Kathy Gardner fundraiser

Salt & Light kick-off

Salt & Light yard sale

FMC Military Appreciation

FMC Corporation’s Agricultural Solutions Plant in Middleport hosts a special luncheon to observe National Military Appreciation Month by honoring FMC employees, contractors and community first responders who served or have family members who served or are currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Among those representing service in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines (first row, left to right) are: Bonnie Difino, Lori Porter, Juan Carmona, and Ed Dunn; second row: Kevin Little, Dwight Wadsworth, Roland Johnson of the Middleport Police Department, FMC Plant Manager Roberta Kloda, and Mark Wolcott.

Salt & Light Festival 2018

Roy-Hart baseball wins!

Congrats to Roy-Hart baseball on winning the B2 championship! The Orleans Hub reports:

https://orleanshub.com/roy-hart-captures-first-section-vi-baseball-championship-with-narrow-win-over-rival-medina/

New community garden in Gasport

Today, Hartland Bible Church announced that they have officially have forged a great community partnership with Gasport Elementary PTA and others. Across the road from the church, their vacant lot is being transformed into a community garden. HBC is very excited about this opportunity to not just create partnerships but to invest into our community. This afternoon, students from Gasport Elementary came over to the HBC's property to plant some of the plants they have been growing in their classrooms. Big thank you goes out to Principal VanSlyke, Dr. Stopinski and Casey Eldridge.

Superintendent letter about secrurity and preparedness

Dear Resident,

Over the past several months, our schools have been working with our local law enforcement and emergency services agencies in a comprehensive review of our school safety plan and procedures. Our students have routinely completed mandated fire drills, lockdown, lockout, shelter in place and evacuation drills as outlined in our school’s plans. Throughout my time at the school, I have been impressed at the level of attention that our safety team and staff pay to these drills. The Royalton-Hartland Central School District has the most comprehensive plan and implementation of school safety of any school I have seen in my 30 years in education.

This past week, we instituted our next phase of school security and have installed a school registration system for all guests in our school. The system will require all visitors to share their license which will be scanned into our system prior to entering the school. The system will allow our Principals another level of security knowing that the visitor is appropriate for the school, and when needed, a child is released to a person who has the appropriate permissions in our student management system. The change in process may create some brief delays at our front desk and I ask that you please be patient as we roll out the system.

Our school’s safety team, administration and staff continually look to ways to improve our systems and ultimately the safety of our students and staff. I am grateful for all those within our community who continue to support our efforts and encourage everyone to continue their efforts.

As always, I hope that you will make an effort to reach out and visit when you see me around the schools and town.

Sincerely,
Dr. Hank Stopinski

Superintendent of Schools

Gasport Lions comedy night

Roy-Hart color run

The Roy-Hart color run is a high energy, fun-packed family friendly 5K event. It will be held on Saturday, June 9th at Royalton Ravine Park. Color packet and t-shirt (t-shirt guarantee only when registered by 5/18) included in registration. Registration day of event starts at 8:15 and ends at 8:50. You may register at http://shop.schoolathon.org/190130 now.

The PTSA will be holding in person registration for the color run in the middle school this Monday the 21st during lunch time 10:30-1 for anyone who would like to sign up. Cash,credit and check are all accepted. Any questions the student have can also be answered. Any questions parents can contact Casey Pearl @ 716-446-3633 or Cpearl2010@gmail.com

The Facebook event page for the color run is: https://www.facebook.com/events/1701258666620562/

Spaghetti dinner Tuesday May 22

The next All You Can Eat Spaghetti Dinner to benefit the 2018 Salt & Light Festival is Tuesday, May 22nd, from 4 - 7 pm at Solid Rock Church, 8590 Rochester Road, Gasport. All You Can Eat for Donation! Take-out Available too!

