Realization of girls' hockey depends on other districts
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

If Williamsville Central School District was the only factor, then girls would have a high school ice hockey team, but that's not the case.

Superintendent Howard S. Smith said he supports the formation of a girls' team, fed from the three high schools, but without opponents, formation of the team can't be finalized.

The district's major impact items for the 2008-09 school year, which includes $25,000 for girls' ice hockey, were discussed at the Nov. 13 meeting, .

"The hard part is, not as many public schools participate. The team would have to have competition," Smith said, adding that currently the closest region that has a league is near St. Lawrence and obviously too far away.

At the end of the 2006-07 school year, several girl players and their families spoke at a School Board meeting, asking for the board's support to create a team.

The district has done its part by earmarking the funding, but now the players will have to wait and see if Rochester public schools also create teams.

"We would like to be a leader," Smith said, adding that if the four to five possible teams in Rochester are formed, then Williamsville will spend the money.

Each of the three boys' teams are also allotted $25,000 - for ice time, federation dues and officials, coaches, uniforms and miscellaneous costs. Smith said the agreement made when the boys teams were created was that booster clubs will take care of additional costs, such as extra tournaments. Smith said additional costs are about $4,000 a year.

Girls' hockey is just one of 37 programs considered a major impact item and nowhere near the most costly.

The board is given the list after the administrative staff reviews the requests, as submitted by the individual buildings and departments.

"As the process goes on we hone it down; the numbers change," Smith said.

As submitted, the list totaled $9.26 million, which includes state-mandated costs, programming and personnel.

As has been the case in previous years, rising staffing and insurance costs will be a large portion of the increase - $5.5 million combined. Smith said the estimated enrollment numbers will be discussed at the December meeting, which will determine any changes in staffing.

The board is considering some changes that would affect student activities and curriculum.

In reviewing rising Erie 1 BOCES costs, the district is considering offering cosmopolity in-house. Smith said the district might have enough interested students, which would cut costs.

The increase for the BOCES line is $265,620, for 44 additional students to take occupational education programs.

Along similar lines, the district is considering the addition of a middle school class for students with disabilities. Smith said it's the same thought process as BOCES. The district could have enough students to form a classroom instead of busing those students to an alternative school.

The estimated cost of starting and running that classroom is $223,206 for staffing one new class. Smith said the classroom would serve three to four students.

"This class will address needs of middle school students and allow the district to return students from an agency or BOCES setting to the district," the description said.

Smith said the cost of one student for an off-campus program is $40,000 per year.

Thomas Maturski, assistant superintendent for business, said there could possibly be additional students, which would increase the cost savings in the future.

Another special needs area the district hopes to address is English as a second language. The list includes $97,684 for additional staffing to bring the student/ teacher ratio to 20-to-1 at the elementary level, down from 21.

Smith said there are currently 235 ESL students and 11 teachers.

"We are seeing a lot more ESL students moving into the district; times have changed," said Maturski, adding that the number is influenced by the staff drawn to the University at Buffalo.

Maturski said the level of expectation for ESL students has increased, and additional staffing is necessary for those students to perform well.

Another student population area that needs addressing is residency investigation. The budget would be increased by $30,000 in what was described as a "dramatic increase" of cases in 2007-08.

"This is a problem for a number of suburban schools. Sweet Home and Amherst are probably dealing with the same thing," Smith said. "We have a responsibility to do this. It's not fair to the taxpayers."

The money is used to hire a private investigator for cases the district is alerted to.

The district is considering adding another foreign language. Currently, Spanish and French are started at the fifth-grade level with the option of German and Latin at the ninth-grade level. Smith said the district is surveying the level of interest in adding Mandarin Chinese at the ninth-grade level, after finding a low interest for fifth grade.

The addition of Mandarin Chinese is dependent on the results of the interest survey. The estimated cost is $69,700.

A boys' modified lacrosse team for North High School is also proposed. Smith said currently there is one team for Casey and Heim middle schools, which feed North.

"Our philosophy has been on the level of interest," Smith said, adding that there is a lot of interest in the sport, which would support two teams.

Another new sports budget line proposed is $55,000 to send teams and individuals to state competitions. The cost had been reimbursed by Section VI, which has since changed its policy.

Smith said in addition to the section having financial issues, some districts found it unfair they were paying dues toward state competition but never had any teams or athletes attend.

Williamsville sends an average of 25 individuals and four teams to state competitions each year. The district has budgeted $55,000 for the costs related to those competitions

"Some districts can't fund this. Funding of them will be strictly based on fundraising and parents," Smith said.

By opting to add that budget line the district has opened another door. Smith said the district is looking into paying for scholar and extracurricular state competitions to be fair and consistent. In the past, groups such as Future Business Leaders of America, had to pay for state competitions through fundraising and/or out of pocket.

The additional budget items will be reviewed throughout the budget process during the next few months.

The next board meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11 at the district offices, 105 Casey Road, East Amherst.