File photo by Tom Rivers – Chuck Nesbitt, the Orleans County chief administrative officer, details the Orleans County budget during a public hearing in December 2013 at the County Courthouse.

Press Release
NYS Association of Counties

ALBANY – Chuck Nesbitt, Orleans County chief administrative officer, was named to the Board of Directors of the New York State Association of Counties earlier this week.

NYSAC represents New York’s 57 counties and New York City in Albany and Washington, D.C. on matters germane to county governments, and informs county officials and the public about issues that impact county governments across the state.

“We are pleased that Chuck has agreed to serve on the board of directors,” said NYSAC President Anthony J. Picente, Jr., the Oneida County Executive. “His experience with local government efficiency programs and economic development will add depth and expertise to a very active and committed board of directors.”

Nesbitt has served as the chief administrative officer for Orleans County since 2005. In his post, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the county government on behalf of the County Legislature, from budgeting to departmental oversight. Nesbitt also serves at the president of the NYS Association of County Administrators, which is an affiliate of NYSAC comprised of 33 county administrators and managers.

“I have worked with Chuck for many years and I welcome his wisdom and perspective on our board of directors as we continue to advocate for mandate relief, investments in local infrastructure, and a strong economic recovery,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario.

Prior to 2005, Chuck served as the state’s economic development specialist for the Finger Lakes Region, where he devised business incentives to retain and create jobs in the area.

“NYSAC is a strong county advocate and plays an important policy development role in Albany,” Nesbitt said. “I am happy to have this opportunity to serve the Association on the board. I look forward to sharing our experiences from Orleans County, and learn from the leaders of counties in other parts of the state.”

Photos and article by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Jennifer Ohar Scott has found a way to funnel her outrage about what she sees as the over-testing of children and stifling of their creativity.

Scott, a Medina High School art teacher, has turned to painting to vent her frustrations with Common Core and state leaders, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Education Commissioner Dr. John King. He was commissioner when the state implemented Common Core.

Some of Scott’s paintings are featured in an art show at the Marti’s on Main art gallery at 229 North Main St., Albion. There will be a closing reception there on July 24 from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

The top photo shows Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a crown of hundred-dollar bills on his head. That mixed media art work is entitled “Cuomo: The Emperor of Contingent Funding.”

It is includes a column from New York Times writer Paul Krugman, who on Feb. 23, 2015, wrote “Knowledge isn’t power.” Krugman argues that a failed education system isn’t the cause of the wealth gap in the country. Click here to see the article.

Jennifer Scott created this mixed media artwork of John King, the former state education commissioner.

“The King of Standardized Testing and Unregulated Data Sharing” depicts King wearing a crown made of a test bubble sheet.

The artwork also include portions of a letter written from Medina English teacher Karen Jones to King. She sent him a six-page letter, detailing her concerns about Common Core testing. Scott said King never responded, and his lack of a response angered her.

Her Common Core-themed artwork has been featured in Buffalo galleries. She won the “People’s Choice” award for the artwork on John King at Gallery 464 in Buffalo.

“At the very least this should provoke a conversation,” said Scott, who lives in Lockport. “I feel strongly about educating parents, but I don’t want to shove my viewpoint down their throats.”

“One Size Will Not Fit All” is a statement about standardized testing.

Scott opposes the reliance on standardized tests in assessing students’ and teachers’. Those state tests don’t measure students who may learn and test better through auditory, cognitiive and other learning styles, she said.

“One style of testing is the antithesis of what I’ve learned,” Scott said. “The testing they’re doing now is not helpful. It only benefits the testing companies.”

“This is a Normal Brain” is a work by Jennifer Ohar Scott.

“This is Your Brain on Common Core” is displayed next to the other painting of a healthy brain.

Scott teaches teaches eighth grade and high school at Medina. She was recently selected as one of 25 teachers of merit by Buffalo Business First.

She said she doesn’t oppose the state wanting accountability for teachers. But she said the overreliance on test scores is not good for students, teachers or the community.

She stressed her artwork is her opinion and not the Medina school district’s. Scott said the testing issue, which prompted many students and parents to “opt out” of the most recent tests this spring, has dominated her artwork.

