Scott Aikens

The Clymer School Board has accepted the resignation of a teacher who faces federal charges of possession of child pornography.

The Post-Journal says the school board accepted the resignation of its agriculture teacher, 60-year-old Scott Aikens, during a special meeting Monday.

In mid-September federal officials with the Department of Homeland Security arrested and charged Aikens with possession of child pornography. He’s accused of visiting a foreign website that hosted images of child pornography, where he allegedly made more than a dozen comments while also allegedly downloading images from the site onto his home computer.

If convicted, the criminal charge carries a mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Scott Aikens

BUFFALO – A Clymer teacher who was charged last week with Child Pornography has been released from police custody on $50,000 cash bail.

That’s according to a report from the Jamestown Post-Journal, which also says 60-year-old Scott Aikens is required to stay under home confinement until his prosecution plays out.

No immediate hearing has been scheduled and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has until Dec. 18 to bring an indictment.

Aikens was taken into custody Friday after Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at his Clymer residence following an investigation that traced a user on child pornography website back to his home address. When agents arrived they reported finding Aikens at a computer with child pornography images on the screen. They also say he admitted to possession videos of child pornography.

Aikens teaches agriculture teacher at Clymer Central School and the school placed him on administrative leave after being notified of the federal charges.

The criminal charge carries a mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Scott Aikens

BUFFALO – A teacher from the Clymer Central School district in Chautauqua County has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo on Friday reported that Homeland Security Investigations received information that an online username “EJD” was active on an international child pornography website.

The investigators traced the account to 60-year-old Scott Aikens, who is the agriculture teacher at Clymer. A search of his home on Route 474 led to the confiscation of multiple electronic devices and agents allegedly saw pornographic images of children on his computer screen.

Clymer was contacted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday and Aikens was placed on administrative leave immediately.

Aikens is being held pending a detention hearing Tuesday.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

[MEDIA RELEASE FROM SENATOR CATHERINE YOUNG’S OFFICE]

OLEAN – Senator Catharine Young (R, C, I – 57th District) has announced another round of $500,000 in state funding to cover the cost of Panama Central School District’s penalty payment to the New York State Education Department.

Young spearheaded the effort with Assemblyman Andy Goodell, (R, C, I – 150^th District) who advanced the measure in the Assembly.

The state penalized the school district in 2012, by $4.9 million, for missing final cost reports for a 2005 capital improvement project. Senator Young has secured $3 million since 2013 to help the district pay down the penalty and avoid passing the burden onto taxpayers in the rural school district. The remaining penalty balance is now $1.9 million.

“This funding ensures that Panama Central School District taxpayers do not have to shoulder an undue tax burden caused by circumstances beyond their control,” Senator Young said. “The district faced severe financial hardship which was caused by simple human error.”

In addition to the strain on the district’s budget, Senator Young added that the penalty payments also prevented a proposed merger between Panama Central School District and Clymer Central School District.

“The Senate included impact grants in the state budget to help districts like Panama that face significant financial hardships,” Senator Young said. “Because this was caused by a mistake, the Senate fought hard at the budget negotiating table in 2012 and 2013 to fully pardon the penalty, but the Assembly Speaker and Governor would not agree.”

Legislation sponsored by Senator Young to forgive Panama Central School’s full penalty was approved by both the state Assembly and Senate in 2018, and is awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature.

“This is an injustice,” Senator Young said. “Absent full penalty forgiveness, the students who attend Panama Central School and the district’s taxpayers are left holding the bag for administrative oversights from nearly a decade ago.”

Senator Young vowed to continue her efforts to protect Panama Central School taxpayers and ensure the district continues to have the resources it needs to provide students with the best education possible.

a paperwork error may end up costing the Panama Central School district nearly $5 million over the next 10 years.

According to a statement from the school, state education officials informed Panama last November that it was listed on a state aid website as being delinquent in filing required financial cost reports for two building projects. The projects were completed in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

The state Education Department has notified the district that under state law, the penalty imposed on the district will be $4.9 million.

