The resolution gave the approval to the District to hire a graphic designer and a trademark attorney for a logo and mascot redesign as well as approved discontinuing the use of the “J with the feathers” on school buildings and athletic fields, and to replace all uniforms provided by the school with the imagery. School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the “J” on the back of Jamestown High School will be changed as part of the planned capital projects while a number of uniforms have already been replaced at the modified level.

Board member Nina Karbacka had made the motion to change the name of “Red Raiders,” “I feel that though that name had historically not represented Native Americans, it has represented Native Americans for 50 years and is very closely associated with that. And I feel that our board and school system has a strong feeling of inclusivity and respect for our students and that name does not reflect that.”

Board President Paul Abbott said he supports keeping the “Red Raiders” name as it’s been in use since the 1940s, “I look to what the origins were that our committee brought forward to us. That we were the Red and Green Raiders, that we previously had a panther as our logo, that it was shortened to Red Raiders. It is unfortunate, hindsight being 20-20, that it evolved the way that it did.”

Board member Pat Slagle said when changing the mascot was being discussed in 2014, the idea of changing the name of “Red Raiders” was brought up, “At that time we didn’t have the research or history of the committee working, so I was torn of the same idea. Red Raiders – Do we keep that name? Is it based on Native American imagery or connotations? And I think Coach Drake came forward with some evidence dating back to the ’40s and that helped convinced me that the name is not tied to Native American imagery.”

Board member Joe Pawelski, who sat on the Mascot committee, said they’ll be seeking community, faculty, and student input on what the new logo and mascot should be.

The Jamestown School Board also swore in Frank Galeazzo as one of its new members and Nina Karbacka as a returning member at its Reorganizational Meeting Thursday. Paul Abbott was once again selected as Board President.

Two new ex-officio student board members were appointed to the school board as well. High School Seniors Madison Arthurs and Annika Spitzer will serve now until June 30, 2022.

The Board also approved combining the Boys’ Swimming team with Falconer High School and the Girls’ Swimming Team with Southwestern High School. Jamestown High School will be the host for the combined Boys swimming team while Southwestern will be the host for the combined Girls swimming team.

Jamestown Public School

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said he was very pleased with the results, “It was a resounding yes from our community on all counts from the budget to all the propositions to the Capital project, which is something that’s very good to see. It means our community has stepped up and said ‘this is what we want to happen.'”

Jamestown Public School district voters also chose Nina Karbacka and Frank Galeazzo to serve on the Jamestown Board of Education. Karbacka, who was re-elected to a third term on the board, says she was delighted, “I am delighted to continue to work for the Jamestown children. And I am delighted with the overwhelming response to our budget. We have a great budget, a great capital project coming up, and I’m glad to see the community support.”

Galeazzo thanked Gina Sink and Krysta Rives for running for the board and thanked those who came out to vote as well, “As far as what’s next, we’ll get to work once I get sworn in on the Board and start to do whatever support I can do to give to the school district and the kids of the school district to ensure they get the best education possible. And Jamestown has been doing that for quite awhile, so I hope to continue that with everyone else.” Galeazzo replaces Board Member Dan Johnson, who decided not to run for another term.

The Board of Education reorganization meeting is July 1st.

Jamestown High School PTSA President Joanne Dean and Treasurer Melissa Rhodes moderated a “Meet the Candidates” forum so voters could learn more about the four candidates running for two open seats on the Jamestown School Board. The candidates are Frank Galeazzo, Nina Karbacka, Krysta Rives, and Gina Sink.

The candidates running are Frank Galeazzo, Nina Karbacka, Krysta Rives, and Gina Sink.

Frank Galeazzo cited his 20-plus years of experience in leadership and advocating for education for why he is running. He said his top priorities include giving students the best education that can be delivered and keeping finances under control, “Finding the funding, finding the finance management in a declining population where thankfully the school district has been able to do that for the past eleven years with no tax increase.”

Nina Karbacka, a retired music educator who has served for 6 years on the school board, said there are a lot of opportunities for the district to learn and grow after going through the COVID-19 Pandemic experience. She said a challenge will be engaging students as they return to the classroom, “And we have been working in that direction by hiring psychologists and social workers and literacy experts and community navigators to help to draw our students back in. I think we really want to see our students engaged in our school system.”

Krysta Rives, who is earning a doctorate in education, said she is running because she understands the challenges of under-represented learners. She said the district needs more diversity, “We have 37% of our students identifying as non-white and we don’t reflect that on our board, we don’t reflect that in the classrooms that they walk into every day. There is no representation.”

Gina Sink, who has 12 years of teaching experience, said one of the biggest opportunities for the district are the capital projects happening, “The increase in technology and replacing, maintaining the infrastructure, changing the classroom layouts, and things like that that will all contribute to the learning and things of the students as well as the possibility of the hybrid model continuing.”

