Maplewood Elementary School got an A-plus from district administrators for its smooth transition following its July 1 annexation by the North Colonie Central School District, and Principal Jerry Steele said the school plans to keep up its good grades in the years to come.
There’s a lot going on very quickly, Steele said. `It’s exciting, it’s a little different. I think the idea here is that the students are going to benefit.`
Earlier this month, the district was recognized by the state Department of Education for its precision in completing the annexation process.
Speaking before the Board of Education at a board meeting on Monday, Oct. 27, Capital Region BOCES District Superintendent Charles Dedrick said, `For the boards of education, administrations and communities to move beyond the emotion of the issue and so clearly focus on the best interests of children and taxpayers is commendable. You have become a statewide example of a successful regionalization effort. I’m quite sure that what you have done will become a shining example for others to follow.`
District officials who saw the annexation through from its beginning are also pleased with the success of the process.
`From my perspective, it’s turning out very well. We’ve had a very smooth transition in terms of bringing on the Maplewood staff,` said the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Business Tom Rybaltowski.
Rybaltowski compared bringing the school into the district to adopting a child.
`That’s what it’s like, and they’re fitting in well,` he said.
As part of the annexation, Maplewood, which previously had its own Board of Education and superintendent, is now under the umbrella of North Colonie, sharing its programs and services.
One such service that the school welcomed was transportation.
According to Steele, students at Maplewood School were never able to use a bus service before becoming part of the North Colonie Central School District.
While the majority of students at the school live in close enough proximity to walk to school, not all students do.
`We do have some that are beyond a certain limit, and because there’s no sidewalks and they do have to cross railroad tracks, those are concerns,` he said.
In previous years, those students would have to have their parents drop them off and pick them up. Now, a North Colonie bus service transports those students who do not live close enough to the school.
Another service that has been greeted with excitement is the hot lunch program. Before the annexation, Maplewood students would have to bring their own lunches to school, with the exception of those who would get hot lunches ordered for them through Spiak’s, a nearby restaurant.
`But now, as we’re part of North Colonie, we get the hot lunches, and I have to tell you, that has been a big hit with the kids,` Steele said.
Through the program, Maplewood students have been able to have pizza, fish filets, pasta salads and many more options for lunch.
But even more important than what they are eating is where they are eating.
Before the annexation, Maplewood supported students in grades kindergarten through eighth. Now, middle-school-age students go from Maplewood to Shaker Junior High School. With that transition Maplewood has been able to reconfigure the space so kids can eat their lunches in a cafeteria that is inside the main building.
`Kids would have to bundle up in the winter to go outside to the cafeteria,` Steele said of the previous set-up. `Now they don’t have to.`
Aside from the major changes in the lunch program and transportation, major changes have also occurred in the educational programs that are now offered at Maplewood.
For instance, Maplewood now has its own band program.
`We had our chorus, but we never had an instrumental program,` Steele said.
The school now has about 25 students participating in the program.
`You have a couple of students that need to find their niche,` Steele said.
He said he hopes the band will be able to perform in Maplewood’s very first holiday concert this year.
Students were also exposed to two more foreign languages this year than in years past, as part of a districtwide elementary foreign language exploratory program, called FLEX. With the program, students are able to get exposure to French, Spanish, German and Russian.
While Steele is happy with all of the changes that Maplewood has seen over the past four months, some changes are still in the works, including an update of the building’s Internet service structure. Steele said the district is currently working on networking Maplewood to the Intranet of the North Colonie Central School District so that the school can be tied electronically to the district.
The school is also in the process of receiving more up-to-date technology as many computers that were nearly 15 years old are replaced with laptops.
Rybaltowski said the district is still working on tying up loose ends with the former Maplewood School District by closing bank accounts that the school still has opened.
`Now we’re looking to close down those bank accounts,` he said, adding that he hopes they are closed by the end of this month.“