School board appoints alum to vacant seat

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By Catherine L. Tobin

The Whitehall School Board named Chris Dudley to fill the remaining six months on the term of Amy Austin, who resigned from the board recently.
The board members held a brief executive session Monday, Nov. 21, to discuss candidates. Five applications were received with three of those meeting the requirements set in the board solicitation.
Dudley is an educator at BOCES and an alumni of Whitehall, according to school board president Jeremy Putorti.
Board members were treated to a culinary surprise at the meeting when they were presented with a sampling of the work of the new school Cooking Club, under the advisement of Christopher Montville, school counselor for grades 6-8. The boys, Gadge Puro, Noah Balch and Gabe Hurlburt, prepared an appetizer for the board members – Italian rice balls and a dipping sauce. Montville noted that the group began to meet when Puro expressed interest in forming the club. The group meets on Monday afternoons at the school.
Montville said, “These boys worked really hard this afternoon to have these for you. They tried to do the presentation part as well. These boys are too young now for the BOCES program but they wanted a way to gain experience. ”
Puro hopes to attend the culinary program at BOCES when he is eligible and continue with a culinary career.
In other business the board granted permission for Spanish teacher Sarah Ramirez to begin planning a trip for students to either Costa Rica, Panama or Puerto Rico. “We want to do another trip and I wanted to give the students another option to Costa Rica this time. The trip will be over either the February break or the April break in 2018,” she added. The trip will be tied into behavior and conduct at the school, as well as grades.
The board voted to accept the annual 2015-16 independent audit prepared by Jenkins, Beecher and Bethel. Superintendent Patrick Dee notes that the audit resulted in “no findings” which is unusual for a school district and is the result of the diligence of the school business office.