JPS News Message from the Superintendent Music - Jamestown ...

Learning to Fly
A Love Elementary School student flew like a
bird during an Audubon visit. Students learned
all about birds including what birds use feathers
for and how their beaks help them eat. The
Jamestown Audubon provides educational
programming to JPS.
Points of Pride
JHS Musical
Semi-Finalist for
Shea’s Award
42nd Street Presented
March 19-21
JHS is proud to announce that the musical productions
are one of only seven semi-finalists in
“The Kenny Awards”, an endeavor that recognizes
the talent, dedication and efforts of local
high school youth sponsored by Shea's
Performing Arts Center and The Lipke
Foundation. JHS was chosen as a semi-finalist
by an application and an interview with
Director Michele Constantino. The school selected
to receive "The Kenny" for Outstanding
Musical Production is granted $5,000 to be
used for the theatre department. This year’s
musical is the classic 42nd Street, which traces
the history of a Broadway musical comedy,
from casting call to opening night. 42nd Street
will be at the Reg Lenna Civic Center from
March 19th to 21st with tickets going on sale in
February.
Picturing America Grant
Jamestown Schools recently received a
“Picturing America Grant” based on an application
by Norma DeJoy, JPS’ 7th -12th English
Chairperson. Picturing America, an exciting
new initiative from the National Endowment
for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of
American art into classrooms nationwide.
There will be a traveling exhibit of the collection
to each of the District libraries.
Additionally, the prints will be available to all
teachers with the goal of exposing students to
the rich artistic heritage of our country to gain
an appreciation of the iconic historical, political,
and cultural people, places, and events that
have shaped our nation. Collectively, the
masterpieces in Picturing America, used in conjunction
with the Teachers Resource Book and
program Web site, help students experience the
humanity of history and enhance the teaching
and understanding of America’s past. The JHS
English, History, and Art departments will work
together to develop cross-curricular learning
experiences that utilize these rich resources.
N E W S
THE jamestown public school DISTRICT REPORT • February 09
Music - The Universal Language
Winter is upon us. With it comes
our annual snow season appeal
to the community: Please do
your best to keep your sidewalks clear of
snow and ice. Your cooperation will
reduce the number of our students who are
forced to walk in the streets on their way to
and from school. Their safety is our first
concern, of course. Thanks in advance for
your help.
School finance is another chilling topic I
am obliged to address in this newsletter.
English as a Second Language
(ESL) sixth grade students in
Liz Pardue’s class are collaborating
with the Infinity Music
Program to learn to use technology
and their love of music to become
more proficient in the English language.
Students use mobile laptop
computers to create segments of a
radio show. They recorded a public
service announcement, created a
commercial, and conducted and
recorded an interview with a local
community member.
Infinity representative Dave
Trusso helps the students two times
a week to supplement their ESL/ELA program.
Students must converse and record
to improve their English skills, while learning
new technology and software.
“Music, technology and radio production
are all subjects students enjoy,” said
AP Students Learn About
Environmental Concerns
recently went
“mining” for “ore” (or
JHSstudents
chocolate chips) as part
of Kim Barber’s AP Environmental Science
class.
The purpose of the exercise was to give
students an introduction to the economics
of mining. Students bought their “property,”
purchased “mining equipment,” paid
for the mining equipment such as a toothpick,
wooden dowel or tongue depressor,
and finally paid for the “mining reclamation.”
In return, students received money
for the “ore” mined. The objective was to
make as much “money” as possible.
Students used their equipment to
extract their “ore” while they were timed
for mining costs. After the cookie was
“mined,” it was placed back in the circle
and then reclamation costs of $1 per square
outside of the circle were allowed. Students
filled out a cookie mining spreadsheet with
all of their calculations for the total cost of
mining less "ore” removal to get their total
profit or loss statement.
The cookie mining experience was just
one of many activities in the AP
Environmental Science class including
read excerpts from “The Lost Mountain.”
