Having spent more than 35 years working in higher education, Dr. Edward J. Leach is stepping down as the executive director of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) when he retires in August 2024. 

Leach joined NISOD in September 2013. Leach came to NISOD after the 2012 retirement of Dr. John E. Roueche, the head of The University of Texas at Austin’s Community College Leadership Program, to which NISOD was closely linked for 41 years. Not only was Roueche stepping away, but the renowned doctoral program he built was being discontinued. 

Leach stabilized the situation, returning the focus to NISOD’s original mission — empowering and celebrating community and technical college educators. 

“My time leading NISOD has been the best professional experience of my life, and I’m very proud of what our outstanding staff has accomplished, including being recognized by the American Association of Community Colleges as ‘the country’s leading provider of professional development for community college faculty, staff, and administrators.’” said Leach. 

“My reason for making the announcement now is straightforward. I want to give the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin plenty of time to search for and select a new Executive Director.”

During his tenure, Leach led NISOD’s implementation of the Most Promising Places to Work in Community Colleges Award, which, in partnership with Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, recognizes community and technical colleges for their exceptional commitments to diversity; launched NISOD’s Student Essay Contest and Student Graphic Design Contest; the Suanne Davis Roueche Faculty Scholarship, in honor of the late Suanne Davis Roueche, who served as NISOD’s director from 1985 to 2000; and the offering of CEUs as evidence of professional development accomplishments. 

As NISOD’s executive director during the pandemic, Leach successfully led NISOD through its transition to remote operations and virtual learning experiences, including a fall virtual conference that continues to be offered.

Leach began his own college education as a first-generation college student and Pell Grant recipient at Genesee Community College (GCC), earning an associate degree in Liberal Arts/General Studies, before adding a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and, finally, a doctorate in Educational Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Leach has dedicated his last 25 years to providing community and technical college educators access to high-quality professional development.

“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Dr. Leach on his retirement as NISOD’s Executive Director” said Dr. Pedro Reyes, Chair of the Education Leadership and Policy Department at The University of Texas at Austin. 

“Dr. Leach’s visionary leadership and tireless dedication have been instrumental in advancing NISOD’s mission of empowering community and technical college educators. Under his guidance, NISOD has provided high-quality professional development opportunities and celebrated student and staff excellence in the field. We are grateful for Dr. Leach’s invaluable contributions and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

Dr. Leach’s resignation will be effective August 15. The Department of Educational Leadership and Policy and the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin will have more information to share about transition planning in the weeks to come.

That is an increase from the current academic year, which is $20,847,885.

The proposed budget increases the tax levy by 1.75 percent, or $109,709. The anticipated tax rate is $17.83, up 30 cents from the current rate.

The district is planning no cuts to staff or programs.

The district is not receiving an increase in state foundation aid.

There will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. on May 8.

Proposition #2: Bus Purchases

• 2 – 64 Passenger Buses - $340,000
• 1 – 24 Passenger Bus - $110,000

Proposition #3: Equipment Purchase

• Computer Hardware - $43,200
• Chromebooks - $68,710
• Floor Scrubbing Machine - $16,000

Proposition #4: Establish Equipment Reserve,  $500,000

Proposition #5: Establish Bus Reserve, $900,000

District residents will be asked to vote on the proposed plan on May 21 in the high school auditorium lobby.

The tax levy increase is under the 3.3 percent tax cap ceiling.

Superintended Mary Kate Hoffman said The budget reflects a 1.64% increase in spending from last year.

One teaching position, created with COVID relief funds, has been reduced from one full-time equivalent to a half-FTE position.

Hoffman said the district is creating at the elementary school a 12:1:1 classroom, which is a special education class with 12 students, one special ed teacher and one aide.

"We are using existing staff to better meet the needs of our students," Hoffman said. "This classroom will allow us to keep students with special needs in the district."

The budget includes funding for a $100,000 capital outlay exception project and the purchase of two buses.  

The tax levy is expected to increase 1.75%, from $9,223,509 to $9,385,010.

School enrollment is expected to drop from 920 students to 904 students.

The public budget hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 9 at the high school auditorium.

The budget vote is from noon until 9 p.m. on May 21.

In the days, weeks and months after the COVID pandemic protocols settled down and kids were able to return to school after all of that isolation, an odd phenomenon occurred, and many struggled with the desire to return.

For Batavia resident and Flower City School teacher Zach Arenz, he was able to spark student interest through the magic of music.

“I just think at the core of teaching, it's so important for kids to feel connected. And in a world where I think we're increasingly disconnected from one another, it's important to grow those relationships at the school, with their teachers, and get the kids excited to be at school each day,” Arenz says. You know, we're four years post the beginning of the pandemic … but attendance is still a big issue in schools; getting kids to want to come to school is a struggle for a lot of them. And I had one kid recently tell me that the reason he came to school that day was because he had band with me. And, I mean, in the days that I feel most stressed, and I just feel like am I doing it the right way? You hear something like that and you're like, wow, the teachers make such a huge difference in our kids’ lives.”

Pembroke Superintendent Matthew Calderon said the state provided the district with no increase in foundation aid.

He said the tax levy will stay within the tax cap limit, with an increase slightly below the cap for the 13th consecutive year.

"We needed to pair down our initial budget draft by $870,000 to get down to the final number," Calderon said. "Thankfully, no current full-time employees were cut."

The proposed budget will be presented at a public hearing at 6 p.m. on May 14 at Pembroke Central School.

