UTICA - The North Fork Board of Education on Monday celebrated student achievements at its meeting on Monday. It recognized outstanding boys and girls basketball team members as well as wrestlers. It also honored Coughlin Automotive "You Make a Difference" award winner Teresa McCoy. McCoy was nominated for the award by Utica fourth-grade student Preston Hardesty.
The rest of the meeting was basically routine, Treasurer Jack McDonald told the News on Tuesday.
Regarding personnel, the board granted the retirement requests of: Elementary teacher Vickie Hahn, with 35 years of service to North Fork; elementary teacher Pamela Mercer, 32 years; and elementary teacher Viann Yankulov, 35 years, all effective at the end of the 2011-12 school year. It also approved a three-year contract for elementary principal Sharon Greene and approved the certificated substitute list. Bonnie Ramseyer was approved as volunteer softball coach, Beth Haines was approved as a volunteer and Scott Cline and Tina Cummings were added to the classified substitute list.
Besides approving routine fiscal actions, the board switched its natural gas carrier through the Metropolitan Educational Council. McDonald said the change should save the district at least $50,000 a year. Also regarding finances, McDonald said the board is starting to discuss ways to fund extra-curricular and co-curricular activities for next year. The cost is between $300,000 and $350,000 and it looks like the North Fork Children's Foundation will not be able to fund all the activities.
In other action, the board approved an outdoor education program for the seventh grade at Pilgrim Hills in November, authorized a summer school intervention program for primary students to meet third grade reading intervention requirements and authorized a summer school program for seventh- and eighth-grade students who do not meet the standards for promotion.
The next regular meeting of the North Fork school board will be at 7 p.m. in Newton Elementary School on April 16.