AP Environmental Science is designed
to assist students in identifying natural and
human-induced environmental problems
and investigate solutions to alleviate or prevent
these issues. The College Board, as a
part of the Advance Placement Program,
develops this course. Hands-on experiments
focus on population ecology, land
use, water quality, energy resources and
While we avoided a debilitating mid-year
aid reduction, our state's larger financial
crisis has made its mark through our
Governor's executive budget proposal
released in December. That proposal creates
a 2009-10 operational shortfall of
approximately three million dollars for our
district. While we are hopeful that the
state's budget negotiation process will
reduce that number, there is no doubt that
we will need to make local adjustments.
As we build the budget for your eventual
Mrs. Pardue. “They can learn new
technology skills and software such
as GarageBand, to combine learning
new English language skills. It has
helped many students develop confidence
and learn to express themselves
better in English. The students love
when Mr. Trusso comes in. He has
such a good rapport with the students.”
Students also take a field trip to
the Infinity studios to record in a
professional environment. WRFA,
the Arts Council’s radio station, will
also air each student’s 15-minute
radio shows on the air.
global change which will prepare students
to take the Advanced Placement exam in
May and qualify for college credit based on
achieved scores. Field trips include the
local cemetery, BPU power plant, county
landfill and many labs will be conducted
outdoors.
Message from the Superintendent
consideration, our priority, as always, will
be to carefully consider our students' programmatic
needs in tandem with our fund
balance management strategy and with
our local tax rate in order to build a
well-balanced budget for our community.
Although this is never an easy task, the
financial crisis has raised this year's challenge
to an extraordinary level.
Sincerely, Daniel “Deke” Kathman
Upcoming School
Board Meetings
February 10, 2009.....Administration Building
February 24, 2009.... Jefferson Middle School
March 10, 2009.........Administration Building
March 24, 2009.........Rogers Elementary School
Non-Profit Org.
U.S.Postage
PAID
Jamestown, NY
14701
Permit No. 695
jamestown PUblic schools
197 Martin Road
Jamestown, NY 14701 Jamestown public school District resident
716-483-4350
www.jamestownpublicschools.org
JPS News

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e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 J P S N e w s
W W W. J A M E S T O W N P U B L I C S C H O O L S . O R G
Parents - We
Need Your Help!
Jamestown Schools received a second
Physical Education for
Progress Grant (also known as
Carol M. White or PEP Grant). The
purpose of this grant is to provide
state-of-the-art physical education
equipment for your child's fitness
and wellness, as well as tapping
into the new brain research
that links physical activity to reading
and math. The grant amounts
are on a year-to-year basis for
three years, with each additional
year's funding dependent upon
data collection from students in
the current year. Our total possible
funding is $368,604.73. The district
will either interview students,
send a form home, or call parents
of K - 2nd graders from a random
sample of all schools. 3rd-12th
graders will complete their surveys
in physical education class. Data
will be collected five times this
year with a different student
group, or sample, each time. For
more info on the definitions of
physical activity, see the home
page of our website under “Hot
News.”
JHS Clubs
A JHS senior drew her self-portrait
during a recent Art Club. The
club is just one of over 100
extracurricular activities that JHS
students can choose from to
enhance their academic and
social high school experiences .
Health Update
Flu season is in full swing and
Jamestown Schools asks parents
to help protect their children .
Some tips from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
• Get a flu shot for your child and
for yourself. Young children especially
can get very sick. A flu vaccine
is the best way to protect
your child from the flu. The New
York State Department of Health
recommends that children 6
months or older get a flu vaccine.
• Clean your hands often and
cover your coughs and sneezes.
This will prevent the spread of
germs.
• Tell your child to: stay away
from people who are sick, clean
their hands often and keep their
hands away from their face.
“If your child gets sick make
sure he or she gets plenty of rest
and fluids,” said JPS' Nurse
Practitioner Jill Muntz. “If your
child has the flu, please keep he
or she home from school to rest.
This also helps avoid giving the
flu to other children.”
What’s Happening In Elementary School?
Fletcher Elementary School
Second graders eagerly
looked at Titanic
memoribilia in
Fletcher Library.
