JPS Board President Paul Abbott and Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker (September 13, 2022)

The Jamestown Public Schools district, including three schools in the district, have been assigned a “targeted for improvement” designation by New York State.

JPS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the State Department of Education initially gave the targeted and comprehensive support designations to the district in 2019, “Those are generally based on sub-group performance, so how sub-groups perform on state assessments, graduation rate, and things like that. The problem is, we hit COVID, so it rolled over from ’19 to ’20 and ’20 to ’21 and ’21 to ’22, and so they’ve rolled it again. So hopefully, and we are hoping to move off that list.”

Whitaker said having students back in school is key to moving off the list, “The second things we need to do is make sure that we’re engaging a process that identifies kids early. So, creating an early warning system, making sure that we’re looking at data that says, ‘Hey, maybe this kid is falling off track a little bit.’ How can we bring supports at an early age rather than months or years later when they’re way off the track?”

The Jamestown School Board approved comprehensive improvement plans for the district and improvement plans for Ring Elementary, Jefferson Middle, and Washington Middle Schools at its meeting Tuesday.

Council will hold its meeting in the Ring School Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. with committee meetings taking place at 6:30 p.m. for Housing in the Auditorium, and 7:00 p.m. for Public Safety in the Auditorium, Finance in the School Library, and Public Works in the Faculty Room.

On the agenda is a resolution to use $17,760 in American Rescue Plan funds to contract with the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy to eradicate the invasive Tree of Heaven from the banks of the Chadakoin River.

Council also will review resolutions to suspend the hiring freeze to replace Comptroller Ryan Thompson who is resigning as well as hire a Deputy Comptroller.

Also, the annual action plan to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the city to receive $1,144,750 in Community Development Block Grant and $397,507 in HOME program funds will be reviewed.

A final public hearing on the city’s action plan will be held before the Monday, June 27 Voting Session.

A resolution to contract with AlertMedia in the amount of $4,902 for a city-wide emergency alert program will be considered. The alert system would allow residents to sign up for mobile alerts of their choosing and the system could be used to send mass alerts to all city employees in the event of an emergency at a City facility.

And the shared services agreement between the City and Jamestown Public Schools to plow sidewalks also will be formally discussed.

The meetings are open to the public with the full work session livestreamed on jamestownny.gov

Jamestown School Board President Paul Abbott and JPS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker (June 7, 2022)

Jamestown School Board President Paul Abbott called for more action from elected officials on gun control in the wake of recent school shooting in Texas.

Following a moment of silence for the 21 victims of the school shooting in Texas, Abbott, speaking at the school board meeting Tuesday, encouraged political leaders at the state and federal levels to do something, “It’s just absurd that these things continue to happen in this country. It’s absurd that people have access to military-grade body armor. I was a police officer and I didn’t have military-grade body armor. The assault weapons that we allow people to possess and allow people to sell.”

Abbott criticized the officials who aren’t willing to support change, “And for politicians who can’t make changes in that and in our mental health system, I would ask them to stand in a classroom with second and third graders and their parents and explain to them why it’s more important for people to have access to these sorts of things than it is to protect them.”

Abbott added that despite the budget already being passed, he’d like the board to discuss before next school year the possibility of adding more “red shirt” safety officials in the building or School Resource Officers.

In regards to the recent incident where a fourth grader made a threat against another student at Ring School in addition to recent times where schools had “lockout” situations, Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the district is in a “state of heightened concern.”

He said the increased attention from the media and social media can sometimes cause others to act out, “And this is the case, and I stay in touch with lots of superintendents across the state, this is the case across the state. There have been numerous events of this kind all the way across the state from Long Island to Jamestown. And it’s an unfortunate fact of our society that there are some individuals who would engage in behavior that would cause a school to go into lockout or have to have conversations with parents about this sort of thing.”

Whitaker said, however, he always errs on the side of caution, “So if we had to do something that turned out to not to be necessary, I would do that a thousand times rather than miss the one time we should have done something and we didn’t.”