Buffalo News highlights Canalside Inn tweet to Geraldo

I like that my suggestion to Geraldo Rivera to try a Canalside Inn beef on weck in Gasport while touring the Erie Canal made it into the Buffalo News' report on his trek across the state

http://buffalonews.com/2018/05/16/geraldo-rivera-and-his-mustache-coming-to-wny-soon-via-the-erie-canal/

Roy-Hart budget vote

Proposition 1 (2018-2019 Budget) Passed

Yes 218

No 64

Proposition 2 (Establish Capital Reserve Fund) Passed

Yes 216

No 64

Proposition 3 (Increase funding for the Royalton Hartland Community Library) Passed

Yes 210

No 73

Board Members

Chad Owen 236 votes

Carrie Choate 228 votes

Geraldo is touring the Canal

Keep your eyes open for Geraldo Rivera in the coming days. He and his brother Craig are taking a tour of the Canal and then heading on through Lake Erie to Cleveland. They just passed through Schenectady today. I sent him a tweet that said he should dock here in Gasport and grab a beef on weck at the Canalside Inn. It's great to see a wonderful recreational asset like the Erie Canal gets some national publicity.

Destination Imagination

The US&J looks at the adventures -- and fundraising efforts -- of Missing Marbles, the local Destination Imagination team who are heading to the global competition at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/gasport-youngsters-heading-to-global-competition/article_078e97c4-6254-5e4e-8fab-ddba87a00481.html

Roy-Hart 2028

Kudos to the school district for launching the Roy-Hart 2028 initiative. It's nice to see long-term planning for addressing the needs of students, families, and the economy:

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/roy-hart-initiative-launched/article_ad167439-6670-55e3-aedc-896a7a753fcc.html

Troop 18 clears out towpath

A big thanks to Troop 18 for cleaning up the Erie Canal towpath in Gasport!

Capital reserve item up for vote

Proposition 2 on next week's school budget vote: Shall the following resolution be adopted? RESOLVED, that the Board of Education (the "Board") of the Royalton-Hartland Central School District, Niagara, Genesee and Orleans Counties, New York (the "District") is hereby authorized to establish a capital improvements reserve fund pursuant to Section 3651 of the Education Law of the State of New York (the "Fund"); that the Fund shall be known as the "Capital Improvements Reserve Fund, 2018" of the District; that the Fund shall be established for the purpose of financing, in whole or in part, the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, expansion, renovation, alteration and improvement of buildings, facilities, sites and real property by the District, or the District's share of the cost of any capital improvements project undertaken by a Board of Cooperative Educational Services ("BOCES") of which the District is or may be a component district, including, in all cases, the acquisition of necessary furnishings, equipment, machinery and apparatus; that the ultimate amount of such Fund shall be not greater than $6,000,000 (plus interest earned thereon); that the probable term of such Fund shall be not longer than ten (10) years; and that the permissible sources from which the Board is authorized to appropriate monies to such Fund from time to time shall be (a) unappropriated fund balance of the District, (b) State aid received as reimbursement for expenditures by the District in connection with District capital improvements (whether or not such improvements were financed in whole or in part from the Fund), (c) the proceeds from the sale of unneeded District real or personal property, and (d) such other sources as the Board or the voters of the District may direct from time to time.

Library item up for vote next week

Proposition 3 during next week's school budget vote asks: Shall the funding for the Royalton-Hartland Community Library which is raised by annual levy of a tax upon the taxable real property within the Royalton-Hartland Central School District be increased from $103,000 to $105,000?

Next week's school budget vote

In a letter to residents posted on the School District website, Superintendent Hank Stopinski writes the following about next week's budget vote:

The school board is presenting an expenditure budget of $25,593,606 which represents a 5% increase in spending compared to 2017-2018. The budget proposes a 2.2% increase in the tax levy. This is the third consecutive year in which the proposed increase is below the allowable levy increase (under the New York tax cap).

The proposed budget includes the inclusion of a full-time Superintendent of Schools, the increase of a .5 FTE music teacher to a 1.0 FTE and the inclusion of a 1.0 FTE Agricultural Education Teacher. In addition, we are proposing to fund several improvements to our athletic program, curriculum and general facilities needs.

As part of our 2018-2019 budget, the District is planning a small Capital Outlay project of $100,000 as permitted by New York State. The process is simplified and is included in the proposed general fund budget. The current proposal is to improve the facilities and grounds at the elementary school.