“We didn’t know anything
about the Titanic
before researching and
learning about it,” said the
students. “It is really neat
to go back into history
and see how they lived at
that time. We talk about
the Titanic project all the
time.”
The students are part
of a reading benchmark
group led by Fletcher
School librarian, Brenda
Chandler and paraprofessional
Jeanette LoBello.
The interdisciplinary unit
on the Titanic incorporates the use of several historical fiction books
such as The Magic Tree House, Tonight on the Titanic, Polar, and the
Titanic Bear, as well as using video clips from Secret of the Titanic and
the Weather Channel movie Weather That Changed History: 1912
Titanic, to show all angles of the historic event.
“The students were so intrigued, they have been going home at
night and doing their own research, bringing in pictures, posters, and
their own books,” said Mrs. Chandler. “They are so wrapped up in
learning more and thinking about how this had an effect on history.
It’s exciting for us to see their enthusiasm grow.”
Each child has a special Titanic notebook and are divided into
groups such as “shipbuilders”, “captains”, “geography”, “sequence of
events”, etc. Students will also build a replica of the Titanic using
refrigerator boxes and present a play. - Leslie Bennett, Principal
Rogers Elementary School
ARogers Elementary student worked on matching capital and
lower case letters during a recent English Language Arts workstation
in Lisa Certo-Cards K-1-2 multi-age class. Students
work in stations everyday in
ELA and Math and the
workstations are
tailored to each student’s
ability and skill level.
Workstations include:
ABCs, comprehension,
poetry, rhyming, writing,
constant vowel control and
high frequency words to
help students develop skills
they may need assistance
refining. While students
work independently on the
workstations, Mrs. Certo-
Card can meet with small
groups to work on specific
skills. - Chris Tracey, Principal
Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School PTA has generously donated a new
sign. The PTA held fundraising campaigns, headed by Sign
Committee Chair Stephanie Peters, through candle sales and a
Bon Ton sale and raised $3,000 to present a new sign to the school.
“The old sign needed to be replaced and the school was very fortunate
that the PTA
decided to provide a
new sign with our
new name, Abraham
Lincoln Elementary
School,” said Principal
Felix Muzza.
Chautauqua
Signs created the new
sign for the school.
- Felix Muzza , Principal
Bush Elementary School
Bush students
who
eat breakfast
also enjoy
socializing time
thanks to the
help of their
paraprofessional
staff. All the
morning paraprofessionals
help both in the cafeteria and in the auditorium keeping students
entertained and active before school. Students can play games, read
books, create arts and crafts, receive homework help, or just have fun
with their peers.
“These ladies do a great job with the students,” said Principal Tina
Sandstrom. “They all work together to provide a nice experience to
start the children’s school day. - Tina Sandstrom, Principal
Love Elementary School
Inspire was the word for the month of December at Love School
and students definitely “got inspired” to help our troops overseas.
During a December pep rally, students from Chris Spontaneo’s
class shared their inspirations with students and staff members. They
told how they can inspire others by their own actions and urged people
to help support the troops.
The class “adopted” Airman First Class Joshua A. Lacki, the son
of Gail Heil, a first grade teacher at Fletcher Elementary School. The
class wrote, collected and sent cards and letters. They thanked him for
keeping them safe and included their own personal holiday wish. The
response of Love School students and staff to this project was overwhelming!
The class collected DVD’s, CD’s, books, magazines, stationery,
toiletries, snacks, cards, and letters. The students were truly
“inspired” to help others.
- Renee Hartling, Principal
Ring Elementary School
CC Ring Roadrunners! Today we earned
another PEACE Day! It’s time for the Roadrunner
“Congratulations
PEACE cheer. Hip-hip hooray, For the Roadrunner Way
-- Another Peaceful Day! Beep! Beep! Let’s do it again tomorrow!”
said Principal Connie Foster during a recent afternoon announcement.
School pride is filling up Ring School. The character education
initiative has all grade levels and all staff helping to increase peace and
pride in their school. Everyone at Ring signed a pledge to be more
peaceful. Also, if students behave during the day, they receive compliment
cards. The class who receives the most compliment cards gets
“The Most Complimented
Class of the Month” along
with a trophy.