Whitaker, in response to questions raised by a parent during privilege of the floor about why no information was provided about the status of a student who made a threat against Ring Elementary School earlier this week, said the district under Federal privacy law cannot legally disclose information when it comes to student records and information, “So for example, in a disciplinary matter relating to a school incident, the school is not allowed to disclose what happens with that student. And that has led to understandable frustration if you’re unaware of this. We would love to calm fears by releasing information, but that is illegal. It’s not something we’re allowed to do.”

Whitaker said the district is still in the process of debriefing with District School Safety Advisor Brad Meyers leading the process to determine what further strategies and systems to implement. He added the second School Resource Officer who will be working in elementary school buildings in the Fall was already at Ring school Monday working with students.

Jamestown Public Schools issued a statement saying a fourth grade student sent text messages and video that contained a potential threat to the school. Jamestown Police were notified and determined after an investigation there was no credible threat to the school or any individuals.

The district said they and the police department are continuing to monitor the situation. As a precautionary measure, there will be an increased police presence and additional restrictions on access to Ring Elementary today.

Annette Miller

JAMESTOWN – Ring Elementary School will have a new principal when the new school year begins in July.

On Wednesday the Jamestown School Board approved the appointment of Annette Miller to the position. Miller had previously served as the districts K-8 literacy coordinator.

Superintendent Bret Apthorpe said the search for a principal has taken some time but the district eventually found the right choice.

“I approached Annette and we had a really wonderful conversation about being principal at Ring because Annette has been to Ring many times, she knows the staff, and she is a champion of children,” Apthorpe said. “She would go over to Ring and see the kids and be around them. Every time she did, she came back more excited about the possibility of being Principal at Ring.”

The position opened up when current Ring school principal Connie Foster took the newly created position of director of world languages for the district.

(Attached Picture from left to right: Playground Supervisor Nicole Prodin, Playground Supervisor Rory Jones, Playground Coordinator Sarah Mott, Parks Manager John Williams, Recreation Coordinator Julia Ciesla-Hanley, Mayor Sam Teresi, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County Communications Coordinator Bill Price)

JAMESTOWN – Another season of the Summer Playground Program will be in place for the city of Jamestown and for the first time in several years, a free lunch program will be provided at each site by Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc.

The announcement was made Tuesday by officials with the city’s Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Department. The lunch program is being made possible through a grant from the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County.

The playground program is free of charge and there are six playground program locations this year, including:

• Allen Park
• Fletcher Elementary School
• Johnson Street Tot Lot
• Lillian Dickson Tot Lot
• Lincoln Elementary School
• Ring Elementary School

Each will be staffed by a number of city college-aged residents, many of which hope to pursue a career path in education.

This year’s program will run from Monday, June 24 to Friday, Aug. 2 with all sites being open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is geared for children between 5 to 13 years old.   Children must register the first time they attend their playground site. They are free to come and go as they wish after that point.

For additional information, please call the Recreation Office at 483-7523.

There are six playground program locations this year, including Allen Park, Fletcher Elementary School, Johnson Street Tot Lot, Lillian Dickson Tot Lot, Lincoln Elementary School, and Ring Elementary School. The staff will consist of a number of city college-aged residents many of which hope to pursue a career path in education.

This year’s program will run from Monday, June 25th thru Friday, August 3rd with all sites being open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and is geared for children between 5-13 years old.

As in past years, there will be city-wide field trips and activities scheduled including bowling, a talent show, a carnival, and the Playground Olympics. At the individual parks, there will be daily arts and crafts; and games such as kayla, kickball, football, box hockey, and wiffle ball at each playground site for the children to play with at any time.

Children must register the first time they attend their playground site. They are free to come and go as they wish after that point.

The summer playground program is made possible through support from the City of Jamestown, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation, New York State Office of Children and Family Services, and Jamestown Public Schools.

For additional information, please call the Recreation Office at 483-7523.