The budget vote is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. noon to 8 p.m. on May 21 in the high school auditorium.

Of the 235 representatives from various areas in the healthcare field at a four-county event, student Rylee Serusa-Herndon connected with someone in particular during her visit with BOCES Health Dimensions classmates to Genesee Community College Friday.

“I came to the GLOW With Your Hands field trip to be a neurosurgeon, I’m interested in that, and I came to kind of understand, to know what I have to do to be able to be that,” she said. “I did go to a booth, and one of the girls was actually a neurosurgeon, and she told me it is very difficult; you have to do a lot of schooling. But she said ‘you know, there’s not many girl neurosurgeons,’ and that kind helped me out. I definitely want to do it.”

Rylee was one of more than 500 students in grades eight through 12 from 31 schools in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. The event was to help connect interested students to a couple hundred representatives from 57 companies, municipal agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions and further excite, educate, and empower them to seek success in the healthcare field of study after high school.

Educational providers and employers were on hand to demonstrate in the fields of emergency medical services, healthy living, healthcare, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, pharmacy, and the various sciences.

There were mannequins stationed so that students could get some CPR lessons, a physical therapy demonstration, and a virtual reality program to offer more high-tech ways to explore careers, “which is cool,” said Chris Suozzi, Vice President of Workforce Development for Genesee County Economic Development Center. 

“The whole reason that we do these events and career exploration in high school is so kids can really expand their horizons. It's so difficult for someone to really know what they want to do for a career. It's taken me 30-some years to figure out what I wanted to do … but for kids, the more they see the, the better. So they're seeing careers that they would never see in a classroom and in a textbook,” Suozzi said. “And then there's careers that they may look at and say, ‘Oh, I definitely don't want to do that.' And I know it's a good thing. But when you look at the opportunities for what are possibilities, it's almost endless here. 

“So, you know, when you hear about healthcare, you think a doctor or nurse, but then when you look here, there's a lot more than doctors and nurses,” he said. “There's all these technicians and EMTs, physical therapy, and the list goes on and on. So that's the whole idea. Explore their mind, explore opportunities for a great career.”

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Press Release:

Byron-Bergen Elementary School doubled down on its commitment to reducing food waste in landfills and instead producing clean soil for gardening and farming. This was done through a partnership with an earthworm named Lloyd and 1.8 million of his friends. 

Lloyd lives in a compost facility operated by Impact Earth, a not-for-profit organization out of Rochester that works with the community to repurpose food waste and paper products into nutrient-rich soil. The composting program is a school-wide effort under the leadership of the third-grade students.

“Byron-Bergen Elementary is one of the first schools in the area to undertake this kind of project,” said Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney. “Instead of going to the landfill and doing nothing useful, this waste will compost into nutrient-rich soil to grow better food. It’s an investment in the future.”

Each day at lunch, students sort their uneaten food items and disposable paper products into blue buckets next to the garbage cans. 

At the end of all the lunch periods, a rotating group of third-grade students, the Compost Crew, assist Cleaner and Lunch Monitor Nancy Smith in loading the buckets onto a cart and emptying them into Impact Earth dumpster totes behind the cafeteria. 

Smith then washes the buckets, and the Compost Crew dries them and stacks them for the next day.

Every Friday, Impact Earth removes the waste from the dumpster totes to be mixed with wood chips and added to the piles for Lloyd and his friends. 

“It’s something we can do to try to help the environment,” said Smith. “The soil needs the nutrients, and (the students) are going to be the helpers.” 

Byron-Bergen's third-grade student Mackenzie Wilcox is looking forward to participating. “I think (composting) is great! I like it. The best part is that we get to feed our leftover food to the worms at the composting plant.”

The idea for the composting program began at the Earth Day 2023 assembly. Each grade level collected their trash from lunch and discovered that each class produced an average of 15 pounds of landfill waste per lunch. The discussion of how to reduce this amount led to a waste survey carried out by the student council in October of 2023.

Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney helped the students separate their lunch-time waste. According to Carney, 60% of the cafeteria waste assessed from one day of lunch, over 115 pounds, could be composted or eaten later. Carney noted that “anything that is unopened should be taken home or saved for a snack.”

“I’m really excited for kids to use the compost bins and put our waste to better use, especially being in a community affected by waste management,” said Elementary Principal Kristin Loftus. “I think it will be great for us to do our part to reduce what we are sending to the landfill.” 

Part of the Impact Earth partnership includes a soil give-back. Byron-Bergen will receive a delivery of composted soil in May to use in or around the schools or in the greenhouse.

“It’s a great opportunity for the adults and students to work together to have a positive impact on the earth,” said Byron-Bergen Facilities Director Roger Caldwell. 

“The students are very excited about this project. We will continue to reinforce that the priority is for them to eat their lunches,” said Loftus. “Lloyd and his friends will get plenty of food. Only after the students are full should we add their leftovers to the apple cores and napkins in the compost bins.”

The composting program serves as a leadership opportunity for the third grade as well as a chance for all students and staff to take a moment to look at what is in their lunch, how it is packaged, and the best choices for their food waste. The waste assessment and assembly were sponsored by the Byron-Bergen S.T.E.P. Booster Club.

Music teacher Dan Grillo thinks maybe, as much as it pains him to say it, rock 'n' roll music is a dying art form.

That isn't apparent from the way students at Batavia High School have embraced his elective class, Rock Band.