“It has made such a difference,”
said Mrs. Foster. “The
first three months of this year
compared to last year show the
number of students coming to
the office reduced by onethird.
The students are really
involved in the program and
when we have a “peace day”
you can hear the cheers all over
the school.”
- Connie Foster, Principal
Bush Elementary School’s “Most
Complemented Class of December” was
Melissa Schrader’s second grade class.

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W W W. J A M E S T O W N P U B L I C S C H O O L S . O R G
PSAs for a
Good Cause
Stopping Discrimination, Torture, All
Are Equal and Free, False
Imprisonment and Spousal Abuse are
just some of the human rights topics
Jamestown High School VideoWorks students
researched to create Public Service
Announcements (PDAs) for the YWCA
Racial Justice Committee’s essay, poster and
PSA contest. This year, anyone in 5th
through 12th grades could submit an
essay/poster or PSA.
PSA's are one of the projects that
VideoWorks students work on in class.
Teacher Eric Anderson put a twist on the
project this year after hearing a speaker at
SUNY Fredonia talk about the UN
Declaration of Human Rights.
“I was shocked at the fact that there
needed to be a list of rights,” said Mr.
Anderson. “I decided to have the students
choose one of the rights and work their
JHS Juniors & Seniors -
Scholarship Opportunities
Over 100 parents and students filled JHS to find out more
about college financial aid and scholarships at a recent
Financial Aid Seminar. Lisa Lynde from the Community
Foundation presented the organization’s scholarships and how to
apply. Attendees were divided in groups to learn more about
EOP/HEOP and how to fill out the FASFA, which is required for
any federal financial aid. For those parents or students who could
Jefferson Middle School
Jefferson 7th and 8th grade art students are
depicting pride and respect with expressive line
drawings in Lisa Corey’s art classes. Students
copied their hands making each letter in the words
“pride,” “respect,” “Jefferson” and “Home of the
Jaguars” in sign language. Each hand holds a ribbon
that visually connects each image to convey the idea
of unity - we are all tied together even though we are
all unique individuals. Students explored lines, patterns
and warm and cool colors but also promoted a
positive school spirit.
“Part of the project is to include something you
like. I love playing guitar so I added it to my drawing.
I like art because it lets me be creative,” said Jefferson
8th grader Bobby Rew (pictured above.)The project
will be on display in the halls of the school.
not make Financial Aid Night, information is available in JHS’
College and Career Center from Leann Love at 483-7122. There
are hundreds of scholarship available to students. Mrs. Love has
information at www.jamestownpublicschools.org - click on JHS
link, then link Guidance Department “College Information.”
“ There are so many scholarship myths,” said Mrs. Love. “Every
year I have scholarships that only have one applicant. There are so
many different types of scholarships. We have scholarships available
to students pursing careers in every area. There is a wide variety and
many students stand a much better chance than they think of qualifying
for dozens of scholarships.”
Jamestown Middle Schools
- Carm Proctor, Principal
projects around it.”
Students
researched the UN
Rights, made correlations
to their
lives, and put their
"spin" or touch on
it. They studied
voice inflection
with a representative
from the Arts
Council.
First, students
made an audio production of the PSA using
podcasting in Garage Band. Then, they
storyboarded the video shots and filmed
their projects. The students worked on their
projects for about four weeks. Before being
judged, students reviewed and made corrections
on each others’ videos.
As part of the competition, each PSA
was judged by a panel of local community
members: Ashley Harshaw - Cummins Inc.,
Cecil Rhoades - Cummins Inc., Matthew
Hanley - City of Jamestown, Doug
Sandmeyer - Cummins Inc., Diana Meckley
Washington Middle School
The Washington School
Character Education team
is introducing the “Lobo
Way” through a video created by
teacher Jason Williams and students.
The video illustrates the
myths about Washington Middle
School and how students, as
ambassadors for their school, can
change the people’s minds.