“Everything I’ve been doing lately is about Common Core,” she said.

For more on Jennifer Ohar Scott, visit jenniferoharscott.com.

To see the artwork at Marti’s, contact gallery owner Kim Martillotta-Muscarella at 589-6715.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – John Robinson is making his third ride along the Erie Canal, going 363 miles from Buffalo to Albany. He is pictured at about 11:15 this morning with his wife Andrea. They are close to the Main Street lift bridge in Albion.

This time the journey has been harder. The rain has softened the towpath, making it mushy and requiring more push from Robinson to move his adaptive use bicycle.

Robinson is pictured on East Bank Street, headed to the former Grammar School on East Academy Street.

Owen Robinson, 12, joins his parents Andrea and John on the bike ride, which took a brief detour off the canal today in Albion so the family could meet residents served by The Arc of Orleans County.

Robinson, 46, stopped in Albion late this morning. He visited developmentally disabled residents served by The Arc of Orleans County. Robinson, who was born without arms and legs, was given a big reception and he happily greeted residents and posed for pictures.

He has made promoting abilities and skills of the disabled to businesses and government officials. He wants people with disabilities to have a shot at employment. When they can’t work, he wants there to be services in place so they can remain part of the community.

John Robinson is praised by Donna Saskowski, executive director for The Arc of Orleans County. She also leads the state ARC chapter in Genesee County.

“We’re doing everything we can to advocate for people with disabilities at the local, county, state and national levels,” Robinson said during a reception at the former Grammar School in Albion, where The Arc provides services. “We’re trying to make a better life and a better economic opportunity for people with disabilities.”

Robinson in October was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” for his efforts to connect disabled residents to jobs.

Robinson lives in the Albany suburb of Glenmont. He is managing partner and CEO of Our Ability, a company that supports people with disabilities.

Robinson meets with local developmentally disabled residents.

He recalled when he first stopped in Albion two years and was struggling on the bike ride. He didn’t think he would be able to get to Albany, about 300 miles away.

But a big crowd of residents, including local officials and many disabled residents, gave him a huge welcome, including a quilt with blocks showing their support for his trip.

Robinson keeps that in his office. He is also a motivational speaker and he shares how the enocuragement from the Albion group lifted his spirits during a trying time.

“You guys inspired me to keep going,” Robinson told a group of about 30 people today. “I mention Albion, NY, and Orleans County every where I go.”

Andrea Robinson rides behind her husband John and their son Owen as they go down East Bank Street today in Albion.

The Robinsons started today’s trip in Medina and plan to go to Spencerport at the end of the day. It will take about two weeks to travel the canal.

They are traveling with Robinson’s business partner Doug Hamlin, a para-palegic who is using an adaptive use bicycle. Hamlin was slowed today because of the rain and soft towpath.

Robinson said he hopes their example will inspire the community to look past the disabilities and see the abilities in everyone.

He said he was encouraged after the visit at The Arc today.

“Everybody in here has a will to live and has a family that wants the best for them,” he said. “We’re trying to send the message that we are people with ability.”

For more on Robinson and Our Ability, click here.

Photo by Tom Rivers

John Robinson, left, and his friend Doug Hamlin, right, ride adaptive use bicycles along West Bank Street in Albion on July 1, 2014. The duo and their supporters rode the Erie Canal and stopped in Albion to visit The Arc of Orleans County. They will be back Tuesday morning at 11 for a program at the former Grammar School on East Academy Street.

The Arc provides services at the former school for senior citizens and people with disabilities.

Robinson will leave Medina in the morning and head to Albion. Robinson was born without full arms and legs. He is riding an adaptive bicycle from Tonawanda to Albany.

This is the third year Robinson is making the trip along the 363-mile-long Erie Canal.

Robinson has made the trek to show people that disabled residents can achieve big dreams, too.

Robinson also brings a message seeking job opportunities for disabled residents. Whether in sheltered workshops or other jobs in the community, Robinson said people with developmental disabilities have skills that can be used in the workplace.

