New Provision In Gilboa-Conesville Safety Plan

GILBOA-CONESVILLE — Some matters of the heart are included in the 2025-26 Gilboa-Conesville safety plan approved by the school board at its Thursday, Aug. 21 meeting.

A new provision included this year requires that someone certified in CPR and the use of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) be present at all school athletic and other events.

In other actions from the meeting, the board approved a resolution that authorizes the school district through its architect to offer a contract of slightly more than $99,000 to Kelley Bros. to bring all doors in the 1929 building up to current code. 

No responses were received when the project went out to bid, and the architect advised that re-advertising and re-bidding would result in delay and increased costs for the district. Kelley Bros. had included its cost for doing the work in a proposal submitted to Gilboa-Conesville.

Superintendent Bonnie Johnson said the time frame for the project will depend on the availability of Kelley Bros but that hopefully it will be completed by the Spring of 2026.

An intermunicipal agreement with the neighboring Roxbury School District was approved that will allow for the two districts to share a Social Studies teacher during the 2025-26 school year. Costs for the $82,918 salary and benefits for the teacher will be split between the districts, and the teacher will spend 0.6 of his or her time in GC and 0.4 in Roxbury. The teacher will also be reimbursed for round-trip mileage at the Internal Revenue Service rate for 2025 and 2026.

A State Environmental Quality Review was approved for the big improvement project coming up at an estimated cost of $7.9 million. That project that will include extensive work of various kinds throughout the district is projected to start in the Spring of 2026.

Lunch prices for 2025-26 were approved. There will be a 10 cent increase from last year, and the prices for individual pieces of fruit are going up 25 cents, from 50 to 75 cents. A resolution was approved authorizing the district to participate in the New York State School and Municipal Energy Consortium for electricity.

The board voted to accept a $446 grant from the Catskill Watershed Corporation for materials and supplies for a program called "Trout in the Classroom."

In personnel actions, Constance Harris was approved as a substitute UPK-12 teacher and LTA and the resignation of Debra Brand as internal claims auditor was accepted while Janice Merwin was approved as the new internal claims auditor for 2025-26.

Mary Hinkley, the 7-12 Principal and Special Education Director, was appointed attendance supervisor officer and payroll certification officer. Clyde Cole was named modified boys soccer coach for the 2025 season while Rosetta Richardson was approved as CROP adult helper for 2025-26.

The board approved Andrew Dumas as substitute UPK-12 teacher and LTA for this school year. Anne Kovac, Michelle Fleischman, Michele Wyckoff, Jim Vamosy and Melanie Goodwin were approved as proctors for the August Regents Exams.