. We get to build relationships with students, we get to kind of act as counselors in certain situations,” she said during the school board’s meeting this week. 

A bomb threat about a school bus in Batavia, and a threat to “shoot up a school,” causing a lockout in all Genesee County schools.

Both of those incidents happened in just the last three weeks, and although — thankfully — they were found not to be credible — both were threats of violence involving school children and personnel. Each one stemmed from a call within the City of Batavia, and subsequent investigations found the suspects to be juveniles.

Upon recommendation from Superintendent Jason Smith, the Batavia City School District Board of Education approved the appointment of Brian Sutton Monday as the Director of Educational Technology, effective July 1, 2023.

“Brian Sutton has been a respected and impressive leader in the Batavia City School District for many years,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. “What set Brian apart for this position is his clear and compelling vision for the role both operationally and instructionally. I look forward to seeing how he transforms BCSD with his enthusiasm for education and technology.”

Mr. Sutton has served as the Principal of John Kennedy Intermediate since 2020. He previously served as Assistant Principal at Batavia Middle School and as Technology Coach in the Hilton Central School District prior to arriving in Batavia.

“I have had the distinct honor and privilege of working in leadership roles at both John Kennedy Intermediate and Batavia Middle School, where I was able to share my passion for infusing technology into instruction and preparing students with 21st-century skills. I’m thrilled to step into the district-wide role of Director of Educational Technology as I believe there are tremendous opportunities to take our district to new heights of innovation and provide new and exciting learning opportunities for staff, students, and the community,” said Brian Sutton.  

“It is critical we prepare students for our ever-changing society through teaching, computer science, and digital fluency learning standards. I am dedicated to turning over every stone to ensure that, under my leadership, our district continues to progress in both the technological and instructional aspects of education,” said Sutton. 

After a 2022 Comptroller Audit and subsequent independent Technology Department Functional Review in the fall of 2022, Jason Smith, BCSD leadership, and the Board of Education determined that hiring a Director of Educational Technology was a top priority to meet the needs of the district. Following Mr. Sutton’s appointment, he will work with the leadership team to follow up on additional items outlined in the audit and review, including equipment inventory, the re-formation of the Instructional Technology Committee, additional staff and student training, and the implementation of an overall technology curriculum.

“The Board of Education and Jason Smith took the findings of both the Comptroller Audit and resulting Technology Review and made immediate steps towards prioritizing IT needs across the district,” said John Marucci, Board of Education President. “The Director of Educational Technology is a much-needed position on our leadership team, and Brian is a wonderful choice to fill the role. He’s been an exceptional leader at John Kennedy and BMS, and I know he’ll bring his stellar work ethic to the position.”

Mr. Sutton will remain as Principal of John Kennedy Intermediate through June 30. Jason Smith and the BCSD leadership team will immediately begin the search process to name a replacement. 

Photo submitted by Batavia City Schools.

On Monday, upon recommendation from Superintendent Jason Smith, the Batavia City School District Board of Education approved the appointment of Chad Bliss as Director of Facilities III, effective June 16, 2023.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Chad Bliss as our new Director of Facilities. Chad brings more than 20 years of leadership and management experience and has a thorough understanding of the scope of operations involved in managing the facilities of a public school system. We look forward to tapping his expertise in all areas, including safety and access systems, energy management, special events, facilities, education, and athletics, as well as his knowledge of New York State codes and regulations,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. 

Mr. Bliss currently serves as the Director of Facilities for the Eden Central School District, and has served as a Construction Manager for Campus Construction Management, a firm that specializes in K-12 capital construction projects. 

“I look forward to working with the BCSD facilities team to ensure our community members take pride in the safety, cleanliness, and appearance of our buildings and grounds,” said Chad Bliss. “I am eager to get started, and I am genuinely excited to become part of the Blue Devils family.” 

“We have a BMS capital project on the horizon, which is outlined in this year’s proposed 2023-24 budget, as well as ongoing tasks to wrap up the 2020 Vision Project, including our Energy Performance Contract. It’s essential that we have dedicated leadership in place to execute these projects, and we’re confident that Chad’s project management, communication, and strategic planning skills will lead us toward success,” said Scott Rozanski, BCSD Business Administrator.

