By JUDY RATTNER
Questioning who approved books on the summer reading lists, Cathleen McCrystal angrily denounced "Slot Machine," one of the selections on the middle school list that she said contained language and situations inappropriate for seventh graders. Sue Cavallo, a member of the RVC Quality of Life Council, the group fighting the proposed new turf and lights project at the high school, was also ruled out of order, after her questions to the board were deemed sarcastic and discourteous by Brady. Self-proclaimed "citizen taxpayer" Jeff Greenfield also spoke to the board, including in his comments a request for an estimate on how much the district was spending on lawsuits that are currently pending against the school district and the board of education.
Before visitors were given the opportunity to comment, school superintendent Dr. William Johnson said that within about two months, the board would be making it first trial run of a system to tape its public meetings and make them available to the public both over the Internet and on the school channel that village residents can receive on cable television. At little or no cost to the district, with equipment it already owns, Johnson said entire meetings would soon be taped uninterrupted using computer-driven electronic equipment that would be controlled by one of the administration members who regularly attend the board meetings.
Earlier in the evening, Assistant Superintendent Delia Garrity reported on numerous curriculum initiatives developed over the summer for implementation this school year, and Assistant Superintendent Robert Bartels provided a school construction update. Dr. Johnson said the district had a "smooth" school opening, and thanked custodial and maintenance staff for a "superb job" in their preparations. Johnson also said that the ongoing discussions about the implementation of Algebra and issues relating to the scoring of the June regents had been resolved. He thanked the State Department of Education that he said "really and truly listened to the field" in complying with requests to administer the exam on the first day of the first week of testing, and then providing the scoring rubric to teachers by the last day of Regents testing, enabling them to inform students at risk of failing in time for them to enroll in summer school.
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