“We are instilling the “The
Lobo Way” - part of which is our
new pledge that talks about
integrity, pride and perserverence,”
said Washington Assistant
Principal Joe Pagan. “We introduced
it to the entire student body and staff, along with the video, to continue our
work in creating a ‘team’ atmosphere in our school.”
The video shows current Washington teachers who used to be Washington students.
The video talks about how lobos run in packs and the pack gets stronger as a
team rather than as individuals. The video also dissects the pledge and describes
each word, like humility, in it.
-Melissa Emerson, Principal
Persell Middle School
- The Resource Center, Adam Bratton -
Robert H. Jackson Center, Tom Swanson -
Cummins (community involvement team).
Each video was graded on six components:
technical aspects, creativity, tag line,
social benefits, facts and follow-up. First
place went to: Aaron Tomassini and
Cassandra Sager, second place to Kim
Kenney, Tyler Welling and Emily Nicastro
and third place was given to Jorge Santiago.
The winning PSA will be aired on
Time Warner, thanks to the generous sponsorship
of Cummins, Inc.
Fifth grader, Brandon Kightlinger's legacy will live on for years to come with
his design of the Persell school flag.
As part of building school unity and pride, and a trip to a fellow middle school
in Buffalo, the Persell team
decided that the school should have a school flag. Students were asked to submit
their designs and over 300 student designs came in. The Persell Student Council
“blind” judged the entries and Brandon’s was chosen. The new flag was unveiled at
a recent all-school ceremony. The new flag is just one of many character education
initiatives including a “Great News from Persell” card that goes home to parents
whose students have done something good at school - whether it is improving academics,
helping someone out or showing a good character education trait. It is
hoped that the cards will help reinforce great behavior and show parents the good
things their children are doing at Persell. - Phil Cammarata, Principal
New Adult Ed Courses
Offered
Jamestown Public Schools is offering new
Adult Education Courses for the Spring
Term including Career Exploration, Wilton
Cake Decorating course, Woodworking,
Jewelry Making, Introduction to
Computers and Fly Tying. For more info on
these courses and a course catalog for all
other Adult Education Courses offered, call
the Raymond J. Fashano Technology
Academy at 483-4384.
Teacher Presents @
National Conference
Persell Middle School teacher, Michele
Schnars was one of four presenters for a
session at the American School Health
Association's national conference held in
Tampa . Ms. Schnars applied, as the “practicing
health educator” in an educational
setting. The presentation discussed coordinated
school health programming activities
that use the social-ecological model
with the goal of improving school connectedness.
The social-ecological model gives
people in a coordinated school health program
a way to address the many factors
surrounding healthy or unhealthy behaviors.
Wellness groups, as they are sometimes
called, can use this approach to have
a concrete way to discuss and publicize
their efforts. The group can create a
Solution Wall that displays the actions of
each person involved with the health issue
and how others in the building/community
can help.
JPS Presented Run
Smarter Award
Jamestown Public Schools was recently
presented a Run Smarter Award in Los
Angeles, Ca. Laserfische announced eight
national winners from varying industry
sectors for its annual Run Smarter Awards,
which recognize organizations that have
been successful in solving their most
pressing information management challenges.
The awards presentation was held
during the Laserfiche Institute Conference.
JPS won the national award for the educational
sector. Karen Peterson, Director of
Human Resources and Pam Brown,
Records Management Coordinator attended
three days of seminars, labs and presentation
by other users on the innovative
ways they were using the software. Mrs.
Peterson and Mrs. Brown also presented
JPS’ innovative ideas at the conference.
“We recognize these organizations for
automating workflow and business
processes to increase their productivity,
but more importantly, we congratulate
them on their initiative to go green,” said
Laserfiche President and CEO Nien-Ling
Walker. “It gives us great satisfaction to
see Laserfiche software at work helping
organizations run smarter.”

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Mentor One Child,
Change Two Lives
Mentoring is about people helping youth succeed.
All young people have the potential to
succeed in life and contribute to society.