Photo submitted by Batavia City Schools.

Just as Americans across the country are eager to hit the road for post-COVID travel, Batavia City Schools staff has wanderlust in mind for student trips.

From a chorus trip to New York City and a student excursion to see the inner workings of Washington, D.C., to a competitive journey in an effort to secure a hockey championship in Albany, the trips will be up for review during the board’s meeting next week.

It’s set for 6 p.m. Monday in the Superintendent’s Conference Room at the high school, 260 State St., Batavia.

Teacher Melanie Case is proposing that the Mixed and Treble Chorus take a two-day trip in April 2023. This will give students an opportunity “to perform in a major city, to see a professional musical on Broadway and also to view major historical landmarks, providing a connection with the eighth grade social studies immigration unit,” her supporting materials state.

If approved, the students will not only see the Statue of Liberty, but also perform a cappella style (though still pending), and walk to see the 9/11 Memorial, have dinner at Margaritaville and watch a live theater performance. An estimated cost of about $420 per student is based on a minimum of 40 people registered with First Choice Educational Tours.

A Close-Up trip is proposed by Alex Veltz for six days in Washington, D.C. in March 2023. This program has given students “an in-depth look at the U.S. government and current issues" since it was formed in 1971, according to the supplemental material. Not merely a sight-seeing tour, this program offers learning experiences, workshops, interactive discussions and presentations.

Cost per student is $2,200, with Genesee Valley BOCES paying 60 percent, and students responsible for about $1,000 each,  materials state.

Coaches Marc Staley and John Kirkwood are pitching a trip for the Albany Academy Holiday Tournament. This two-day trip is for Batavia Notre Dame hockey team (United) to play a game on each of the two days, and hopefully ending as a tournament winner.

There will be "no cost for the school with bussing or hotel expenses," organizers said. 

Student fundraisers have begun to offset expenses, including sponsorships, community discount cards and restaurant donations.

Appointments, work change orders and contracts fill most of the remaining agenda.

File Photo of a United hockey player earlier this year, by Howard Owens.

City school board members went back to school Monday evening.

They took a tour of the work-in-progress at Robert Morris — closed a decade ago as an elementary site — which will now be operating in full force this year for pre-school and universal pre-kindergarten students after a $225,000 investment so far.

“Pre-school numbers have almost doubled,” Superintendent Jason Smith said during a presentation before the tour. “We had a hard time finding programs to service these students.”

A Little History
District officials decided to close Robert Morris Elementary School in 2012 after it was deemed a savings measure and more efficient to consolidate and students and teachers at to Jackson Primary and John Kennedy Intermediate. The building was used either for district needs (public relations, information technology), or rented out to various organizations, including BOCES, a daycare, 56 Harvester Center, and Arc.

Pre-school numbers began to rise, and the need for space rose with them, Smith said. That resulted in rethinking the use of Robert Morris. After receiving comments that Jackson Primary was getting pretty tight due to increased enrollments, the district bumped up first grade’s eight sections to 10, which then created a need for additional space at Jackson. Four UPK sections are therefore being moved to Robert Morris.

Current Times
Using state funding and grant monies, the new offerings have shifted the physical and philosophical layout of Robert Morris at the corner of Union Street and Richmond Avenue. As Trisha Finnigan, executive director of staff development and operations, said, “we’re using every nook and cranny” of the three-floor building to make the best use of all areas.

The main entrance will be on the east side of the school next to the parking lot, and children will exit on the opposite side at a bus loop. Classrooms are being reconfigured, including a former library, and Community Schools hours will align with the presence of security aides.

There will be five classes to support a total of 64 students in preschool for preschoolers with disabilities who will receive services in a self-contained setting and an integrated classroom with general education students. These students can be three years old for the entire school year and require more intensive interventions through special education.

Board member Alice Benedict asked Finnigan if they’ve considered labeling it something other than preschool since it is so similar to UPK ages.

