Spirits High at Rye Neck UFSD Board of Ed Meeting

It's always a good start to a Rye Neck Board of Education meeting when there is singing, awards and hall of famers.

The board of education along with teacher Patrick Ardinger—who runs the first ever Rye Neck a cappella group 'WeRNTune'—and his students, presented Rory Young with a plaque of appreciation in honor of his service to the high school singers.  Young owns Acme Recording Studios in Mamaroneck and helped the group professionally record their competition album for the International Championship High School A Cappella.

They were accepted as semi-finalists and will be performing in the competition on February 12, 2011 in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. The young singers received thunderous applause after treating the room full of parents, teachers and board members with their rendition of 'Seasons of Love' from the musical Rent, a recording of which is available by clicking on the video link to the right of the article.

Rye Neck Athletic Director, Joe Ceglia, also received congratulations from the Superintendent, Dr. Peter Mustich, for being inducted into the Hudson Valley Chapter of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Mr. Ceglia was awarded this prestigious honor based on his years of "hard work and effort" as a player for Syracuse University and as a professional, said Mustich. This was a "nice closure to a long fun career," Ceglia offered humbly.

The board approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Rye Neck Teachers Association for their new three year contract which was hammered out on Nov.23, 2010. Board President, Heidi Sickles, called the negotiations "very professional and highly productive." She added that the outcome is a "fair agreement for our valued employees and for our community tax paying residents, and one that is really reflective of the circumstances and challenges that we collectively face." Details of the agreement were not available at the meeting, but will be available at a later time. 

Additionally, in response to a potential NY State mandate, the district is now considering a stand-alone policy regarding bullying prevention. Sickles stated that although the district does have all the components of a policy in the codes of conduct, a draft of the new policy will be posted on the district website and discussed further at a future meeting. They do not yet have a stand alone policy per se. 

Board members also discussed the fate of the district owned buildings at 734 E. Boston Post Road, of which the main house and barn are in severe disrepair. According to Dr. Mustich, the district has received estimates between $21-$25,000 to demolish the buildings versus the cost of renovation, which could top $1 million.  

The New York State Department of Education will be responsible for permit issuance and the district will perform two mandatory reviews—archeological and historical—to confirm neither the buildings nor property has historical value.  

Mustich called the reviews a "long process" which they are performing "methodically and very carefully."  The RFPs (request for proposals) for both reviews have gone out as well as RFPs for the archeological borings which will determine if there are any environmental problems with the property. In the end, if it is determined that the best course of action is demolition, Mustich anticipates turning the parcel into fields and green space for the district.

The next Rye Neck Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7:30pm.

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