Patriot Plain Talk being discontinued

We will discontinue using Patriot Plain Talk at the end of 2016. Members of the Broadalbin-Perth community who have questions or comments about events happening in the district can contact us through Facebook or through the TipLine on our mobile app. Thank you for using Patriot Plain Talk!

Middle school teams

Question: I was wondering how many seventh-grade teams there are, the name of each team and the differences between each team. Are the students grouped together and the teams comprised of students with the same academic ability? Is one team more advanced than another?

Answer: B-P Middle School has four teams of teachers for the core academic subjects, English, math, science and social studies. Teachers on Team Voyager teach sixth-graders; teachers on Team Discovery teach sixth- and seventh-graders; teachers on Team Millennium teach seventh- and eighth-graders; and teachers on Team Enterprise teach eighth-graders.

A student who has specific academic needs, such as enrichment or remediation, will be assigned to teachers who teach classes that can best meet those needs. Whatever team those teachers belong to is the team the student is assigned to. There are not specific “advanced” or “remedial” teams.

If you have any other questions about the team teaching model at the middle school, please contact me at hotalings@bpcsd.org or 954-2704, or contact my colleague Jennifer Steele at steelej@bpcsd.org or 954-2722.

- Stephanie Hotaling, middle school counselor

BPIS Community Connections calendar

Question: Is it possible to post the BPIS Community Connections schedule on the
website as in previous years? I wasn't aware today was a Community
Connections day.

Answer: Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention; it was an oversight. Click here to access the Community Connections calendar on the district website.
- answered by Betsy DeMars, communications specialist/district webmaster

Bus routes on new website

Question: I like the new website, however some things are hard to find. Is there

a way to find the bus routes for this year?

Answer: I'm glad you like the new website, but I'm sorry you're having trouble finding some things. Please feel free to call me at 954-2642 or email me at demarsb@bpcsd.org and I will be happy to help you find what you're looking for.

Regarding your specific question about bus routes, when we receive them from the transportation department, we will post them as a news item and add them to the transportation page (under "Services").

- answered by Betsy DeMars, communications specialist and webmaster

Capital project question

Question: I am curious as to why there is an upcoming vote to approve a capital project to have the entire elementary school at the Perth site when just a few years ago I was on an exploratory committee dedicated to this topic and the results were that it was not cost effective, that it would require too much work to make the transition and that it was not in the best interest of our school community to make the switch? Was there information published that I missed, supporting the switch?

Answer: In 2012, when our community advisory committee was looking at options for a capital project, committee members were very interested in the idea of reorganizing our schools to put all elementary students at the Perth site and all secondary students at the Broadalbin site. However, the cost estimate provided by the district’s architectural firm at the time scared many committee members away from the idea. Since then, we have learned that the cost estimate we received in 2012 was inaccurate and not representative of the work that would actually need to take place. Unfortunately, because we were pressed for time in planning for the capital project that voters approved in February 2013, we chose to just take the most conservative approach possible to that project.