“We try to be very cognizant of calling it a special education program because there are those two school classrooms also that have general education students, so we don't want people to think that they'd be getting something different than other classrooms,” Finnigan said. “And we'd like to be inclusive when we talk about what we're doing. So it is kind of nice to know that they're not just here alone. Right? They may have been if we hadn’t done this.”

A UPK grant of $672,719 funds up to 112 students — 72 full-day and 40 half-day slots. The district has a waiting list for parents that want full days for their children, and “we are applying for an expansion grant that would convert half-day slots to a full-day slot,” Smith said.

The district is working with Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties to support the regional need for preschool students, and there are 28 enrolled in special education at Robert Morris.

A current Student Transition And Recovery (STAR) program has been moved to the third floor, and the cafeteria has been reopened and prepped to provide meals in classrooms and cafeteria style, Smith said. There has been deep cleaning of the kitchen and cafeteria space, a review of the status of equipment and electrical/plumbing infrastructures, and purchases or upgrades of necessary equipment and supplies.

New staff includes four UPK, seven preschool teachers and 11 teacher aides, plus related service providers for occupational, speech and physical therapies; school resource officer, nurse, administrative, custodial and security aide support. The board approved those new positions during Monday’s regular meeting as part of a long list of additional staff for elementary, middle and high schools.

Security aides, many of whom are retired police officers, are throughout the district for extra safety measures, Smith said. They will provide 15 hours a week at Robert Morris, plus the presence of a school resource officer.

Cost of Change
To date, the district has spent $225,000 to get RM up and running, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said.

Within that total:

• $93,000 will be funded by a UPK grant for classroom furniture and interactive boards;
• $20,000 to be funded by a School Lunch Fund for a dishwasher, garbage disposal, refrigerator and various carts; and
• $112,000 from the General Fund for carpeting, cabling, a copier, classroom furniture, desks, chairs, intercom, dehumidifier, public address system and emergency lighting upgrades. 

Registration has been moved from the Robert Morris site to the high school administrative wing to reduce foot traffic, and an administrative office will be available on site near the UPK entrance.

Other work performed has included upgraded cabling, interactive boards, cleaning out storage areas, and transferring viable furniture from Jackson to Robert Morris. Walls have been patched, painted and/or repaired in class and bathrooms, carpeting has been replaced, air and asbestos tests conducted in the basement and library, a new intercom and telephone lines installed, and assorted repairs made to vents, plumbing fixtures, and electrical components and new water lines added as needed.

The first day of school is Sept. 7 for all students.

Top photo: City school board member Alice Benedict, left, Superintendent Jason Smith, and board members John Reigle, Jenn Lendvay and Korinne Anderson begin their tour at the east entrance of Robert Morris Monday evening. Trisha Finnigan, executive director of staff development and operations, walks the group through several pre-school and UPK classrooms, and an integrated services room for occupational, speech and physical therapy, shown, as Board President John Marucci takes a peek over a makeshift wall. Photos by Joanne Beck.

Marc Staley and John Kirkwood, representing Notre Dame and Batavia high schools, respectively, made a pitch — or more accurately, a shot attempt — Monday to the city school board to establish a modified hockey team.

After noticing the number of younger students not qualified for Varsity or Junior Varsity teams, the coaches agreed that there would be enough students for a modified program, they said.

"And we can incorporate these kids already into our summer lifting program into the platform app, and also in our GroupMe app, in which we communicate with them … just to really let the kids know like, even though they're not necessarily in the program right now, that we're aware of them, we want to help start developing them,” Staley said. “And we've seen just tremendous participation from seventh and eighth graders all summer long. Now, I know they're a little younger, they don't have summer jobs and stuff like that, like some of the older kids do. But the numbers really would support a modified program.”

They had originally tallied 16 players and then found two more, a goaltender and a girl hockey player, which lends well to prep for the fastest growing collegiate sport in the country, he said, of women’s hockey.

A fee of $1,800 to cover games and referees would amount to about $100 per athlete, Staley said, not including transportation. A modified program would not compete with youth hockey, though it does “bump up against spring season,” he said.

