Warwick Valley School District welcomes new principal
Warwick. School officials also offer school board a mid-year look at district's progress; substance abuse resistance to be focus of January’s work session.
| 16 Jan 2020 | 10:54
The Warwick Valley School Board formally welcomed Bill Biniaris as the new principal of Park Avenue Elementary School at its regular meeting on Monday evening.
Biniaris “brings 22 years of experience in public education with New York City Schools,” according to a statement from Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Leach, “including his most recent assignment as Principal of the 30th Avenue School in Queens, a K-8 citywide gifted and talented school.”
Administration’s overview
The school district is continuing its work with the Tri-State Consortium, “a prestigious network of some of the highest-achieving public school districts in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut,” as it looks to strengthen and align curriculum and instruction “as these steps are the essential catalysts for improvement in the district,” Leach said.
Representatives of Warwick Valley schools will visit consortium member districts in the region in order to “strengthen instruction/learn best practices.”
Leach said that the district expects to host a visit from the consortium next year “to receive feedback about an area of its instructional program.”
Henri Prevost’s and Izabele Horowitz’s Science Research projects were accepted to be submitted to the Eastern New York 17th annual Subregional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, to be held in Burnt Hills Ballston Lake High School on Jan. 25.
In light of the defeat of last month’s capital projects vote, the district will meet with local experts regarding “optimal maintenance” of natural grass fields.
Greenwood Lake students
About 215 Greenwood Lake students – 81 percent – pay tuition to attend Warwick Valley High School. According to Leach, the trend will continue next school year (2020-21), when 80 percent of Greenwood Lake’s Middle School eighth graders will enroll at Warwick Valley High School.
Substance abuse resistance
More than 100 people attended a joint session of the high school and middle school coalitions’ drug abuse awareness forum on Dec. 16, in cooperation with the Greenwood Lake and Florida school districts, ADAC, the Warwick Valley Coalition, Warwick Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Leach offered that it was an impressive turnout, even in the middle of the holiday season.
In his statement, Leach said, “Throughout the country, schools remain very concerned with student vaping, underage drinking, illegal drug use, and the abuse of prescription medications.” He continued, “While our schools have a comprehensive prevention plan and partners with Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition, we all must do more for our children.”
The Warwick Valley School District will discuss results of its student drug and alcohol survey at its mid-month work session at Sanfordville Elementary School on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. where it will focus on vaping, substance abuse and alcohol abuse prevention.
Other business
The school board gave its assent to the high school to go on a field trip to Albany on Feb. 25 for the New York Library Association’s Library Advocacy Day.
The BOE accepted donations from the Warwick Valley Farmers’ Market and the WV Middle School PTA.
Public comment
Several students from the high school’s Government class attended Monday’s meeting. One of them, Brian Suchomel, made his remarks during the public comment period, regarding the upcoming forum at Sanfordville and addressing substance abuse among his peers.
“Students are afraid to let people know they have a (drug) problem,” Suchomel said. He urged the board to do more than simply arrest students found to possess illegal substances when on school grounds: “Nobody wants to be known as the ‘pillhead,’” he said, and he encouraged the administration to offer rehab as a component to dealing with students’ substance abuse problems.
Leach encouraged him to attend the forum on the 27th; Suchomel agreed.
Leach pointed out that the police department has a program called “Help, not handcuffs,” where students suffering from addiction can go to the police station and seek help.
School board member Lynn Lillian commended Suchomel and his peers for speaking up at the meeting and adding to the discussion, suggesting that the students’ input could help the BOE solve this difficult problem.
Next
Monday, Jan. 27, 7 p.m. – Sanfordville Elementary School, Work session: Student drug and alcohol survey results.
Monday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m.– Regular meeting, Dorothy C. Wilson Education Center.