Since December, district officials have been working with the state, through Senator Cathy Young’s office, to address this error and has obtained an agreement from the education department to spread the payment of the amount over a 10-year period. Also, the district will receive a $500,000 grant to assist with the first year’s payment.

In Clymer, where the $11.56 million budget included a 13 percent tax hike, the unofficial vote was 238 in favor to 237 opposed. A supermajority of 60 percent was needed.

Voters in Ripley and Westfield also voted down proposed budgets Tuesday.

All other school districts in the county saw their budgets approved by voters.

According to the Post-Journal, the Clymer School Board approved a tentative budget for next year that includes a 13 percent tax levy increase.

Superintendent Ed Bailey said the main reason for the steep hike is a restructuring of administrative staff at the district, which is necessary due to the overwhelming ‘no’ vote on the Clymer-Panama Merger from last year. As a result of that vote, Panama ended its shared-service agreement with Clymer, meaning the two districts would no longer share the cost of some administrative functions.

Bailey also cited two consecutive school years that featured 0 percent increases in the budget and a decrease in state aid as other reasons for the increased tax levy.

The total proposed budget the board approved is $11.56 million dollars with $4.64 million covered by the tax levy. Because the budget exceeds the state tax cap, a super majority of voters in the district will have to vote yes for it to pass, otherwise an austerity budget will have to be put in place.

A public hearing on the Clymer school budget is set for May 7.

According to a media release from the sheriff’s office, it received a complaint in March that Clymer Central School teacher Samantha Dascomb, 31, was having a relationship with a student. At the time, the male student was 16.

According to authorities, the relationship started in May of 2016 and continued in various locations until the complaint was issued.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Dascomb was charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

On 3-4-14 at about 8:20 AM the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the scene of a personal injury school bus crash on Rt 474 near Panama. The investigation showed that a Clymer School bus ( #131 ) was traveling west on Rt 474 about 2 miles West of the Village of Panama when for no apparent reason went off the roadway. The bus went of the north side of the road, traveled about 500 feet through the roadside ditch before hitting a driveway culvert which caused the bus to go airborne. The bus landed nose down in a earth embankment causing the hood to be torn off. At the time of the crash there were 8 – Clymer Central School students on the bus that were being transported to Ashville Boces. Four of the eight students were transported to WCA Hospital by local fire department’s with non – life threatening injuries, the operator of the bus was uninjured. The bus driver was charged with Failing to Maintain Lane and will be back in the Town of Harmony Court at a later date. Additional charges may be pending the outcome of the investigation.

According to media reports, four Clymer Central School students were taken to WCA Hospital after a school bus they were riding in crashed at about 8:45 a.m. The bus was in the process of bringing eight students from Clymer school to the Ashville BOCES. According to school officials, the crash occurred on Route 474 near Panama.  Four of the eight students were hospitalized as a precaution but no serious injuries were reported. No word was given for the cause of the accident.

Anthony Robert Taglianetti was found guilty in November 2013 of shooting and killing Clymer School Superintendent Keith Reed, Jr. on Sept. 21, 2012.

MAYVILLE – The man found guilty of shooting and killing a Clymer Central School superintendent will serve 25 years to life in prison for his crime.

Chautauqua County judge John Ward delivered the sentence to convicted killer Anthony “Rob” Taglianetti II Monday morning in Chautauqua County Court. In November, a jury found Taglianetti guilty of second degree murder after prosecution proved that he drove 350 miles from his home in Virginia to Clymer to confront and eventually kill Clymer Superintendent Keith Reed, Jr. The incident took place in September 2012 after Taglianetti learned that Reed was involved in an online romance with his wife.

In delivering the verdict, Judge Ward told Taglianetti that it was his fervent hope that he never again see the light of day as a free man. The sentencing came after Reed’s daughter delivered a statement to the court, explaining how the incident devastated her and the entire family and would be something they would something from which they could never recover.