Photo courtesy of GCC – Genesee Community College honored the following high school students in GCC’s Advanced Studies program: First row, from left: Emma Snyder, Emily Radford, Taylor DeSimone, Erin Tiede, Abigail Bleier and Megan Saile. Second row: Theodore Benjovsky, Daniel Kocher, Tania Arellano, Trevor Noon and Dylan Servos. Third row: Victoria Giglia and Megan Bullard.

Press Release, GCC

BATAVIA – Genesee Community College honored 22 high students from across Western New York as finalists for Outstanding Scholar Awards in GCC’s Advanced Studies program.

The awardees were honored at a ceremony and reception in the Stuart Steiner Theatre at Genesee’s Batavia campus.

Advanced Studies is part of the College’s ACE program, or Accelerated College Enrollment, and allows high school students the opportunity to earn college credit from Genesee while attending class within their high school.

High school teachers approved as Genesee adjunct faculty teach all Advanced Studies courses. Some of the most enterprising young students earn enough transferable Advanced Studies credit to enter their first year of college as sophomores.

This year’s Outstanding Scholars Award program featured a keynote address by Tim Tomczak, GCC’s professor of psychology and the director of the GCC’s Social Sciences department. He is a two-time SUNY Chancellor’s Award winner.

In his address to the ACE scholars, Professor Tomczak discussed his experiences and struggles in finding a path in life. Despite a discouraging start to his education as a young boy, he found his niche through the help of a concerned guidance counselor who found him an opportunity to take some college courses while in high school.

“I was one of the original ‘ACE’ students,” he said. “I liked college so much that I wanted to find a job that would let me stay there for the rest of my career.”

His address encouraged students to “keep being scholars – individuals who are passionate about learning new things and taking their thinking to higher levels.”

The 22 finalists were selected from more than 165 nominations in the five subject areas of mathematics, science, social science, foreign language and English. As in years past, a committee of academic professionals from GCC selected the following award winners, listed by school within their subject areas:

ENGLISH
Abigail Bleier, Notre Dame; Emma Snyder, Keshequa; Gabriella Giunta, Gates-Chili; Emily Radford, Holley; and Madhuri Vihani, Attica.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Austin Morgan, Pioneer; Hannah Smart, Pavilion; Tania Arellano, Kendall; and Alexandria Barber, Letchworth.

MATHEMATICS
Daniel Kocher, Alden; Olivia Marchese, Notre Dame; Jack Mann, Keshequa; Theodore Benjovsky, Albion; and Michael Safford, Perry.

SCIENCE
Dylan Servos, Alden; Abigail Bleier, Notre Dame; Megan Bullard, Caledonia-Mumford; Taylor DeSimone, Holley; and Erin Tiede, Warsaw.

SOCIAL SCIENCE
Victoria Giglia, Alden; Megan Saile, Batavia; Megan Bullard, Caledonia-Mumford; Trevor Noon, Newfane; Taylor DeSimone, Holley; and Sierra Greene, Letchworth.

Christopher Scharping writes Word War II novel based on Medina family

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Medina native Christopher Scharping is pictured with a copy of his latest book, “We Regret To Inform You,” a World War II-based novel that is based on a Medina family.

This is Scharping’s fourth novel and the latest self-published book is nearly 500 pages. It is based on a husband and wife who have one son, who enlists in the military as a pilot. The son and his crew would be listed as Missing in Action. They flew a B-17 bomber as part of an 8th Air Force mission over Czechoslovakia. The novel details the father’s efforts to find his son.

Scharping is retired from the Air Force. He worked 16 of his 21 years with the Air Force as a historian.

Scharping visits with a childhood friend, Wayne Litchfield, during the book-signing event at Bindings Bookstore in Albion this evening.

Scharping lives in Panama City, Fla. He hadn’t been home to Orleans County in about three years. He is in town for his niece’s graduation at Byron-Begren.

Scharping is working on a fifth book, this one about bootleggers at Point Breeze and Orleans County during Prohibition.

He said he is looking to move back to the area.

Provided photo – A reception was held this afternoon at the Orleans County Public Safety Building honoring Patricia Morrisey, a retiring teacher with the Albion Central School District. She taught inmates in the county jail for 30 years. She is pictured with Scott Wilson, the jail superintendent.