The public will vote Tuesday, May 18th on the candidates for the board as well as the school budget and capital improvement plan.

The Jamestown High School P-T-S-A will hold a “Meet The Candidates Night” at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 13th in the Board of Education Room in the JPS Administration Building. It’ll be livestreamed at jpsny.org/election.

Community members who would like to attend the forum in person need to reserve a space by calling 483-4420 by noon on May 13th. Questions for the candidates can also be emailed to jaunita.m.walter@jpsny.org no later than May 12th.

The 2021-22 Budget Vote, Capital Improvement Project votes and Board of Education election will be held on Tuesday, May 18 from noon to 9 p.m. at Lincoln Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School, and Washington Middle School.

Nina Karbacka

Jamestown – Jamestown School Board member Nina Karbacka has been named the president of the New York State Association of Small City School Districts (NYSASCSD) for the 2019-20 school year.

Karbacka has been a member of NYSASCSD for three years and a Jamestown Board of Education member for four years. Her background is in education. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from SUNY Fredonia and 40 years of teaching experience, at all grade levels, in the Jamestown Public Schools district.

“I am honored to accept the presidency of New York State Associations of Small City School Districts,” Mrs. Karbacka. “It is an exciting challenge to work to promote efficiency and economy in the small city districts, and to communicate the educational and financial needs of our students to the public and New York State legislature.”

Karbacka is an active community volunteer having served as President of the Board of Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet, Southern Chautauqua County Retired Teachers Association, Jamestown Concert Association, Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony, which she also founded, and Ring School PTA, and on the executive board of the Arts Council, JHS PTSA, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Community Music Project, Success by Six, and the JCC Arts Community Advisory Panel.

Currently, Karbacka is teaching an Intergenerational Suzuki String Program at Lutheran.

On Tuesday the school board received an update on the ongoing lawsuit – now 10 years in the making – including what will likely happen now that a State Supreme Court judge in Albany last month ruled against the eight small city districts that are part of a lawsuit against the state, claiming they are not receiving equitable funding and the state needs to comply with the State Constitution, which requires the provision of a “sound basic education” for all children.

Jamestown is one of those eight districts. The seven other small cities districts joining Jamestown are Utica, Poughkeepsie, Mount Vernon, Kingston, Newburgh, Port Jervis and Niagara Falls. Because districts can not directly sue the state, the eight districts are members of a group that is paying the legal fees to help the case move forward and each district pays a membership fee to that group.

In 2009, at the outset of the case, then known as Hussein v. State of New York, the Supreme Court trial court denied the State’s motion to dismiss. In 2011, the intermediate appellate division court affirmed, and in 2012, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, also affirmed, allowing the case to proceed. In 2015 the Maisto trial was conducted in State Supreme Court in Albany, in front of the Honorable Kimberly A. O’Connor. In 2016 O’Connor issued a ruling dismissing the plaintiff’s claims. That ruling was appealed and in 2017 the appellate division reinstated the lawsuit, sending it back to O’Connor to be reviewed again. O’Connor’s decision in January 2019 was the latest outcome in the ongoing legal saga.

Jamestown School Board President Paul Abbott tells WRFA it’s frustrating because the case has dragged on for several years, with the previous ruling having already been appealed only to have it punted back to the same Supreme Court judge in Albany.

“When it’s gone back to certain judges it seems that it’s gets batted back at us and we are again in front of appeals court judges that tell us, ‘No, small cities schools, you are correct. These other judges were wrong.’ And then it just becomes that cycle. That’s when you have decide when it is time to step out of the ring and turn your focus to other things,” Abbott explained.

Abbott adds that if the district were to stay financially invested in the case, the cost wouldn’t be a lot, but at some point the board has to determine when is the district throwing good money after bad.

“The district is spending a little bit of money to support our legal representation in this battle. The board’s role in this is to decide if we continue to support it or to make the decision that it’s time to – whether we know we’re right or not – perhaps its time to give up the fight if it’s becoming not responsible to stay in a fight which we don’t feel that we can win,” Abbott said.

Abbott adds the board will take the advice of legal council before making the decision on how to proceed, as well as consider input from its liaison in the case – former school board president Joe DiMaio – who continues to speak with the attorneys and officials from the other districts involved with the case. Joining DiMaio in that effort is current school board member Nina Karbacka.

Both DiMaio and Karbacka gave the school board an update on the lawsuit during Tuesday’s board meeting- weighing both the pros and cons of being involved in the lawsuit.

Both agreed it would be worthwhile for the district to remain involved in the case rather than sitting on the sidelines, mostly because as active participants who are helping to fund the case, they have a direct line with the attorneys involved and can offer direct input on a monthly basis.

Abbott said he was unsure of when the board would make a decision on making additional payments, saying it would likely depend on when the attorneys involved request a new round of funding to keep things moving forward.

