New Paltz voters OK $52.2M school budget, $500K safety project
New Paltz’s $52.2 million school budget passed handily, nabbing almost 70 percent voter approval tonight. A second proposition asking voters if they’d support using $500,000 from the capital reserve funds to help pay for needed repairs to district’s four school buildings also passed. On the budget, 1,316 voters said yes and 579 said no. That...
Highland’s school budget passes; Miller and Gilmore win BOE seats
The voters in Highland have spoken by passing the proposed $38.5 million 2013-2014 school budget by a 62 percent majority — 968 in favor to 593 opposed. As for Proposition 2, which called for $200,000 to be spent on security cameras for the district’s bus fleet, the vote passed — 831 in support to 669...
Scavenger Hunt/Race benefits New Paltz United Teachers’ Scholarship Fund
The New Paltz United Teachers are hosting a Scavenger Hunt/Race this Saturday, May 18. The event will kick off at the New Paltz Middle School at 10 a.m. and end at Upstairs on 9 Café at the New Paltz Golf Course off Huguenot Street. According to Meri Lederer, the race will consist of teams with...
Three candidates view for two Highland School Board positions
Highland voters can expect an experienced group of three candidates to run for the two open school board seats on May 21. This year’s race will pit incumbents Sue Gilmore and Tom Miller against their onetime colleague Vincent Rizzi, a former Highland Board of Education president. In a stunning turnaround, Rizzi lost his seat on...
Newcomers flock to fill vacant New Paltz School Board seats
In a year when familiar faces decided not to run for re-election, three hopeful newcomers will try to win two open seats on the New Paltz Board of Education. Board Vice President Rod Dressel and long-time member Edgar Rodriguez decided against running this year. In their place, computer data analyst Max Maurer, current New Paltz...
Pterodactyl made from recycled materials soars aloft in Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum
What with bomb threats, lockouts and the like, the Rondout Valley Central School District has been having a bit of a rough year. So a bit of happy news is especially welcome, even when it wings its way right out of the Jurassic to hover in a refurbished exhibit hall in the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum...
New Paltz Teen Photo Contest winners are announced
Six New Paltz high school and middle school students were awarded prizes in the third annual New Paltz Teen Photo Contest at a reception April 9 hosted by the Elting Memorial Library. Local photographers G. Steve Jordan, Matt Petricone and Lauren Thomas had the unenviable task of choosing the winners among 54 entries submitted by...
SUNY New Paltz projects will face delay
A glut of building projects in the State University of New York system will mean delays on two projects here at home. SUNY New Paltz’s new Science Building and renovations to the Sojourner Truth Library — amounting to $62.3 million of upgrades — will have to wait, college officials said. “We have the funding in...
New Paltz High School stages spring musical “Grease”
With a 53-member cast filled with talented actors/actresses, singers and dancers, the New Paltz High School (NPHS)’s spring musical theatre production, Grease, is poised to have the audience laughing and dancing in the aisles. According to longtime NPHS musical director Nancy Owen, Grease was selected by NPHS choir director Nicole Ferrante. “Nicole has been doing...
New Paltz parents still looking to ban vacation homework
After receiving a lot of media attention and some recognition from school officials, the parents in New Paltz who started a petition to ban homework during holidays and breaks still believe they can make a change. Last week, parents met with principals Barbara Clinton and Richard Wiesenthal to see if vacation homework could end. Following...
Highland Educational Foundation works to make an ADA-compliant playground
One dinner at Casa Milanese won’t be like the others — at least if the Highland Educational Foundation has anything to do with it. The Snow Ball Dinner on March 9 will go toward making Highland Elementary School’s playground fair and fun for children in wheelchairs or with other disabilities. Parents and educators at the...
SUNY students’ Think Thrift Club grows
Natalie Skoblow knows that high fashion and high prices don’t always have to go together. The SUNY New Paltz sophomore is the founder of the campus’s Think Thrift Club. “These major corporations — like Forever 21 and H&M — they’re producing all this new stuff. But there’s so many items of clothing that go to...