ALBION – It may not seem like a dream job for a teacher, but that is how Patricia Morrissey describes her part-time job the past 30 years at the Orleans County Jail.

She worked with young inmates, ages 16 to 21 who hadn’t graduated from high school but wanted to work towards earning a General Equivalency Diploma.

Morrissey helped the students learn the fundamentals in math and reading, and many of the students were motivated to get their GED.

Morrissey is retiring from the job. Today she was recognized at a reception at the Orleans County Public Safety Building.

Morrissey worked with small class sizes, sometimes only two to five students. Sometimes as many as 15.

“It was a very unique situation, working in that kind of setting,” Morrissey said today. “I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Morrissey worked for the Orleans-Niagara BOCES for the first 13 years before her employer became Albion Central School, which is responsible for offering an education to people up to age 21 if they haven’t graduated.

Morrissey said the younger inmate population has shrunk over the years. She remembers when they were as many as 40 students over the course of a school year. This year she had 15 students for stints of the school year. Some of those inmates may be in the jail for a few weeks.

Morrissey connects with students’ teachers and tries to keep the students on track for earning school credits. Other students focus on earning a GED, which is now the Test Assessing Secondary Completion, a more rigorous test than the GED, Morrissey said.

Many of the students have done well in the smaller class setting, with a focus on mastering the basics in math before moving on to algebra and even trigonometry.

“You’re their cheerleader,” Morrissey said. “You get them to believe in themselves because you’re working with kids who often haven’t been successful in school.”

Morrissey worked in the jail three hours daily from Monday through Friday.

Many of her students earned GEDs, and Morrissey helped point some of them to college.

“I certainly became attached to a lot of them,” she said. “There’s no question that for many kids this was their redemption. It provided them with a second chance.”

Provided photo

BARRE – Dale Ostroski, center, was recognized on June 3 for a 20-year attendance award at the School for Highway Superintendents, which is co-sponsored by the Association of Towns of the State of New York in Albany, and the Cornell Local Roads Program in Ithaca.

Ostroski is pictured with David Orr (left), director of the Cornell Local Roads Program, and Russell Page, president of New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways and Superintendent of Highways.

The Annual School for Highway Superintendents, or Highway School, is a conference attended by about 700 participants, the majority being local highway and public works officials. The Highway School features topics related to all aspects of highway care and maintenance.

The Cornell Local Roads Program provides training, technical assistance, and information to municipal officials and employees responsible for the maintenance, construction, and management of local highways and bridges in New York State.

Ostroski is retiring on Dec. 31 as Barre highway superintendent.

Keith Palmer

ELBA – The Elba Central School has picked Keith Palmer, an Albion resident and a principal at Pembroke High School, to serve as its next district superintendent.

Palmer, a former school administrator at Kendall, is set to start at Elba on July 1.

“I look forward to working with the Elba Board, faculty, students and community to develop strong relationships as we work together to deliver the district’s vision and mission,” Palmer said. “Our first priority is the education of our students as we focus on curriculum and instruction. This will enhance our students’ academic achievement as we work together to meet the district’s academic and financial goals.”

Palmer is currently the principal of the Pembroke Central High School, where he has served since 2003. Previously, he was assistant principal at the Kendall High School, a position he held for 12 years.

Palmer began his career in 1987 as a math and computer science teacher at North Warren Central School in the Adirondacks. He also taught at the Washington Correctional Facility located in Comstock for two summers in both 1988 and 1990.

Palmer holds a Bachelor of Arts from Houghton College, and a master’s degree from SUNY Plattsburgh. He holds three New York State Certifications – a NYS School District Administrator, a NYS School Administrator and Supervisor Certificate and a NYS School Business Administrator Certificate.

Palmer’s career encompasses a variety of leadership accomplishments including developing Professional Learning Communities to build school/family communication and maintaining effective relations with union leadership.

“The Board is confident in selecting Mr. Palmer to lead Elba Central Schools,” said Tony Zambito, president of the Board of Education at Elba Central School. “His professional background, along with a deep understanding of many aspects of educational leadership, makes him an excellent fit for the staff and students of the district. The search process narrowed the field to three excellent candidates. The board values all of the participation and input from stakeholders and community members and is committed and proud of this decision.”