Superintendent addresses high-stakes testing
Saugerties school district Superintendent Seth Turner took the April 9 meeting as an opportunity to address “a flurry of discussion on Facebook” about testing prompted by a Saugerties Times article about opposition to high-stakes standardized testing. Turner differed with some teachers in the article who said the district has been less forceful in advocating for...
Morse Elementary’s television studio
Last month, the high school completed an in-house television studio. Now, Morse Elementary School has joined in. At this rate, Saugerties will be soon be a Mecca for young television talent. Last Wednesday, students filmed the newest episode of Just Print It TV under the guidance and supervision of Special Ed teacher and JPI founder...
Turner: teachers’ union ignoring “economic reality”
The strained relationship between Saugerties teachers and the district went public last week, with Superintendent Seth Turner issuing an exasperated memo to all district employees taking the union to task for its “refusal to recognize the economic realities of the time, and its unwillingness to place the interests of the students ahead of the financial...
Gun-control advocates refute pro-gun arguments
A small but dedicated group of gun law reform advocates recently held a strategy session at the Inquiring Mind bookstore in Saugerties. “Our goal is not to propose legislation, but to support it,” said Martin Keith, who along with his wife, Euphrosyne Bloom, both of West Saugerties, organized and moderated the meeting. The primary item...
Saugerties school sees $2.2m shortfall
The Saugerties School District faces a $2.27 million budget gap with five months to go before the budget vote. Administrators say the gap is the result of large increases in employee pensions, salaries, and benefits with no expected increase in state aid to make up the difference. Asked if there might be cuts to sports,...
School kids team up with theater troupe
Fifth graders at Cahill Elementary School have caught the acting bug. For seven days they have worked with Arm-of-the-Sea Theater’s managing director, Patrick Wadden, to stage a “visual theater” production inspired by two oft-overlooked school murals: Edward Dreis’s “The Story of Paper Making,” which covers a cafeteria wall and depicts paper mill workers in an...
Triathletes do it on land and sea
Despite the autumnal chill in the air, things heated up at Hunter Mountain last weekend and no small amount of sweat was shed, as competitors swam, biked, and finally ran their way through the newest and—if you believe the athletes—the toughest triathlon on the block. The two-day event was a part of the HITS Triathlon...
Starting smart, starting over at community college
Job training. Two-year degrees. A cheaper first-half of a bachelor’s. An after-work exploration of a new subject for a lifetime learner. The Ulster County Community College (aka SUNY Ulster) is many things to many people. SUNY Ulster’s popularity might have something to do with the eminently affordable $2,065 per semester county residents pay for tuition....
Saugerties teachers union prez assails superintendent
As Chicago teachers made headlines with a huge general strike, relations between the Saugerties Teachers Association and the district devolved to their worst in years. At the board’s most recent meeting, attended by scores of teachers, harsh critiques of the board and district officials were delivered by a former teacher, a current student and the...
Are running shoes causing injuries?
The argument Chris McDougall proffers in his best-seller Born To Run seems self-evident; for hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors regularly ran longer distances than many of us commute today, and they did it without shoes and largely without the injuries ubiquitous among modern Nike-clad runners. Thus the makers of bloated modern footwear must...
Community garden’s bountiful harvest
Rumors of the death of the Saugerties Community Garden were exaggerated, say its members, who didn’t take too kindly to a report by this newspaper last month that described the plot as overgrown and the organizers unresponsive to requests for a status report. As it turns out, there was a communication mix-up, and though the...
SHS class of 2013 already looking past graduation
On Wednesday morning, car horns blared up and down 9W and Partition Street and commuters threw up their hands in frustration as, unyielding, the senior class of Saugerties High School caravanned in painted cars to the high school to kick off the first day of their last year in school. As per tradition, over 100...