School reaches officer agreement with village

WATKINS GLEN—The Watkins Glen school board approved an agreement with the village of Watkins to provide a school resource officer, Monday, Aug. 5.
Superintendent Tom Phillips said the agreement is for two years and increases the district’s annual cost to $30,000 up from $25,000.  He added a fulltime officer will continue to be assigned to the building.  The village had not approved the SRO agreement last month because the amount didn’t cover the village’s total cost.  Also on Aug. 5, the village approved the agreement at its Monday meeting.
In other business:
•  Kai D’Alleva was approved as middle school (seventh and eighth grade) principal for the next 10 months.  He will also serve as the district testing coordinator, home school supervisor, and seventh through 12th grade English language arts coordinator.  
•  Phillips reported the district has responses from the online survey about the after school program.  He explained one of the main responses was concerns about the cost if Watkins were to charge a fee per student.  The previous after school program didn’t receive continued federal funding for the upcoming school year.  Phillips added Sen. Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats) awarded Watkins $50,000 in aid at his discretion.  The funds can’t be used for salary of non-district personnel.  Phillips said the issue with using those funds is how does Watkins finance the program after next year.