“We don’t think it’s going to cause much of a problem with schedules,” he said.

Modified teams have one color, and this one would likely be either royal blue or white. The cost of those would be covered by the hockey boosters, he said.

There are 14 modified teams that play in Buffalo, and none in Rochester, he said. There would need to be some practices before they go and play, he said, so “there would be some expense there … less than $1,000.”

Notre Dame would share the cost, and “everything is broken down by kid,” Staley said. Eighth-graders are eligible to try out for junior varsity, however, they must pass a fitness test to do so, Kirkwood said.

“And we don't want to get in a situation where we have an eighth grader who either doesn't pass the test or may not be ready physically for the physicality of a JV team. So to have this option softens the level of effort kids who may not make the JV as an eighth grader but may be a great player,” he said. “So we're trying to mirror some of the most successful programs that are here and saying is this something that we can offer? The only other additional expense would be, maybe before these kids are all going to be in shape, they're going to just play a full hockey season. And they're going to be I think excited to come together for like a little mini-season.”

There are no more league fees, Staley said, which saves thousands of dollars, and “we run a gate now,” which should total $10,000 of admission coming into the program. They have fundraisers for those “soft goods” of gloves, shells and similar needed accessories, and have emphasized the idea of community service, Staley said. Of the 41 kids in Varsity and Junior Varsity, 28 worked at least three hours each at the annual Crossroads garage sale, loading and unloading merchandise.

“I’m a firm believer that, (and tells the kids) if you want the community to come to your games, you better get out there,” he said.

This past year students put in a collective 400 hours of service, “and counting,” he said. He and Kirkwood, a city school district teacher, have challenged the kids to reach 1,000 hours next year. It goes hand-in-hand with playing sports, which would be enhanced by a modified team, he said.

“We think this will be a great step in the right direction, and really give these young kids something to get excited about,” he said.

In his written proposal to the board, Staley offered to be coach of the "United Mod Squad" program without any compensation, as he feels it is part of his role as head coach of the United hockey program. Modified games would be played at Harbor Centre in Buffalo, and go from March 6 through April 23, 2023.

The puck apparently slid into the net. Board members John Marucci, Alice Benedict, Jean Lendvay, Barbara Bowman, Chezeray Rolle, John Reigle, and Korinne Anderson unanimously approved the request.

Photo: John Kirkwood, left, and Marc Staley present their plan to establish a modified hockey program for Batavia City Schools and Notre Dame High School. Photo by Joanne Beck.

While she reads district policies, she may not read every policy, Benedict said, but more to the point, she thought the district was on top of equipment inventories and related service fees.

“I thought the district was keeping track … and then we found out that it wasn’t,” Benedict said during the board’s meeting at Batavia High School. “I think there are some things in the district that we are making assumptions about. It was assumptions I made that it was being taken care of.”

Superintendent Jason Smith had previously issued a press release listing the state

Comptroller's findings, including nearly 300 pieces of technology equipment that were missing or otherwise unaccounted for, and a related $17,000 service fee paid for those items. 

She didn’t want any one board member to feel it was his or her fault, Benedict said.

Board President John Marucci, along with Smith, answered questions from The Batavian that were published earlier Monday. Marucci pointed to his comments in that article about feeling disappointed in the findings and encouraged by Smith's response.

“I was not happy with it at all,” Marucci said.

He also said that he has the “utmost faith” in Smith and district staff to take the appropriate corrective measures to stop this type of thing from happening again.

Smith said that systems are in place and that by working with a third-party consultant, the district is developing a plan of action to remedy those procedures that either were not in place or fell through the cracks, especially during personnel changeovers and COVID protocols.

The consultant — Webster-Szanyi law firm — was selected out of five proposals at a net cost of $8,753.13 to the district after BOCES aid was deducted. The Batavian submitted a question to Smith about the total aid received.

The law firm is providing the district with two educational consultants who specialize in school technology service reviews, Smith said. Work has already begun, and is to be finished by January, he said.

Here is the prior announcement about the audit from Smith.