On Tuesday the vote for the $86.2 million spending plan, which included no tax increase over the current year, was 419 in favor to just 63 against.

Voters also approved the creation of a $2 million capital reserve fund by a vote of 427 to 61. And the establishment of a Student Ex Officio Board of Education member was also approved 430 to 87.

For the board of education race, incumbents Nina Karbacka and Daniel Johnson were both re-elected to the school board, holding off challenger Brianne Fadale.

In addition to the budget plan – which includes no tax increase – voters will also act on two propositions along with selecting two candidates to serve on the school board.

In a recent interview with WRFA, school superintendent Bret Apthorpe said the proposed budget doesn’t include any major overhauls to programming, but does set the stage for big things to come in the 2019-20 school year.

“The board has really looked at a multi-year picture. Their goal is improving student achievement and they recognize the symbiotic relationship between fiscal health and instructional health,” Apthorpe said. “So what this budget really allows us to do is give us some space financially, while we’re working with our community partners on three big initiatives for 2019-20 the following year.”

Those three initiatives include developing a success academy at Rogers school, a summer literacy program for students in grades K through 4, and adjusting program to help better meet the needs of local manufacturers and trades, which are having a hard time finding skilled employees.

Apthorpe also said that the primary focus of the 2018-19 budget is to address the district’s debt, which takes up more than 10 percent of the budget. Ideally, he says the debt service should be closer to three percent of total spending.

In addition to the budget, voters will also act on a proposition to establish a $2 million capital reserve fund that will be used to help pay the local share of future capital projects.

“I call it a community fund because voters have to approve its creation and also have to approve the release of the money when the time comes,” Apthorpe said. “The setup of this fund is by us putting in $2 million in cash, we’ll be eligible for $98 million of aid [from New York State]. So in a sense, for the next ten years we could do $100 million of repair and maintenance to our school buildings and not have to borrow.”

A second proposition deals with allowing a senior from the high school to serve as a non-voting member of the school board.

Voters will also elect two Board of Education members, each to serve three-year terms beginning on July 1, 2018.

There are three candidates on the ballot: newcomer Brianne Fadale along with incumbent board members Daniel Johnson and Nina Karbacka.

The polls in the Jamestown School district will be open from noon to 9 p.m..

Jamestown School Superintendent Bret Apthorpe during the 2018-19 JPS Budget Hearing on Tuesday, May 8.

JAMESTOWN – No one offered comments or questions Tuesday Night during the Jamestown School Board’s public hearing regarding the proposed 2018-19 budget.

The hearing, which was held at Persell Middle School auditorium, provided details on the district’s proposed $86.23 million spending plan, which includes no tax increase and which was unanimously approved by the school board last month.

District Finance Director Vern Connors went over the basis details of the spending plan as well as the two propositions that will also appear on the ballot.

Attendance for the hearing was light and included mostly school staff members and the media, along with the school board.

School superintendent Bret Apthorpe said he hoped the light attendance was due to the public having a good understanding of the proposed spending plan.

“I hope it’s because we’ve been very intentional about communicating with the public from the get-go of this process,” Apthorpe told WRFA following the hearing. “An important part of the board’s goals in this budget development was including the community so hopefully people didn’t come because it was going to be a rerun of what they’ve already heard.”

The proposed budget has a few new positions added, but doesn’t include any major overhaul to programming. Instead, Apthorpe and his staff have said the proposed budget is intended to set the stage for bigger changes that will be coming in the 2019-2020 school year.

“We’ve worked conscientiously with the community to create three initiatives for the 2019-20 school year. One involves creating a Success Academy at the former Rogers school. Another involves a summer literacy program for all of our K through 4 students in the city. And lastly, modernizing our student programming at the high school to align with local labor needs,” Apthorpe said.

Apthorpe also said the main goal of the 2018-19 budget is also to provide better financial stability, and that involves tackling some of the district’s debt.

“What this budget is doing is taking a big swing at the debt service. The district pays $10.5 million a year to debt and that makes us very susceptible to fluctuations in aid because if aid lowers, we still owe that money. That’s how Jamestown was forced to lay off 100 positions in the past 10 years, so this budget takes a big swing at lowering our debt service,” Apthorpe said.

The budget vote and School Board Elections will be held on Tuesday, May 15 from noon to 9 p.m. at Lincoln Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School and Washington Middle School for registered voters.

The Budget is available to the public at JamestownPublicSchools.org and hard copies are available in the Superintendent’s Office at 197 Martin Road, in each Jamestown school’s main office and at the James Prendergast Library.

Voters will also elect two Board of Education members, each to serve three-year terms beginning on July 1, 2018.

There are three candidates on the ballot: Brianne Fadale, Daniel Johnson and Nina Karbacka.