District collaborates with pre-k, use of Sweet Home pool
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Central School District is collaborating with several organizations to give its students better opportunities.

It was announced at the Aug. 22 Board of Education meeting that the district will be collaborating with Amherst Community Church Child Care Center for a second prekindergarten location.

The district will also use Sweet Home High School's pool for eight home varsity boys and four girls swimming and diving meets. There will also be opportunities for teams to use the pool for practice although they will generally use their own middle school pool. Amherst was using its middle school pool only for practice and varsity meets prior to collaboration.

The fee-based contract for use of Sweet Home's pool is for the 2006-07 season and will be reviewed annually.

"It's a state-of-the-art facility," said Deputy Superintendent Paul Wietig of the Sweet Home pool. "We had the girls over there yesterday for practice, and they just loved it."

"Most swimmers, club or YMCA, are used to traveling to swim and are used to having pools with timers and touch pads," added Board Member David J. Dengler. "And we don't have any of that (at the Middle School pool) ... It's a nice first step. Everybody talks about collaboration, and this is a great example of that."

The Sweet Home pool will also allow Amherst varsity divers a chance to score points at a home meet. The Amherst Middle School pool is not equipped for diving competition.

Board President William T. Blanford said Sweet Home and Amherst Superintendents Geoffrey Hicks and Dennis Ford, respectively, pursued the agreement in the spirit to collaborate whenever possible for shared services.

Athletics Directors Chris DeMarco of Sweet Home and Nancy Riccio of Amherst scheduled details of the agreement with input from ECIC scheduling officials, he added.

Blanford also said the board is very pleased with the agreement and praised the Sweet Home School Board for helping out with the initiative.

The second prekindergarten location is at 77 Washington Highway in Amherst, a block away from Amherst High School. The program will not cost the district anything as all funding will come from three New York State Education Universal Pre-K grants.

"Amherst Community is already a well established child care center," said Mary Lavin, Windermere Boulevard Elementary principal of its Early Childhood Education Center. "It seemed like a logical partner to collaborate with."

The second location expands Amherst's pre-k program, now entering its third year, from 50 children to 121. Fifty-eight pre-k students will be sent from Windermere to Amherst Community Church Child Care. Lavin said she has already received 95 applicants for the upcoming school year.

The second location will mirror Windermere's, including two two-and-a-half-hour sessions in the morning and afternoon. The child's parents and guardians must reside in the district and the child must be 4 years old by Dec. 1, 2006. No transportation will be provided.

Lavin said Amherst Community Church will use its staff but will be under the district's supervision. Lavin said she is in the process of looking for part-time teachers who will provide supervision and guidance to Amherst Community staff.

People interested in registering their children should call Lavin at 362-4190.

In other news: the district has partnered with MJW Systems, a technology company in Amherst, to become the first school district to use a pilot software program called Site-Wise. The program is designed to keep buildings safe. The program will be used at Windermere with the long-range plan of installing it in all district buildings.

Wietig said it will provide law enforcement, fire department, and emergency management services with a virtual blueprint of district buildings.

"Every aspect of it will be available on the server and disk in secure fashion to those who need it," said Wietig. "It does everything from (showing) the shut off valves to the exterior of the building."

"It's very intuitive, user friendly," said board Vice President David A. Stocking. "I was very impressed."

Wietig wants the board to view it sometime in early October.

 Windermere Boulevard will host an Amherst Youth Board Community Day from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28. The event is designed for key stakeholders in the community to become aware of the Eggertsville Youth and Community Center on Bailey Avenue. The center is scheduled to open in early 2007. All service clubs in the town will attend. The event is open to the community. A tour of the new center is also scheduled.

"We're really looking forward to a community-based opportunity to meet up close, shall we say, members of the school community," said Wietig.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com