However, not all children get the support they
need to thrive. Jamestown Schools partnership
with Chautauqua Striders Mentoring Programs
has over 100 mentors in our schools. A mentor
is an adult who, along with parents, provides a
young person with support, counsel, friendship,
reinforcement and constructive example.
Mentors are good listeners, people who care,
people who want to help young people bring
out strengths that are already there.
Mentoring benefits mentors as much as youth.
Mentors report they have fun, improve their
morale and values, learn more about themselves,
get a fresh perspective on their lives
and feel more satisfied. Chautauqua Striders'
community and school-based volunteers mentor
more than 100 students in Jamestown
Public Schools. You, too, can bring new hope to
young lives through the power of mentoring.
Please volunteer. Call, visit or email us.
Lorraine Walker, Mentor Recruiter 483-4384
ext 8504, www.chautauqua-striders.org,
88lwalker@jamestown.wnyric.org
Kindergarten
Round-Up
Love School - Registration date 4/22 -
Screening dates 4/23 and 4/24/09
Lincoln School - Registration date 4/1 -
Screening dates 4/30 and 5/1
Bush School - Combined Screening and
Registration 5/7 ,5/13 and 5/14.
Ring School - Registration date 4/2 -
Screening dates 4/27 and 4/28
Rogers School - Registration date 3/24 -
Screening dates 5/20 and 5/21
Afterschool a Success
Schools
should be proud of
“Jamestown
their afterschool programming.
My company does
many evaluations and
Jamestown’s positive trends
are far higher than any other
NYS district,” said Gary
Ciurczak, from Ciurczak &
Co., Inc. Mr. Ciruczak, an
independent evaluator, presented,
along with Julie Poppleton, JPS’ Director of 21st Century Grant, at a
recent Board of Education meeting. The presentation focused on four
schools Love, Bush, Jefferson, Washington, which are part of the 21st
Century Grant the district has received. Attendance in all four schools has
increased in the past three years, regular participants are likely to maintain or
improve their academic grades in math and reading/language arts, regular
participants are likely to achieve proficiency in the state ELA & Math exams
and regular participants demonstrate improvements in homework completion
and class participation. Over 800 students participate in JPS’
Afterschool Programming.
For years teachers have relied upon
classroom assignments and tests as
well as daily observations to determine
whether students are achieving the
goals for their class or grade level.
Jamestown teachers now have an even
more powerful tool to improve their
understanding of students’ strengths and
weaknesses as well as to adjust their teaching
where needed.
“We collect an extraordinary amount of
data each
time we
give a
state
assessment
or
Regents
exam,”
Shawn Swan-Leuze teaches Ring Elementary School 4th grader First Aid
Care as one of Ring Outstanding Kids afterschool programs. He taught students
basic first aid skills in an 8-week course.
Teachers Focus on Data for Achievement
explains Jessie Joy, JPS Director of
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment.
“Unfortunately it has not been easy for
teachers to have access to data that is specific
to their own students – until now.”
JPS evaluated a number of products
before adopting Performance Tracker.
“This has been a project of mine for the
past five years. I am glad that we finally
found a solution that allows us to view
both state and local assessments, and that
we can customize it according to our priorities
and goals. The hardest part is finding
the time to show every teacher how to use
the system.”
Ms. Joy will meet with teachers several
times over the next few weeks to introduce
them to Performance Tracker. Jamestown
teachers can sign on to Performance
Jessie Joy, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and
Assessment, recently presented Performance Tracker
to Ring Elementary School faculty.
Tracker, an online database
that contains
National Fuel Kits
Persell Middle School students in Mike Swenson’s
class show off National Fuel’s “Project NEED” kits
that were recently to teachers and students across
the district. The kits, which include draft stoppers, a
shower head, caulking systems, energy saving tips, tests
for proper water temperature and window installation
kits, were given to students to help them better understand
how conserving energy helps save the environment
and money. Students complete an energy unit and learn
about solar, wind,
geothermal and
water energies.
The Chautauqua
County Teachers’
Center and the
Buffalo Sabres
also sponsored
the kits.
detailed results of state and local assessments.
