GUILDERLAND — The school board here plans to vote at its next meeting, on July 5, on whether or not to give volunteer first responders a tax break.

“I was a little disheartened when it was first brought to the board by the business committee, to be honest with you, because we didn’t have numbers at that time,” said board member Blanca Gonzalez-Parker at the board’s June 13 meeting.

“I was afraid it was just going to kind of die there,” she said.

Andrew Van Alstyne, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, came up with the numbers and presented them to the board at its last meeting, May 23, and again last Tuesday before a public hearing.

Last December, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law that allows municipalities, including school districts, to provide volunteer firefighters and ambulance-squad members up to a 10-percent reduction in the assessed value of their homes.

Van Alstyne estimated that, with 150 eligible volunteer firefighters living in the Guilderland school district, the assessed value of their residential properties combined would be about $41.5 million. Using early tax-rate projections for next year, he calculated an exemption would total $75,000 or about $490 per eligible volunteer.

The estimated impact on other taxpayers would be about two cents per $1,000 in assessed value. For a property with an assessed value of $250,000, Van Alstyne estimated, the annual impact would be a little less than $4.50.

He stressed that these are “very approximate numbers.”

Michael Dempsey, a volunteer with the Guilderland Fire Department, speaking on behalf of the Town of Guilderland Fire Chiefs and Commissioners Association, addressed the board again as he had in May.

“Recruiting and retaining new members to join the volunteer fire departments has become increasingly more difficult,” he said.

Speaking on “a more personal level,” Dempsey also said, “the exemption shows for all of us a very tangible way of appreciation that the school board, and through extension the residents that you serve, the appreciation you have for the time that we spend away from our families, going to trainings and drills, and fire calls.”

Dempsey was applauded by his fellow firefighters seated in the gallery.

The only other person in the gallery to address the issue was Jacob Crawford, a member of the Guilderland Town Board and Albany County’s Democratic committee chairman.

He noted the town board had passed the exemption and told the school board, “I hope you’ll support our volunteer firefighters and EMTs and pass this tax exemption.”

“I’m in favor of it,” said the board’s president, Seema Rivera, adding that she appreciated “all the information and seeing everybody come in support in person.”

She concluded, “I think it will be a no-brainer.”

Caring Closet 

The founder of The Caring Closet, Amanda Beedle, and a member of its board of directors, Shannon Clegg, spoke to the school board about the importance of the charitable endeavor that provides free hygiene products to students who need them.

“Being a person that grew up with not enough in my household, it really means a lot to me, and it would have made a huge impact on my family,” said Clegg, who is a teacher of world languages at Guilderland High School.

Clegg said she had a lot of students who needed the donated hygiene supplies. “We’re refilling our high school closet every week with at least $500 or $600 worth of supplies …,” she said. “We have a great need in this district.”

Beedle, who serves as a director of the not-for-profit Caring Closet, is a member of the Guilderland Town Board.

“We have donated an astounding 9,177 items to all seven of our schools totaling $12,301,” Beedle reported.

The program started in the high school and there is now a closet at Farnsworth Middle School. The district has five elementary schools as well as the high school and middle school.

A pilot project was started at Guilderland Elementary School, Beedle said, “using reusable bags that were donated to us and we filled them with products at the beginning of each month. The family gives us back the empty bag mid-month, and I bring it right back at the end. So they don’t have to ask for things anymore.”

Lynnwood Elementary School will be on board for that program in the fall, she said.

“We’ve been filling special requests through community partners such as the Guilderland Food Pantry when families don’t feel comfortable connecting through the school,” Beedle said.

She also said, “We have seen students, youth organizations, big corporations, local small businesses, houses of worship, local families all step up to help us and our community.”

Beedle concluded by reading a message from a parent, describing a girl who got body spray “and it made her whole day.”

The message went on, “The kids are starting to think differently about these kinds of programs and helping people and not a lot of stigma … You’ve certainly done so much for everyone — the kids in need and the kids who aren’t.

