The annual summer retreat is an opportunity for the Sag Harbor School Board and the school administrators to sit down and discuss goals for the upcoming year. This year two meetings were slated for Tuesday and Wednesday night.
“I can’t believe we will get all of this done in one meeting,” said board president Walter Wilcoxen on Tuesday night.
“I can’t believe we would need more than one,” responded new superintendent Dr. John Gratto.
What followed was a discussion of everything from how the district can better communicate with the public to the need to identify which after school clubs are viable to ways the district might cut down on transportation costs. When all was said and done the group had identified roughly 10 goals.
“And that’s on top of the 16 goals from last night,” said Gratto.
At Monday’s board meeting, the new boss laid out a list of academic goals based on recent test  scores in the district. The goals were very specific and focus on certain grades improving their test scores by a particular percentage, such as increasing the number of students attaining mastery level on the math exam in eighth grade by five percent. He also mentioned two communications goals including the establishment of a “key communicator organization” and a “profile of a Pierson graduate.”
On Monday Bob Schneider pointed out that the goals seemed to put too much weight on the tests and that it appeared as if not enough attention was being paid to the character of the children.
“Acknowledging those exams are a fact of life, they are not necessarily a great fact of life. Those goals need a counter balance,” said Schneider. “It seems to me that they overemphasize achievement and success on state examinations to the exclusion of many other important things like character and service.”
Gratto said that was where the profile of the Pierson graduate would come in.
The new superintendent wants to reach out to the community for input on what attributes, intellectual knowledge and knowledge of the arts a Pierson graduate should be expected to have. He then wants to look at the programs currently being offered in the district to see if that profile can be met.
“The administration and I talked about that very issue, about educating the whole child and certainly character education is not going to go by the wayside,” he said.
Recent graduate Drhuva Corrigan brought up the need to analyze the success of the other programs like music and art and not only try to improve on science and math scores. Speaking specifically to the music program he said, “we have the information now. We can ask the students ‘What were you playing four years ago, what are you playing right now?’”
At the retreat on Tuesday the board and the administration continued the discussion.
“I think adding a performing arts goal is a very good idea,” said board member Theresa Samot.
They briefly talked about how one measures success in the arts and Wilcoxen pointed to the annual art show that is exhibited in the gym on election night. Elementary principal Joan Frisicano said she thought it was already being done with portfolios. She said she felt everyone agreed that there was more to a student than just test scores.
“Look at the goals now and they are all academic and data driven,” said Frisicano. “Do you want arts data driven too?”
“What they saw last night was we were raising the bar, in a tangible way, with the test scores,” said board member Mary Ann Miller. “They were thinking we might be leaving that out with the arts. I think they are concerned that’s not part of the vision.”
On Tuesday the group also discussed Gratto’s “key communicator organization” in terms of better ways to get the good word out about what goes on in the school district. Gratto wants to create an organization with one representative from community groups such as the Citizens Advisory Committee, the Lions Club, the Noyac Civic Council, as well as members of school groups like the PTA, which would meet with him on a monthly basis. The representatives could then carry the information back to their respective groups. Gratto said he established such an organization when he was the superintendent of the Brittonkill School District in upstate New York.
At the end of the meeting Tuesday, Wilcoxen said the board planned on whittling down the list of roughly 26 goals next month and present the final list at an August board meeting.
Above: Members of the school board and the administration discuss district goals last Tuesday night. Bayles photo.

To the dismay of many in attendance at Monday’s meeting, the Sag Harbor school board agreed to combine two vacant positions in an effort to possibly save the district money and make it more efficient. In his first big decision as superintendent, Dr. John Gratto recommended the district advertise for a single candidate to serve as both the athletic director as well as the director of buildings and grounds.
Gratto said he understood that in the past the district employed a part-time athletic director who was in the office roughly three days a week. He said the new position would be full-time, with the emphasis being on the athletic director responsibilities. He said he saw a lot of interrelation between the two positions, particularly with the athletic director often working with the custodial and grounds staff to make sure the gym is ready and the fields are in proper shape.
“If they were combined, then you’d have greater responsiveness to immediate [athletic] issues,” said Gratto.
He said the new position would increase the effectiveness of the athletic director and that “athletic issues happen five days a week, not just three.”
“And likewise, I don’t think, since the [buildings and grounds] position has been open since February, that it’s a fulltime job.”
Board president Walter Wilcoxen said after former buildings and grounds director Jim Beauman left early this year, the custodial staff has done a great job. He sees the new position, in terms of buildings and grounds, as more of a supervisory one.
“[Dr. Gratto] reviewed it with custodians and they seem to agree,” said Wilcoxen. “They need part time oversight.”
He also mentioned the current construction projects at the elementary school and Pierson and said by hiring a clerk of the works, he has realized the director of buildings and grounds doesn’t necessarily have to perform that duty.
“[Clerk of the works] Mike Nicholetti has done a wonderful job. Why? Because it’s his business,” said Wilcoxen. “With Jim [Beauman] it wasn’t his business. I think it was unreasonable to ask Jim to do that. Seeing how well Mike has done, if we take that responsibility away from the director of facilities, then it reduces the workload.”
“And there’s no doubt about it,” continued Wilcoxen, “we’re trying to economize any way we can.”
District business manager Len Bernard said salaries for the two positions combined amounted to roughly $145,000. He said the savings in benefits could be $20,000 and in terms of salary, it depends on what is offered for the new position. On Monday Dr. Gratto said the salary would be negotiable to a point.
The new position was widely accepted by both the board and the administration. Pierson principal Jeff Nichols said he thought it was a good idea and board member Dan Hartnett said he considered it “creative and courageous.” The audience however disagreed. Dr. Gratto said it would take a very special candidate to fill it, but Marian Cassata thought it might take even more than that.
“I think it will take an act of God,” said Cassata, “to bring someone to this district [to fill both positions].”
She said she could not see any candidate being able to fulfill the responsibilities of both positions.
“Having been a physical education teacher at the kindergarten level through the high school level, as well as a college coach, I’ve always considered the AD a 24/7 position if you’re going to do a good job overseeing your coaches,” said Tom Gleason. “For me this seems like a very difficult combination.”
Chris Tice asked Dr. Gratto if in his travels through other school districts he had encountered the combination before. He said no, but that based on conversations with Nichols and the head custodians, he felt like it was doable in Sag Harbor.
Gratto and Wilcoxen both said they had entertained another, more common, combination. With current Pierson assistant principal Donnelly McGovern stepping down in the fall to return to teaching, there is now another administrative vacancy.
“The most common [combination] is athletic director and assistant principal,” said Gratto. “We considered that, but didn’t want to go that route.”
Wilcoxen said they liked the current model of having two assistant principals at Pierson.
“It’s a responsibility issue,” he said. “They do such a good job of getting back to the parents and dealing with the students.”
Cassata also pointed out that the athletic director is expected to do much more than just coordinate with coaches.
“Historically and traditionally the AD is also responsible for implementing the health curriculum in schools and direct and shape programs like wellness in the district,” said Cassata.
She also mentioned that in the past, pertaining to buildings and grounds, the district had struggled with “thorough long range planning” and with “assigning capital money to deal with buildings.”
“It’s a very difficult skill set,” said Cassata. “When you advertise, I think you might want to advertise as either [one position] or [two]. That way, you won’t waste time looking for this perfect person.”

Top Photo: Superintendent Dr. Gratto and board president Walter Wilcoxen at Monday’s meeting. John Bayles photo.