Category: District News
Message from Superintendent Bishop
As new Superintendent of Schools John Bishop finishes his first week on the job, he has a message to share with our school community.
Childcare for Essential Healthcare Workers/First Responders
Note, this page was updated on April 24 with information about scholarships for eligible families to help pay for childcare.
In accordance with state guidance, Fort Plain Central School District is making plans with community partners to provide childcare for essential healthcare workers and first responders identified by the state. These workers have been identified by the state as physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, LPNs, nurse assistants, laboratory personnel, paramedics, EMTs, police officers and employed firefighters.
If you hold one of these occupations and you need childcare services, please complete the following survey.
If you have questions, please contact Katrina Canallatos at 518-993-4000 #3074 or katrina.canallatos@fortplain.org.
Scholarships for eligible families to help pay for childcare
New York State is using a portion of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funds to provide child care to income eligible essential workers at no cost. Essential workers who must work outside of the home and who are using a regulated child care provider will receive a scholarship for the cost of care as long as the funds to support it are available. All licensed and regulated providers who are caring for essential workers are able to participate in this new program.
In order to qualify for the scholarship, families must have an adjusted gross income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four that equals an annual income of $78,600.
Parents are asked to complete the following application for the CARES Child Care Scholarship via the link below. It informs parents that the application will be considered complete once the online application is finished AND the required supplemental documentation is submitted to Brightside Up, the Childcare Resource and Referral Agency (CCRA) for Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady counties. For parents that currently receive a subsidy from their local DSS to pay for child care, this scholarship can cover the parent co-pay. Parents should apply for the CARES Act Scholarship, and then contact their local Department of Social Services to get a letter stating their current co-pay. Please address any questions to Tricia Howland at thowland@brightsideup.org.
Hands-on science workshop electrifies studies about conductivity
Canajoharie’s media specialist visited Fort Plain with her student interns to give fourth graders a science workshop.
Add a little Play-Doh to some wires, and you’ve got yourself a makeshift controller to play video games. Plug the wires into some bananas and you’ve got a digital piano.
It was an electric lesson for the fourth grade students at Harry Hoag Elementary, thanks to Canajoharie High School’s computer science students. Tammy Jones, Canajoharie’s media specialist, visited Fort Plain with her student interns to give the fourth graders a workshop about electricity and conductivity.
Canajoharie ninth graders Conner Ambridge, Vincenzo Decrescenzo, Skylar Ferrara, Aiden Hoag, Ryley Myers and Henry Yerdon showed the fourth graders how to use a science kit called Makey Makey. It turns everyday objects into touch pads using cables and alligator clips.
In addition to creating game controllers and musical instruments, students themselves became a circuit. Students joined hands, while a person on one end touched the ground board, and a person on the other touched the banana piano. Students were wowed to hear the banana piano sound off, learning electricity travels through each person to complete the circuit.
“The fourth graders are learning about electricity and conductivity, and this workshop helped bring their studies to life,” Matt Heiser said. He is the Technology Integration Specialist at Harry Hoag Elementary who worked with Jones to set up the workshops. “Mrs. Jones’ interns did an amazing job and we are grateful that our students had this opportunity.”
Legal Notice – School budget vote and elections
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE OF BUDGET HEARING, BUDGET VOTE AND ELECTION
FORT PLAIN CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
To the qualified voters of the Fort Plain Central School District, Fort Plain, NY: NOTICE is hereby given that the Public Hearing on the School District Budget for the 2018-2019 school year will be held in the Harry Hoag District Office Conference Room on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual District Meeting and Election of the qualified voters of the Fort Plain Central School District will be held in the Harry Hoag School Gymnasium in said District on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at which time said vote and election will be held between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., prevailing time at which time the polls will be opened to vote by voting machine upon the following items:
Proposition 1: To adopt the annual budget of the School District for the fiscal year 2018-2019 and to authorize the requisite portion thereof to be raised by taxation on the taxable property of the District.
Proposition 2: Authorization to Purchase Buses: Shall the Board of Education of the Fort Plain Central School District be authorized to: (a) acquire school vehicles at a maximum aggregate cost of $230,000.00; (b) expend such sums for such purpose; (c) expend from the Bus Purchase Reserve Fund an amount not to exceed $230,000.00 for such purpose; (d) levy the necessary tax therefore, to be levied and collected in such amounts as may be determined by the Board of Education taking into account state aid received and amounts disbursed from the reserve fund; and (e) in anticipation of the collection of such tax, to issue bonds and notes of the District at one time or from time to time in the principal amount not to exceed $230,000, and to levy a tax to pay the interest on such obligations when due?
Proposition 3: Authorization for Increase in the Library Tax Levy: Shall the annual appropriation to support and maintain the Fort Plain Free Library be increased by $5,000 to $80,000, which sum shall be separate and apart from the Fort Plain Central School District annual school district budget and be raised annually by a tax upon the taxable property of the school district, and which appropriation shall be the annual appropriation for the library until changed by further vote of the electors of the school district, and such tax shall be levied and collected yearly as are other general taxes and such monies paid over to the trustees of the Library?
To elect two (2) members of the Board of Education to a three (3) year term commencing on July 1, 2018 and expiring on June 30, 2021 to succeed Jami L. Stevens and Mary Beth Hudyncia whose terms expire on June 30, 2018.
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that petitions nominating candidates for the office of member of the Board of Education shall be filed with the Clerk of said School District at his office in the Harry Hoag School not later than April 16, 2018 between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Each petition shall be directed to the Clerk of the District and shall be signed by at least 25 voters of the District, and must state the name and residence of the candidate.
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that applications for absentee ballots will be obtainable between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays, from the District Clerk. The District Clerk must receive completed applications at least seven (7) days before the election if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day before the election, if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter. Absentee ballots must be received by the District Clerk not later than 4:00 p.m., prevailing time, on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.
A list of persons to whom absentee ballots are issued will be available for inspection to qualified voters of the District in the office of the District Clerk on and after May 14, 2018 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays prior to the day set for the annual election and on May 15, 2018, the day set for the election. Any qualified voter present in the polling place may object to the voting of the ballot upon appropriate grounds by making his/her challenge and the reasons therefore known to the Inspector of Election before the close of the polls.
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the qualified voters of the School District shall be entitled to vote at said annual vote and election. A qualified voter is one who is (1) a citizen of the United States of America, (2) eighteen years of age or older, and (3) a resident within the School District for a period of thirty (30) days immediately preceding the annual election. The School District may require all persons offering to vote at the budget vote and election to provide one form of proof of residency pursuant to Education Law Section 2018-c. Such form may include a driver’s license, a non-driver identification card, a utility bill or a voter registration card. Upon offer of proof of residency, the School District may also require all persons offering to vote to provide their signature, printed name and address.
AND FURTHER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that pursuant to a rule adopted by the Board of Education in accordance with Sections 2035 and 2008 of the Education law, any referenda or propositions to amend the budget, or otherwise to be submitted for voting at said vote and election, must be filed with the Board of Education at the Fort Plain Central School District on or before April 16, 2018 at 4:00 p.m., prevailing time; must be typed or printed in the English language; must be directed to the Clerk of the School District; must be signed by at least twenty-five (25) qualified voters, or five percent (5%) of the registered voters of the District who voted in the previous annual election of Board members, whichever is greater; and must state the name and residence of each signer. However, the School Board will not entertain or place before the voters any proposition if its purpose is beyond the power of the voters or is illegal, or any proposition requiring the expenditure of moneys which fails to include specific appropriations for all such expenditures required by the proposition.