On Board Online • September 21, 2020

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief
and Pauline Liu
Special Correspondent

Educators across the state have expressed feeling both jubilant and distressed as schools reopened this September. On one hand, it's a long-awaited return to some semblance of normalcy, especially in districts that are holding in-person classes (about 93% of districts, according to a NYSSBA poll of school board presidents).

On Board Online • September 21, 2020

Fred Langstaff
NYSSBA President

As we are reminded at every turn, these are not normal times.

High school football will be a spring sport this school year.

Schools that used to worry about standardized tests are now obligated to submit daily reports on medical tests.

On Board Online • September 21, 2020

By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst

The rate school districts will have to pay to the state Employees' Retirement System will rise in 2021-22 compared with the 2020-21 rate, the state comptroller's office anno

On Board Online • September 21, 2020

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

Seema Yasmin, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and physician who teaches a class on "Media, Medicine & (Mis)information" at Stanford University, will join a panel of experts at NYSSBA's 12th Annual Pre-Convention Communications Workshop, which will focus on how schools should talk about the risk of COVID-19 with their key audiences.

On Board Online • September 21, 2020

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Judith H. Katz, who served on boards of the Williamsville Central School District and the Erie 1 BOCES for a combined total of more than 50 years, has been honored with New York's highest honor for distinguished school board service.

Katz, an early leader of regional efforts to appreciate and encourage diversity in public education, will receive the Everett R. Dyer Award for Distinguished School Board Service in October. Look for a video announcement on the dashboard of the 2020 Annual Convention & Education Expo, which will be held virtually this year from Oct. 20-22 and Oct. 27-29.

On Board Online • September 21, 2020

By Sal Prividera
Special Correspondent

Edward J. Nitkewicz, an 11-year member of the South Huntington Board of Education on Long Island and long-time advocate for children with special needs, has been named the 2020 winner of NYSSBA President's Award.

The President's Award recognizes individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions toward the betterment of public education in New York State. Nitkewicz will be honored in a virtual presentation accessible from the dashboard of the 2020 Annual Convention & Education Expo, which will be held online in October.

On Board Online • August 31, 2020

By Merri Rosenberg
Special Correspondent

After a large number of teachers in an Arizona school district engaged in what The New York Times called a "sick out," administrators canceled plans to reopen schools in mid-August. The teachers cited "health and safety concerns," according to Gregory Wyman, superintendent of the J.O. Combs Unified School District, located outside of Phoenix.

On Board Online • August 31, 2020

By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst

School districts across the state are scrambling to figure out how to pay for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other expenses required to safely re-open schools this fall.

Consider the 4,200-student Bethlehem Central School District in Albany County.

On Board Online • August 31, 2020

By Robert S. Schneider
NYSSBA Executive Director

I doubt that anyone was more surprised than school board members and superintendents when Gov. Andrew Cuomo called out more than 100 districts by name for "failing" to file state-required school reopening plans by the deadline he had set.

"For those 107 districts, how you didn't submit a plan is beyond me," the governor fumed. Then, he speculated aloud: "Maybe they just have determined that they don't want to open, which is the only logical conclusion.''

On Board Online • August 31, 2020

By Gayle Simidian
Research Analyst

After parents asked a Cincinnati pediatrician about the effectiveness of school closures on slowing the rate of COVID-19 infections and preventing deaths related to the coronavirus, she designed a research study to answer their question.