CRCS Joins Regional Team

COBLESKILL - At the last CRCS Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Matthew Sickles presented a project that would involve all six Schoharie County schools under Capital Region BOCES.

He began by stating that the governor recently passed the New York State Regional Initiative, which encourages geographically close schools to work together in a more productive way.

Taking advantage of this policy through BOCES, CRCS will be one of six schools to take on the Collaborative Planning and Resource Initiative, which would see BKW, Middleburgh, Schoharie, Duanesburg, Sharon Springs, and themselves sharing knowledge and services.

Among these new advantages will be shared academics, like lending staff or teachers from one school to another, special education needs, and shared athletics.

However, each school will be able to prioritize their local autonomy, and decision-makers will not have to sacrifice anything they do not want to.

Superintendent Sickles explained that the regional schools already do something similar, such as the shared wrestling team between BKW and Middleburgh, but this project will be able to expand those opportunities to a much larger scale.

“This is a new opportunity to help one another out,” Superintendent Sickles said, adding “This is something we will do because it makes sense to do it and we will continue doing it.”

He was also quick to quell any doubts about the initiative being a merger. “That’s not what this is,” he emphatically stated. “It’s getting harder to find employees and enrollment is down across the state. This will help with all of that.”

Board President Bruce Tryon, another leader involved in the regional talks, backed the project by saying “The goal is to offer our students the best education that we can.”

Superintendent Sickles noted that the project is currently in the data collection and fact finding stage, but the next steps include more leadership meetings to identify the region’s priorities, then they will develop collaborative solutions that will enhance the students’ academic experience.