By Ava Himmelsbach

Mount Sinai School District Board of Education held its Aug. 21 meeting at which it considered its District-Wide School Safety Plan. The discussion covered the contents and purposes of this newly-revised draft for final approval before submitting it to the state. Also under consideration was the Student Records Policy, which covers the district’s legal responsibility of confidentiality.

The policy statement of the safety plan emphasizes the district’s refusal to tolerate violence or threats on school grounds, stating that it “will make every effort to prevent violent incidents from occurring.” In compliance with state Education Law Section 2801-a, the district Building-Level Emergency Response Plan will be remaining confidential in order to assure maximum safety for students and staff.

After using feedback from families to make the safety plan preferable, the members of the board had no objections toward continuing the process of implementing the plan at this meeting.

Numerous other topics regarding safety and wellness for Mount Sinai students and staff are addressed in this draft. The district has clear plans in place for the unlikely case of any type of emergency that could otherwise put members and students of the district at risk.

The district’s Student Records Policy promises privacy to students and their families. The first section of the policy clearly states the limits of who can access the records of a student. The board recognizes its legal responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of student records. 

The board also discussed budgets and plans for new implementations to enhance the school. They considered solar power plans, strategic planning updates and building a bright future for the district. 

Energy savings

An update regarding an energy performance contract with Energia — an engineering company that works with districts to help bring energy-saving initiatives to schools — was presented to the board. The company defined the term “performance contract” in its presentation. 

“It is a facility improvement project,” Energia’s senior project manager, Justin Benoit, said. “But the key difference or the key factor about energy performance contract projects is that these projects, on one hand, generate guaranteed energy savings. And through this process you are able to then leverage those guaranteed energy savings as a funding source for the upgrades themselves. So in that sense, it’s a little bit different than a traditional capital project. You are not going out to the taxpayers in order to raise money for those projects, you are able to take your existing utility budget, reduce that line item ultimately, and then use those energy savings to then in turn pay for the upgrades that you would have received.”

With school right around the corner, Mount Sinai School District has a promising year ahead — and it seems as though the additions and updates in regard to the district will benefit students, staff and families.