New York State public schools are in the midst of some of the most significant challenges in state history. As the Regents Reform Agenda moves forward, all schools are grappling with the ability to meet the challenges of significant change, which redefines teaching and learning.
I am often heartened to see the stories that crop up around the holidays of people helping people.
It’s hard to believe that the final days of my first year as this region’s State Senator are on the doorstep, but here they are. I can’t think of a better way to ring out year one than by recalling some of the thoughts I started with back in January, especially this one: the economic and fiscal challenges may be as daunting as they’ve ever been in New York State, but there has never been a more important time to serve.
As we near the end of the calendar year and embrace the winter season, there is much that has to be accomplished in the village, particularly on the infrastructure side of business. While much of the talk has been about the waste water treatment plant, our water metering system needs updating. We also need to address storm drainage, streets and sidewalks.
We should learn from the past. We need to go slow on hydrofracking in New York State.
Your neighbor gets a fracking station, and you and your other neighbors water wells become tainted. Suddenly you can’t drink the water, or cook with it, or bathe or shower in it, or wash your clothes, or water your garden, or water your livestock. Now what do you do?
The purpose of this column is to inform you of the financial and educational challenges that we currently face as a school community. Dansville Central School District is in real trouble and the elected officials listed at the end of this column have the power to help us overcome the obstacles set before us.
As National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month comes to a close, those of us involved directly with the Alzheimer’s Association of Rochester and the Finger Lakes region have been busy reaching out to our congressional representatives.
In the face of dire and difficult economic challenges, regional leaders were given the chance to stand up and do something positive. Here at home, I fully expected that a region-wide team of business, community and economic development leaders would once again help the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions succeed in this new state-level competition for economic development resources. I was confident that they would fully recognize that the economic competition has never been tougher, that they’d tackle the challenge head on, and, in the end, raise the bar even higher to help our region stand out.
Two meetings of importance to the future of Springwater were conducted this week on Monday and Tuesday evenings. The monthly meeting of the town council saw changes ratified in how we dispose of garbage, and also the reception by the council of an extensive review written by the members of the parks and trails committee.
The landowner coalitions, large landowners and NYDEC are prepared to bring safe natural gas drilling to New York.
News alert: the Obama administration planned last week to tax your Christmas tree, apparently part of the liberal atheists’ war on Christmas. You didn’t hear about it? Good, it never happened. But you wouldn’t know that from some media outlets’ news reports.
Whether it’s at a public hearing after village officials announce their intention to change the law that determines sewer rates or commenting about the draft proposals from the state governing hydraulic fracturing, public input is a key part of the process.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is holding its first public hearing (speak three minutes in line) here at our Dansville Middle School, 1-4 and 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16. They want comments on their online draft EIS. We were told each of these times is a separate line, so if you’re on it, be sure to get in Dansville Middle School to speak. Local artists might provide music and local speakers. Study the online draft DEC EIS, come to Dansville Middle School, speak three minutes, feel proud to speak your mind and submit your written comments.
From time to time in this column, whenever they become available, I like to share the results of the latest survey or study conducted by the various groups and organizations with a finger on the pulse of the nation’s employers — reports that can sometimes help illuminate what America’s leaders in business and industry are thinking and doing.
This week, the Express features the second piece in a series on testing in public schools in our area. While test scores are an important consideration in evaluating students’ performance and teacher competency, they are only one tool among many.
The possibility of opening New York for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale is certainly cropping up as a hot-button issue. With Department of Environmental Conservation officials releasing drafts of both proposed regulations and statements on the environmental impacts, proponents and opponents are awaiting eagerly a round of public hearings and the next steps that will almost certainly results in expansion of current drilling operations north into New York.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was recently asked by a reporter at a Capitol press conference whether county governments (and, therefore, local property taxpayers) could be relieved of having to pay for Medicaid by having the state pick up the local share.
