Sharon Springs School Board Approves Senior Trip To Wildwood, N.J.

By Chris English

SHARON SPRINGS — The Sharon Springs Central School Class of 2026 will enjoy a fun and educational senior trip to Wildwood, N.J. June 4-6 after the school board approved the trip at its Monday, Sept. 8 meeting.

Senior Class president Ava Jump attended the meeting with several classmates and Senior Class faculty advisors Anne Allen and Dan Cornwell to request approval of the trip and some privileges traditionally granted to the senior class. The privileges were also approved.

Jump said the trip will be both fun and educational and will also include a stop at the Six Flags Great Adventure Amusement Park in Jackson Township, N.J. The Wildwood itinerary will include a Dolphin Tour, deep sea fishing and supervised beach time where students will also learn lessons in ecology and other sciences.

The privileges are being able to go to nearby locations like the bank, post office, Stewart's and the Brimstone Bakery during lunch and/or study hall. Also included in the privileges are being able to paint and decorate 15 to 20 parking spaces for seniors. Superintendent Thomas Yorke said the school's custodial staff indicated that would not be a problem.

Yorke and Jump said the senior class has been fund raising for the trip since eighth grade and it will not involve the expenditure of any taxpayer money. Yorke and Business Manager Tony DiPace added that each senior signs a contract in regard to the privileges and they can be revoked for any individual senior for poor grades or other issues.

Jump said the approval granted by the board Monday night will help create "lasting memories and a sense of pride in the class."

In other actions from the Sept. 8 meeting, the board agreed to a change in the decades-long tradition of starting its monthly meetings at 7:30 p.m. Instead, starting with the next meeting on Oct. 6, meetings will start at 6 p.m. with an executive session, if needed, and then the regular public meeting right after. If no executive session is needed, the regular public meeting will start at 6 p.m., Yorke and DiPace noted.

DiPace said he has been with the school district for 35 years and meetings had always started at 7:30 p.m. The board would adjourn to executive sessions, if needed, near the end of meetings and then re-convene back into the public meeting. However, several board members had suggested that earlier start times and an executive session at the beginning of meetings might prove more convenient for many.

At the Monday meeting, board vice-president Christine Cornwell at first suggested a 5 p.m. start time but then readily agreed with other board members that 6 p.m. was OK.

"I work outside during the winter and the last thing I want to do by 7:30 at night is go back outside," Cornwell said.

Yorke introduced four new teachers; Kelsey Girard (K-12 Physical Education), Nicholas Barbra (6-12 Science), McKenzie Rivenberg (second grade) and Lyle Conley (9-12 Business). Approved during personnel actions near the end of Monday night's meeting was the hiring of full-time equivalent bus driver Brad Erkson, the resignation of special education teacher Melissa Freeman effective Aug. 31, the hiring of special education teacher Eliza Cechnicki effective Oct. 2 and approval for Richie Kendle as a volunteer assistant on the boys varsity soccer team.