By CRAIG FREILICH

CANTON – Canton Central School Superintendent William Gregory is concerned that the money crunch school districts are facing will result in a degradation of the education for students.

The last time he and his fellow St. Lawrence County colleagues met, the consensus seems to have been that education itself is at risk in light of increasing expenses, declining state aid, and a tax cap designed to keep revenues raised by property taxes from rising out of control.

“The fiscal crisis in which we find ourselves continues to of major concern to all of us,” Gregory said as the schools and personnel he manages in Canton get ready for another school year.

“The only way many districts will be able to reconcile the ever-increasing gap between revenue and expenses will be to reduce programming and faculty and staff” which many if not most school districts in the North Country have already done, including Canton Central.

“In Canton's case, further reductions in staffing and programs will seriously impair our ability to perform our educational mission.

“Unfortunately, this is exactly what we will be facing given the combination of flat or reduced state aid, the tax cap, and known increases in retirement system costs and other operating expenses,” Gregory said.

“We as superintendents collectively also spent quite a bit of time considering the implications of the new teacher and principal evaluation legislation and as well as beginning our discussion of the final draft of the consolidation and shared services study that had been commissioned by the BOCES.” That BOCES report is nearing its final form and is due to be released soon.

But while that study might provide some ways for schools to cut expenses by sharing resources, Gregory says he worries about the near-term survival of vital programs at Canton Central.

“My main concern for this year and into the next is having the resources necessary to ensure a quality educational program for our students,” he said.

One of the effects of the fiscal downturn is that there are no new faculty members to introduce this year.

Canton faculty and staff will continue work in year three of a four-year project designed to produce a coherent, integrated Pre-K to Grade 12 curriculum. The emphasis this year will be alignment with the state’s core curriculum being implemented this next school year. The core curriculum revamps the “mile‐wide, inch‐ deep approach” in curriculum and textbooks, Gregory said, and will devote more time to allow for reasoning, thinking, and discussing as well as the necessary hard work and practice necessary to master the basics of English and mathematics.

Beyond the programs in the classrooms, Canton’s school buildings have recently undergone a five-year evaluation, which identified “a number of facility needs that must be addressed—some sooner rather than later,” Gregory said.

“Our heating system is a major concern and must be replaced as a priority. This would be a multi-million dollar project in and of itself.”

Gregory said the last major buildings and grounds projects were in 1999.

“There are many improvements to infrastructure that are needed as well such as the replacement of sidewalk and curbing, installation of a security system, renovation of rest rooms and locker rooms, and installation of additional exterior lighting and interior emergency lighting, to name a few.

“Our athletic facilities are in terrible shape. We can’t, for example, host a track meet despite having very successful boys’ and girls’ track and field teams because we do not have the capacity to do so. We are in desperate need of a shelter to house our buses in light of the weather conditions we must deal with here in the North Country. We must also address both instructional and security concerns emanating from the 1970s design of our Middle School.

Gregory reports a busy summer season has just closed at Canton schools.

Canton Central School served as one of four host districts for the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Regional Summer School Program. 150 students from nine different schools participated in a variety of remedial and enrichment courses as well as Regents examinations during the six-week summer session. Students from Canton, Clifton-Fine, Colton-Pierrepont, Edwards-Knox, Hermon-DeKalb, Madrid-Waddington, Norwood-Norfolk, Parishville-Hopkinton, Potsdam, and Westtown Prep attended this year’s session. Driver Ed teacher Storm Cilley led 21 students through summer Driver Education training.

Canton also hosted the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Summer School graduation ceremony Aug. 18. About a dozen students received their diplomas.

And under the guidance of program Principal Lynn Watson, a staff comprising classroom teachers and SUNY Potsdam graduate students provided support to the 70 Pre-K to Grade 8 students in the Summer To Get Ahead Program, aimed at providing summer learning opportunities for special education and remedial students in the focus areas of literacy and mathematics.

The district also participated in many activities in conjunction with the Canton Recreation department, sponsoring or hosting programs including pick-up lacrosse, swimming lessons, drama camp and football, basketball and soccer camps.