BY MICHELLE MILLER
STAFF WRITER
Otsego-Northern Catskills
BOCES Superintendent Nicholas
Savin was at last week’s Milford
Central School board of education
meeting to discuss a strategic
plan that will focus on long-term
educational planning.
BOCES hosted a forum on Dec. 1
to discuss the common issues confronting
its component districts
and to facilitate discussions among
districts about how best to cooperate
to maintain educational opportunities
and services in extremely
difficult financial conditions.
Savin said the plan is to continue
with the forums in hopes they will
become helpful to all boards of
education. We have a significant
issue, supporting schools through
aid, because of the fiscal stress
that the state is experiencing,
said Savin, who said he does not
see the problem going away for
several years.
Savin said he believes it is
important to have opportunities
within the region to at least have
conversations about issues districts
are and will be facing.
Savin said he is appreciative of
the attendance and outreach that
has already been shown.
`` I think it speaks well about all
the people that we have that are
trying to assist our component
schools,’’ he said.
There have been requests to
be able to have more representatives
attend the forums so in order
to meet that request, we have
scheduled the next meeting at the
Oneonta High School, said Savin.
The forum will be held on Feb. 8.
Savin said the forums are a place
for district representatives to express
and share concerns anorganization might have
when addressing the future.
We want to address these
concerns and that is why the
BOCES board of education
will be engaging in a strategic
plan, he said.
According to Savin, the
BOCES BOE wants to involve
all their constituents and at
some point will engage the
superintendents, staff and
students while trying to develop
some sort of database
of concerns, directions and
things people feel ought to
at least be developed and
discussed.
The timeline, we hope, is to
have a plan by sometime this
spring, said Savin. The intent
is to have some sort of draft
by the summer, he added.
The goal is to provide a
draft to district superintendents
to be shown to members
of boards of education
so it can be discussed and
adjusted if needed before
adopting the plan, said Savin.
Milford Superintendent
Peter Livhsin said he thought
it would be good to have
an outside facilitator. Savin
agreed, and said a few names
have been discussed and he
anticipates having a facilitator
step in at some point.
Board of education President
Tom Brennan said while
everyone is talking about
consolidation and shared
service, he believes BOCES
should be the consolidation
entity and it is important that
it leads all its component districts
through it. He said he
feels confident, that because
Savin is from the area and
comes from a BOCES district,
that Savin is and will be able
to understand concerns of
local districts.
``I think we are all optimistic
and excited to see what is
to come,’’ said Brennan.
Vice-President Susan Ward
said she believes having
a strategic plan is a good
beginning. She said if the
intention is to do the analysis
internally at BOCES and to
involve the school districts,
she would think a good place
to start in order for school
districts to give feedback is
to have BOCES conduct its
own internal assessment of
its weaknesses, strengths,
opportunities and threats to
hand out to school districts
to take a look at.
Ward said she thinks local
districts need to be on the
forefront of innovation and
believes if BOCES and the
rural school districts work
together, something creative,
new and exciting can be
formed. Ward said she recently
represented MCS’s education
foundation at a state of
entrepreneurship address in
Washington. There, she said,
she learned that under the
Obama administration an
office has been set up for entrepreneurship
innovation for
the first time. She said a lot
of dollars are being poured
into it because the thinking
is the economy will be rebuilt
on entrepreneurship and
innovation, which is basically
how this country began.
Ward said MCS has begun
its own entrepreneurship
education and she thinks
BOCES should be looking
at programs that will help
create jobs and innovation
as well.
``We need to ask what’s the
vision for our rural districts
going forward and how are
our students going to compete
globally because that’s
where it is at,’’ said Ward.
Ward said rural school
districts should be in front
of the curve not behind the
curve in order to survive.
School districts need to be
thinking about supply and
demand.
``We need to anticipate
where the needs are going to
be,’’ she said.
Board member Paul Beisler
said he would like to see
some kind of assurance that
students graduating from
BOCES are ready to go to
work.
``I think that is really critical,’’
he said.
Livshin said perhaps
BOCES should look into their
programs and think about
bringing some 21st century
programs such as phlebotics
so students become more
employable.
Livshin said, ``Rest assured,
you have the right man for
the job.’’ He said Savin has
been preaching the concerns
being expressed for years.
``He believes in exactly
what you are saying,’’ said
Livshin.
Savin, who took over as
BOCES superintendent this
school-year, said he did not
intend to walk into his role
with such constraints, which
have been consuming most
of his time. But he said he has
no desire to stop fighting for
his mission to have students
ready for the rest of lives and
turning them into life-long
learners even in bad times.
``Some steps at first might
have to be smaller than I was
envisioning, but I do feel for
what school superintendents
are having to deal with,’’ said
Savin.
``It is going to take time to
heal,’’ added Savin, who said
innovation and investments
will be needed to try and
prevent the free fall.
Time this year will mostly
be spent on stopping the free
fall and determining what
caused it, said Savin. ``This is
going to be a pretty intensive
process and will work much
like the making of a quilt _
done in patches,’’ he said.