“You’ve made it cool to help people in need, not ostracize them.”

Beedle’s comments were greeted with applause.

Defining hate

The school board adopted a much-anticipated policy with two score definitions “offered to foster a deeper understanding of anti-hate, diversity, equity, and inclusivity.”

Board members had said earlier that they wanted to adopt the policy ahead of graduation since part of the impetus came from students who will be graduating this June.

The listing of sources and resources is nearly as long as the six pages of definitions. Some examples:

— “Anti-racism” is defined as “the proactive commitment and process of identifying, examining, challenging and changing the values, environments, structures, and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism with the goal of creating educational and employment equity”;

—  “Implicit Bias” is “the negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness. Many studies have indicated that implicit biases affect individuals’ attitudes and actions, thus creating real-world implications, even though individuals may not even be aware that those biases exist within themselves”;

— “Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership”; and

— “White Privilege is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and racialized peoples by white peoples and nations of the European continent; for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege.”

Rivera thanked the students who worked on the policy and thanked Matthew Pinchinat, the district’s director of DEI, for supporting the work. “I’m really excited to see this,” said Rivera.

Other business

In other business at its June 13 meeting, the Guilderland School board:

— Heard for the fourth time from Robert DiPasquale, a parent of Guilderland students, about the importance of recess at school. He said that students need an hour a day for physical activity.

“Please, let’s not be hypocrites,” he said. “We all take breaks, but we are not going to allow it for our children. What a double standard.”

Rivera responded, “I’m not opposed, of course, to recess but I think it’s a lot more complicated than just saying, ‘I support recess.’ There’s contractual obligations, there’s transportation, there’s minutes in the school day ….”

She suggested that DiPasquale start “at the ground level,” for instance, talking to the PTA, to enlist others who may share his concerns and work toward a resolution;

— Welcomed Ryan St. John as a new house principal at Farnsworth Middle School. He starts July 1 with an annual salary of $95,000;

— Accepted the resignation of Matthew Pinchinat, the district’s first director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, effective July 14. Pinchinat was hired by the district as a social studies teacher in September 2017;

— Appointed these members to the DEI Committee: staff members Emma Dreilinger and Michael Laster; community members Shaka Bedgood and Tomica Collado-Robinson; parents Beth Martinez and Suzanne Kawola; and students Varshini Siddi, Shreya Mudavangattil Sajan, Rachel Otter, and Noah Kaufman;

— Heard that Guilderland High School English teacher Andy Maycock, who directs the school’s plays, won Best Feature Screenplay at the May Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival for his screenplay “The Hitchcock Murders.”

The Film Festival’s website says, “Every season, we award screenplays in multiple categories and give recognition to the voices of tomorrow’s crime and horror classics. Plus, winning screenplays will be considered by Hollywood professionals including managers and production companies”;

— Heard that author and artist Eric Velasquez visited all five Guilderland Elementary schools in a program put together by the school librarians: Julia Healy of Lynnwood, Anne Johnson of Altamont, Dee Johnson of Westmere, Sarah Kransler of Pine Bush, and Julie Tootell of Guilderland.

“If you asked the students, the most exciting portion was when a student from each session, in each building was selected to have his/herself sketched. What a gift,” said Rachel Anderson, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction.

“The son of Afro-Puerto Rican parents, Eric was born in Spanish Harlem and grew up in Harlem. His dual heritage coupled with the experience of living in dual cultures in New York City gives Eric a rich and unique cultural perspective,” Anderson said, listing some of the many awards he has won; and

— Discussed drafting a proposal to be considered during the New York State School Boards Association annual convention, to be held in Buffalo in October, that would push legislation to make the lottery system for pre-kindergarten classes weighted in favor of needy families.

Currently, Guilderland, like many other school districts, has far more children eligible for pre-kindergarten classes than spaces available. “The 100-percent random lottery selection for students in the pre-K program sometimes leaves our neediest students out of luck in getting a slot,” said Superintendent Marie Wiles.