Viewing information for only their
students, teachers can identify areas in
need of improvement, for a whole class, an
individual student, or a group of students
with similar needs. Teachers can use the
results of the state exams in the previous
grade level to make better informed decisions
about how to give students the extra
time and support they need to be successful.
They can also use the reports to help
them to identify areas in which they may
want to try a different approach to teaching,
by comparing their own class results
against districtwide results.
“It’s very rewarding to hear a group of
teachers sharing ideas about teaching based
on the data that they see,” said Ms. Joy.
“When they offer strategies that help their
students to be successful, everyone benefits
… especially their students.”
Fletcher School - Registration date 5/6 -
Screening dates 5/28 and 5/29
The JPS Delayed Opening/Closing Reminder is at
www.jamestownpublicschools.org under “Hot News.” When
school is delayed or cancelled, parents & students will be
notified by automated telephone messages as long as their
contact number is up-to-date. Please contact your child’s
school office if your contact number changes in order to
continue to receive important messages from the District.
The Jamestown Public School District does not discriminate
on the basis of sex, age, veteran or marital status, political
affiliation, race, creed or religion, color, national origin, or
disability in the employment and educational opportunities
it offers, including vocational opportunities, school services
and extracurricular events as required by Title IX of the
1972 Educational Amendments and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Grievance procedures are
established to provide for the prompt and equitable resolution
of complaints pertaining to discrimination.
District 504 Coordinator Carm Proctor
District Title IX Coordinator Karen Peterson
Jamestown Public Schools
Superintendent of Schools
Daniel Kathman
Board of Education 2008-09
Christine Schnars, President
Steve Shulman, Vice President
Paul Abbott, Joseph DiMaio, Laurel
Lucas, Thomas Pope, Timothy Thomas
Q. How long have you served on the Jamestown
Board of Education?
A. I have served on the Board of Education for seven
years. I currently serve on the Board’s Standard and
Parent/Community Involvement Committees.
Meet Your Board Of
Education...
Laurel Lucas
Q. Why did you originally decide to become a Board Member and why do you continue to serve?
A. When my daughter entered school, I became very active in the PTA. Over the years, I served as PTA president,
treasurer, secretary, and chairman of various committees for the Persell and Lincoln PTAs. I was also a
charter member of the JHS PTSA having helped form the PTSA when my daughter entered high school.
The Jamestown City Council PTA was another organization that I became involved with and served as its president. I served as a
parent representative on several JPS district committees. As I served in these positions, I always felt that I wanted to do more for our
children. There came a time when I felt that I wanted to seek a seat on the School Board to help all the children of our district. I
think that this has been one of the most rewarding positions that I have ever held.
Q. What is your life like outside of the School Board?
A. My husband Don and I have two grown children and one beautiful four-year-old granddaughter, Claire. I have been employed by
HSBC Bank as a teller for over 15 years. I am a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and currently serve as a member of the
Church Council. I am an avid reader and love mystery stories. My husband and I spend May through October going to car shows and
participating in car cruises as members of the Chautauqua County Corvette Club.
Q. What are your biggest concerns facing Jamestown Schools in the coming years?
A. My greatest concern for the next year will be how to provide our students with a quality education in spite of the fiscal crisis facing
this country, and especially, New York State. We are no longer going to be able to count on NY state for adequate funding for our
school district. We, as a Board, are going to have to make some very tough decisions about how to provide a quality education with
less revenue. It is going to require out-of-the-box thinking, careful listing of our priorities and looking for new sources of income.
Q. Why do you think Jamestown Public Schools is a great place for children to receive an education?
A. I am a JHS graduate and both my children are JHS graduates. As a parent, I was always pleased with the education they received in
the Jamestown Public Schools. My granddaughter is in the Prekindergaretn program and the things she is learning amazes me. I had a
chance to visit my granddaughter’s class not too long ago. I was amazed at the creativity of the staff that day. We are so lucky to have
such a dedicated, caring and creative staff. I am so pleased to be associated with the Jamestown Schools and all the wonderful people
who work so diligently to make our schools a safe and fun place for our children.